Wednesday, 21 May
On our own today, so went to the Uffizi Gallery, built in the 16th century by Cosimo 1 de’ Medici as magistrate offices (Uffizi means offices). But he also wanted a place to house his amassed art collection, so art has been stored here for centuries. No photos allowed here either. However, we saw many works by da Vinci, Michelangelo (The Holy Family), Botticelli (Birth of Venus), Raffaela, etc. We spent about 2.5 hours in here. Well worth the hassle it took to get us there.
We had been told by our host to take the C3 bus into town. It (supposedly) runs every 10 minutes. 50 minutes later.... we decided to walk into town along the Arno river. So much for getting to the museum when it opened. Also had been told that your wait would be 2 or 3 hours or more to get in if you did not book way in advance or with the tour group. Tour group cost - 39 euros each. At 9:10 we went to the ticket office that takes reservations for 10.5 euros. The time on our ticket said 9:30, so we were let in at that time. Total wait time was 20 mins.
Lunch was next: pizza and wine at a sandwich shop. Then on to Ponte Vecchio, a group of shops that have been built on the old bridge. They are all jewelry shops - lots of sparkle here!
Our gelato stop was in a chocolate shop. We resisted all of the temptations except the gelato!
No problem catching the bus back to the hotel. After a nap, had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Excellent! I had the Spaghetti with Spicy Lobster for 16 euros. I was expecting small bits of lobster in the sauce, but here is what I got!
Off to Venice on the train tomorrow. Here are some random photos. A domani!
 |
| Arno Rier |
 |
| Enlarge and you will see the man in the doorway. He is moving motorcycles closer together so he can get his in! |
 |
| Ponte Vecchio. |
The weather looks beautiful!
ReplyDelete