Holiday flashback

Queueing isn't something that comes naturally to Kiwis, there aren't enough of us to form a decent example of one.

So naturally I arrived totally unprepared for the Uffizi Gallery. Turns out you have to book online weeks in advance to avoid the dreaded queue, and of course I would have done that if I'd known.

What else should a sketcher do then, for almost 2 hours while waiting to enter one of the worlds most impressive art galleries? Get out the sketchbook of course!

The wait is worth it though, great to see in the flesh so many amazing works only previously seen in books. I took a break after a few hours of intense art ogling to sketch the view over the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio.

Finally a sketch inside our hotel, Hotel Bretagne, just a block or so along the river from the Uffizi. A bit of fluke to find this place at last minute, we were miraculously upgraded to a rather palatial room complete with frescoed ceiling! Apparently once the room of Napoleon's brother, Luigi Bonaparte, King of Holland. A bit like sleeping in a Renaissance museum but with nice helpful staff, it totally made the whole Florence experience.