Hi hi!

We were woken up early again by roommates packing up. Except this time they opened the shades, and the door to our room! Hello world. We went down for an all you can eat buffet at the hostel but it was nothing special. Except orange and pineapple juice. So.many.refills. Yum.

After that we did a TON of walking!Which isn’t really abnormal for the trip, just a different pace. I would guess that we walk between 6-8 miles a day usually, but we visit a lot of museums which provide opportunity for “rest”. The roads and sidewalks (if you can call narrow paths between shops and the road sidewalks) are smaller but easier to walk on then in Rome. Rome has smaller cobblestones which hurt my feet more, but the cobblestones here are easier to trip on. I biffed it on a sidewalk today and ran into a parked car which was exciting. Not sure Alison noticed as she was telling me something about something somewhere. Typical.

In the morning we went to the Uffizi Gallery to see the works of Botticelli, da Vinci, Donatello, and Raphael. It was an interesting place with a pretty wide variety of mediums and subjects. The common thread being Mary, Jesus, and a bunch of dead white guys. The building itself was a picture to take in. There were a ton of ceiling paintings, portraits literally hanging from rafters, and marble statues for days. Overall I enjoyed seeing art I studied in art history in person, but didn’t feel drawn to most of the art like in Rome. Here are some pictures of my favorite works:

After the museum we headed to The Boboli Gardens. Once the home of the Medici family (basically the family who had the money to control government without getting into politics) the Pitti Palace is home to eight Gardens and Museums. Let me get one thing straight. These gardens are not your average garden. Try maze-labyrinth-hill-stairs-forest-fountain-statue-flowers-plant palace and you might be closer to reality. I wish we would be here in spring to see everything blossom! We wandered for probably a solid two hours and found some magical places.

Our ticket also got us entrance into the Porcelain Museum and the Costume Gallery which had fashions from as far back as the Medici’s to 1970’s.

We then crossed the river and hiked up to Piazza Michaelangelo, the highest point in Florence that isn’t a hillside. It was so steep. I remember feeling like the Spanish Steps had a lot, but woah. What a workout! The view at the top was so worth it. Absolutely breathtaking.

For dinner we ate at a food truck across the street and then went to San Miniato al Monte. We planned to stay and watch the sunset but it was too cloudy and we were cold and sore. We came back to find we had the room to ourselves and caught up on social media/napped. A few hours later and we capped the night off with some French fries and lemon pie. Yum.

Tomorrow we are leaving at 9am to grab pastries and people watch before the Dome opens at 10. Did I mention there are 492 steps to the top? Yes. Feel free to mock me tomorrow when I moan about the steps but midnight Erin is feeling confident and excited. Next on the schedule is the Galleria dell’Accademia and then some shopping. I’m trying to convince myself that Italian leather boots are not a necessity but hooboy – that’s a challenge! Wish me luck!