Day 18 – Friday August 27th

Today is day 2 of Florence. We got up early, around 7:00 and walked to breakfast at the café down the street called nabucco – they gave us meal vouchers for one pastry, one sandwich, one coffee and a glass of orange juice. Then we headed south towards Galleria degli Uffizi.On the way we walked by the Duomo again and then ended up in Palazzo Vecchio and in Piazza della Signoria. The Uffizi is U shaped with the bottom of the U South, lying on Fiume Arno (Arno River). On the West side of the Uffizi is Ponte Vecchio – the famous bridge (Old Bridge), lined with shops.
In the 1500’s the Medicis booted out the bridge’s once buthers and tanners and installed the gold and silvers shops still seen today. You can see along the top of the bridge the Medicis’ protected and elevated passageway that led from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi, across Ponte Vecchio and up to the immense Pitti Palace.
After taking 4 hours to walk through Uffizi, we grabbed lunch and then headed down across Ponte Vecchio to Piazza Pitti and the Giardino di Boboli. The woman was rude. She asked Allyson is she was under 25 and Allyson said no, she was 26 but I said I was. She asked for proof, I pulled out my ID and she said no sorry. Allyson paid for her ticket with a 20 – the woman couldn’t make change and seemed appalled that Allyson would ask her to, so Allyson paid for my ticket as well. I went back to see if she could use my international student ID card ISIC and she said ohhh no, sorry only EU citizens get the discount. Like it just felt like we were being discriminated against. We paid 10euro each and headed into the gardens.
They aren’t as well kept, as I would have imagined, a bit wilder than I would assume. We walked through and then sat in Palazzo Pitti, talking about the history. Afterwards, we walked east, grabbed some gelato and hopped in a taxi.
We rode east up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo getting a fantastic look of the city. From there you can view all the sites that Florence has to offer.

We went back to our hotel for a Siesta around 6:00. Around 8:00 we went out for dinner. We ended up just walking back to Mercato Centrale for dinner. We ate at ZaZa’s, which I guess is the sound a bee makes when it stings your butt cheeks – the picture for the restaurant it a little boy with two bee stings on each of his butt cheeks.

They owned the restaurant we ate at last night too, La Mamma’s or whatever. I had ravioli with walnut cream sauce. We drank 2 bottles of Chianti and just hung out and chatted. We’re hoping to sleep in tomorrow, and then climb the Duomo afterwards, but tomorrow is our last day in Florence!