Florence

Yesterday we left Siena and toured the Capanelle winery in Tuscany before heading to Florence. This place is a small winery compared to some we've visited in Napa but it was still just beautiful! We did the tour and then had lunch there, and the food was magnificent.


After leaving the winery we headed straight into Florence to spend the afternoon here. I know I've said this before but driving in the cities is a test in blood pressure and stress levels. Mine was sky high by the time we arrived at the Avis Rental place to return the car. You're surrounded on all sides by people FLYING down the road - a road really only big enough for a motorcycle. You drive down alley-ways with people walking, cyclists biking, and motor cycles hauling. We took a taxi from Avis to our apartment that we're renting for a few days. I was so stressed out that the first thing I asked our host was, "Where's the closest gym?"

Our place here at the Palazzo Alfani is wonderful - a small apartment with a sitting room combined with kitchen, nice bedroom and bathroom. They even have a diffuser on their hair dryer. I immediately told our host she was my best friend!

We hit a local gym and I ran as hard as I could for awhile, which probably wasn't very fast but exactly what I needed to de-stress from the drive. We grabbed dinner and brought it back to the apartment and just vegged.

This morning we headed out to do a little shopping and just walking around the city. Since we're doing a private tour of the city tomorrow, we thought we'd just check out the place today. It's really beautiful with tons of little shops and beautiful historical sites. Our apartment is directly across from the Accademia which we'll tour tomorrow.

Here are some great photos of some things we saw. The first is of a "statue" who danced/moved on her pedestal and the second was a street musician who was an EXCELLENT violinist!




















On our wanderings through the city, we came across a huge demonstration/march of people through the city with flags, signs, horns, etc. I got some pictures - apparently it was employees of the company Fiat who were protesting their plant being shut down here. Can't say I blame them....Basically they have taken up the city streets and it was kinda fun to watch! Here's some photos of Florence and you can see the protesters on the right....














After some shopping and a tasteless but expensive lunch, we headed back to the hotel to siesta for a bit. Stopping for some gelato on the way back, we didn't realize that we should've asked the price before we purchased. We just paid 20 Euro for two cups of gelato! John almost seized up!:>) We'll head out this afternoon for more wanderings and to have dinner and view the sun setting over the river. Can't wait! More tomorrow.