The hotel we are at – the Bernini Palace – is very nice. The room is very plush and the breakfast room this morning was almost like a palace ballroom.
We headed out reasonably early, with Adrienne “drugged up” and headed to the Uffizi Gallery to beat the crowds. We had another audio tour to listen to on our phone however it was a bit muddled in parts as they are doing quite extensive renovations to the museum and many of the pieces have been removed from display or moved to other areas of the gallery. What we did see was very good.
Florence’s Duomo
After the gallery, we headed up to the Pontivecchio Bridge and wandered the shops where Adrienne was able to find some charms – a Colosseum for the start of the trip and a gondola for the end of the trip. We then went to the Galileo Museum and wandered through the fascinating displays of mathematical, scientific and astronomical gadgets through the ages. They even have a couple of Galileo’s fingers on display !
With Adrienne’s drugs wearing off we headed back to the hotel for a break for an hour or so. While we relaxed, Adrienne found Liam was on Facebook at the same time so they “had a chat” for a few minutes. Liam said they were in Athens and were just having lunch – Liam was having calamari which he said was delicious. A few of his group have been sick but luckily he hasn’t so far. It sounds like he is having a great time ! Adrienne managed a few “motherly questions” – are you using sunscreen, are you taking your medication etc – to which she got the normal “yes Mother” response 🙂
Lunch watching the world go by
Off again, we visited the Basillica di Santa Croce, one of the biggest and oldest churches in Florence (built between 1294 and 1443), and is the burial place of some of Italy’s big names – Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Rossini included. Not far away was the Museo Bargello which has been a prison and barracks and now houses a sculpture museum of works of Michelangelo and Donatello.
During our walking around we again came across the cycling track – today the men’s time trial. The Italians were obviously after all the support they could get – at one point there was a group of 8yo school kids lined up along the fence chanting ” Italia, Italia ” as the bikes sped past.
Town Hall
We decided to have a big late lunch so Adrienne could just put her feet up when we went back to the hotel and so sat in a restaurant overlooking Piazza della Signoria which is not far from our hotel. We had (huge) lovely pizza and salad and sat and watched the crowds before our last stop for the day – the Palazzo Vecchio – which dominates the square where we had lunch. It is Florence’s Town Hall and was originally built as the city hall before Duke Cosimo I (of the Medici’s) remodelled it as a palace.
We will just put our feet up this evening as we have an early start tomorrow for our trip to the Cinque Terra.