September 23, 2008 – Florence

It’s now Tuesday night and we still don’t have Internet access from our room even though both hotels have said that they have wireless or high speed access. In Rome the hotel provided access only via our television (it was murder to try to read the screen) and here in Florence we purchased a 5 euro card that only seems to work downstairs. I guess we’ll be sending our vacation log when we finally get some decent access (hopefully in Venice tomorrow).Today was all about exploring Florence and Fiesole. We started our day around 8.30 knowing that we had to meet our city tour group at 9am. We opted for a quick breakfast of pastries and juice from a little café as we were still somewhat stuffed from the previous evening’s cooking class. We signed in and got our tour sticker and eventually were led to our double decker bus. Thankfully, the top of the bus was covered as it was cool in the morning (and in the evening now that I think of it). .We started our trek up the Avenue of the Hills (we saw some amazing Villas) towards Piazzale Michelangelo. At the top we enjoyed amazing views of the city and saw a reproduction on Michelangelo’s ‘David’ (the first of three viewings of ‘David’ today). The Avenue of the Hills, while being the playground of the rich and famous also had the distinction of having certain stretches dedicated to Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. We then headed back across the river to the Piazza della Repubblica for our walk to the Duomo. I loved looking at the small eclectic shops, the leather goods stores and the amazing architecture. Our guide was very knowledgeable and kept us engaged. When we arrived at the Duomo she shared with us stories about the competition to create the dome and the bible stories behind each panel on the most popular door of the Baptisery. We then went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia. I couldn’t remember what important work was located at the Accademia but once I turned the corner in to the main hall I was awestruck by Michelangelo’s ‘David’. The statue is breathtaking in person. The gallery allows you to walk around the statue and we were amazed by the detail – the veins in his hand for example. We then visited the musical instrument gallery before seeing ‘David’ one last time. We decided to have pasta for lunch and decided to look for a café on the sidewalk. During our search we ran into friends formerly from Bermuda (now from Ohio). We caught up a bit and then headed back to Piazza della Repubblica to have lunch in the café across from the carousel. After lunch we purchased tickets for the CitySightseeing Firenze bus that covered Florence (Firenze) and Fiesole. The bus was uncovered on the top but the sun was out so we were really comfortable. We plugged in our earphones and listened to commentary and classical music as we drove out of the valley towards Fiesole. The villas on this journey were beautiful as well and we commented that we may have to consider a Tuscan Villa once we secure an Irish cottage and a Boston brownstone!!! Fiesole was lovely – a small town with so much history. We walked up into the hills and enjoyed amazing views of the valley that contains Florence. We saw many olive groves and visited Etruscan tombs and Roman baths. We also visited the archeological zone that contained an amphitheatre and Etruscan, Medieval, Roman and even prehistoric archeological finds. Unfortunately the museum was closed so we were only able to see the amphitheatre and the Roman arches on the hill.The ride back to Florence seemed much faster. We got off at Santa Croche but the church and grounds had closed for the day. We visited a leather merchant and purchased a photo album for our Italy pictures. We then headed to Piazza della Signoria to see the reproduction of Michelangelo’s ‘David’ outside of the church (where the original ‘David’ had resided before being moved) and the original sculpture of the ‘Rape of the Sabine Women’ as we had seen the plaster version at the Accademia. We then walked to the Uffizi and looked at the statues of great Italians. We decided to visit Ponte Vecchio again to explore what styles of jewelry were unique to the region. I was also able to see a florin which was the old currency for Florence in the middle ages.We returned to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We decided to stay close to home and ate at a restaurant on our street. We had the house wine (superb) and local pizzas (I had the Florentine – Florentine salami and roast peppers – while Aidan had the Mercato – ham, 4 cheeses and mushrooms). We then took a walk through the market area where the vendors were selling everything from leather to paper to lace. We then decided to have gelato at Il Triangolo delle Bermude. Since we were from Bermuda, the server called the owner of the store who shared with us why he named it the Bermuda Triangle (he owns three gelato stores in Florence that form a triangle). He was really excited to meet us! I had ice cream while Aidan had sorbet. Now we pack as we’re off to Venice tomorrow!