Florence

We arrived in Florence on a rainy Monday afternoon.  I had looked up the best way to get from the train station to our hotel and it looked like taking the bus would be the quickest option.  So, we purchased two tickets for the city bus from a vendor in the train station and went out to find the bus stop.  We got lucky, one came along pretty quickly and we were only left standing in the rain for a few minutes.  When we got to Piazza San Marco we got off and easily found our hotel.  After dropping off our things we headed toward the Duomo to find some lunch.

Since I studied abroad in Florence in 1999 I was curious to see how well I remembered the city, I am happy to say that I still felt pretty familiar with the place.  We picked up some sandwiches at a café on Via Cavour and then walked down the street to the Duomo.  The Duomo in Florence is one of those things that I will never tire of seeing, it will always be beautiful and wonderful and amazing to me, every time I see it.  I walked past it every day on my way to class while I was a student, and seeing it again on this trip brought a huge smile to my face.  Since Charles has never been to Florence, I was excited to see his reaction to seeing the Duomo for the first time.  We decided to go in and explore a little, since we didn’t really have anything planned for the remainder of the afternoon.  After being in the churches in Rome, the simple interior of the Duomo was calming and refreshing.  When we went back outside it was starting to rain a little, so we continued down the street toward Piazza Signoria.  Then, the sky opened up and it started pouring and thundering.  We found a little side street with some construction scaffolding that provided a little shelter and waited there for the rain to let up.  Once the rain seemed to subside a little, we walked on to Piazza Signoria and into Palazzo Vecchio.  We weren’t planning to go to the museum, but since it was still raining, we decided that was the best plan.  

Duomo in Florence

Waiting out the rain

When we emerged from Palazzo Vecchio with a good dose of architecture and Renaissance frescos behind us we were happy to see the rain had stopped.  We found a little café on the piazza where we could sit and have a drink and Charles could work on a painting.  Unfortunately the place we chose was closing early, and so with only half a painting completed we had to move on.  We found a place for dinner on our way back to our hotel and settled in to get some sleep before Charles’ parents arrived in Florence the next morning. Unfortunately, our hotel had a bit of a mosquito problem, which made it somewhat difficult to sleep.  The room was hot, but opening the window let in more blood thirsty bugs, so we had a dilemma.  Luckily, Charles is pretty good at mosquito swatting while we were there.  

Charles the mosquito killer

Tuesday morning we had plans to meet Charles’ parents, Tom and Gwen, who were on a Mediterranean cruise and were stopping through Florence for the day.  We met them at Santa Croce and, since we were already there, decided to stop in the church and see the graves of Michelangelo, Alberti, and Dante.  Next we headed to the Piazza Signoria to see the replica statue of David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.  After all that sight seeing we decided we needed some coffee and a snack before seeing the Ponte Vecchio, so we stopped into a cafe before continuing on.  After the Ponte Vecchio we went to the Duomo to see the Baptistery doors.  Then we went to see the Laurentian Library, which was designed by Michelangelo, where we saw the Magnificent Manuscripts, where are the original books belonging to the three daughters of Lorenzo di Medici.  Charles was especially excited to see the steps up to the library, which he taught about in his art history class.  On our way back to Santa Croce we meandered past Dante Aligheri's house and snapped a few photos.  We made it back to Santa Croce with enough time for a late lunch before Tom and Gwen had to head back to their ship.  The lunch was delicious and made even better followed by gelato!

Santa Croce with Tom and Gwen

Laurentian Library

Gelato

 After saying farewell to Tom and Gwen we decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and headed to Boboli Gardens.  After a long day of being tourists we decided to try a place recommended by Meredith, Charles' sister-in-law, called Ciro and Sons.  The lasagna was wonderful (thanks for the tip Meredith) and we were able to meet one of the owners, Enzo.  

Dinner at Ciro & Sons with Enzo

Our third day in Florence we started our day at the Bargello museum, which holds sculptures by Michelangelo and Donatello.  Since we hadn't yet visited the Uffizi we went there next, ready to battle our way through crowds and tons of Renaissance art.  Surprisingly the crowds weren't too bad and we made our way through pretty quickly, while still appreciating the amazing collection.  Next we decided to walk across the river to Santa Maria del Carmine to see the Brancacci Chapel, another of the highlights from Charles' art history curriculum that he was looking forward to seeing in person.  After seeing the chapel we decided to see another famous work by Masaccio, the Holy Trinity, which is in Santa Maria Novella on the other side of Florence.  We returned to our hotel on museum overload.  We spent the late afternoon taking care of some logistical stuff (trains to Venice, flight to Prague, and hotel reservations).  Charles wanted to paint and I was still working on things online, so we decided on a meeting point and he set off on his own.  Up to this point we have really spent very little time apart, we usually are together at all times and haven't done much venturing out on our own since we don't have cell phones and are in unfamiliar cities.  But, we felt comfortable in Florence, so I met Charles about an hour later at the Mayday Bar.  The Mayday Bar is owned by an Italian man and his American wife, we had a chance to talk with them and really enjoyed our visit.  If you are reading - thank you for the wonderful evening!  

Santa Maria Novella

Painting at Mayday Bar

On our last full day in Florence we started our day at the Academia Museum, which holds the David and other famous works by Michelangelo.  There was also a wonderful exhibit of modern art mixed in, which we really enjoyed.  Afterwards we walked up all the stairs to the top of the Duomo to take in the beautiful view of the city.  We had seen several signs all over the city for an exhibit in the Palazzo Strozzi for an exhibition o Fascist art from the 1930s and since our museum pass got us in free, we decided why not go.  To finish out our day we walked to Piazza Michelangelo, which is across the river on a hill and provides a great place to watch the sunset.  Charles worked on a painting and I enjoyed hanging out and watching the other tourists and the sun sink behind the Boboli Gardens.  

Top of the Duomo

Painting in Piazza Michelangelo

Sunset at Piazza Michelangelo

Sunset behind Boboli Gardens

Friday we had a reservation on the 12:00 train to Venice.  We wanted to go to the Michelangelo museum before we left, so we decided to go right after breakfast.  The website said they opened at 9:30 a.m., it was wrong.  They opened the doors at 10:00 a.m. and we quickly went through and then headed back to collect our bags and walk to the train station.  We arrived at the train station with plenty of time and decided to get a coffee at the cafe while we waited.  Once on the train we settled into our seat for the short 2 hour ride to Venice.  We were hoping for an uneventful train ride, but we weren't so lucky, our train was late, really late...  We were a little over an hour behind schedule.  My favorite part of the train ride was when a phone went off across the aisle from us and the ringtone played Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough," we looked over and it was an old Italian man who acted as if nothing had happened and proceeded to answer the call and start yelling into the phone complaining about the train being late.  We did eventually arrive in Venice and other than being really late and hot and tired, we were happy to have arrived in our next destination.  

Obligatory train station backpack picture

Obligatory train station backpack picture.