Day 41: Italy just gets better and better - Florence!

We met Paolo at our apartment at 7:30AM for checkout.  Our train was at 8:30, and it was about a ten minute walk, but I like to be early and not risk missing a connection.  There were no hassles with checkout, so we were soon lugging our luggage down the three flights of stairs, and dragging it all up to the train station.

They had a really cheap and nice café shop at the station, which was great after having to pay upwards of 5 euro for coffee!  And they had café ginseng!  For 1.50!!

Our train was a fast train, and left right on time.  The trip was easy and comfortable, but about halfway through it clicked that I’d mucked up the times with our next host Lucia, and told her our Venice departure time instead of our Florence arrival time.  Oops, I felt so bad because it would mean we would be nearly 2 hours later than the time I said we would be. Stupid.  I must be getting tired as I double checked it all the night before and still got it wrong.  That’s the second logistic mistake I’ve made so far on this holiday.
The train sped through the dry Italian country side at 170km/hour or so, and then we came to mountains.  That was the last we saw of anything outside the train for ages.  I mean it was tunnel after tunnel after tunnel.  To be specific, between Bologna and Florence, there is some 73km of tunnels under the Apennines range.  Nine tunnels in total, the longest 18.5 km.  That’s a lot of travelling underground, and very little of Tuscany to see.
We arrived in Florence, and the walk from the station to the apartment was a bit hairy: very narrow streets full of cars, people and construction vehicles trying to squeeze between the cars and people.  What should have been a ten minute walk ended up taking 30 minutes, so we ended up making  poor Lucia wait even longer.
When we finally arrived she was very gracious and did the normal check in bits and pieces and was on her way.
Our apartment is absolutely amazing.  High ceilings, Fillipini Lippi prints, tapestries, damask antique lounge, very period and totally beautiful.
It’s also right across road from The Accademia, with its long queues and crowds chatting away outside while market stalls along the street were selling all sorts of trinkets.

Why so many people?  Crazy stuff

Our street also runs right down to the Duomo.  Um, just wow.  What a building.  I couldn’t fit it all into the photo.  The colours of the many types of marble, and details of carvings and statues was just incredible.
We continued exploring, wandering around the streets arriving at the Loggia dei Lanzi and saw the replica of David, which even though it is not the real one was still awe inspiring.  The other statues in the Loggia are just as enthralling as well.  Especially the Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1545), and the Rape of the Sabine Women.

Continuing on we arrived at the Ponte Vecchio amongst a throbbing tide of tourists.  We walked across, and I rename this bridge the Ponte Bling.  Non-stop jewellery shops selling mostly the same type of jewellery from one end to the other, though the carved cameos were incredible.

Lunch was at a little pizzeria, and was really good.  I asked for Campari, and the waitress had to go and check, for reasons unknown.  But it was all good, and I got it straight up on ice with a juicy slice of orange.  Frutti de mare pizza followed by a media beer, icy cold.  We really liked this restaurant.

Michelle had had enough walking by now, so after the best gelato ever, she returned to the apartment, and I continued exploring.  Visiting the Palazzo Medico Riccardi which had an exhibit on the history of medical care, then grabbing some maps and info from the tourist centre.
Now that I was properly equipped, I visited the Basillica di San Lorenzo, where a protest of sorts was being conducted on the steps.  I entered the cloister and started looking around, and tried to go down to the museum, but got stopped by the guard as I was without ticket. Being too late to buy one, a return visit would be required.
I then walked over to the Santa Maria Novella Basillica, where another protest was going on. I’m starting to see a recurring theme here in Florence.  This one was a group of Nigerians, singing for freedom and peaceful protest.  I think they were singing for the freedom of the Chibok girls that had been recently kidnapped.  Very sad.  A group of police in riot gear had gathered, but they continued their song and protested peacefully.  I decided to continue on, returning to the Duomo and then back to the apartment.
For dinner we went back to the same restaurant we lunched at as they had a wood fired pizza oven, and the other restaurants we’d passed along the way didn’t look any where near as nice.
The same waitress was on and she recognised us with a smile.  Dinner did not disappoint: an Aperol spritz followed by pizza and beer, and some really good tiramisu.
Sitting outside, though very nice, also means constant harassment by hawkers trying to sell stuff.

Fontana del Porcellino Roller Blading Rink

We walked home via the Loggia; seeing the statues there at night is a great atmosphere. Groups of people enjoying the evening, the statues lit up, and buskers playing Italian classics was a great warming experience.  The hawkers are a pain though selling flowers, laser pointers and those stupid flying glowing things.  I’ve come to a city to see the most amazing art and architecture and drink Aperol, Campari and beer.  Not buy stupid laser pointers and blingy flying LED junk.

More pictures of beautiful Florence behind this link.