Had booked a private tour of Florence with Guiseppe Migliorini from Tuscany Tours, and had to meet him at the train station around 9:30, so needless to say it was an early start. We had set off in perfect timing but didn't get far before we had realised we had a flat tyre, I know! of all the days to get one. Had a bit of a laugh at the spare, it resembled something off a motorbike, and all the instructions in the manual were in Italian (luckily there were great pictures!!)all things considered we did marvelously well. Have to give it to the Italians, 3 cars pulled over to make sure we were ok in the time it took to change it.
Managed to get to Montevarchi on time to catch our train, but no time for coffee.
Guiseppe was waiting for us and was very easy to find, off we set. He took us to see David first in the Galleria dell' Accademia, but on the way took us past a few different buildings and pointed out a few key differences, explaining the architecture of the period, from gothic through to renaissance, to modern renaissance. Was so interesting, and helped answer a lot of questions we had from previous places as well.
Explained a bit of Florence history while we walked and particularly the Medici family. Were so pleased with ourselves when we arrived to the line of people that was spread nearly around the corner. We had reserved tickets so completely jumped the queue, have to say money well spent! Once inside Guiseppe helped explain all about the art also, David was awesome, and it wasn't my first time, but still the same impact...he is a bit hot!!
Next we moved on to the Duomo and Baptistry, which also is a sight to behold. We can highly recommend Guiseppe, he was fantastic and without him we would have been wandering around aimlessly looking at at the beautiful things!!! Knowledge is bliss. I won't bore you with our entire tour, but will say we saw a little of all Florence had to offer, ending at the bridge, with plenty of time left in the afternoon to look at what ever we wished. Armed with a few local tips, we said farewell to Guiseppe and went off in search of caffeine (we all had raging headaches by now...such addicts we are!)and food. Found an awesome little trattoria in some back alley, and had a divine serving of Eggplant parmigiana, and a very nice and very expensive coffee.
After lunch, with a renewed sense of vigor, we had our sights set on Michelangelos' tomb in Santa Croce. It was here our little group parted ways, so I will go on with what Edna and Jo did for the rest of the afternoon. After snapping way too many photos inside the church, we set off in search of our beloved gelati, the day would not be complete without it. Got a little side tracked by the markets, made a few necessary purchases and then found the gelateria Guiseppe had recommended we visit. I have to report the Fig gelati from Corniglia has been booted from it's number 1 spot, as the Fig gelati from Florence kicks butt!! Can't remember the exact name of the place for those who appreciate gelati as much as we do, but it translates to "why not!' in english, and is around the corner from the Piazza dell Republica. Edna was fading fast after walking around the city all morning, but we still had one more thing to accomplish...a photo from the rooftop of the department store in the Piazza. Enter we did, Jo was a gonna as soon as someone sprayed her with the new fragrance from D&G, it was a challenge but we finally made past all the exquisite delights one can find in such places. Upstairs we were rewarded with the best coffee in Tuscany, and the best view of the city that required the least effort (gotta love a good escalator, beats the hell out of stairs even if they are made of marble!!) It was going to be a challenge to make it to our rendezvous point in time, especially as Jo had to be dragged out of the store kicking and screaming....we were only about 8 minutes late, but company wasn't happy as they had just watched a couple of trains depart without us on them.......
Have to say, Florence was every bit as beautiful as I remembered it to be, the only thing I wished we had was more time. I'll be back!
For those of you interested in doing a tour of Tuscany, highly recommend Guiseppe, you can find him on www.florencetour.com
