Today we had our first full day in Florence. It was a beautiful day - really warm for fall (as long as the sun was out), so we took advantage of the weather and took the two walking tours outlined in our guide book to get reaquainted with the city. Florence is the first city we've been to on this entire trip that we have both been to before, which is nice because it means we don't have to do all of the touristy things. Instead we can just enjoy the city and pretend we live here.
We started out on the side of town where we are staying, called the Oltrarno (the "other" side of the Arno River). We walked all through this side of town past several towers, churches, the Pitti Palace, a public market, and ended up at a main gate to the city which was part of the old medieval wall. This walking tour was a nice treat - we saw parts of the city that we didn't see last time we were here.
We walked over to the other side of the bridge to take the next segment of our tour. The first stop was lunch at another cafeteria style place where we got a lot of really tasty food for a pretty reasonable cost. After lunch we went to the tourist information center to get some information for the time we're going to be here - local language and cooking courses, museum shows, where to buy soccer game tickets, etc. The Florence tourism bureau really has their act together - we got every one of our questions answered without hesitation and they have printed lists of all the local schools and museum shows by month. I really appreciate when others are organized.
Before starting our next tour, we went to check out a big outdoor public market. Word on the street is that the price of leather goods at this market is the best in town, and Mike tried on a few leather jackets. We're going to sleep on it, but you'll likely see him sporting a snazzy new jacket when we get back to New York.
The second walking tour started at the heart of the city at the duomo, which we both agree is pretty magnificent. We visited the associated baptistry (which neither of us remember seeing the inside of before), and then went in to the duomo for a quick tour ('cause we're here). We walked down the main street to see some of the famous Renaissance buildings including some that we haven't noticed before - having the time to really look at buildings and pay attention to things rather than feel rushed to get a lot done during a short vacation makes a big difference. For example, in the main piazza by the Palazzo Vecchio we noticed an information panel that talked about the ancient Roman city that used to exist in Florence. Just outside the famous piazza there was a roman amphitheater!
Afterwards, we walked by the Uffizi Gallery where we had some great views of the Ponte Vecchio, and then walked back towards our apartment. We climbed up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo for good views of the city (Mike's favorite spot in all of Italy) during the sunset and to check out the Church of Miniato al Monte. Both times we've been to this church together there has been some sort of live musical performance - last time the organist was playing, and today the benedictines were having a choral performance. Music playing in a church really changes the whole atmosphere for the better.We hiked down the hill to the apartment, did a little planning for the next few days, and then went to our favorite restaurant. We kept our expectations low, but this was unnecessary. The restaurant was as cozy and the food was as delicious as we remembered. After dinner we took a short walk around the neighborhood but the colder weather sent us home for some hot tea and blogging.
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Cioccolato e Arachidi (peanut butter!)
Aviva - Liquirizia
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