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Published: June 24th 2008
Front Top of Cathedral
I would need to backup to France to get the whole thing in the picture....Been a busy couple of days, so craming both into this entry...
Yesterday was our day trip back into Florence. We got up at different times (I personally skipped breakfast to catch a little more sleep - Rhiannon did too). Finished collecting the line-dried laundry and packed up for our day in Florence. We got our bus tickets at the Villa office ($1.20 euro each way per person), and the bus stop was only a couple hundred yards from the Villa. We got on the bus without issue, and after the 50 minute trip back to Florence, we ended up right in front of the hotel we stayed at 2 nights ago. Not to worry, we got unloaded and started our excursion to the historic city.
We meandered our way southeast toward the Piazza Signoria and the
Galleria delgi Uffizi (Florence's first Art Museum). On the way we passed through the Facciata del Duomo which contains the famous Cathedral and Dome. Took lots of pictures, and we had a snack at a little sandwich shop on the way. We got to the Uffizi just in time for our 1:15 reservation. Bruce had previously made reservations for tickets which costs a couple
Bus Ride into Florence
About 45 minutes, but air conditioned. Gotta love that Italian driving though... euro more, but bypasses the huge line that was formed outside. We got right in, through the security guards and metal detectors, and viewed this vast museum for a little more than an hour. You could probably spend a week in this museum, as it is massive. The museum primarily contains paintings and sculptures from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and we did see one Michelangelo (the
Doni Tondo). No pictures are allowed inside, but the 4 gift shops that you're forced to go through on your way out sell all kinds of books, souvenirs, and such. We didn't end up getting anything, but did manage to get out.
It was approaching 3:00 now, so we decided we should grab some real food before heading over to our next location. Bruce had researched a restaurant that was supposed to be pretty good, but it was over by the Piaza Croce area, so we had to head due East. We passed several shops, but eventually made it to the Piazza. The restaurant was closed for siesta, and wouldn't open again until well past our departure. There were other places in the area, but it was so hot and Alex (and
The Cathedral of Florence
Dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiora. It's HUGE, so couldn't get a full picture of it. Dome is in the background. all of us) were starting to suffer from heat exhaustion (it was VERY hot and muggy - we later learned that Florence is the hotest and coldest city in Italy because of it's lack of air circulation). We regrouped, and figured the best plan was to head for the Galleria dell' Accademia and try to stay on the better shaded streets on the way. We zig-zag'd our way North, through the older historic part of Florence (many structures dating back centuries), and even while it was hot and muggy, it was still very awe inspiring. We stopped at a little "AIR CONDITIONED" stop along the way, and had a short snack. Alex had fun playing with someone's dog. We continued on, and eventually made it to the Accademia (about 5:00). Our scheduled reservation was for 5:30, but they let us in early (Grazie). The
Galleria dell' Accademia houses a lot of paintings and sculptures from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries (even some earlier works as well), but is best known for housing Michelangelo's "David" (which was moved to this location in 1873, and later underwent some minor restorations. I have to say that I really didn't get what the big deal
was about this statue until I saw it upclose for myself. The more I studied the sculpture the more I "got it" as to just how unique the piece of art really is. You see pictures of it and video of it, but without actually seeing the up close detail, it's hard to describe. One thing that I thought was really strange was not just how he sculpted the perfect form of the human body, but he was able to integrate the grain of the marble to the finest detail (veins in the leg and arm and such). I truely was moved by seeing this piece, and it was totally worth the day in the swealtering heat to get there....
We spent about an hour at the Accademia, and then decided we'd had enough of Florence, and were ready to get back to the Villa (and Alex was more than ready - she'd been great all day, but this was just too much heat and congestion for the little girl). We had 20 minutes to make the 10-15 minute walk back to our bus pickup so we double timed it... We made it back to our bus drop off
a little before the expected 6:30 pickup, but quickly realized that our intended bus didn't pickup at the same location that it dropped us off at. We split up and did some quick recon to determine what the right pickup location was, and within 10 minutes we figured out we were again at a loss as to how their public transit system works. After a little highlighted frustration, we came up with a plan to find the actual bus pickup. Bruce had previously verified with the Villa that the pickup point was the same as the dropoff point, and it was clear that this wasn't the case.
We knew that there was one more pickup at 8:30 (the last one for the night), and I was determined NOT to spend another night in Florence (knowing that we had a comfy Villa awaiting us in the much more relaxed Tuscan countryside). We agreed that Bruce and I would track down (and verify in print - not just some passerby's word-of-mouth) the actual bus pickup location, and the rest would go get a table at a local Pizzaria. Bruce and I determined there were 3 different bus lines working within the
More of the Cathedral
Check out Tyler who's awestruck (lower righthand) city. The ATAF tickets that we had were actually only good for a Chartered Service running on the opposite side of the Train Plaza (a good kilometer away from out dropoff point). Bruce did a great job tracking down the right resources, and we were now on track to take the 8:30pm return trip to Impruneta. We joined the rest of the group back at the Pizzaria, and had a nice dinner before catching our bus back to the Villa. I don't know what it is about this city, but we all seemed to have a hard time getting around. I later concluded that you have to throw logic out the window, and just go with the flow...
We returned to the Villa about 9:30. Some escaped to a quick foot bath in the swimming pool, but we all crashed soon after.
This morning we were up a little later than normal. The girls wanted to get their shopping fix back in Florence, so I agreed to shuttle them back into the city by car, drop them (returning to the Villa), then picking them back up after a few hours. Against my better judgement, I headed back into
the city. With GPS in hand (and only hitting 1 one-way street in the wrong direction), I was able to successfully drop the girls off at the Tornabuoni Chapel (near the Train Station). I made my way back to the Villa (again, only 1 one-way street in the wrong direction), and hit the Co-op (Grocery Store) on my way back. I hung out with Bruce and Alex by the pool, then later had lunch with Tyler, Bruce, and Alex before getting the call to come pickup the girls. I made my way down to our agreed pickup location (this time with no missed one-way streets - WOOOHOOOO), picked up the girls, and easily made it back to the Villa - yeah, I own this town now...
Our first day here we decided to schedule a chartered wine tour of Tuscany and the Chianti region. The tour was scheduled for today (Monday) at 2:30, and while we were running a little late, out tour guide (Carlo) was very understanding. The girls woofed down a little food (I guess shopping makes them hungry - always makes me tired), and them Bruce, Brandee, Charlene, and myself piled into Carlo's van for our
Streets of Florence
Heading south on Via del Calzaioli toward the Piaza della Signoria (and the Uffizi). excusion into the countryside (anything away from Florence is fine with me at this point).
Carlo took us south toward Sienna, and it was a vey cool tour. He took us to little hill-top towns along the way (dating to the 13th and 14th centuries), and was able to mix enough history with local culture to make things interesting. Bruce developed a phoney accent along the way, which only added to the atmosphere. Carlo also took us by a recently (within the last 20 years) discovered ancient burrial ground (atop a mount). The location has been dated to the 7th Century BC, and what I thought was the best part was that it was just open to the public (you could just walk right in, it wasn't protected or fenced off in any way). We also visited one actual winery along the way (Casa Emma) which dates back to the 17th century (as an active winery at it's primary location). We were given a personal tour of the site, and tasted (and bought) some of their very nice wines and olive oil.
Carlo got us back to the Villa by 6:45, and he managed to get us a
reservation at a "local's favorite" restaurant in Impruneta (Il Pruneto). Bruce wanted to bring some of the wine we bought but didn't know the local protocol for bringing your own wine into a restaurant. After some minor bickering in the van, Carlo decided to settle the dispute by calling the restaurant to verify if we could bring our own wine. After a few minutes on the cell phone, Carlo explained to us that we could do this, but only for one bottle, and we he told them it was Bruce's birthday. After explaining the situation to the kids, we were off to the restaurant. This was the first restaurant that served truely authentic Italian meals. The menu was only in Italian, and since our waiter only spoke a little (Umpo) English, we were guessing at what we ordered. The consensus was that we liked the Americanized Italian food more...
We headed back to the town square where we enjoyed a quick Gelato and some late sunset photos before heading back to the Villa for nightfall. Tomorrow we split up. Charlene, Rhiannon, and I head on to Rome (via Train), while Bruce, Brandee, Tyler, and Alex will tour Piza, Lucca,
and Sienna before heading to Rome on Wednesday, then onto Southern Italy...
We've had moments of fun in Italy, but Charlene, Rhiannon, and I agree that Germany and Czech Republic were way more fun.... Maybe Rome will change our minds....
Ciao...
Doug
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Janice
non-member comment
WOW!
What a couple of days, the first day in Florence had me feeling bad for you guys, heat, walking, confusion, nobody's favorite things but the second day had me roaring, Doug, it sounds like you got the better of Florence in the end, I hope Rome is fun. Loved the pictures. Janice