36 hours in Florence

Months ago, when we were planning this trip, the group expressed a desire to see Florence. Although everyone had been to Italy before, no one, except me, had ever been to Florence. Although we knew that it was probably too little, the group agreed to just one night away from the villa. Carol found us a great hotel deal and was also instrumental in getting us a tour guide. Chiara was a guide that both Carol and Theresa had met on their tour of Italy about five years ago. Carol still had her contact info, so she reached out and managed to secure her services. This turned out to be a wise decision. So, on Thursday morning, October 4, we piled into our Ford and headed off. It was a much nicer day than our first excursion into Tuscany and we made great time. We stopped just outside of Florence at, of all places, a McDonald’s rest stop. Fortified with American coffee and breakfast sandwiches, we headed into the city.

Ray did a great job navigating and, before long, we were in front of the Hotel Rapallo, our base in Florence.  It is a small, family run hotel on the edge of the touristy area. The staff greeted us warmly and, after some initial confusion, we all had rooms. The rooms were comfortable and of a good size for a European city hotel. The hotel also provided a complimentary bottle of Chianti for each room – a very nice touch. They offered to help with dinner reservations, which we had already made. (BTW, We are unanimous in recommending the Hotel Rapallo to anyone visiting Florence.) They gave us maps and water and sent us on our way. 

Florence

We first wanted to get our bearings and find the Accademia where we were to meet Chiara to begin our tour. That was easy enough, then it was time to find lunch. Since we were having a sit down dinner, we opted for lighter fare. We found pizza al taglio and panini near the Piazza San Marco. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed our lunch on a busy Florentine street – it was great for people watching. With still some time to kill before the tour, we walked up to the Piazza del Duomo for our first look at this wonderful building. The façade has been restored recently and it was resplendent in the bright October sun. It truly is an amazing work of architecture. It was now time for our tour.

Duomo

We walked back to the Accademia and Carol spotted Chiara immediately. There were big hugs and smiles as everyone introduced themselves. Having a professional made getting into the Accademia so much easier. Once inside, it became apparent that Chiara was an excellent guide. Not only did she know her stuff, but she also knew how to gauge her audience’s interest level. If she saw it flagging, she moved on. Obviously, Michelangelo and his David were the focal point of our first stop. Chiara did a great job of locating the David not only in the context of Michelangelo’s artistic career, but also in the context of the Renaissance. From the Accademia we returned to the Duomo and the Baptistery.  We moved on from there to the Piazza Signoria and finally to the Ponte Vecchio (selfie stop). It was amazing how fast three hours went! We said goodbye to Chiara and quickly found a nice café in which to rest our feet and enjoy an aperitivo. Carol, Theresa and I took a cozy cab ride back to the hotel, while Mary, Ray and Robert hoofed it. We all managed to find each other at the hotel’s happy hour, which we enjoyed. We reassembled for dinner at a typical Tuscan restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. I thought it was a lovely meal and we had a nice round table to ourselves. Somehow, there do not seem to be any photos of that meal. It had been a long day and I think we were tired. We were all ready for a good night’s sleep.

On the Ponte Vecchio

 The gang seemed to appreciate the breakfast at the hotel, particularly the American style coffee. That got us up and going. Our first stop was the basilica of San Lorenzo and the Laurentian library. I had hoped to take everybody to see the Medici tombs, but I didn’t realize that that was a separate ticket. At any rate, we were ready to move on from a temple of culture to a temple of gastronomy – the Mercato Centrale. Whoever invented the phrase “Like a kid in a candy shop” never met a foodie in a place like this! Everywhere you looked there was some other fabulous food item being set out before you. Since we were eating “in” this night, my sisters suggested that we just bring prepared food home. I guess freshly made ravioli, artichoke and chicken liver spreads, and cheese and bread are prepared foods, right? The calamari skewers almost made the cut, but then it was decided that they would stink up the car. 

Buying "prepared" foods

Thus provisioned, we set out to find Mary some Florentine paper. Unfortunately, the indications given both by Chiara and the internet proved to be a dead end, but we did manage to find something near the San Lorenzo market. So now it was back to the hotel to get our bags and the car for the trip back to Tuoro. On our way out of the city, we stopped at Piazzale Michelangelo to see the view and take our daily selfie.

We traveled down the A1 with the plan of stopping at an AutoGrill for lunch. Google assured us that one was ahead, but it never seemed to materialize until, lo, there it was. We had sandwiches and drinks in this Italian institution. While exiting the A1, we had the misfortune to get in a toll lane behind a car from Switzerland, whose driver appeared to have lost his ticket. I shudder to think about the expletives that were being uttered by the Italian drivers behind us. 

Once off the highway, we had to make one quick stop at our neighborhood Conad supermarket. “The quick stop” was becoming a regular feature of our days. Soon, though, we were all happy to be “home” at the villa following our whirlwind tour of Florence. Everyone got comfortable and relaxed before our “prepared foods” dinner, which turned out to be wonderful. The table was quickly cleared, though.  We had missed our nightly UNO game while in Florence.