Today we drove from the outskirts of Florence into the city center. We arrived there at 8:30am and dropped off the people going on the Academia (home of David) excursion. It was 31 euros, and we had opted not do it. With only a few precious hours to explore the city, I told Marc we’d be better off wandering. The tour bus dropped us off close to the Piazza Santa Croce. Barry pointed out a restaurant owned by a friend of his and said it was an excellent place for lunch. Barry gave us a bit of Florentine history, and so we didn’t start out until 9am and had to be back by 1:15pm! Only 4h15m to explore a city that I had allotted 5 days to see on my Italy trip!

We wandered in the direction of the Duomo cathedral, stopping by the Palazzo Vecchio, the outdoor sculpture museum, and the Piazza della Signorina. When I was in Florence, the tower of the Palazzo was under scaffolding, but now the entire facade is covered. And there was scaffolding in the entrance to the open air sculpture museum, so we couldn’t go in! Marc discovered some scrumptious looking tramezzini in the Coronas cafe right off the square. This was the cafe where I had consumed massive quantities of gelato the year before. I don’t remember their sandwiches being so scrummy looking. Then we walked to the Duomo, Alice and Dan accompanying us. There was already a line forming to get inside. We got in line at 9:30 am and it opened at 10am. Marc was a bit peeved about spending 1/2 hour in line, so I told him to go wander and be back in 1/2 hour. But he decided to wait with me, taking pictures from our vantage spot. We spent about 15 min. inside the cathedral. Marc was fascinated by the acoustics! I was glad it wasn’t a disappointment for him after making him wait.

After that, we went back to the Coronas cafe and each had a tramezzini in true Italian fashion, standing at the bar as we ate. They were GOOD. God I love those little sandwiches… Then we wandered to the Uffizzi. The line was huge, as expected, but I was hoping we might be able to get a reservation for noon. Hah. Reservations were being given for the next day! And so, we decided to walk to the Palazzo Pitti, stopping along the Ponte Vecchio to window shop the jewelry boutiques. We were browsing for a potential wedding band for Marc, but they didn’t have very much men’s jewelry.

The day had started out clear, but by the time we got to the Palazzo it was cloudy. Since I had assured Marc that it would not rain and we had both left our coats on the bus, I was worried that it would rain. Nevertheless, we bought our 7 euro tickets to Boboli gardens and began to walk. It was very humid out. There was the cutest gray and white kitty sitting outside the entrance! We ended up seeing three more kitty cats along the way–another gray and white, a tortoiseshell, and a black and white kitty with markings almost exactly like Velvet’s. I just had to pet him, which he appreciated–he was obviously tame. He was so cute! And he liked having his picture taken.

As we started back to the entrance, it began to rain. By the time we made it back to the Palazzo, it was pouring. It was 11:45 and we had to be back in 1.5 hours. We decided to wait 5-10 min to see if it would lessen. After about 2 min of rain-watching, a guy showed up at the entrance, selling umbrellas! Incredible! It was funny because Barry had told us this would happen. I asked the guy how much and he said 5 euros. I would have paid 10, so it was a bargain. We bought one and headed off.

After our long walk through the gardens, we were hungry. We decided to have a nice, leisurely sit-down lunch at Baldovino, the restaurant Barry had suggested. He had said to get there at 11:45 to avoid the huge lunch crowd. We got there at noon, and several of its dining rooms were full, so we were put in a third room with only one other diner. But by the time our meal was over, the room was full! We had calzoni with ham, sausage and mozzarella. They were fabulous! I had a glass of red wine and Marc had a coke. And our bill was only 20.50.

After lunch, we walked back to the Piazza Santa Croce and bought a gelato. By then it was 1pm. The day had been so gray, and as pressed for time as we were, I’m afraid I was a bit snippy at times. I was worried that the weather, the scaffolding and my snippiness had lead to Marc not enjoying his time there. But he said he had a good day. I fed him gelato under our umbrella, on the steps of the Santa Croce church. Then we snuggled until it was time to go. Holding each other under our umbrella, suddenly the rain had become a good thing. I’ll never forget that moment, the buildings lining the square and the feel of his hair under my fingers.

After boarding the tour bus, we made one last, quick stop in Florence at the Piazza Michelangelo, for pictures.

Then we headed for the Italian Lakes district. We got to the hotel late in the evening, and tomorrow we head directly for Switzerland. All we will have of Lake Como are glimpses of it, which is a big disappointment. We chose this itinerary because we thought we would have some time and activities scheduled here. Dinner at the hotel was good since it included a large amount of cheesy, gooey penne. Ciao Italia.

Go on the next part of the journey!