I call this Part I because I’m assuming there will be a Part II.

So far, I think that Florence is a lot more fun than Rome. It’s much easier to get around the city at the very least.

So, yesterday morning we got on a train for Florence. Without realizing it, we had gotten a ticket for a Eurostar train, a significantly nicer, faster, non-stop ride that also included a drink service (which I thought was wonderful, because I’ve been really thirsty on almost the whole trip).

Oh! Speaking of drinks, I have a quick aside. I have no pity anymore for people who drink coffee at Starbucks and complain about the cost (including me). We’ve actually paid €4 for a cappuccino, and €2.50 for a half liter of water.

Back to the train. We got to Florence rather uneventfully and, after picking up a map of the city, made our way to our hotel, which is actually a B&B.

Here’s the weird thing about Florence: there are red and blue (or black) street numbers, red marking businesses and blue marking residences. Both are assigned sequentially, but are not connected at all. Since we figured we were looking for a hotel, we were looking for red numbers, but the B&B was in an apartment-type building, so it turned out to be a blue number. We only realized this after we walked twice the length of the street our hotel is on.

So we check in, and realize that we have an absurdly long 4 days in Florence, so we decide to try and shift our schedule back some. I call the Accademia (where Michelangelo’s David is) to try and get a new reservation. That’s easy—it’s never booked up too far in advance. Then I ask to cancel our old reservation, and find out it was for April 28. Not good. So I check the reervation for the Uffizi…April 29. Also not good. Unfortunately, they don’t let very many people into the Uffizi, so it was booked through June 2. Even more not good.

So, we decide our only real option is to go and try to get in. Fortunately, we do. However, the Uffizi wasn’t anything spectacular. There were lots of pieces of art, but not many individually famous pieces, except the Birth of Venus and a couple of others. The audioguide was expensive and seemed to focus on pieces that didn’t seem very interesting—and ignore other ones that looked more so.

We went thorough and then went to a recommended restaurant from our guidebook which wasn’t so great and only had an Italian menu. We had a very light meal and decided we didn’t want to fight the menu, so we left and went to another restaurant, where we each had a pasta dish. Back to the hotel and to bed.

This morning we planned what I expected to be a full day of sighseeing. First, the Duomo, the dome on which the dome at St. Peter’s was based. Unlike the dome at St. Peter’s, there is no elevator to get you started—you have to climb all 463 steps on your own. And the steps are a bit harsher—long spiral staircases, no railings…you have to use the same staircase going down as you did going up for a while, and just hope you don’t run into anyone.

The view at the top was pretty nice. We enjoyed it and then headed down.

Next was the Duomo Art Studio, a workshop a few blocks away where they apparently repaired ancient artwork. It was closed, so that was a quick stop.

Next we walked to the Bargello, yet another gallery less famous than the Uffizi and the Accademia, but it had a few interesting things. There was a bronze statue of Mercury that I recognized from somewhere, but I don’t remember the sculptor. More significantly, Donatello’s David was here. Unfortunately, there were no photos allowed at either the Uffizi or the Bargello. It kind of sucked. I’m assuming that the City of Florence (who owns both galleries) makes a tidy profit from the rights to any photos of the statues taken.

We finished the Bargello, and it was only about 10:00, so we moved on to the next item, the Science Museum. Here we got to walk through a lot of rooms with a bunch of nifty old instruments…as well as Galileo’s right middle finger.

After we finished the museum, it was about lunch time, so we found a sandwich place. Then we went to what is apparently a famous gelato place, Vivoli’s. I had a mix of hazelnut and chocolate with coffee. Very, very tasty.

At this point, we had actually finished everything I had lined up for today, so we went to the Leonardo Museum, an overpriced display of working da Vinci inventions. Didn’t spend to long there, either, so we spent about 2 hours wandering through the city and shopping at the numerous street vendors.

By the way, this is apparently the place to get anything made of silk or leather, particularly ties or wallets. So I picked up a new wallet, since mine was looking kind of beat up.

Also, I’ve been trying to find Moleskine notebooks. Since they’re supposedly made in Milan, I figured I’d be able to find some here, but I haven’t so far. Instead, I’ve found several companies that bind books with leather and paper made here.

In any case, I have a minute and 35 seconds left at this internet cafe, so I need to get going. Ciao.

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