Another slow morning for us – plenty of time for the gym, shower and breakfast in Pinnacle before our 9:30 tour meeting. Today is Florence on your own – and for the life of us we cannot figure out why they are waiting until 9:30am to leave. Our port call is from 8am to 8pm, so, of course, in our minds, we should have left by 8:30. Depending upon traffic, it can take over 2 hours to get to Florence. But nope. 9:30 is our appointed time.
We wouldn’t be too concerned, except we won’t know how much time we will actually have in Florence until we are on the bus, and we have prebooked Uffizi tickets for 2pm. The tickets can’t be changed – I already contacted the gallery to ask – but we might be able to get in earlier, just not through the preferred line (maybe) and no guaranteed entry. Time will tell.
We hit the theater, now knowing the drill, sat in seats closest to the exit, amusing ourselves with people’s behavior, trying to sneak out early (not happening), trying to jump the line by standing by the wall near the exit (again, not happening – ShoreX now has “guards” standing there shooing people away) until our tour is called. Out to the bus we go (there are people already here – how does that happen?) grabbing decent seats with a full window and waiting for the rest of the slow pokes to finally get here – including the woman in the wheelchair (huh? Really?). Sigh.
Finally, we are off on what ends up being a pretty quick and amusing journey into Florence. Our guide is an absolute hoot. Over the 90 minute ride, he regales us with Tuscan history, Italian lessons (how to say bruschetta) and Italian overall history, a Mafia discussion about how they speak a different language than the rest of Italians, why Pecorino was named (sheep is pecora, thus sheep’s cheese), who the Medici were – bankers – why there is a Jewish influence in Florence – to handle money. And so much more. The best line he had after every explanation of anything was, “it was invented in Tuscany!!” By the time we arrived, we understood that Everything was invented in Tuscany!!!
Once in the city, we actually ended up having 5 ½ hours to spend exploring. Perfect! First, we are forced to go to the leather shop – because that is where we will meet to walk to the bus at the end of the day – but also a bonus because we can go to the bathroom. The Guide (can’t remember his name) fast marched us over to the Piazza di Santa Croce where we would meet later – being yelled at in the process by the husband of the aforementioned wheelchair lady because she was 2 blocks behind – hit the restroom and then we were off! Loads of time to wander and explore – and that is exactly what we did.
Out into the massively overcrowded town we went – heading toward the Duomo – with the Piazza della Signoria clock tower looming above us – arriving at the Piazza del Duomo in the back, for incredible external views of the part of the building that holds the Sacristy. Also passing the Kor17 pair of statues by Emanuele Giannelli that are said to be questioning the relationship between technology and humanity (note the virtual reality headsets they have on). Sort of scary looking actually, placed in front of the headquarters of the Tuscany regional government, staring out toward the Duomo. Weird.
Moving on, we circumnavigate the entire cathedral, marveling at the incredible stonework and carvings. The Duomo will always be stunning, no matter what time of day, year or condition (not as much scaffolding today as during our last visit).
Reaching the Baptistry of St. John, and all the crowds, we turn for our view of the front façade of the Duomo, sparkling in the midday sun, then move away from the masses, backtracking through Piazza della Signoria on our way back to Santa Croce for a little restaurant we had spied at the beginning of our walk, Note di Vino or NdV (Notes of Wine – perfect for me!), that advertised porchetta.
By the time we returned, all outside tables were full, but the sweet waitress brought us inside and sat us at a cute little 2-top right across from the glass deli case with all the meats and cheeses. It is the cutest little place, emphasis on little, with a fun atmosphere which we enjoyed as we sat and sipped on our lunch beverages of wine (of course) and beer alla spina. Just as our shared sandwiches – a huge porchetta panini and a spicy salami with artichoke cream (yum!) – arrived, a table opened up outside. The waiter actual came and got us and the food to re-seat us outside on the sidewalk with a view of the Santa Croce Cathedral in the square. Fantastic.
Lunch finished, it is still too early to go to the Uffizi, so we just meander about, heading in the general direction of the museum, once again through Piazza della Signoria with the interesting Golden statue of a biracial women looking at her smartphone (commentary on today’s society perhaps?), making our way alongside the river to the Ponte Santa Trinita with a perfect view of Ponte Vecchio across the water.
Once on the other side of the Arno, we just sort of wander with no particular destination in mind, snapping photos of the carvings on buildings before catching site of our next destination: Edoardo il gelato Biological. How could we resist! Two cups of Ed’s delicious gelato later, we are more than happy and ready to head to the Uffizi – timing be damned!
Weaving our way through the throngs on Ponte Vecchio, we stumble upon the Albero della Pace (Tree of Peace), a beautiful sculpture created by Andrea Roggi to commemorate the victims of the 1993 Mafia massacre that occurred there. A few moments later we are in the Piazzale degli Uffizi, walking right up to the priority ticket line and entering into the galleries without so much as a 2nd look. Even though we are almost an hour early!
So, notes on the Uffizi: Timing meant nothing. Anyone with a timed reserved ticket could walk in when we did. Backpack/bag/liquids rule meant even less. I had specifically not brought my backpack or water because the Uffizi website states quite clearly that packs and liquids are not allowed. Ha! People had huge hiker packs!! We saw a couple folks with 2L bottles of water!!! Nobody stopped anybody! Sheesh. Ah well – Bella Italia! What can you do?
You can let the wandering commence! Even with all the crowds, we managed to visit every floor of the Uffizi and each of the 94 rooms containing who knows how many pieces of precious artwork. Spanning 139,000 square feet, the museum building itself is a piece of art – with incredible frescoed domed ceilings and gorgeous floor tiles. It can be totally overwhelming – gorgeous – but overwhelming nonetheless. Not to diminish one of the most important art galleries in the world, but it is just too much to cover in detail here. So, what you have below you is a rapid overview of the things we liked best in the Uffizi – Stevens speed style!
The Botticelli room. The DaVinci Baptism of Christ (minus the huge crowds that convened in front of the painting, which I snuck around to get the shot!). Medusa & Bacchus by Caravaggio – one of our favorite artists, because he is just so graphic and odd.
Weird paintings – like the man and the monkey. A whole room of self-portraits – Valazquez, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, you name the artist – he was there. Great views across Florence (including the every present Uffizi expansion crane – which btw – was finally taken down in June after 20 years) from the 2nd floor windows.
Random statues everywhere. Various and a sundry amazing paintings – too much to chronicle individually, so feast your eyes on these selections.
Amazing. We spent over 2 hours just wandering along the “suggested” routes trying to take everything in. Time just flew…and then we were done … with still more than 2 hours before we had to return to Santa Croce to meet our bus mates. Here again, wandering pays off as we managed to stumble on the Museo Galileo – a fantastic science museum with over 1,000 scientific instruments that chronicle the collections and scientific research carried out by the Medici family, and then the Grand Dukes of Lorraine.
We spent a very enjoyable hour or so just wandering through all these incredible ancient solar clocks and telescopes and globes. Not to mention Thomas Edison’s original phonograph that he sent as a gift to his Florentine friend, E.P. Fabbri. The science from the 17th and 18thC is just amazing.
As is the middle finger of Galileo’s right hand that is preserved in a glass and gold case near his bust. Um. Eek.
Great museum find – perfect way to spend an extra hour in Florence. And we still have enough time for a last drink at NdV – our lunch restaurant – perfectly positioned a few minutes walk from our meeting spot, and a great atmosphere on the sidewalk watching the tourists pass us by with the Santa Croce church in the background. Fabulous time waster.
As is the 15 minutes or so we spend taking pictures of Santa Croce and the Dante statue as we wait to collect everyone for the bus.
Once they’ve all arrived, we hit the sidewalks, fast walking to the bus where, fortunately, the wheelchair lady is already safely ensconced inside. We grab out seats – thankfully we left stuff there when we arrived. There is NO bus seat protocol on this bus! People! Same seats. Please! Anyhow…we’re good, we have our seats, we’re happy, we read and edit photos all the way back. Once back aboard, we hit the buffet – it’s almost 7pm, it’s a gorgeous night, why not? Aft pool deck, salad and noshies, and we are back on our balcony watching a beautiful sunset and sail out from Livorno.
Andiamo 