Picking up where we left off, day three in Florence was another painfully early alarm ready to head to the Uffizi before the crowds hit. By this point I was already done with medieval paintings of Mary and Jesus so I whipped through the first few galleries and headed to the Botticelli.
The Uffizi is an amazing collection of art through the centuries, and you could easily spend a whole week there and only skim the surface. But by 2pm, my feet hurt. A lot. So we headed for some sandwiches which we ate outside Palazzo Vecchio, which apparently the Mayor of Florence says you're no longer allowed to do.
After eating our sandwiches, the biggest sandwiches ever filled with more truffle than I've ever seen before, we popped into Palazzo Vecchio as it was closing early that day. This place is huge, maze-like, and every single room has a magnificent ceiling, walls covered in enormous paintings and beautiful, ornate furniture. If you're already semi-saturated from any of the other galleries, save Palazzo Vecchio for another day.
Post-Palazzo we visited Gelateria Dei Neri for massive scoops of yet more gelato and then Sam dragged me and my aching feet to Museo Galileo. There were some amazing, magnificent historical items in there, but I was completely exhausted so I spent about 50% of my time there moving from bench to bench.
After the Museum Galileo, we headed across the river to somewhere we'd heard a lot about, Signorvino. Originally a wine shop on the south side of the river, Signorvino now has tables and a balcony where you can pick a bottle of wine from the shelves and eat it along with platters of meats, cheeses and bread. They don't take table reservations so getting a table on the much-desired balcony, looking out at the Ponte Vecchio, is a game of chance and patience. My aching feet meant I was more than happy to take an indoor table next to a window instead.
The wine I had there was definitely in my top 10 white wines I've ever had. It was €17 a bottle and because I am an absolute moron, I didn't buy any. And many months later I'm still trying to get hold of a bottle for less than €50. Take my advice, buy the wine.
After dinner we walked back to our apartment via the Porcellino so that I could force Sam to rub its nose, surrounded by crowds of tour groups. We stopped on the steps of Basilica San Lorenzo and bought a beer each from the nearby shop - you'll pay a small fortune for the privilege but it's a lovely place to sit and watch the evening crowds walk past.
The next morning we were up slightly later and headed to the Giardini di Boboli, a park that backs on to the Palazzo Pitti. As our entry ticket included access to the Palazzo we decided to have a wander through there first. An hour later, when I was lost and trapped in a maze of enormous rooms, each one filled with intricate, beautiful art, I had a mini meltdown. Standing in the corner of one room silently crying out for help to escape and get out into the gardens. If you're already over-saturated with art, don't look at any more.
The gardens were absolutely beautiful. But word of warning, there is no cafe out in the gardens, only in the Palazzo itself. The Kaffehaus on the map is an empty building. Don't walk around in the blistering heat looking for somewhere to buy a drink like we did, you won't find anywhere. And the pretty pink building at the top of the hill is a ceramic museum - also not a cafe.
After exhausting ourselves and our tired feet once again, and when the rain arrived, we left the gardens and ate a huge bowl of pasta each outside Santo Spirito, on a table with some Americans who thought everything was the most amazing thing they'd ever eaten. Really.
We wandered back to our apartment, via a trainer shop for Sam to get some shoes for his poor feet, and got changed for the evening. We had tickets to climb Brunelleschi's dome, which caps the enormous cathedral, so a brief rest first was very necessary.
To climb the dome, you spiral up through the walls along a narrow corridor. At a brief moment the path emerges onto a walkway high up in the dome inside the cathedral, where the ceiling's vast paintings come into focus. We were lucky enough to be there when the organist was practising. They played the Harry Potter theme tune, of course.
After squeezing through the narrow corridors, climbing between the two skins of the dome, you emerge onto the very top. The view is staggering. Beautiful. Vast.
Dinner was some good Tuscan bistecca and truffle chips from Trattoria ZaZa, a few doors away from our apartment. We're still talking about how it was the best steak we've ever had. I'm planning a weekend return visit just to eat it again.
For our last morning, we headed up to Piazzale Michelangelo to take in the views, stumbling along a beautiful rose garden along the way. We spent several hours up there, looking at the view and, obviously, eating more gelato.
After our very hot morning up on the Piazzale, Sam went off to a Da Vinci museum and I wandered the streets in the sun. I took a seat in the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella to people watch for a while, wandered past Dante's house and stared forlornly into the Gucci shops.
For our last evening, we wandered the market stalls outside the Mercato Centrale where I bought a leather notebook and a silk scarf with the biggest 'Firenze' logo I could find, and headed to Trattoria Vecchio Mercato for huge bowls of pasta and a delicious bottle of Montalcino before packing up ready to leave Florence in the morning and head north on the train.
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