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hello from London!
Travelling has such contrast - yesterday we left the beautiful, peaceful hills of Tuscany and drove with the crazy italians (that's any italian in a vehicle on a road, in case you're wondering) to Florence airport, flew to Rome then ran to the next gate to fly to London. Took over an hour to get through customs at Heathrow then caught a tube to Russell Square and walked to the hostel, dinner at 11pm and in bed around midnight! Up at 7am to start sight-seeing!
Neither of us have stayed in a hostel before, and I tell you it's an experience! There's people everywhere, and we feel quite old, although the only people up at brekky with us this morning were oldies! It's kinda like school camp all over again - bunk beds, creeping around trying not to wake people, communal toilets and showers...but it's fun aswell, and much cheaper than a hotel.
We both highly recommend San Gimignano to anyone thinking of going to Italy. We stayed in a gorgeous villa there for a week and made day trips to Pisa (busy, dirty and ugly but has the leaning tower), Siena (over-rated and expensive but pretty), Florence (wonderful and awful both together!). Spent time in the Uffizi and the Galleria Dell Academia. The Uffizi was a bit boring - just old paintings and sculptures and most of the rooms were closed. Saw the Birth of Venus, which was probably the best and most popular piece there.
Michelangelo's David......wow! it's at the end of a long hallway and lit perfectly so you just walk towards it in a daze - it really is amazing and everyone just stands around staring at it! It is absolutely ginormous, I'd not realised it was quite that big. The detail is amazing - veins in arms, knuckles, muscle definition, tendons - you get the picture. It really is something you have to see in person.
Tomorrow we get up at 4.30am to try and negotiate the tube (we have to change lines....scary!) to start our tour. Then it's 11 days on an off a bus round Europe. We'll try to post as often as possible, but it will be a bit of a whirlwind.
Hope you are all well!
Lex and Carly
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