Florence

We woke up early today so that we could head into Florence and have the entire day there. Our original plan (spoiler alert, an original plan means we did an alternative) was to start our visit with breakfast and finish with dinner in the city. The drive from Grieves in Chianti to Florence was a little scary, but it also provided some beautiful views of the countryside. Our fearless driver Dave did a great job and less than an hour later we were parking underneath the Florence train station.

We had purchased tickets to see Michelangelo's David for 10:30 that day so we walked to the Duomo first so that David (Rubin) could show Becky and Mike his favorite building in all of Europe. It was truly impressive, even seeing it for the third time and really just blows your mind how someone could not only design it, but could also build something like that. We stopped at a little cafe right around the corner and ordered a small breakfast (ham sandwiches, beef sandwiches, eggs and bacon, a nutella tart, chocolate croissant and some other chocolate pastry). Plus two cappuccinos!

After we were done eating, we started walking over to the Academia Gallery. We had heard about the lines to get into some of these sites, but hadn't really experienced any of it yet until we got here. The line was huge and NO WAY we would have waited in it. Luckily for us, we had pre-purchased our tickets and basically walked right in. After perusing some of the Christian masterpieces and a really cool display of Prince Ferdinand's personal musical instrument collection, we turned the corner and there he was! I always find that moment when he comes into view to be absolutely breathtaking. It was crowded, but we were still able to get close enough to have our own moment with David (statue). To see the amount of detail that was put into this piece. To admire the fact that it's from one piece of marble. It is truly is amazing!

We left the Gallery and started walking towards the Uffizi. We had no plans to go in, but still wanted Mike and Becky to be able to see the building. We were able to find the little graffiti man in the wall near the building that may (or may not) have been etched by Michelangelo while being mugged. We will never know :). We walked through the Uffizi piazza and over the Ponte Vecchio, dripping with gold everywhere you looked. We stopped at Maldova's (2nd door on the left after the bridge) to pick up a few pair of gloves - a place Carrie hasn't stopped talking about since she was there 20 years ago).

By this point we were getting hungry and headed back to All'antico Vinaio, the famous sandwich shop that Mike has had on his list of must-haves since we started planning this trip. These sandwiches were HUGE and didn't disappoint. We got 3 today - La Tricolore, La Quarantena and La Joe Bastianich. It's hard to say which one was the best, we all liked different ones the most! But bottom line, they were big, they were delicious, and they were surprisingly cheap.

After we finished, we decided we were all tired and wanted to get back to Grieves before it got dark so our fearless driver wouldn't have to drive the winding roads at night; we cancelled our dinner reservations and started back to the car. On the way, we did a bit more shopping (clothes for Becky, a leather bag for Carrie, shirts for Mike and Dave's Birkenstocks!!), grabbed a gelato (of course) and started the drive back.

Note: while we still think Florence is a wonderful city, Dave and I both agreed that it lost some of its spark. It was beyond crowded and over-commercialized. But, I’d still recommend going, it’s truly amazing the history there.
It was still hot by the time we get back so we went for a dip in the pool, got ready for dinner and headed into town to a local pizzeria, Le Logge, in the town piazza. Apps included two different types of crostones (one with bacon fat, honey and truffles and one with brie and truffles). Both delicious, but I couldn't get over the bacon fat :(. Then we had a meat charcuterie and then our meal (two different types of pizza, a carbonara and a caprese salad. And we of course topped it off with some gelato to finish! Overall a great night and we are all wiped out!!

Today's walking tally: 18,744 steps, 7.6 miles and 20 flights of stairs.Read more