This morning we got up at the crack of dawn (6.30am - must be a work day!!) and headed to the Uffizi Galley before the hoards descended on the museum. Great move (even if it was Garth's idea) as the streets around the Ponte Vecchio were deserted, and we had the museum largely to ourselves for the first hour. It was unbelievable being in some of the rooms in the Gallery with no other visitors, taking photos of Botticelli's, Da Vinci's etc, without waiting for people to get out of the way.

The Gallery was every bit as I remembered it - fabulous paintings and sculptures, so many rooms with painted ceilings, including the Tribune which has 6000 shells sunk into the plaster of the dome, and crimson velvet walls with black and gold shelving . And the Niobe Room, which depicts what happened to a mother who boasted of having more children than Leto - the goddess punished her by killing all her kids (and the sculptures show boys and girls trying to flee their punishment...). Garth made his usual caustic comments about the many paintings of Madonna and Child, with the baby looking older than the mother (Madonna and uncle??).

We finished the day by walking through the Boboli Gardens, before a squillion wines on our terrace and the most amazing salad and fruit from the Florence market. I so love Florence!