Arrival

It was another train ride for us to get to Florence. This time, we took one of the nicer, faster, and more expensive Eurostar lines. Those trains are a bit more comfortable than the regional and intercity ones, but not necessarily worth it unless you're in a crunch for time. In our case, the Eurostar worked best for our schedule and we wanted to give one a try anyway.

Florence's Santa Maria Novella station is a little west of the main attractions; our hotel happened to be about 5 blocks directly south of the station, so it was a nice, short walk to there.

Hotel Pagnini

The short walk to the station is the main draw of Hotel Pagnini. It is, however, a good 15 minute walk to the main draws of the city. So it's a decent location, but not great. For 78 euro a night though, it's a good bargain; a decent breakfast was included, staff were nice, and they allowed us to store our luggage between stays (we stayed on Sunday and Tuesday, with a stay in San Gimignano in between). Overall not a bad choice, but you might be able to get something a little more east for a similar price.

Michelangelo is My Favorite Ninja Turtle

Florence is by and large a city of art - the main tourist attractions are the museums (the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery) and you'll easily find a sculpture or some sort of art piece in the heart of the city. I was wondering beforehand how much I'd like Florence and while it wasn't my favorite Italian city, it does have its charms.

After leaving the hotel, we followed the River Arno to the Uffizi, stopping to get a few pictures of the famous Ponte Vecchino (Old Bridge). If you haven't heard of it, it's a bridge lined with expensive jewelry shops.


We, however, didn't cross the bridge until later - we headed right for the heart of the tourist part of the city. One of the big attractions is the Uffizi Gallery, home to such some famous works of art like Botticelli's Birth of Venus and La Primavera. We didn't go into the gallery; paintings don't necessarily fascinate us and we didn't feel like it was worth the money. However, the nearby square, Piazza della Signoria, is busy and interesting. Copies of sculptures adorn the square (including one of Michelangelo's David) and it's dominated by the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence.


The main structure of the city, however, is the cathedral: the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's (in)famous for it's huge dome and facade, which some people think is too extravagant. We liked it - we both thought it was impressive.


We went inside the duomo - which was also impressive - and then walked around the area for a while. Florence is actually fairly easy to cover quickly - the main attractions are in close proximity to each other. After hitting a few churches and sights, we decided to head to the Accademia, home of the original David by Michelangelo. When we got there, we realized that we didn't have enough euro to get in (it's 10 per person); we proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes trying to find a working ATM. We finally did, and headed back to the museum.

The Accademia is basically Michelangelo's gallery; David is the main - and frankly, only - attraction. There's some other unfinished works by him along with other sculptures and paintings by other artists, but unless you're an art student, David is the only truly interesting item. But it is definitely amazing, so you be the judge if the cost is worth it; we're still undecided on that one. Pictures aren't allowed inside - Heather sneaked one in, but it turned out kinda blurry. Here's one of the copy in Piazza della Signoria:


Florence was home to our favorite restaurant in Italy - Trattoria la Burrasca. It's small - 10 tables or so - but the food was fantastic and the waiter was extremely good; he was nice, funny, and entertaining. It was so good we went back again for our other night in Florence.
To see all of our Florence pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.