Travel Day to Florence – Day 1 – Our transport car to the train station picked us up around 10:30am. We were at the train station by 11:15 and our train didn’t leave until 1:15. There was a little coffee shop with an empty table so we grabbed it. In addition to specialty coffees, they had some amazing sandwiches and fresh squeezed orange juice. Bob got a large juice that we shared and now I want a juicer. LOL Nothing like it.
The train from Bolzano to Florence was, thankfully, an uneventful three hour ride. We had a packed lunch, courtesy of Stua Catores, which was nice. We did, however, get a rude awakening upon seeing the long taxi line outside of the station. I was impressed that it only took a little over 20 minutes for a ride.
The taxi ride was an eye opening experience. Talk about crowds. Holy Moly. These cars were going down places that didn’t even look like roads – and they were filled with people. LOTS of people. (Welcome to Florence!) It was like parting the Red Sea moving through them. He took us as far as he could get us (it was pretty close), and then unloaded our bags and we carted them to the door where our host met us.
The door to the apartment is located right smack dab in between two restaurants on the Piazza della Signoria (I don’t know what square this is yet). Then … guess what? Two flights of stairs. Sigh. Here was go again. At least it was two and not three, right?
The apartment is beautiful. The huge windows overlooking the square are simply amazing! However, the noise from the crowd in the square was not. And it went on into the night. We picked our bedrooms and unpacked a bit. Since it had been a long day we really weren’t in the exploring mood, so we just went downstairs and had dinner in the restaurant below us. It was nice sitting outside in the breeze, especially as the sun went down and the air cooled off. It started sprinkling as we finished so that was the end of that. LOL Mike and Paddy did end up going back out to take some night photos that turned out beautiful!
Tomorrow is a 9am timed entry to the Uffizi Gallery, so off to bed we go.
Day 2 – I ended up hanging back and having some down time this morning while the others went to the Uffizi. Museums have never been a favorite of mine and my tummy needed some adjustment time. Bob was sending me some photos along the way and I have to admit, I just don’t get the art from that period. Never have, never will.
By the time they returned I was feeling better so we all regrouped and headed out in search of some lunch. Since we had tickets to tour the Pitti Palace and Gardens we found a quaint little family owned/run restaurant across the street. And boy it did not disappoint. We all said it was the best meal we’ve had since we’ve been here. We hope to be back again before leaving Florence.
Pitti Palace – I think we were all a bit underwhelmed with both the palace and the gardens. I was, however, very entertained at watching all the selfies being staged and snapped. Some of them were actually pretty hysterical. And quite a few of them, as Mikey says, “I love me some me!” LOL
By now we were ready for some gelato and managed to find a cafe where we could sit and enjoy all the deliciousness. It was still crowded but nothing like it was when we left for lunch (still way too many people for me).
Ready to just chill for a bit we headed back to the apartment – and the guys were itching to catch a football game. It was nice to have an afternoon for rest and kick back a bit. I did a bit of catching up on journaling and photos.
Later the square had cleared out a lot compared to earlier and it was dinner time so we hit the streets again around 7pm. Walking over towards the duomo was a different experience. The shops were different, it was cooler, the people were sparser and it was an enjoyable stroll. We stopped in a few shops, found some we’ll go back to later and had a wonderful dinner at yet another new spot. We stopped here and there to snap pictures and it was 10pm by the time we were back at the apartment.
We’re still trying to figure out this washer/dryer unit and get some clothes clean. You’d think four adults could handle it wouldn’t you? Apparently not very well.
Day 3 – The guys had a timed ticket to climb the Bell Tower at 9am this morning. Bob wasn’t feeling it when he got up so Mike went on his own. And he got some amazing photos!
We all met Mike by the Duomo around 10:00 and waited (and waited and waited and waited) in line to go into the Duomo. This was the line for ticket holders. The line to get in free – with no tickets – was even longer. It was only 71 but felt much hotter standing in the sun for about 90 minutes. Once we finally entered the Duomo it only took about ten minutes to see. Construction began in the 13th century on this cathedral and took over 100 years to complete. It wasn’t nearly as ornate as most of the other cathedrals we’ve been in – it was really a bit plain. Its age and size is what is so fascinating about it. Hard to believe the detail these artists were able to show. And the size of everything is HUGE! I got dizzy and lightheaded just trying to look up at the painting of the duomo.
We had timed tickets for the crypt at 2:30 but, as we were informed, the time didn’t matter. So down we went to the crypt. Excavation was started about 50 years ago and is still on-going. There are graves of the Medici family, the ruling family of Florence, buried down there. The mosaic floors are incredible. We spent about 20 minutes going through it.
By now we’re all ready for lunch and a drink. We tried to go to the Yellow Bar down the street, but unfortunately it’s closed on Mondays so we had to pick somewhere else. It was nice to sit a while, sip an Aperol Spritz and eat some yummy pasta!
The Leonardo Da Vinci Interactive Museum was right down the street from us and looked like an interesting place to check out. There are tons of wooden models of his inventions, many of which the guest is invited to interact with. There is also a lab or work station where visitors are encouraged to build different designs from scratch. There’s lots of information to read where you can get a glimpse into the mind of a genius.
By now we’re ready to have some downtime so walked back to the apartment for a while. After resting and doing some planning for tomorrow it was time to find a spot for dinner. We decided to stay close by and chose a place across the square called Perseo and had one of the best meals to date. The service was as amazing as the food! Perfect way to end a long day!
Tomorrow is Siena – another long day.
Day 4 (Siena) – Thanks to the location of our apartment (above several restaurants) I started hearing some kind of mixing/kneading noise around 4am this morning. By 6:15 I was done trying to sleep so was up even before my 6:30 alarm. (Gonna be a long day.)
There were many legs to getting to Siena. Now we know the “easy” way – because we’ve done the hard way. Take the train from Florence to Siena and take a taxi from the train station to the town square. Rinse. Repeat in reverse to come back.
It was around 10:30 when we finally arrived at Piazza del Campo and we were ready for a cappuccino and croissant, so we planted at one of the first cafes we came to and ordered. Julia was our lovely (and patient) server who took very good care of us. The cappuccino and croissant both were very good. With yumminess to tide us over until lunch, we walked through the “streets” and ended up at the Duomo. We didn’t purchase tickets in advance so made our way to the end of the line to wait.
The inside was beautiful – much more ornate than the one in Florence. From the stained glass to the mosaic floors there was something to see no matter where your eyes landed. We spent a good hour or more between the chapel, library and crypt.
We did some shopping and site seeing on the way back to the square to find a spot for lunch. There was a little shop filled with some of the most beautiful painted pottery I’ve ever seen. We all found souvenirs that had to come home with us. That was the extent of our shopping.
After lunch we had seen all we needed and grabbed a taxi back to the train station. The “streets” around here are what most people would call an alley filled with tourists and side street cafes. Here? The cars, vans, trucks and people all share the same space. And they are not wide “streets” either. You could be sitting at one of these cafes and a car pass close enough by you that you could reach out and touch it. (But that’s really all the cities in Italy we’ve been in.)
We had nearly 5 miles clocked again so stayed close by for dinner. Rudi’s below us had an all day brunch on the menu which we had not seen since we left home. Every one of us ordered breakfast. LOL I had avocado toast (good), the boys had what we call eggs Benedict (good but not enough) and Paddy ordered a caprese omelet (underwhelmed). Before we could blink Mike had ordered a burger for himself and Bob to split. And theeeen, Mike ordered this amazing cannoli for dessert – and it was amazing. Wow! Rudi’s also makes gelato (two doors down) …. you know where this is going, right? Since Bob and Paddy didn’t eat the cannoli they wanted gelato. So Mikey enjoyed his second dessert of the evening. It did look good, but I passed.
To close out the day we were able to take a horse drawn carriage ride through the “streets” of the city. So much fun! We may have been four adults crammed into a two adult, two kids carriage but we made the best of it.
Tomorrow is a down day for us. Mike and Paddy have tickets to Academia in the morning and may go to Pisa in the afternoon.
Ciao!
Day 5 – Mike and Paddy were up and off pretty early to go see “the David.” Bob and I had a leisurely morning, started a load of laundry and walked down by the Duomo to a little leather shop that had been recommended – he was looking for a belt and a wallet. He found both. We didn’t realize the belts could be sized right there on the spot so that was pretty cool! We grabbed a sandwich to split from the bakery across the street and shared a caprese salad we couldn’t eat from the other night. I put another load of laundry on and had a relaxing day. (Doing laundry here is an adventure – I had hoped to finish up in Rome and go home with mostly clean clothes. If the laundry set up in Rome is like it is here, I’ll just do the rest of mine at home.)
Mike and Paddy got back around 5:30 and boy did they have an adventure to share. Poor Paddy was accosted not once, but twice by two different street artists who lay their prints on the street waiting for someone to accidentally step on one so they can then accuse the person of doing it on purpose and now they have to pay for it. There are so many people that sometimes you simply can’t help but step wrong – or you’re pushed or stumble or whatever. And they know this. The first time it happened the guy rolled up the print, handed it to her and demanded money. When she said she didn’t have any cash he said she can take it – it’s free. When she went to walk off with it he followed and jerked it back from her. The second time was even more vicious and this guy got in her face demanding the money and said, “Don’t F*@K with me!” Absolutely terrifying. When Mike realized what was happening he just grabbed her, looked at the guy, said “Adios” and took off. Both of these events happened right by the Academia. I had read about these things happening but some just blew it off as very rare. Apparently not.
After all that they headed to the train station to go to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and get their obligatory holding the tower up. They got screwed up on the train (so many trains), got screwed up on the gps navigation on the phone (had it on drive instead of walk) and nearly ended up on the interstate. They were so done by the time they got “home.” Dinner and an early night was in order.
Tomorrow we travel to Pienza (Southern Tuscany)!
It's a Wonderful Life! 
Loved this! So much fun to share your journey!!Sent from my iPhoneP
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