Blogs from Florence, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 3

Supposed to rain today...back packs all sorted last night...out by 9.30am to Santa Maria Novella Stazione to beat the rain. 161,000 people a day move through the station. Our high speed train at 10:52 took 90mins to Rome....travelling at times 251kms per hour! ?? didn't feel a thing!! Arriving into Roma Termini Stazione we were armed with our prepurchased metro tickets from our last visit so we were straight onto the A Line metro, 4 stops to San Giovanni's 'Re di Roma'. About 8 roads to choose from to find Via Pinerolo...it was of course the only one unamed! Our host was waiting for us. Alessandro greeted us & showed us around. We chatted for about half an hour (he spoke very good English). A great restful night in a quiet neighbourhood. Friday there is a ... read more

And there we were out earlier today....tried to catch a bus to Lucca on our street....that didn't eventuate so moved to our plan B! An adventurous climb for me however a very pretty walk up (emphasis on up!) on slow mode to San Miniato & David's square. The view over Firenze is just magnificant!! San Miniato 1013-18. It has an adjoining Monastery run by the Olivetans since1373. Can hear them chanting prayer. The pavement in photos dates 1207. The Fresco cycle dates 1387 of saint Benedict. The Monks here make Benedictine Liqueurs, honey & herbal teas. Did you know: liqueurs are historical descendants of herbal medicines which were made as early as the 13th century by Monks. Just some sceneic photos today then back down..(emphasis on down) through some Florence streets.... read more

Day 14 : Thursday 19 September 2019 : Florence We were slack, we talked about taking the train to Lucca and also about doing a bike tour from the countryside in Fiesole down into Florence, but we had to work out how to get there. We didn’t do anything so instead we headed off to Piazza Michaelangelo for the views, had a cruisy day, found a great tiny tiny wine bar and then Graham visited the Academia Museum whilst us girls went looking at jewellery. Although it was a good day, kind of feel like we wasted it a little because we didn’t make a decision, won’t make that mistake again, although it really was a nice day. Decide to head back to the Mercato market for dinner, look around at the shops and try the ... read more

We spent our last day in Paris exploring the Luxembourg Gardens and walking the shops in the Latin Quarter. We flew from Paris to Florence Friday evening. We started our day today touring the Boboli Gardens in Florence or as the Italians say Firenze.The Boboli gardens were built by the Medici family grand dukes in the 1600‘s.The gardens are home to a collection of sculptures with some Roman antiquities.We attended mass at the Duomo and toured the cathedral after mass. The Duomo was started during the 13th century and finished in the 19th century Over 600 years to build. The fresco‘s of the last judgement inside the dome painted from 1572 to 1579 are stunning. Finished our day at Mattacena Tuscan enjoying some outstanding pasta. We have come to really appreciate the 2 hour dinners.... read more

Today was another early start day as we left the chaos of Rome for the more peaceful Florence, called Firenza by the locals. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were ready to board the bus by 7:45. Today we began the seating chart rotation, where everyone gets a chance at various seating locations on the bus. We ended up at what the driver called the "pole position", right behind him which gave us a great view out the front window. It didn't take long before the craziness of Rome was behind us. We could visibly see the signs of stress disappear from Anna, our Tour Director. She admitted that she really does breath a sigh of relief when leaving Rome, because as she said, "If anything is going to go wrong on a tour, ... read more