Florence, Italy
/We left our little villa in rural Italy and steeled ourselves for hordes of tourists in Florence. Our AirBNB was across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and past the Pitti Palace, which made for some picturesque walks each day. The weather was incredibly hot, and we were grateful to have a washing machine and two air conditioners in our apartment.
I'd been to Florence before with my friend Katie in college, but Charles had never been. It was fun to experience everything with him, and interesting to see how much I'd forgotten in the 11 years since I'd visited the city.
The first day we set out to purchase our Firenze Card, a tourist entry card that gets you into 72 different museums for 72 hours. We did some research beforehand and decided that buying the card was worth it so we wouldn't have to stand in line for hours at a time to get into museums. After picking up our card, we visited the Bargello Museum, which is an art museum including works by Michelangelo. For dinner, we took the recommendation of our AirBNB hostess, who told us to visit a place called "Alfredo's" and mention her name for a discount. Amazing!!! I ordered fettuccine Alfredo since it was a specialty, and was not at all disappointed. The food and wine in Italy has been incredible, and we haven't really been mentioning it that much in these posts. But, we have noticed it makes a big difference to use TripAdvisor or local recommendations, as stopping somewhere random seems to be hit or miss.
The next day we visited the famed Uffizi Gallery, which is another art museum. I learned quite a lot by following the Rick Steve's audio tour. We also visited the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is where the famous statue of David resides. We did another Rick Steve's tour through that museum, and then another for a walking tour of the city as the day started to cool off. For me, the walking tours were a highlight because until this trip I've never felt like I fully understood the shifting viewpoints and purposes of art through time. Plus, Rick is delightfully nerdy, which provides some comic relief and helps block out other tourists.
Our final day was spent making the long and sweaty walk up the Duomo dome to take in the views of the city. The Duomo is a masterpiece. I will spare you a history lesson, as most of you have probably already visited. But if you aren't familiar with this incredible cathedral, Google it! It's so huge it's hard to capture in photographs, especially with thousands of other tourists milling around.
We left Florence for Rome! Update soon!
