Sept. 25 - My memory of Florence is of artistic sensory overload. From the moment we arrived at the piazza beside the Duomo, it seemed that you couldn’t turn around without finding some new treasure of art history. We followed the Rick Steves audio Renaissance Tour that we downloaded onto the IPod. Thanks to Susie for the earphone splitter, we were able to walk tethered by earphones and hear commentary on some of the famous sites. This helped us focus instead of being completely overwhelmed. We were lucky to beat the crowds into the Duomo and then took the stroll down to the Ponte Vecchio stopping at many amazing sites along the way.
The Ponte Vecchio is such a beautiful bridge, lined with very high end jewellery shops. Not much tourist kitsch there. We lunched on amazing pizza at a contemporary styled restaurant with a view of the Arno River. After lunch I went to look for a store where I bought a beautiful skirt and top on a previous trip. I don’t think the place we ended up in was the same store, but the owner, who has a design brand called Siste’s, delighted in the whole process of showing me how his clothes should be worn – how could I resist buying a skirt, a versatile black sweater and a “design mistake” top, which he sold at discount price?
We had pre-booked tickets for the Ufizzi Gallery, which enabled us to beat the line-up. Using Rick Steves audio guide again, we were able to make some sense of the rich art treasures that fill the gallery. In the evening we stopped for a drink in a lovely piazza beside the Chiesa San Croce. A busker set up with his guitar, harmonica and portable sound system and filled the evening with soulful Italian songs interspersed with mellow Neil Young. Local residents came out to play – one family kicking a soccer ball around, a young girl on her bicycle doing circuits of the square. It was magical, so we stayed for dinner. Since beef is a Tuscan specialty we had the 1 kilo Florentine steak, with a good bottle of Chianti and Espresso to round it out.
The Ponte Vecchio is such a beautiful bridge, lined with very high end jewellery shops. Not much tourist kitsch there. We lunched on amazing pizza at a contemporary styled restaurant with a view of the Arno River. After lunch I went to look for a store where I bought a beautiful skirt and top on a previous trip. I don’t think the place we ended up in was the same store, but the owner, who has a design brand called Siste’s, delighted in the whole process of showing me how his clothes should be worn – how could I resist buying a skirt, a versatile black sweater and a “design mistake” top, which he sold at discount price?
We had pre-booked tickets for the Ufizzi Gallery, which enabled us to beat the line-up. Using Rick Steves audio guide again, we were able to make some sense of the rich art treasures that fill the gallery. In the evening we stopped for a drink in a lovely piazza beside the Chiesa San Croce. A busker set up with his guitar, harmonica and portable sound system and filled the evening with soulful Italian songs interspersed with mellow Neil Young. Local residents came out to play – one family kicking a soccer ball around, a young girl on her bicycle doing circuits of the square. It was magical, so we stayed for dinner. Since beef is a Tuscan specialty we had the 1 kilo Florentine steak, with a good bottle of Chianti and Espresso to round it out.
Glorious Florence
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