Lucca and Florence

This morning we walked Marc & Mary-Sue to their car as they are leaving for Pisa for the day and tomorrow they fly to Spain for 2 weeks. I will miss the company and chauffeur, thanks Marc. We then walked a part of the wall and back thru town to our apartment. We also stopped at the bus station to see the schedule for it to Florence and the cost. It is only 6 Euro and it mostly leaves every hour and takes the same time as the train. We buy our tickets which is good for any bus during the day. We plan on taking the 2 pm bus.

At 10 I headed out to view a photo exhibit that was going on in town. It is only on for 3 days and we will be away in Florence this weekend. Bike to it to save time and made a detour to see all the magnolia trees that are now in bloom. The exhibit was all portraits of women by about 8 to 10 photographers. All the pictures were very good with some very interesting ones. A great exhibit.

Part of the phot exhibit

Ceiling at the villa where the photo exhibit was

Back at the apartment we got ready for the weekend. Made a salad to clean out the fridge and nuked the leftover lasagna.

A 10 minute walk to the bus station. Many students are also on it. Not sure why as this is a direct bus to Florence. We do make one stop on the way and the majority of the students gets off. Wendy says she likes the train better as it is better for her motion sickness. Once in Florence we walk to our apartment which is a bit over 1 km from the train station. It is a hot day here and I am happy when we finally get to where we are going to stay the weekend. Tiny sidewalk or cobblestone with a rolling carry-on luggage is not great.

A quick rest at the apartment and we are off exploring. We didn't have any museums booked, just a day to walk around Florence, which is lots of fun to do. We are staying on the South Side of the Arno river, which is mostly made up of local apartments, the Pitti Palace and gardens are on the side, but most everything else is on the North side of the river.

We visited Santo Spirito this afternoon. This church is actually right around the corner from where we are staying. There is a crucifix by Michelangelo here where Jesus is completed naked, but no pictures allowed in this church.

We then crossed the river and walked along it and some back streets. We stopped for a Gellato, which was really nice in the heat. This is the nicest day since we have been here +21 and nice and sunny. We made our way to Plaza Santa Croce. A nice piazza here, and a beautiful church, but it is closed now. This is the church where Michelangelo and Galileo have their final resting place, we may try to get back here tomorrow or Sunday.

Arno river in Florence

everything for sale, possibly the kitchen sink as well

Made out of wine corks

We had gelato but this would have been good

Santa Maria Croce church

on top of the church

Packing up for the day

Next we visited Piazzla Michelangelo which is a 1 KM uphill walk from the Arno river. Quite a few stairs, which is training for tomorrow. We finally make it to the top and the views are priceless. We got there in time to view the sunset which is fantastic with the Tuscan hill in front of it. Lots of other people up here as well. The majority of them look like they are university students on March break. Many bottles of wine are being consume on a set of steps overlooking the city. At one point a man gets on his knee and proposes. The girl was so shocked. She was crying. I took a couple of pictures, I will email some of them when I have more time. Once the sun goes down, the light come on on the major churches/palace that we can see. It looks amazing. We stayed there for about 1 hour and then walked back down. Much easier.

going up to the viewing area.  Lots of steps and people

Another replica of the statue of David at  the square

That will be us tomorrow

Arno river and the famous Vecchio bridge

Vecchio Palazzo

Santa Maria Croco church

The Duomo

David

We head back to the area where we are staying. The lady where we are staying had recommended a restaurant which is only 2 blocks from our place. She says the food is very good but they have raised their prices. We are lucky and find the place no problem. We ask for a table and they say if we can be out by 9PM because they have a reservation for that table. People eat so late here. The busiest time is 9 to 10, nothing like home. So order a salad to share, Wendy has pasta with leeks, Ravioli with Rabbit for me, Pana Cotta and the house dessert for me which is meringue with fresh strawberries & chocolate. 1/2 a litre of wine and the bill comes in a 44. The food was great and we can believe the bill was only 44 Euro. Can't imagine paying anything less that that.