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2011-09-10 01:01
in Italy2011, Ntrips, Trips
We were actually done early in Venice on the 9th day, but getting a train to Florence was actually more challenging than we thought. We couldn't get on the next one, the following one was also full, and I had to buy a ticket for 2 trains later. Thankfully I was able to negotiate with the train conductor and get us on an an earlier train with the wrong ticket.
This got us to Florence later than planned (checked in the hotel at 15:00) but just in time to hit a few museums that day before everything started closing. Actually we did really good because we saw 3 museums, that day thanks to one that closed late, and one that was open at night that day: Bargello before they closed at 17:00, then Pitti Palace and Palatine Gallery, plus the gardens before they closed at 18:50, and then a night visit of Palazzo Vecchio.
We then crossed the bridge south to Palazzo Pitti and its beautiful galleries and Boboli Gardens:
After dinner, we went back across to Palazzo Vecchio, which was open during night hours. It wasn't first on the list of museums to see, but we had the Firenze card that gave us access to all museums, and we figured, why not? It was good for a quick tour before going back to the hotel to get some sleep:
and we swung by the cathedral for a few night pictures:
That was a very full half day, but it made sense because we arrived on a saturday afternoon, and most museums were going to close on monday, so we only had a day and a half to see most of the museums (and there were plenty).
The next morning we went to the famous Accademia that hosts a lot of sculptures, including Michelangelo's David.
We then went toward the Galileo Museum on the way to Uffizi:
And finally made it to Uffizi to see their famous paintings:
And after a dinner we went up the last floor of Palazzo Vecchio for night pictures:
The following morning, Monday, our last day in Florence, we went to see more churches that were not available for visiting on sunday, but were good on monday when most museums were closed.
We started with the Medici Chapel Museum:
Next, we got a guided tour of beautiful Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which allowed us to bypass the horrendous line to get to the top.
narrow stairs to the top
Once at the top, we had some great 360 degree views:
After that, we went to the nearby museum of the church:
The nearby baptisery:
The Brandici Chappel:
And we finished the day by walking up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a nice view of the city:
Florence was a beautiful city. Seeing it in 2.4 days was a bit compressed (a lot of things in not a lot of time), but it worked out quite well. |
