It was another early morning for us. We were up at 6:00; checked out by 6:30. After our busy hostel, this small hotel felt like a dream. It was clean and cozy. I would definitely stay there again. I was afraid we would miss our train on the mainland (Venezia Mestre Station) at 7:30, so we didn't stop for breakfast. We hopped on the next leaving train and rode about ten minutes to the mainland. We then got some breakfast at one of the little cafes there. Here, you pay for your food and then go over to the food counter and they give you what you paid for.
Our train to Florence (Firenze) was very nice. I think it was brand new. Since we had reserved so far in advance our seats were always the best ones. Can't complain there. We usually had single seats against the window, sitting across from each other, with a large table. The seats in first class cars are a good size too.
The ride to Florence was about 2 hours. We arrived at 9:30 in Firenze Santa Maria Novella Station. Thanks to Rick Steves we knew exactly where to go to store our luggage, which was surprisingly easy to do here-- and didn't cost an arm and a leg either.
We debated buying the Florence Pass at 50 euros each, which would let us skip lines and get us into all the Museums we wanted to see, but we wouldn't have time to see very much and it was going to cost so much extra. We opted to not purchase it.
Following RS's directions, we walked towards the Accademia. Only the way, we passed the Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore). Here she is from the front. Her colors (pink, green, and white marble) and architecture are truly fantastic.
We wanted to see inside, but already the line was long, and we had other things we wanted to see more.
We kept walking until we found the Accademia, the Museum which houses THE David, by Michaelangelo. At first we hopped into line with everyone else who didn't have tickets, but after only a few minutes, Dusty left, and brought back some tickets with reservations for us. He paid about 4 euros extra per ticket. We moved to the line with reservations and only waited about 15 minutes before we got to go in. The lines are horrendous here.
Once inside it isn't hard to find David. But first, as you are walking toward the main dome, you pass more of Michaelangelo's statues. They are unfinished, but still very good. Evidently, he was somewhat of a perfectionist and would abandon works quite frequently when they didn't live up to his expectations. The David is much taller than I expected. They had monitors all around him in the event of an earthquake and such. I didn't think much of it, but it turns out that there was a substantial earthquake in nearby Bologna the day before we arrived! We spent about an hour in this museum before moving on.
This isn't the David from the Museum, but a copy near the Uffizi Gallery. (no photos of the real one are allowed, sorry) The real one is much cleaner.
We continued walking through Florence, soaking it in. We had read (and heard) that GROM was the best place to buy gelato here. They use all organic ingredients that are in season. So, we stopped and purchased some cones. I got lemon and grapefruit. Dusty chose coconut and hazelnut. (I must be sour grapes and Dusty must just be plain nuts. . . . ha ha ha. . . I crack myself up) We ate as we walked along.
And now ensued one of the saddest moments of our entire vacation! My gelato fell off of my cone onto the street! I had hardly eaten any. It was like I was five again, and so so sad that I had lost my gelato. . . From then on I vowed to only purchase this precious stuff in a cup.
The streets in this part of the city were very crowded. It made for a very urban feel.
Crossing through a courtyard, we neared the Palazzo Vecchio. This macho guy is in front.
An upward view of the Palazzo Vecchio.
The courtyard was jam packed-- a pickpocket's dream. Dusty and I were never worried, we had our neck wallets and always kept our hands on our cameras, but I'm sure others were not as careful.
It was time to tour the Uffizi Gallery, the best Museum of Italian art anywhere. We had already read up on how horrible the lines were, but this was the only time I chose not to reserve online in advance, and it bit us badly. I was hesitant to buy before coming because I wasn't sure how the day was going to fall time-wise and I thought we would just buy the Florence Pass. Stupid me. We ended up waiting in line over an hour, which isn't bad as some lines go, but was a killer for us since we were only going to be in Florence for six hours. We ended up feeling that we should just have splurged and bought the Florence Pass-- so learn from our mistake and just do it. You bypass the lines and that is worth the money.
I really enjoyed this Museum a lot. It's a very congested gallery. None of the rooms are very large. Some of my favorites were: Botticelli's Birth of Venus (amazing!), the Rembrandts, the old Medieval alterpieces, the Raphaels, and Michaelangelo's Holy Family. The very famous Venus of Urbino by Titian was there, but I wouldn't consider it one of the faves. Leo Da Vinci's painting was under restoration. We were very bummed. Dusty looked and looked for the sculpture of The Wrestlers, but we could never find it.
From the top of the Uffizi, we had a better view of the Palazzo.
We could also see the tops of the Duomo. Its dome is the first Renaissance one, designed by Brunelleschi, and the model for most domes to come. Apparently when thinking about designing the dome for St. Peter's in Rome, Michelangelo said about the Duomo's dome, "I'll make its sister. . . . bigger, but not more beautiful."
After spending a few hours in the Uffizi, and having a hard time finding the exit, we left and walked into the courtyard under the Palazzo. The tyrant Medicis lived it up pretty good.
We had about an hour before we needed to catch our train. We had never felt so sad to leave a city. With a very unsatisfied feeling, we kept walking to the station. We had hardly even come close to seeing all the great things there were to see!
I have a feeling we will make a great effort to come back to Florence some day. Looking back, I wish I would have left the whole day for Florence and gotten to Rome late that night.
We had no problems collecting our luggage and then we waited for the train. We realized that this was our last train ride; it made us a little sad to think about it. This train was the nicest so far (except for the Thalys at the beginning of the trip). There were cushy leather seats, as many drinks and snacks as we wanted, and seats to ourselves on the side of the train. The high speed trains are the best-- such a great way to travel.
What I want to remember about Florence:
masses of people first time waiting in line the colorful Duomo realizing Italians are loud
Mediterranean style houses gelato grateful Dusty was with me impressive art
many sketch artists
It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to Rome. We arrived at Roma Termini Station about 6:00p. We didn't have far to walk to get to our hotel (Hotel Robinson Rome). We checked in and unloaded. I had been a little worried that we would have problems with at least one hotel reservation, but it never happened. We were lucky! This hotel was the most expensive one of our entire trip (Rome costs a lot), but it was worth it. Originally I had booked us a little bungalow at a Camping Village outside of the city. But I realized, thankfully in advance, that we didn't want to waste our precious time getting back and forth everyday.
Our room was not large, but had lovely mahogany furniture and a nice bathroom.
After a bit, we walked back to the station to get money from an ATM, and possibly buy the Roma Pass, but the TI was just closing. We walked down a few side streets and found a little restauraunt, Il Condor, and got some meals. They were very good. The pasta was simple but yummy, as was the chicken and veggies.
We walked a little further after dinner and stumbled upon the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It was closed but supposedly has wonderful mosaics. We stood for a bit here in the square. It was beginning to rain, and we decided to go back to the hotel instead of doing more walking, and rest for the upcoming days of fun.
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