Firenze (Florence) - July 6-8, 2013

July 6, 2013 - we arrived by train from Vernazza at about noon.  We walked (remember we have evergrowing backpacks) about 15 minutes to our hotel Il Bargellino run by Carmel Coppola (originally from Boston) and her husband John.  What a great little spot!  It is located in a residential area but within walking distance of all the major sights.  It is a small 10 room hotel which appears to be somebody's house in days gone by.  Decorated with antique furniture.  We settled in and then off to Accademia - the famous art museum which holds the world famous statue of David.  You typically need to make reservations for the 2 major museums here (Accademia and Uffizi) as the ticket line is usually hours long but if you buy the Firenze (Florence) card you can bypass the ticket line.  We went to buy the card and found out it had gone up to 72 Euros each (from 50) on July 1.  At 50 Euros, we were still paying a premium to skip the line but at 72 Euros it was too much.  We walked over and stood in line and got in to the museum in about 15 minutes.  Lucky day - cost 11 Euros each.  David is huge - about 20 feet tall.  Pretty neat to see.  The rest of the museum was great as well.  It would sure be helpful if a guy knew more about art before visiting Europe.  We then wandered through the San Lorenzo market and looked at the myriad of leather and other goods as great prices - not buying anything yet though.  Carmel recommended Il Brincello for dinner and it was the best dinner we have had in Europe so far (in my opinion - but I seem to recall saying that a few times before in this blog).  We had a salami and cheese plate for an appetizer and pasta for our first course.  We never made it to the second course because we were too full, but had the best cheesecake ever (really probably the best cheesecake we have ever had period).  Back to the hotel to sit on the huge terrace and relax and blog and Facebook ... got all caught up.  Chatted with a girl from Puerto Rico and then off to bed ... there were probably 10 people out on the terrace.  It was about 30C today.  Up early tomorrow ...

Mounds of Gelato

Front door to Hotel Il Bargellino

July 7, 2013 - Up at 7 am so we could be at Uffizi for 8 am (they open at 8:15 am) to get in line early.  we got there about 8:10 after getting a little lost and got in within 20 minutes - cost 11 Euros each.  The Uffizi has the greatest collection of Italian paintings in the world.  It was great - we saw paintings by Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and others - also great statutes.  Again, some art history would sure come in handy.  We spent a couple of hours in the Uffizi and then walked to the Ponte Vechhio - famous bridge which houses many gold and silver shops.  By the way, a replica of David sits in front of the Palace Vechhio near the Uffizi - we could take a picture of this David.  The story behind the Statue of David was that it actually was started by 2 different artists before Michelangelo was asked to complete it.  And now it is a masterpiece.  It used to sit in the place where the replica now stands but, as the story goes, at some point in history an argument was taking place in the Palace and a desk was thrown out the window in ti broke off David's arm - the statute was then moved.  We wandered around for awhile and then back to the hotel for a nap about noon (remember we were up at 7).  At 2 pm, we went to see the Duomo Cathedral and for a delicious lunch of spaghetti and ravioli.  Through the market again to survey the leather goods and then back to the hotel for some relaxing time on the terrace. 

David

Duomo Cathedral

Duomo Dome

Ponte Vecchio

July 8, 2013 - Slept in until 9 am and then we rushed out the door to catch a 10 am walking tour which was about 20 minutes away.  We got there (overheated as we were hoofing it) to find out it was full.  Really?  Luckily, Jan read about another free walking tour which started at 11 am.  We then had a leisurely breakfast down a backstreet (total cost for 2 of us - 6 Euros) and did the walking tour for a couple of hours.  We started at Santa Maria Novella Church.  The picture below shows the facade with the white, green and red marble.  The tour was very interesting and eventually took us to the Santa Croce area which we would not have otherwise seen - it was great to see the old winding streets, etc.  On the way back we stopped for gelato, chocolate and a sandwich in that order.  Chocolate was from Venchio - a famous shop in Venice and the sandwich was from the famous Mercato Market.  Came back to the hotel for a short break and then off to the San Lorenzo Market to buy some leather purses.  After bargaining for several hours (it seemed like that) we walked away with 4 purses - one for Jan and one for each of the girls - Jan wanted to buy Scott a satchel too, but I put my foot down.  I am sure that no son-in-law of mine would want a satchel!  They were pretty nice though!  Back to the hotel to figure out how we are going to pack 4 purses in our backpacks.  Off to dinner at Il Brincello (again - how can you not go back to somehwhere that provided you with your best meal of the last 2 months).  Outstanding!  Off to Siena tomorrow. Ciao Firenze ... Buongiorno Siena!

Terrace at our hotel

Santa Maria Novella Church

Public Water Fountain