Florence & Lucca

Florence - Saturday afternoon/evening

Today we departed San Gimignano and caught the bus to Florence and we were pleased with how easy that was since our Rome to Siena trek wasn't so pleasant.

We arrived in Florence an hour later and selected some sleeping guides through Rick Steve's book for a place to stay that night. We had reservations at the Hilton the next two nights, but since we arrived in Florence a day early, we needed another (cheap) place to stay. We found a little guest house with a cute Italian lady and dropped off our stuff and began the whirl wind tour of Florence.

We came across the market at San Lorenzo, famous for its leather (and sleazy men). Next we found lunch at the recommended Za-Za's which was a busy, happening place out on a plaza where we enjoyed pizza and white wine. With food in our hungry stomachs we walked over to the Duomo for our first sighting. And like everything else in Italy, you don't see the great wonder until you turn the corner and it's right there.

The Duomo is quite gorgeous and covered with people all around. We snapped some photos and walked over to the Campanile to climb Giotto's Tower for a 360 degree view of Florence. More stairs! I did notice that they were getting easy as our trip progressed.

Next we walked across a bridge that gave us a great view of the Ponte Vecchio, the famous and beautiful bridge that only sells gold and silver on it. We continued up the hill to MORE STAIRS and climbed up the Piazzale Michelango for a really amazing view of the whole river and city. Simply wonderful. A large stone staircase sat on the hill overlooking everything with the Duomo jetting out above all else.

We found a great restaurant called Trattoria Marione near St. Maria Novella and enjoyed food, chatting with other tourists, and walking the streets.

We definitely don't feel as "safe" in Florence as we did in Rome and find the men make us feel uncomfortable. There is definitely more diversity and it added to the colorful experience. I am no longer the only blond.

Lucca - Monday

God bless the Hilton Garden Inn. No really. Thank you Matt for allowing us to use your points and stay there for two nights. And for there being twin beds. And that there weren't bugs in our room or weird smells.

We did a day trip to Lucca, a city enclosed by walls that you can bike on. It was so cute and fun to rent cruisers and just pedal along. Florence - Tuesday

Today is museum day. We got the best sleep of our trip last night it was heavenly (and necessary). We enjoyed our free breakfast and then hopped the bus to the train station to walk to the Accademia to see The David sculpture. The highlight was definitely The David - simply exquisite, and The Prisoners. Next we went back to the market and picked up a few goodies, including gifts for ourselves (I got a leather purse) and gifts for others. We wandered by the Ponte Vecchio again and Piazzale Vecchio and had lunch at this little walk-up meat and cheese sandwich place. It was delicious and cheap!! The best places to eat so far have been Rick Steve's recommendations off the beaten path. The more touristy a place looks the worse the food is. Remember that when you travel.

Gelato time again and panna cotta was enjoyed on the stoop of Chanel (yes, I felt like I wasn't worthy to go inside). We went to the Uffizi Gallery and saw the famous Birth of Venus painting which was beautiful. The museum wasn't my favorite and I would only recommend going there if you're really into renaissance art and like huge museums. We walked through rather fast and then perched ourselves at a cafe overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and people-watched for hours and hours. Our sweet waitress kept us food while we drank and chatted until it was time to head back to the hotel. It was a fun day, but we had our fill of Florence and look forward to Cinque Terre.