Our Italian Honeymoon - Part 2: Florence

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Day 3...The Road to Florence

After an early rise we checked out of our Rome room and headed for the train station. Our coins were thrown in the Trevi, so our safe return was guarenteed. The two hour train ride was enjoyable, with great views of the Tuscan countryside and distant hilltop villages. When we arrived in Florence we headed straight for our hotel (Hotel Andrea) to drop our bags. Being too early to check into our room, we had a glass of Chianti in the lobby, cleaned up a little and headed out for the afternoon.

First stop was Jimmy’s Trattoria for lunch. Our first taste of Tuscan cuisine was great. I had the best bruschetta and mushrooms ever and Susan had a salad, followed by a pizza each. (Italian pizzas are "personal size"...but built for hungry persons!). Dinner was good...must have been as we ended up going back to Jimmy's later that night for supper!

After lunch we headed for the Accademia to see yet another one of Michaelangelo’s great masterpieces, David. To see David up close is remarkable, despite how many times you’ve seen the pictures of it. Tried my damndest to snap a pic of him but got yelled at, and then watched like a hawk until we finally gave up and settled for a magnet and a bookmark in the ever-so-popular gift shop!

We walked down to the Duomo for a look, did a little window shopping and headed back to the hotel to check into our room and get cleaned up for the evening. The room wasn’t the best we stayed in while in Italy, but for the affordable price and good location next to the trains, we were more than content…for now…

That evening we headed back down toward the river Arno, on route for Piazzale Michaelangelo to watch the sunset. After getting totally lost and going way off track (don’t really know how, we had a great map??!!), we eventually found ourselves running up the south bank of the river in fear that we would be too late. Of course we stopped on route to explore the famous Ponte Vecchio a little, and enjoyed the views of the river for a short time.

After the long and tiring jolt and steep climb we finally made it to the top, and being in Europe (God bless Italy), we got a few minutes to relax while enjoying a cold beer purchased from a vendor (God bless you vender guy!). Turned out we actually had a lot of time before the sun actually set, so we snapped about a hundred thousand pictures of Florence from the top of Mike’s Hike.

After walking back down the hill we flagged a cab and headed back towards the hotel, beat and hungry. Jimmy’s pizza hit the spot. Then we hit the bed.

Day 4...Renaissance Art Overload, Sewage Overflowed

Our second day in Florence began with an early rise and continental breakfast (as always in Italy) and a jolt to the Uffizi for an 8:15 reservation. As usual we got there just in time, and headed into the museum, guide book in hand.

What can I say about the Uffizi, one of the most celebrated museums in the world…too many Jesus pictures! We had really hoped (above our actual expectations) that we would find some nice landscapes, impressionist, anything but renaissance paintings, but found just that…renaissance paintings…oh and about a million more bust statues (on top of the 2 million we seen in the Vatican)! Don’t get me wrong…we appreciate art, and we admit we did see a lot of great works in the Uffizi, both paintings and carvings, but after viewing 100,000 crucifixion pictures and another 200,000 Virgin Mary paintings we kind of had enough.

Our jolt through the gallery lasted almost three and a half hours, and by the end we were both glad to get out of there. On the other hand, we don’t regret going there either. Seeing the famous “Birth of Venus” was cool, and there were some great works by all of the original Ninja Turtles, Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Caravaggio, just to name a few.

With hungry bellies and hurtin' feet we headed East to pay our respects to the artist by whom we'd seen so many great works...Michelangelo. His tomb is located in Franciscan church of Santa Croce. When we arrived at the church grounds we found there was an open air market taking place...which quickly took the spotlight (sorry Mike!). We decided we didn't want to pay to go to church, so we took in the market instead. Lots of tastings, chatting with the locals, wine to walk with and a plate of delicious cheese for dinner, we felt we made the right decision.

With our bag of goodies in hand (wine, spices, pesto, etc…lots of great Tuscan treats!) we headed of for our next destination, and climb, Boboli Gardens. We’d seen pictures of the gardens overlooking the city, so we decided to check ‘em out. The gardens are located over the hill on the South Bank of the Arno, just at the end of Ponte Vecchio. This also allowed us to hang around the bridge for a while and window shop…of course with the crazy prices of all the colorful gold, all we did was window shop!

The road up to the gardens proved to be rather steep, and combined with the beautiful weather (i.e. hot sun) it was rather tiring. On route we stumbled across Fort Belvedere, where a man was shouting for us to come and enjoy the FREE view of beautiful Florence or rightfully named Firenze. The fort was pretty cool, and did offer some great views, though not as good as Piazza Michelangelo.

Once we reached the gardens we were a little surprised at the price to get in…don’t remember exactly how much it was, but in Canadian funds it wasn’t cheap! The gardens were pretty nice, but I kind of expected a little more. We crashed in the shade of a tree near the fountain of Neptune and chased around a lizard over a small bottle of wine purchased at the market. Once rested we set down the path towards the Isolotto Fountain and the garden exit where Susan was excited to see fruit trees covered in oranges and lemons (something never seen in Newfoundland…or ever by us). I got into a fight with a statue while Susan got a little too close to another. We exited the park through the old city walls of Firenze and hailed a cab back to the hotel. It must have been 35 degrees, and we had become very tired…a common theme for this trip (as is all our trips to date-and most likely future ones too!).

After some much needed rest we got cleaned up and headed out again. A couple espressos and we were off to find some supper. This would be our last night in Florence for now, though we were scheduled to return for a night on our way back from Venice…more on that in part 4…

We strolled around enjoying the sights and sounds of the town centre and then headed off from the crowds in search of a less touristy place where we could get a real Italian meal at a decent price. We found what was arguably one of the best restaurants (Trattoria) we ate in during our 15 nights in Italy. If I could only remember the name! It was very loud, very busy, and very good!

After we had our fill of food and wine (and I mean FILL!) we headed back out towards the Piazza della Signoria to relax and take in the sounds of Firenze. It was beautiful there at night. Some street musicians were playing guitar and it was echoing throughout the square. Very romantic. When we decided to pack it in and head back to our hotel we got delayed by a street performer. Quite the funny mime/clown/retard show he had going.

When we got back to our hotel we got quite the surprise. The sewage truck was sucking out the…sewage of course…and the smell had made its way throughout the entire hotel. It was like sleeping in a very busy outhouse. Opening the window didn’t help any, as the smell was outside everywhere. Luckily we had a couple of scented travel candles we had brought to heighten the mood…if you know what I’m sayin’…which did seem to help a little! Sometime throughout the night the smell managed to die down, but there was still a trace in the morning. And we were off again!

Good-bye for now Firenze…you are beautiful, but you stink!

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Photos

The Duomo
After leaving the Accademia we headed down the street towards where we believed the Duomo to be. As we left the small street and came into the square the vast size of the church was overwhelming.

Ponte Vecchio
The weirdest, pretty cool but not coolest bridge we've ever seen. (Coolest being Pont Alexander 3 in Paris)

Sunset at Mike's Place
We worked hard for it, but this view from Piazza Michaelangelo was worth the run...and climb.

The market at Santa Croce
You can see the church in the background. We decided not to go in here, although this was our original plan. Really, how different could it be from the thousand other churches we've been in?

Mmm....Beers...Cold Ones!
These really really really hit the spot.

Boboli Gardens
Susan in Boboli

All Bets on the Guy in Color!
If you ask me he looks a little scared...I am kind of bias though!

The Loud, Busy, Great Trattoria!
Our last meal in Florence...this time around

My Favourite Statue in P. Della Signoria
This is a great statue. The detail is amazing!

Twins!
Me posing with David. I got some rather hard looks from some locals, so we snapped this quick pic and I got down from there pretty quick!

Line at Uffizi
Lucky for us we din't need to join this queue...we had pre-booked tickets. Unfortunately no pics from inside the gallery, as no camera were allowed.

Susan and the Boar
Das' a big pig!

Ponte Vecchio
Another view of the "old bridge"

Happy Couple
Us, taken from the centre of the old bridge looking East

Susan's New Man
Hate to break it to you Baby, but he doesn't look too interested!