The Grand Tour (Day 15): Florence

Today was our second day in Florence.  What could be better than to open up the window shades and view this?:

Our hotel rate included breakfast at the rooftop restaurant.  Most of the hotel guests were sitting inside a small dining room where they could be served by the hotel dining room staff (drinks, close to food, etc.)  But I asked the host if we could go up a level to the the rooftop terrace and he said yes, but that we wouldn't have any service.   I've said before that I don't really enjoy being waited on because it makes me feel so uncomfortable, and then there is the whole tipping thing.  And to be honest, we really enjoy being by ourselves so much more.  There were a variety of seating options under trellises, or in little nooks here and there, and we basically had our run of the place.  We chose to go up to the very top seating area that was covered by a small terrace and had 360-degree views all around Florence.

Rooftop seating area

Our preferred seating area....all alone.

The hotel didn't have Marshmallow Mateys, but they did have the Italian version of Cocoa Puffs.  Becky thought it was just plain wrong to eat such garbage in a perfect spot like this.

View from our breakfast table to the southern hills of Florence

When we got back to the room, the room had already been made up, so we snapped a few photos.

Room with the stained glass windows.  The french doors opened up to the balcony.  There were wood shutters on both the windows and the doors since it was south facing and it kept the room cooler.

Becky loved this Savonarola renaissance chair and wanted me to take a picture.  I'm glad I did, because there is a follow up story to this chair that I will blog about later.

After eating breakfast and gathering our stuff in our room, we headed out and caught a local bus up to see the Pitti Palace on the southern side of the Arno River.  Pitti Palace was the palace of the Medici rulers of Florence.  It was later occupied and used by Napoleon when he conquered Tuscany so on the interior, it seems more French than Italian.

Front entrance to Pitti Palace.  Not a very welcoming look to the palace!

The back side of Pitti Palace that looks up into the gardens

The start of the gardens just outside the palace and looking up the hill to the Boboli Gardens (a very quintessential Italian Renaissance Garden

In the gardens and looking back toward the palace

Views of the Duomo peeking up from the city below

Fountain in the Boboli Gardens.  There was a prolonged drought and they had stopped watering a lot of the grass, and only a few fountains were running.

I loved the sculpture placed through the garden to lead you down the paths.  The contrast between the dark green and the white marble was very striking.

At the top of the hill in the Boboli Gardens where there was a very french looking garden.  But what I loved were the views looking out onto the surrounding hills with the castle tops, cypress trees and olive groves.  Very beautiful!

Looking down the long path from the top of the Gardens.  I love allees of trees.

And I love arbors on long paths

And I love sculpture framing gateways through the garden and a fountain as a focal point at the far end

If the water had been running, this would have been far more interesting.

I thought Becky looked like one of the beautiful white marble statues, creating a striking contrast against the dark green foliage.

A French parterre garden outside the back of Pitti Palace

An alcove just inside the Pitti Palace.  I could have kicked myself for forgetting that the grotto with copies of Michelangelo's slaves is just to the left of the photo.  And I forgot to go look.

No photos were allowed inside the palace, but they did allow you to take pictures out the windows of the gardens.

After walking through the gardens and the 3 or 4 museums in the Pitti Palace (including displays on American Indians on exhibition in one of the museums), we walked down the hill toward the Arno River and walked over to the Ponte Vecchio to see it in the daylight.

Some of the side streets were so quaint.  Even though most traffic was prohibited from the historic center, you still had to watch out for motorcycles and vespas, as well as authorized taxis which were allowed to wind around these narrow streets.

While we were wandering around, we found toymaker shop with handmade wood toys.  Becky really wanted a picture, so I obliged.

Jewelry store on the Ponte Vecchio

Shoppers on the Ponte Vecchio

Some people shopped for expensive jewelry, we shopped for gelato.

We then caught a local bus to take us up to the Academia Museum where the statue of David is located.  We asked the bus driver to make sure the bus went there, and he nodded.  But then we missed the stop and had to walk from the next stop about a 1/4 mile back to the museum.

You know you are getting close to tourist sites when the crowds get heavier

There was a long line for access into the Academia Museum, but with our Firenze Card, we went to the front of the line and they let us right in.  We had to go through a security screening but it was fairly quick.   No photos were allowed inside the museum, so the following shots are all illegal photos taken with the camera at my waist.

The hallway leading to the David, with Michelangelo's unfinished slave sculptures lining the sides of the hallway on both sides.

They were doing some kind of scientific measurements and had equipment set up behind the statue.  Not sure exactly what they were testing for, though.

There wasn't a lot in the Academia museum besides the David sculpture.  So we wandered around (in some incredibly hot rooms), and kept making our way back to the air-conditioned hallway with the David.  (There were also some modern art displays....one notable work was 4 or 5 pieces of colored paper pasted in a row on the wall.  That's what I call a waste of good paper!)  I am NOT a fan of most modern art.

The front of Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence.  A fairly non-descript building rebuilt after it was destroyed in WWII.

From the front of the train station looking back toward our hotel in the center left.

As the day was getting hotter at mid-afternoon, we stopped by the hotel and took a nap in our air-conditioned room and then later in the afternoon, headed out again toward the Piazza della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio) and the Uffizi Galleries.

David was originally commissioned for the top of the Duomo, but ultimately was placed here outside the Medici government building.  This is a copy of the original in its original display location. (He is positioned so he is looking toward Rome, as a symbolic representation of David (Florence) and Goliath (Rome).)

Alcove adjacent to the Uffizi Gallery where copies of some famous sculpture were scattered around....you know, just to show some art.  This is also the location in "A Room with a View" where she faints and is dragged to the steps.

There was a huge line for entrance into the Uffizi Gallery, but with our Firenze Card, we went to the front and only had to wait a few minutes to get inside.  Although inside only meant dealing with the security system which was a bit chaotic.  We eventually found out that we needed to check our backpack (and that meant taking out valuables, passports, credit cards, etc. from the backpack and stowing them in my cargo pants....a process that I got better at after finding a "system", but was sure a pain in the neck!)

Inside the Uffizi in the Botticelli room, with Botticelli's Birth of Venus painting.  We found that most museums with paintings had air conditioning, but not for rooms with sculpture.  In the Uffizi, there were so many people, that the air conditioning just couldn't keep up, and just about every room was a bit stifling.  (This was an illegal picture at waist height because pictures were banned.)

Ceiling of the hallway in the Uffizi Gallery

Hallways in the Uffizi were lined with sculpture

The covered walkway leads from the Uffizi Gallery (and Palazzo Vecchio), across the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and up to the Pitti Palace....all so the Medici wouldn't have to descend to the level of the common people and they could walk from their home (Pitti) to their offices (Palazzo Vecchio) to go do their governing.

More sculpture along the hallways

The Palazzo Vecchio from a rooftop terrazza of the Uffizi.  I loved the detail of the coats of arms.

We stayed in the Uffizi until it closed at 8 pm, and were literally ushered out the door.  I had to run ahead and make sure we picked up the backpack from the baggage check desk before they closed.  Becky followed up 5-10 min later so she could see a few more of the exhibits.  I kind of wish we had known there were so many additional rooms beyond the main hallways of the Uffizi....we rushed past a lot of very interesting artifacts and paintings that we didn't have time to see.

As we left the Uffizi, we left from a different door than we entered and my sense of direction got a little bit off.  As we headed out, I was positive we were headed toward our hotel.  But in reality, we were headed in the opposite direction.  It wasn't until we happened upon Santa Croce Cathedral that I finally knew where we were...and it was far from our hotel.  I had always wanted to see Santa Croce, but the inside was closed for the day.  It was still fun to see the outside.  The Piazza in front of Santa Croce was set up for the historic meeting of the four different neighborhood teams to play a version of Florentine soccer, but much more like rugby with a lot of physical contact, including elbowing, head butting, etc.  They had just finished the tournament a few days before we got there.

Front facade of Santa Croce

From Santa Croce, our goal was to find a bus stop that would take us back to the train station, but we ended up having to walk several blocks to get to a stop.  As we walked, we passed this duplicate of the beloved Pizza Man in North Ogden.

We were pretty tired, so we made our way back to the hotel to rest.  I ventured back out to pick up pizza (by far the worst we ever had in Italy...it tasted like cardboard), and to get some cash at an ATM so we would have some cash on hand for Rome.  I had to walk about a quarter mile to find an ATM that would take my debit card.  But on my way, I was just so in awe of my surroundings.  Here I was across from the Duomo, built in the 1300s, doing such an ordinary thing as getting some euros out of the ATM.  It just seemed so normal, and yet so fantastic.  We spent some time on our balcony watching the lights on the Duomo, and then went to bed exhausted.