Things to do in Florence

Every time I visit Florence’s Cathedral it is more beautiful than it was last time, the architectural porn that is the Duomo is also rather bloody wonderful to see.

If you don’t mind stairs then I recommend you climb the Duomo to see the spectacular view from the top – even if you do mind stairs I recommend you at least try to climb part of the Duomo to see the ceiling. If you are however scared of small spaces and lots of tourists trying to get past each other in 15th century corridors then maybe it’s not for you…

Uffizi Gallery & David (& Little David)

Like most museums and art galleries the Uffizi starts off really nice; very inspiring, oh look at that sculpture, isn’t that painting sexy? However unless you absolutely love seeing Renaissance art after Renaissance art then after 30 minutes you’ll be bored and praying for the gift shop to be around the corner.

For a 17 ft statue Michelangelo’s David has a rather tiny penis. The original David from the 1500’s used to be in Florence’s main square but he now resides in the Galleria dell’Arccademia di Firenze. Florence is full of replica Davids and David themed souvenirs; if you want a David themed tea towel, you may have one. A David magnet? But of course. What about some David themed underwear? Not a problem. And when I say the souvenirs are David themed, I mean that they are of course souvenirs of David’s genitals. I’ve now written David so much that it looks weird…

Ponte Vecchio

If you like buying gold then the shops on this bridge are for you. But if you don’t like buying gold then this bridge is still for you because it’s pretty and it’s rather lovely to take pictures of. Like most tourist attractions the Ponte Vecchio can get very busy so I recommend going early in the morning or in the late afternoon. If you’re with your partner in Florence then there are parts of the bridge where you can lock a padlock with your initials on – but watch out for the police. It’s definitely a must see when you go to Florence!

Florence Baptistery & Gays

Inside the Baptistery there are lots of gorgeous art and everything Jesus. So naturally I go to kiss Suz and she pulls away from me because she doesn’t want to wind up the other people; this is coming from someone who HATES religion. I never felt uncomfortable holding my girlfriend’s hand around Florence, even though it is obviously a very religious place.

During my first trip me and a few friends from University (gay men friends) decided to go to a gay bar. This gay bar, Crisco Club, said that it was underwear only; so we all started taking off our clothes when the receptionist points at me and says no. (This is not the first time that’s happened). Apparently the underwear only gay bar is, like Gillette, just for men. So the clothes went back on and I made a sheepish dash back to my hotel. Apparently the club is straight friendly but only outside of peak cruising hours.

The next time we went to Italy we went on an interrailing trip to Lake Como, Venice, Rome and Naples and it was awesome!