Firenze (5/19/09)

I have a sick and cranky husband on my hands, so I will be writing the post tonight. The both of us are wishing that we had planned our “vacation within a vacation” about 3 days earlier (it won’t start until Thursday in Vernazza). Here is my take on the trip so far - it is AMAZING!!! Even though we are both tired and a little worn, we are very happy that we packed in a much as we have. The small towns, Orvieto, Montalcino, Civita have been exactly what I was hoping I would find in Italy - they are quaint and the locals are friendly - not to mention the delicious food and wine - you feel like they welcome you into their home. The mid-sized towns have been great also. Siena - just splendid, Sorrento - felt like Rehobeth, Capri was breathtaking…

After visiting Florence, I appreciate Rome a lot more. Even though Rome is a large city, it had its small and inviting spots also - Pantheon, Trevi Fountain. We were a bit underwhelmed with Florence. The sky line yesterday was something else, but the city itself seems worn (and not to mention overrun with tour groups). I felt the least safe while walking through the streets and the Duomo needs a good cleaning.

Since John isn’t feeling well (we are hoping it is just allergies), we took it kind of easy today and even fit in a siesta this afternoon. Our reservation at the Accademia was for 8:30, so we got a very early start on the day. I really don’t know what I can say to do The David justice, so I won’t, I am just going to leave it at that (John snuck in 2 pictures before he was told he wasn’t able to take any so you can see for yourself). The few unfinished Michelangelo sculptures were very interesting. As I was looking at The David, I was wondering to myself “How do you get from a slab of marble to THIS”. The prisoners, as they are called, are only partly completed, so they show the chisel marks and the sculpture begins to take shape.

After the Accademia, we took a stroll through San Lorenzo Market to look for a wallet and a pocketbook. I didn’t buy anything yet, that’s tomorrow!! We thought about going to the Duomo, but the line was around the corner with about a dozen tour groups (Rick Steve’s suggested that we wait until late afternoon and he was right). Instead of seeing the Duomo, we toured the Medici Chapel with some of Michelangelo’s sculptures (they are actually part of the Medici family tombs). We walked over to the Covered Market, but their leather prices were more expensive (and we were told you can’t haggle as good). Even though we saw the Ponte Vechio last night, we wanted to see it during the day with all of the “treasure chests” open. It was, again, overrun with crowds, so we decided to have some lunch at the Golden View restaurant. It did have a “golden view” of the Ponte Vechio and the pizza was pretty good. There was some time before our 2:45 reservation at the Uffizi, so we walked over to San Croce, but didn’t go in (and didn’t have time to check out the Leather School).

After we, and a lot of other people were confused by the reservation system at the Uffizi, we finally made our way in. With the help of a Rick Steve’s audio tour, we had a relaxing stroll through the museum.

We made a quick pit stop for some gelato and had a nice siesta before making our way out again for dinner (and more gelato after dinner).

The pictures today are few because most of the places we went to didn’t allow cameras (and we were a bit worried about getting mugged). Overall, we had a busy and rewarding day…we are both looking forward to some much needed sleeping in come Friday.



Buona Sera!