Florence - Day 2

Wednesday, June 24, 2015
A quick breakfast via hotel and we dash out for the Palazzo Vecchio and the secret passage tour (at least its not climbing).

Arrival at Palazzo Vecchio is five minutes late for us, but our guide is fifteen minutes late (or by Italian time she was on time). I forgive her tardiness because she made up for it with a very good intro to the tour with a comprehensive history of the Palazzo and era period of Florence.

(oh look a secret door)

 

(One of the secret rooms that stored treasures in secret cabinets)

(grand ball room ceiling tiles)

An interesting story told us by our guide was about the ceiling in the grand ball room, each of the painted tiles told the story Florence. It starts with the creation of man and continues until then current day Florence and how history led Florence to be led by Cosimo, It was presented in such a way as to imply that Cosimo was destined to be Florence's leader from the beginning.

(grand ball room)

We sat in the grand ball room after the tour was over to rest from our previous day's hike. Its amazing how sore you body gets climbing over mountains. 

Not as many secret passages as I had expected but the history of Cosimo Meddici was well narrated by our tour guide as well as comprehensive explanation of the secret rooms/passages.

We exit the museum into the court yard and eventually into the plaza where we blend with the mob of tourists and soak in the day.

(the plaza outside the museum, look at them tourists)

We withdrew some cash from Banca Toscana then had lunch at Il Cavallino, a sidewalk cafe on the Palazzo de Signoria. I had some delicious lasagna and Brenda had some healthy food (I'm sure not as good as my lasagna)

 

(doesn't my lasagna look yummy)

(what a beautiful bride I have)

A nice stroll after lunch is always a good idea. We visited Ponte Veccio, a bridge crossing the Arno river. The bridge has shops lining the sides of it, once shops of butchers (tossing remains off the bridge) then shops of gold dealers during the Medecci rule, now they're lined with jewelers. It was in the "guide" book to visit but I'm not sure why, I wasn't too impressed by it, What they failed to mention is that above the shops is a secret, enclosed walkway that Cosimo used to go from his residence to parliament without having to mingle with the public.

(the Arno river)

A little exploring across the Arno river before our next sight, the Uffizi Museum. The Uffizi museum is gigantic and to make it worse it seem like it was on every tour company's itinerary for today. It had some very nice works of art and we tried to appreciate all of it, but after two hours our feet had enough. Gelato would be required!

(the hearing room where public pleas would be heard)

(the massive fresco in the hearing room)

(the chart room: maps of the world from the period, earth really was flat back then)

Where does someone find decent gelato in Florence? We leave the Uffizi museum and get some gelato, small size. We walk another fifty feet, another gelato place, another ten paces, gelato. I haven't found any BAD gelato place yet (I will keep looking). The answer to where someone can find decent gelato, everywhere! The Italians love their gelato and so do the tourist.

We rest our weary feet before going to dinner, a quick check with google fit and we discover that we have walked over five miles today, just above 17, 000 steps. No wonder why our feet are tired.

We had a recommendation for dinner from the Hotel folks. They recommended a place around the corner named Academia Ristorante. We look at the place up on Trip Advisor to read the reviews, the place had good reviews so we decided to try it. We had the mushroom strudel appetizer which was delicious. Brenda had the chicken Parmesan and I had the Florentine steak.The food was delicious and the service was great. I will be adding my review on Trip Advisor.

 

(my meal on the left her meal on the right)

Delicious meal and exhausting day, good night Florence.