DAY 275: Florence holds one of the world's most famous sculptures, Michelangelo's David, which one art critic hailed, "Nor has there ever been seen a pose so fluent, or a gracefulness equal to this, or feet, hands and head so well related to each other with quality, skill and design." I don't know what that guy was talking about; all I focused on was how disproportionately big Dave's head was.

David stands tall -- and totally nude -- in the Accademia museum, which, needless to say, attracts long lines of tourists and art lovers to its entrance. Waiting on line can take up to four hours, but the way to circumvent this is to call ahead for a reservation. I did this the day before and for just a three euro charge I skipped passed the hundreds waiting outside under the hot Tuscan sun to be amongst the hundreds inside the museum (picture above, found off the internet since the "No Pictures" rule was strictly enforced; photo credit: Robert Burke) marvelling at the sublime nature of David and his enormously big head. Seriously, if David was in grammar school in America, do you know how brutally teased by his peers he would be? Never mind that he defeated the giant Goliath, just look at the size of his noggin!

"Hey Dave, your head is so big that when you walk by the sun, there's a solar eclipse."

"Hey Big Head, move out the way, I can't see the screen."

"Why don't you take your lips off and shut up, Mr. Potato Head."

You can imagine how much of target he'd be in a game of dodge ball.

In all seriousness, David did have a big head, sculpted that way purposely as Michelangelo intended it to be viewed from a disproportionate vantage point just beneath it. David has been revered since its creation, serving as a symbol of Florentine pride -- his pose emphasizes his defeat over Goliath not by brutal force, but by graceful intellect and cunning.

Damn, his head is huge!

While the original David stands proudly in the Accademia museum, replicas of him have been made and appear in other places in Florence. A replica is in the Piazza Michelangelo, as well as another outside the Palazzo Vecchio protected for a renovation project. The replicas also have enormous noggins.

THE REST OF THE DAY I wandered around Florence before my night train that evening. I wandered down its quiet streets, passed the Santa Croce church, the synagogue, the reflections in the Arno River (HiRes, 1632x1224), the Renaissance-styled courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio and the other statues in the Piazza della Signoria.

With time to kill I waited the two hours to get into the Uffizi gallery whose insides hold Botticelli's famous Nascita di Venere, known more popularly in English as Birth of Venus. (The "No Pictures" rule wasn't as strictly enforced as in the Accademia, although it didn't matter because the paintings had highly reflective glass over them. I'm sure better photos are on the internet somewhere.) Outside the Uffizi Gallery where the (normal size-headed) statues of Florence's historical heroes like Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo. Raphael, the other namesake of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was nowhere to be seen, possibly under cover for a renovation project.

After a slice of pizza and some homemade gelati at Vivoli's -- who I think rightfully claim having the best ice cream in the world -- I was off on my train to Germany, working on the top bunk of my couchette cabin. I left Florence with memories of seeing David himself, big head and all -- although some souvenir-makers emphasized another big part of David instead.