Today was the day for the Uffizi, or Offices, once the administration center of Florence.  Now an art gallery, it’s basically two buildings linked by a common colonnaded courtyard, situated on the Arno River, and a stone’s throw from the Ponte Vecchio.  In fact, the tale is told that the top floor of the Ponte Vecchio formed a private walkway for one of the Borgias to walk from his home to the office, without mixing with the common folk, or even (horrors!), getting wet in the rain.

In any case, lines were again predictably long, but since we had our vouchers, not bad for us.  We went through a security check, which didn’t seem too vigorous, and started the heart-attack-inducing climb up the many, many staircases to the upper floors which house the exhibitions.

When you finally puff your way to the top (I admit to having to stop once), you find yourself in an ornately painted corridor, off which are various rooms containing paintings and sculptures of various periods.  Along the corridor are sculptures from the Roman Imperial period;  the ceiling and walls of the corridor are brightly and intricately painted.  Along a narrow shelf, high up, is a line-up of a rogues’ gallery of sorts, paintings of important personages in the history of Florence.  One room of the corridor held a wealth of paintings by Botticelli, including the beautiful Birth of Venus.

Another room held one painting by Michelangelo, and others by contemporaries, which gave a quick comparison of the difference in their styles.

The windows from the gallery looked out on Florence along the river, and the city probably would be recognizable to a Borgia who showed up unexpectedly for work today.  Unfortunately, I will have to get some photos from Tom to insert here, because for some reason, all of mine from this day of walking have gone awol.

By the time we had walked about 10 miles around the Uffizi, strolled around more of the city, just soaking up the atmosphere, and had lunch, we were all about ready to call it quits.

There’s a great deal we still haven’t seen.  Next time, I would visit the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, and spend more time walking the old streets.  Florence, even in September, is crowded, so you might think of planning your visit for the end of the month, or even the beginning of October.