Greetings from Florence

As you can see from the photo I thought the obligatory pair of shades would secure me some of the Italian's innate sense of style - my excuse for not quite succeeding is that it was pointless to attempt anything approaching glamour, in a city that is a monument to both history and beauty. Florence never disappoints - not even after a 2 hour wait outside the Uffizi Gallery desperate for a glimpse of Boticelli's Birth of Venus and Da Vinci's Annunciation - as always greatly surpassing anything reproduced in text-books or posters.

I was particularly keen to discover what all the fuss was about Michelangelo's statue of David - was it the fact that it represented the triumph of the meek over the mighty, or was it because he was only 26 years of age when he created this magnificent piece? It was all that and more - but probably more specifically because it is a work of breath-taking beauty, alive and yet stone-cold. An Italian woman told me that she remembered the very first time she set eyes upon it at the age of 8, and that she was convinced it was ready to walk beside her. I urge you to go and see if if you're lucky enough to visit Florence - small wonder it was the capital city for a time.

And memorably I visited Fiesole, on the hills overlooking the city - a highlight, and well worth the stomach-churning views from the top deck of the sight-seeing bus.

I took the kids, because I firmly believe that whatever their thoughts on it were, they will serve them well at some point in the future - at least I hope so.

Next week....Manchester...but that's another story.