A Fabulous Day in Florence

We started the day out today with breakfast in our room followed by a brisk walk in the rain to the Ufizzi Museum. Rick Steeves' guide book warns of long lines at this museum so we walked quickly, passing up large tour groups along the way. When we got there the line was already at the 1+ hour mark so we took our place and waited. Every 20 or 30 minutes the line would move forward 20 or 30 feet. It went like this for about 2 hours until we finally got inside the old pallace, now the museum. Thankfully we had a nice covered area to keep dry under as it continued to rain the whole time we were in line.

We cruised up the stairs past all the huge groups and made our way to the first of many exhibits. There was so much art to see it was hard to take it all in. A few of the highlights in the museum were seeing Botticelli's "Birth of Venus", some Da Venci paintings, Durrer's, Rembrandt's, plus many others. We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum but I tried to shoot some "from the hip" when no one was looking. :)

Finally leaving the museum around 2:00 we quickly found a cute little restaurant near the museum and ordered our lunch -- two pasta dishes with an appitizer of real Italian bruchetta. Mmmmm... The service was a little slow but the food was delicious.

After lunch we wandered around hitting all the interesting places nearby which were listed on our tourist map. Churches, plazas, museums, outdoor markets, etc... Also, today being Sunday, all the churches were holding afternoon mass, so church bells kept ringing off & on throughout the afternoon.

We finally made our way back to the Duomo (the big cathedral) and found a great gelato shop (GROM) specifically recommended by Rick Steves. Italians take their ice cream very seriously, the same way they do their wine, coffee, and food, etc. When you order gelato you are expected to get two different flavors, and it's very important to choose two flavors that "marry well" (just like choosing the right wine to go with your meal). Italians are very aware of this and if you don't know what to get they will give you recommendations. :)

Having been on our feet most of the day we decided to head back to our room and rest for a couple hours before heading back out for supper again. Finally venturing back out again we decided to find a grocery store and stock up on breakfast items and backpack snacks. We happened upon a wonderful new little grocery store one block down with non-tourist prices to boot! Did I mention that we're in a really great location?

On our way back from the grocery store we passed a small chapel advertising a classical music/opera concert later this evening. We took a flyer and came back to our room to eat supper. After a quick bite to eat we changed clothes and headed back over to the chapel and bought two tickets. It was a very intimate concert with only about 15-20 people in the audience, but the music was quite impressive and the concert lasted 1 hour. Where better to hear some good Italian opera than in Italy, right!? :)

After the concert was over we walked back down to the river and out on the bridge, enjoying the cool night air, the beautiful reflections of the city lights on the river and a full moon overhead. Florence at night is a truly magical place... We're beginning to see what everyone else loves about this city.

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