Journey into the Boot: Florence, so glad to see you again

Finding time this past week to write on my journal became quite hard as our days were long and nights short. We spent little time in the hotel to maximize our time in each city. I finally caught up on the plane ride home. Eleven hours on a plane gave me plenty of time to write, watch two movies and read. But I was not able to post since I had no internet connection. I will post them in the next few days. Thank you to everyone that was following our journey and praying for us. I prayed for all of you and your families as well. God bless you.

Monday, August 15th (afternoon)

Originally, Florence was not part of our itinerary. But since our itinerary was tentative and changing as we went, when we ended up with two free days between Napoli and Rome, we decided to return to Florence, our second favorite city when we came to Italy nine years ago.

I am so glad we made that decision. Florence continues to be my second favorite city in Italy, after Rome. After our morning adventures in the train, we arrived to the hotel without trouble. Our hotel, NH Portarossa Firenze, was very centrally located, just a couple of blocks from Piazza de la Signoria and the Duomo on one side, and a few blocks from Ponte Vecchio on the other side.

We dropped off our luggage, didn't even open it, and went to eat because we were famished. We picked the first place we found right across from our hotel, "Bar Montecristo" and we shared a panini with cheese and prosciutto, and a caprese salad. It was followed by a delicious gelato.

We then went for a walk to begin our exploration of this beautiful city. We had no plans, no reservations, we were free to do and go wherever the road would take us. We headed to the right and the street opened into Piazza de la Republica.

We then took a side street and ended up at Piazza del Duomo. The cathedral gave me the same "wow moment" as it did nine years ago. It is simply magnificent. It is so awe inspiring that Michelangelo used it as his inspiration for the cupola in the Vatican basilica.

The crowd to get in was too large so we decided to leave it for early tomorrow morning. We continued our journey through Firenze and came upon la Galleria dell' Accademia, where the original David by Michelangelo is exhibited. We were surprised that it was empty so we approached it to read the hours and noticed that it's closed on Mondays. The ticket office was open so we decided to book tickets for the following day. As we were leaving, a guard said to us, "the entrance is through here." We asked him, "the entrance? Is it open today? We booked tickets for tomorrow because the sign outside said that you were closed on Mondays." He told us that they were open so we asked if we could change our tickets, and we were able to go in without line or fuzz. This was quite a struck of good luck or "God-incidence" because this place is usually packed. I have a feeling that since all tour guides indicated that this museum is closed on Mondays, most tourists didn't even try it. There were people inside but not the crowds that are normal. Therefore we got to enjoy all the pieces at a leisurely pace. Eventually, we came upon the most famous statue in all its glory and nakedness:

After touring the galleria we decided to return to the hotel to unpack, shower and get ready for a nice hot meal. On our way back, we came upon la Piazza de la Signoria. I remembered this piazza well, except for one giant gold turtle that I did not remember at all.

We later found out that it was part of a Fabre exhibit that is on display in different parts of Florence until October.  This little man is also part of that same exhibit, also on display at Piazza de la Signoria.

We then passed an open air mercato, sort of a flea market, and I had a "deja vu" moment. The image of the golden porcini came back to me. So we went around the mercato and sure enough, we found the famous porcini. Legend has it that if you place a coin inside its mouth and let it slide down and it falls inside a hole on the floor, you will return to Florence. I did not do this on my first visit and I returned to Florence. I didn't do it this time around either. But I did capture him in a picture so hopefully I'll get to return to Florence a third time.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we asked them to find us a restaurant nearby because we just didn't want to go too far by foot or taxi. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant with pretty slow service but delicious food.

Buona notte!!!