Day two and last day in Florence. This was a really quick visit. We packed immediately when we got up this morning in order to leave our bags at the hotel until after our Ufuzzi tour. Standard hotel breakfast is still meat, cheese, yogurt, bread and coffee or juice. I’m starting to want some nuts, oatmeal and more vegetables. We have had some nice salads at restaurants. What we do get of course is very fresh.
We strolled back to the river this morning a little way down from the Ponte Vecchio bridge to the Ufuzzi entrance. The crowds are much lighter that early in the morning. I’m not sure how large the museum is but we just did the fourth floor art that took us from to Raphael with the guidance of Rick Steve audio. The art progressed from the focus being on Giotto: Madonna and Child and Fabriano: Adoration of the Magi into the Renaissance and the Botticelli: Birth of Venus. The Medici during the Renaissance period started the self reliant period, stepping away from the protection of the church. You can see it as the art progressed. Later Renaissance from DaVinci, Michelangelo and Raphael returned to Adoration and Holy Family. Raphael’s Madonna painting of Mary with baby John (the baptist) and Jesus depicted such a sweet moment for the three. It was fun to see the colors expand as time progressed!
On the way back for our bags, we grabbed some ‘take away’ sandwiches and stopped at a supermarket for extras like chips and we found more produce. We brought along apples and carrots. This is a big deal to us because we have not found markets with this variety! We arrived early at the train station and decided to hop on the next train to Pisa! Haha! We ended up rushing back off because that train was going to take three hours to get there. Our correct train took us 50 minutes to Pisa. We checked in our bags at daily storage and did the 1 mile walk to the leaning tower! Passing right through this city, we had to do it and take the required holding the tower up photo! It really is worth the view with just a quick few hours stay in Pisa.
One mile back to the train and the kids decided they needed a taste of McDonalds for comfort food although we NEVER eat that at home! J Fortunately our next train was right on time as well. Another 50 minutes to LeSpezia and and then switch to a short 10 min train ride into Riomaggiore. Outside this second train ride, to the east the mountain rage has some incredible high peaks and rocky faces. The view is stunning!
Just a funny note: Just after leaving the Tower, we walked by a row of trash cans and there was a man knocking on the side speaking something over and over. We weren’t sure what to think; it seemed a little strange. A couple of seconds later his co-worker came from the other side of the cans looking back nervously! He stepped out to reveal that he was trying to make her think someone was trapped inside. They laughed and we laughed. It made the walk for us!
This day felt like two or threeJ After three days of rest in Tuscany, we thought we would be fully refreshed. That hasn’t really felt like the case though. Two days into site seeing again and we are wiped out! As with any site seeing trip, it requires some hurry up and wait moments. We have been so fortunate to have on-time trains, catch the correct train and make it to where we need to be. God has gone before us. Diner tonight was served to us just below the kitchen window of our BNB. It was phenomenal! Being right on the water is going to have privileges! The BNB is cut and completely unique. There is a faucet sticking out of the wall and a clay sink on a pedestal on the wall in the sitting area. I’m not sure if water will come out but afraid to try; it looks like it would shoot water at me! The back of the place is wider than the front because of the placement in the hillside. When you walk the tiny narrow streets of this town, there are just doorways and alley everywhere you turn. Each one up or down steps. This will be a fun couple of days!
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