Day 7 - Florence

Today is our day trip to Florence!

We woke up, packed some yogurt for breakfast to eat on the train, and made the 45 minute journey to the train station. We met Dave's parents at the train station, boarded the train, and then spent much of the ~2 hr ride napping.

Upon arrival, Dave's parents went to check in to their hotel before lunch while we went to check out the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a jaw-dropping, Renaissance church. The line was too long to get in before lunch, but we walked around the outside. Stunning. Fun to see some more Renaissance buildings and artwork in Florence after all of the baroque churches in Rome. We then headed to lunch at 4 Leoni. Unfortunately, there's not much good to say about this lunch. While the salad Dave and I shared was yummy (purple cabbage, chestnuts, pumpkin, and melted gorgonzola) and my eggplant parmesan was good, Dave and his mom got very dry pork chops and his dad got some uninspired meatballs, all delivered with some Florence arrogance. Then onto the Uffizi gallery.

The walk to the Uffizi gallery was beautiful and bustling. The bridge we crossed to get there was home to some stunning views of the city. At the museum, we saw many masterpieces, the most memorable being the Botticellis (Spring and birth of Venus, among others) and the Leonardos. It's a robust collection and we were thoroughly museumed-out after our 2-3 hours exploring. Got some delicious Gelato (Debra and I agreed this was the best milk chocolate Gelato we've had so far!) and then parted ways with Dave's parents until Vienna.

Dave and I then went to a panini shop recommended by one of his friends to grab dinner for the train. When we arrived, it was clear we had never been there before so the guy who worked there gave us ample samples (haha). He let us try each of the 4 different cheeses as well as the 4 different meats so we could choose our favorites. We ended up with a salami and pecorino panini with roasted red pepper and sundried tomatoes. Then we made it to the train station and started our journey back to Rome!Read more