Tuscan Treasures Tour: Day 6

Tuesday, June 11: Florence

Today was a full day to visit Florence, aka Firenze, the capital city of Tuscany. We had an 8am departure, so Mr. E was kind enough to fetch me some hard boiled eggs and fruit from the restaurant buffet so that I could eat breakfast on the bus and have enough time for my morning workout before heading out for the day. We met up with our local guide at the central Santa Croce cathedral, where the plaza was even more crowded than usual because of the stadium that was set up for the annual historic "football" matches and that took up the majority of the space in the main square. 

We strolled to the Public Palace and the Loggia Del Lanzi with its open-air display of statues (my favorites were the Medusa and the [live] pigeons perched on the lions), passing an impressive fountain of Neptune and a lesser version of the famous David statue along the way. Then we walked by the Uffizi Palace on our way to Ponte Vecchio, the historic old bridge famous for its gold and jewelry that is still packed side-by-side with shops. 

The next part of the tour led us to the Duomo and the Campanile (bell tower) and the Italian Gothic cathedral of St. Mary. The entire city was filled with historic architecture from various eras, and the Palazzo Vecchio with highly decorated interior courtyards was a welcome refuge from the crowds in the other tourist areas. 

Due to limits on the number of people per group for the Acaddemia Art Gallery tour, we split up for this final part of our visit. Mr. E, L, and I were among the folks for the second group, which was actually perfect timing aa it allowed us to have a very welcome pause and refreshments at a cute little cafe across from the gallery. Once we met up with the guide again, she led us through a small section of the Gallery, ending with a viewing of the famous David statue, which really was truly impressive, especially thanks to how it is positioned in its own rotunda with natural light beaming down from the skylight above.

We then had some time on our own to explore. Mr. E and L took a rest in the gift shop while I visited the small section of the Acaddemia that houses a musical instrument museum. Amazing! The museum's collection includes several Stradivarius violins along with some other intricate and complex instruments.

Mr. E and I had contemplated trying to climb the Duomo during our free time but decided that it was a bit too warm and that we likely didn't have enough time, so instead he and L headed back to the Santa Croce square while I did some browsing at the Carrefour Express market in the hopes of finding my favorite chewy fruit candies. No luck with that quest, but I did secure a bag of popcorn and a 3-pack of Lion bars.

Once I rejoined Mr. E and L, I savored an Aperol Spritz and some sorbetto while Mr. E went back to the paper goods store we had seen earlier in the day to secure the Campari poster he'd been seeking. Interestingly, we noticed the fleur de lys symbol everywhere and learned that it represents the city even though we associate it with the French monarchy. Still not entirely sure why... 

As we departed Florence, we made a quick stop at an overlook that provided an amazing panorama of the city.

In the bus on the way back to the hotel, we observed some really unusual cloud formations that looked almost like spaceships.

Dinner was outside in the garden tonight, which was a lovely setting for the evening meal. Unfortunately, the table set-up didn't have enough seats for our entire group, and since P and B weren't about to move (as the Tour Director and her spouse, I think they should have been the ones to make adjustments!), the staff had to seat the trio of M and his family at a separate table. My dinner was grilled fish this evening as a welcome alternative to the fish carpaccio that I'd had on three previous occasions (totally delish, but the option was starting to get repetitive).