Have a passion for leather, museums, churches, and statues of naked men,
women, and children? Jump on a plane or hop on a train to Florence,
Italy. The centre of Tuscany feels old. Not like the 1980's
jelly shoes and pajamas pants. No, this is like taking a sneak
peek at what medieval life really felt like. All the
beautiful palaces controlled by the Medici family on one street and then
the poor people on the other.
Michelangelo's David, seems to leap out at you on every street
corner. Every vendor has something plastered with the naked
unendowed man: cooking aprons, t-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, and
boxer shorts. Florence is not afraid of nudity, but something
tells me that my mother wouldn't appreciate the humor of opening a box
with a small David replica to put on her mantle.
Everyone flocks to Brunelleschi's Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's the lighthouse of Florence. No matter where you go, the cathedral's red-tiled dome peeks up over all the other buildings. It's the world's fourth-largest cathedral and took 150 years to complete, but took me only 5 minutes to snap a picture and to take an instant dislike to the pink, white and green marble walls.
