It was a morning to "sleep in!" Our wake up call was at 6:45 am. Suitcases had to be out at 7:15 am, which was also when breakfast started. I think we're both growing weary of eating cold cuts and cheese for breakfast! The orange juice at this hotel was made from blood oranges, so it was red! We boarded our bus at 8:15 am to leave beautiful Rome. We passed many beautiful fields of sunflowers in bloom. We are fortunate to be seeing all of the sunflowers in bloom. Chiara said they usually bloom a month earlier, but the longer, colder winter delayed them this year. It really adds something special to being in Italy when you look out and see huge fields of sunflowers. We drove out of the Umbria region into Tuscany, and made our first stop at 10:00 am for a restroom break and to have some cappuccino. We re-boarded for a short hour and a half drive to Florence.
After arriving in Florence, we walked for 15 minutes or so to one of the three squares. We visited Peruzzi Leather Shop for a demonstration of gilding, and then we had some free time before meeting our local guide at 2:00 pm. We stopped for lunch at a little trattoria (family owned restaurant) called il Francescano. We had a prosciutto e funghi (prosciutto and mushroom) pizza, and crostini misti (little toasts with different toppings). We also had some red wine. After lunch, we met our local guide for a walking tour of Florence with radios. We walked to the main cathedral, which was very pretty on the outside.
The guide told us the locals don't care for it, and think it's too flashy.
This golden door depicted different Biblical stories.
We visited the other squares, and saw a kind of open-air museum/gallery of sorts with several sculptures. Most of the famous Italian artists and poets have their tombs in one of the churches in Florence. Michelangelo was born in Florence, and his tomb is there.
We saw a couple of gypsies, but they were very well dressed gypsies! We noted that they had very nice shoes!
After our walking tour, we had almost a little too much free time (2 hours) to explore more of Florence on our own. it was over 100 degrees F again today! We walked to the main bridge in Florence, and looked in a Farmacia for some body lotion. We weren't successful.
We poked around in a wine shop (taking advantage of the AC), and eventually made our way back to the meeting spot and some of our tour group members.
We walked back to our bus at 5:00 pm, and we were SO happy to be back in the AC!
We drove around an hour to our hotel, The Minerva Palace, in Montecatini Terme. It was awesome! The room was huge, as was the bed (which was two beds pushed together). There was a lot of room for our suitcases, a very large bathroom, and even a bidet!
We had dinner in the hotel at 7:30 pm. It was one of our best included meals. We had two types of pasta for our first course; penne pasta with tomato sauce, and shells with pesto sauce.
The second course was baked chicken, carrots, and green beans. It was excellent. We had ice cream and cake for dessert.
After dinner, we walked around the hotel for a bit, and then took our MUCH needed showers after being in the 100 degree heat all day!
The guide told us the locals don't care for it, and think it's too flashy.
This golden door depicted different Biblical stories.
We visited the other squares, and saw a kind of open-air museum/gallery of sorts with several sculptures. Most of the famous Italian artists and poets have their tombs in one of the churches in Florence. Michelangelo was born in Florence, and his tomb is there.
We saw a couple of gypsies, but they were very well dressed gypsies! We noted that they had very nice shoes!
After our walking tour, we had almost a little too much free time (2 hours) to explore more of Florence on our own. it was over 100 degrees F again today! We walked to the main bridge in Florence, and looked in a Farmacia for some body lotion. We weren't successful.
We poked around in a wine shop (taking advantage of the AC), and eventually made our way back to the meeting spot and some of our tour group members.
We walked back to our bus at 5:00 pm, and we were SO happy to be back in the AC!
We drove around an hour to our hotel, The Minerva Palace, in Montecatini Terme. It was awesome! The room was huge, as was the bed (which was two beds pushed together). There was a lot of room for our suitcases, a very large bathroom, and even a bidet!
We had dinner in the hotel at 7:30 pm. It was one of our best included meals. We had two types of pasta for our first course; penne pasta with tomato sauce, and shells with pesto sauce.
The second course was baked chicken, carrots, and green beans. It was excellent. We had ice cream and cake for dessert.
After dinner, we walked around the hotel for a bit, and then took our MUCH needed showers after being in the 100 degree heat all day!
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