Padma, Nahed, Peter and I were lying under a soothing Tuscan sun after a hearty lunch in the Piazza del Compo in Sienna, Italy. Having our heads to the ground gave us an impressive view of the Torre del Mangia.

The plan was to go and see Michelangelo’s David later in the afternoon in Florence but nobody wanted to budge. ‘We’ve seen pictures of him,’ we all concluded. No need to see him live.

But a policeman changed the mood. He politely informed us that it was prohibited to lie in the piazza. We could only sit. So we got off our bums and decided we still had time to make it to Florence before the Accademia closed. We drove to Florence and arrived an hour before closing. Plenty of time.

We loaded up our apps and let US travel guru Rick Steves guide us on the tour. We turned left and entered a long hall. And there he was at the end of the hall. David is a bigger than life figure in the Bible and Michelangelo certainly sculpted him that way. The statue was much bigger than I imagined. Colossal, in fact at five metres.

We let Rick Steves guide us around as we walked twice around David and saw views from the back and side which we’d never see in photos. We noticed his right hand was grotesquely large and his tendons bulged as gripped the stone he was about to sling. Rick told us to stand at a particular location so we could be the object of David’s gaze. We could see how smooth the sculpted stone was up close. Seeing Michelangelo’s David is an experience you won’t gain from any other media.

The Accademia was closing and everyone headed for the exit but Padma lingered behind and had some one-on-one time with David. I’m sure she lent him some encouragement in his preparation of his fatal sling. We all thanked that policeman in Sienna for getting us off our bums.