Florence Day 2

October3 Florence (Firencze), Day 2

I had no idea of the time when I awoke due to the fact that my watch stopped sometime during the night. Before it stopped it somehow reset itself to 00:00. However, when one is "retired and on the road" the time of day is only significant if it is check out time or check in time. We have been eating when we are hungry, sleeping when we are tired and stopping when we have reached our destination. Gracie has a clock on her dash and so when we did depart for our second climb down the hill to Florence we saw that it was around 9.

We walked towards the Piazza di Santa Croce to visit the market and the Basillica di Santa Croce where the tombs of famous Italians pave the floor. Seeing the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Donatello's "The Annunciation" was well worth the 5 Euro we paid to get in. The basilica is very old and has some other very precious artifacts, including a robe belinging to St. Francis of Assisi and a piece of wood (which we could not find) that is said to be from "The Cross". A special bonus was a leather school at the back of the church. Here we saw craftspeople making beautiful bags, belts and other leather goods.

We enjoyed strolling through the market but decided to find a less touristy place for lunch. We walked away from the touristy area and found a "real" pizzeria. I know it was real because there were only Italians eating there. The pizza was fantastic...sold by the kg and 8,60 Euro bought lunch for two.

The Ponte Vecchio bridge is well know for its shops...all of which are jewellers. Originally, the bridge was a fish market but the Medici's didn't like the smell and so kicked the fish mongers out and ordered the jewellers to set up shop there. Indeed, there is some fine jewelry on the bridge and for some shops, one must ring a bell and then be invited in to make a purchase. The window shopping and people watching was fun but needless to say, I did not replace my watch here.

After climbing the hill back to the Piazzale Michelangelo, I rewarded myself with an espresso while Michelle had a chocolate hazelnut gelato. We will finish off the day by doing laundry and planning our drive tomorrow to San Gimignano and Siena.

Florence is full of some of the finest art in the world, easy to explore, safe, friendly and without a doubt, memorable.