Day 7: From Florence to Chianti: Car Rental Craziness, Tuscany, and Pringles

We overslept somewhat on Saturday, considering we wanted to fit in the Accademia in the morning before we departed for Greve in Chianti.  We awoke at 8:30 am, and I am sure people were already lined up outside the Accademia to see the statue of David.  However, our Firenze passes would get us in quickly with little to no wait.  


Our original plan was to head to the the Accademia, come back to the hotel and pack up, and then head to the train station to catch a bus to the airport where we would pick up our rental car by noon.  But considering our time crunch, we decided to go ahead and have breakfast at the hotel.  (By the way, we were now officially sick of eating prosciutto, cheese, and croissants everyday and were madly craving eggs.  They would have made them for us, but we didn't want to pay extra for it.)  We then packed up, checked out of the Hotel Hermitage, donning our backpacks, we walked up to the Accademia, risking security would let us through with our packs. Luckily they did, although Sam had to leave his bottle of lemoncino at the front door with security and pick it up on the way out.  No big deal.  We were just happy they let us in with our packs on.  


We immediately entered the museum and headed straight for the Michelangelo's David.  It was phenomenal!  It is so much bigger than I realized!  And beautiful!  One thing I noticed is that his hands are disproportionate to the rest of his body- they are huge!  Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures in the museum, but I have included a replica of David where he originally stood outside the Palazzo Vecchio.  

Replica of David outside Palazzo Vecchio

We continued to wander around the museum, which contains mostly sculpture.  This was much more our cup of tea than the Uffizi!  The Accademia is fairly small and we were able to conquer it in about an hour or a little less. 

When we left the museum, we had a fairly quick jaunt back to the Santa Maria Novella train station of Florence.  We were not catching a train, but the "Volainbus" bus that would shuttle us to the Florence airport in about 20 minutes. The bus itself simply lists "aeroporto", and it departs from the train station every half hour. After much research, I learned that this bus is operated by ATAF, the city public bus system, which is supposed to be included in the price of our Firenze card.  However, the bus driver  simply looked confused when we showed him our cards and shrugged.  I seriously think he did not know if they were valid for use on this bus or not.  We both paid  €6 each for the ride to the airport (He even gave us change, which they don't usually do!), we scanned our tickets to be validated, and off we went! It was a very bumpy cobblestone ride. 

After the twenty minute ride to Pertola/ Amerigo Vespucci Airport (which is surprisingly small for an international airport), we learned that we had to take yet another bus to get to the recently relocated rental car lot.  We waited for the small van and crammed on with several other people.  The drive took about 5 minutes, but it was crazy how many turns and lane-switching was taking place.  The car rental lot was hidden beneath a bridge- almost hidden. Here is the car we drove for three days- the tiny Fiat Panda! 

Yes- it WAS actually tinier than my Scion xB. 

Once we arrived at the rental car lot we quickly requested our much-anticipated GPS.  We were regretfully informed that there were no more cars with GPS available.  What?  Seriously?  We were counting on this.  Like a lot.  Everyone advised me to simply ask for a car with GPS when we arrived- that there was no need to reserve it in advance.  Yeah right.  Here is a word of advice:  When renting a car out of the country, RESERVE GPS IN ADVANCE.  No joke. So- it is what it is, and we continued with our reservation.  Upon departing, I asked for a map.  I was expecting a map of Florence- something that would at least direct us to the Autostrada (highway) where I could then follow directions to the farm house where we were staying in Chianti.  Riiiight.  When we got in the car, I learned that the map they gave us was an entire map of Italy!  That was just as good as giving us a map of the U.S. when you are navigating your way around L.A.  Sigh... and so the journey began. 

This was by FAR the most stressful hour and a half of our entire vacation. No joke. We did not know how to read Italian road signs.  We were in the middle of a large city with crazy roads- no perpendicular roads exist here.  People, as you may have heard, drive like bats out of hell in Italy so people were cutting us off left and right, driving between lanes. Motorcycles and scooters zipped around us at insane speeds while we tried to navigate out of the city, constantly merging form the far left lane to turn here and then to the far right lane to merge there.  I am not exaggerating. In fact, I am not sure how to even describe it accurately.  Meanwhile, we were trying desperately to avoid the ZTL (Limted Traffic Zones). These are areas that you can physically drive into if you don't know better, but are limited to residents only of downtown or historic areas.  They are avidly camera-enforced, and I have read many stories of drivers that received $1,000 of dollars in tickets months after their return to the states.  We are still crossing our fingers that we do not receive any mail from the City of Firenze... 

After about 8 turns and at least 10 near misses (no joke), to get our of the airport rental area, we were unsure of where to go next and were scared that we were headed toward the city center.  We stopped at a gas station where no one was working.  (Big surprise- it was in the middle of the afternoon.  No one works in the middle of the day in Italy.)  We asked someone getting gas how we get to the autostrada, and she didn't know.  Not a good sign.  Meanwhile, Sam's anxiety level continued to rise. 

I forgot to mention that he is driving because he actually has the skill set to drive a stick, unlike me.  To get an automatic was several hundreds of dollars more since they are so uncommon in Italy due to their inefficiency. Gas is very expensive here! So far in 2012, gas is at an average of 1.82 euros per liter, or $9.17 per gallon.  This is why Italians drive small cars! In the end, we only filled up once before we returned the car after driving all over Tuscany three days and only paid about €35. 

So we continued down the street to yet another gas station where someone was working.  We bought a map of Tuscany (Florence and the surrounding region) and then asked her how to get to the autostrada.  Fortunately, she was able to give us directions and we weren't that far off.  

However, once on the autostrada, we were once again a little overwhelmed.  Cars buzzed by at ferocious speeds, we weren't sure if we were even headed in the right direction or if we were even on the right highway.  (The A1 and A11 are merged here and then split at some point outside Florence.)  Once we determined that we were going the correct direction, we learned that the A1 is a toll road.  Ooops. Did not know that.  So we got our ticket, not really knowing how much we would owe at the end of this adventure.  After driving for almost 25 minutes or so, I realized that we still had not found our exit according to the directions from the owners of the agriturismo we were staying.  I had been looking avidly, but never saw it. I eventually recognized that we had now driven too far, adding to Sam's overall frustration.  But we continued to drive south of Florence and got off at another exit, east of our destination and followed the directions to the farm house as if we had come north from Rome.  We ended up going way out of our way, but eventually found it in about double the time than should be expected.  


I would recommend renting a car somewhere outside of a big city such as Pisa or even smaller if possible.  That way you could take the train out of the city and pick up the car in a more manageable place. 

We rolled into Greve in Chianti around 3:00 pm (15:00) or so.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, an agriturismo is basically a working farm that receives subsidies from the Italian government, enabling it to work as a bed and breakfast.  This encourages farming, as well as aids in tourism.  The agriturismo we chose is called Casa Nova La Ripintura.  They own two farms and offer rooms for rent in a bed and breakfast and have a private house for rent for bigger groups, but also work as a small winery and have olive oil production, which is common in the area. Read my review here. Here are pictures of our gorgeous room in the very old farm house: 

A terrace we shared with the room next to us. 

Great, roomy bathroom! 

Door to terrace

The first thing we did after checking in with the French owner, was buy a bottle of their house wine for  €5. It was delicious, and the price could not be beat! We sat out on our terrace, relaxed, and drank the bottle of wine. 

Around 4:30 pm (16:30) we decided to walk into the town of Greve in Chianti, which was only about a 10 minute walk down the hill.  We wandered along a beautiful dirt road, littered with vineyards and then an easy sidewalk led us along a stream into town.  

We were hungry since we had not eaten since breakfast. In Italy, restaurants and even many stores are closed between the hours of 2:30 and 7:00.  Many Italians eat dinner between 7:00 and 10:00 pm (19:00- 22:00). We discovered that the owner's wife managed a restaurant in town and we decided to venture there with hopes that we could find something to tide us over. The restaurant is called La Bottega del Moro.  See the review here. It is not in the main Piazza Matteotti  in town, but rather directly on the SR 222- the winding road leading through the wine country ofTuscany. We arrived at an odd time, but they were indeed open.  We stopped in and the current cook/server told us what she had available.  Everything was recently bought at the market and was being prepared fresh.  We decided to split a 1/2 carafe of the house white wine for €2.50 (Everything was much cheaper out here in the country!) and split a piece of lasagna since that it was she had available this early.  IT WAS THE BEST LASAGNA I HAVE EVER EATEN. I am not a big lasagna person, but this was awesome! Simply divine! 

La Bottega del Moro

Divine lasagna

After we relaxed in the shade of the patio at del Moro, we decided to wander about town.  We walked around the piazza and eventually stopped at an enoteca, or wine bar.  Since we were still hungry we shared some mediocre bruschetta with roasted vegetables and the house white wine. 

We then found the local coop grocery store and did a little shopping. We accidentally bought 2 large bottles of mineral water- oops.  We also purchased a bottle of local wine and Kit Kat bars- they looked good.  We also bought another can of Pringles.  After being to several grocery stores, we found that Pringles work well for travel.  Since they are in a can, they do not crumble as easily and they can be stored in your backpack or bag, eaten on the train or in your hotel room when you get the munchies.  This was the first of several cans of Pringles on our trip. And they have different flavors over there- like Paprika and Sea Salt and Pepper!  As for the Kit Kat, we were a bit overwhelmed after just a few bites, when we realized it was not made with milk chocolate.  Evidently, this is common over there?  We ended up throwing the rest away, as it was just too rich. 

I took a cool shower to help relieve the stifling heat and lack of air conditioning in this very old house. We planned our routes for the following day and then watched the stars from our terrace. 

Tuscany Region: Chianti Reviews

Reviews for lodging, restaurants, and services in the Chianti region of Italy in July 2012. 


Casa Nova La Ripintura, Località Uzzano, 29  50022 Greve In Chianti, Province of Florence, Italy
I found this place several months ago when researching an agriturismo to stay at in the Chianti region.  Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here. It is seemingly isolated up on a country road, but within a ten minute walk of the town of Greve in Chianti.  This was particularly nice because we could easily walk into town for dinner or drinks.  We stayed on the top (second) floor of the main house which hosted several rooms in a bed and breakfast.  The room was very "Tuscan" country with a cozy feel.  The bathroom was very spacious and very updated.  The room had a door out to a rooftop terrace shared by only one other room. It was nice to sit out here and enjoy a bottle of wine or snacks, and gaze at the stars.  The owners were very cordial, but speak somewhat broken English, although this was never a problem.  They keep to themselves unless you choose to start up a conversation.  There are a few dogs and cats on the premises, but they are never a problem.  In fact, we enjoyed this, as it reminded us of home. We bought several bottle of their wine, which were very good and very affordable.  Be sure to check out their restaurant in town just off of SR 222, La Bottega del Moro!  Excellent food and service- one the best meals we had in all of Italy!  The only issues we had with this place is the lack of air conditioning, but that can be expected in an older house.  However, in the July heat, it was quite hot at night and difficult to sleep. We left the one window open, but then got chewed up by mosquitoes. Our bed was missing some springs in the middle so it was not the most comfortable. However, loved the charm and the breakfasts outside on the back patio. Overall a very good experience and base to explore the Chianti region. 


La Bottega del Moro, Piazza Trieste 1 | Greve in Chianti, 50022, Italy
This place was outstanding! We were recommended this place by the owners of Casa Nova La Ripintura, as they also run this quaint and elegant restaurant.  We ended up going here all three days we were in the area because it was THAT good!  This restaurant was one of our top three in Italy!  On our first night we were there rather early for Italian dinner, but they accommodated us anyway.  We saw the owner arrive with fresh ingredients from the market for that night's dinner. We split a carafe of white wine and a piece of lasagna.  The lasagna was the best I have ever had in my life!  The second time we were there, we again sampled the wine, which was delicious, but this time we went for a later meal and went all out!  We started with a zucchini pie appetizer- this was small, but SO delicious!  It was like a zucchini quiche drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  Then we both shared the ravioli and chicken with capers.  The ricotta ravioli was decent, but definitely not their best meal.  The chicken with capers in a carrot sauce was wonderful!  We weren't even hungry anymore, but decided that the bruschetta looked really good, so we decided to order some. It was by far the tastiest and freshest bruschetta I have ever had.   The owner brought us some complimentary thin fried bread while we waited for our meal although it did not take particularly long. On our third visit )why mess with something so perfect?) we ordered the risotto with saffron and zucchini and the lasagna again and both were excellent. All three times we had excellent and attentive service!  This place is located right on the SR 222 in Greve. Also, VERY affordable. If you are going through- GO HERE!  


Lo Sfizio di Bianci, Via Ricasoli 44/46, Gaiole in Chianti, 53013
We stopped here in between wineries for lunch, as it was one of the only places open in Gaiole during the midday. It has a nice covered patio for seating with shade.  There definitely was more of a language barrier here, but our server tried, as did we.  After further though, I think that our server was still learning the ropes, as she got very flustered as the place filled up quickly.  We ordered water and soft drinks and then split an appetizer if fried dough filled with cheese and wrapped in prosciutto.  This was good. There was a lengthy wait for our food. I had pici- a thick pasta with fresh tomato, bacon, garlic, and parsley. My husband ordered trofie pasta with truffles, however the server only brought mine and we had to wait over 15 additional minutes for his meal.  The food was average. We were getting short on time, as we had a tour scheduled, but still had not had a chance to even ask for our bill, so I eventually went inside to ask to pay and found our server chatting with other employees.  I wanted to pay with credit card, but another server was on the phone and the credit card machine was tied to the line so I just paid in cash so we could get moving.  


Castello di Verrazzano, Via Citille, 32, 50022, Italy
Only a 10 minute drive north of Greve, this castle was a delight to tour. The tour group was a bit large with 30 people.  Our tour guide was humorous and knowledgeable, but a his accent was very thick and hard to understand at times.  We were able to tour the gardens and even see real wild boar, although we only spotted one sleeping. We toured the wine cellars and then were escorted to the restaurant on the grounds, which was beautiful and airy. We were able to sample several salamis, prosciutto, wild boar, pecorino cheese, bread, and homemade honey. They did offer a vegetarian plate as well with several fresh vegetables. We tried several of the their wines, and even were able to sample the sweet balsamic vinegar and a shot of their grappa- liquor made from grapes. We ended up purchasing a bottle of their Rose at the end of the lunch.  The luncheon was very enjoyable.  We sat with 6 others and made new friends! We were there for about a total of 3.5 hours. €28 per person. 


Castello di Brolio (Ricasoli), Gaiole in Chianti, 53013 Siena, Italy
Originally built in 1009 AD, this castle was a very fun excursion!  It has a lot of historical significance, which you learn about on the tour. We were in a small and manageable tour group of about 8 people. Our tour guide, Camila, was fantastic!  She was very knowledgeable. We toured the chapel, crypt, gardens, and the tower.  The actual castle cannot be toured because the family still lives in it during the summer. We saw gorgeous views from the gardens of the hundreds of acres of vineyards and olive trees.  You can even see Sienna in the distance.  We then met down at the winery where we were given a tour of the wine-making facilities, followed by a tasting.  The tasting was very elegant at a banquet table, although you only get to sample four wines. €23 per person.


Casa Emma, SP Castellina in Chianti, 3 San Donato in Poggio , Barberino Val d'Elsa (FI) Italy
We stopped here for a scheduled tasting.  It was  a little hard to find coming from Greve in Chianti, but eventually got there.  It definitely is not as fancy as some of the other vineyards and castles we visited, but we had a very pleasurable tasting with a group of about 8 people.  We made lots of friends!  Our guide, Carlota, was very knowledgeable and friendly.  We also got a short tour of the cellar afterwards by another employee.  This was an interesting first stop.  Try their sweet balsamic vinegar- very good! 

Day 6: Florence: Museums, Decaying Fingers, and Martin (as in Steve...)

This sums up our fun night in Florence the night before. 

On the sixth day of this adventure, we woke very early in an effort to get the Uffizi at a decent time.  For those of you who may not know (I didn't before this year), the Uffizi is one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world that houses several classical pieces of artwork including several pieces and/or rooms by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Giotto, Raphael, Caravaggio, and many more.  You actually have to make reservations to go to the Uffizi, and you still have to wait in line- usually for hours.  Luckily, we were equipped with our Firenze cards so there was no waiting for us!  We quickly jumped to the head of the line and straight to security!  For more info about the Firenze card, see my last post here. 


However, Sam did not realize we had to go through security and that certain items are banned, so unfortunately he had to throw away our souvenir from Venice- our handy multi-tool.  Oh well. We immediately hooked up our iphones and started to rock the Rick Steve's tour of the Uffizi Museum.  This was pretty handy- as it explained several of the paintings, history of pieces of artwork, and interesting facts, helping us navigate through the top floor somewhat successfully.  I have to be honest, however, the Uffizi was just not our thing.  I think I wanted it to be my thing.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate wonderful artwork and respect it in so many ways, but I just wasn't that interested in the artwork here. After awhile all of the Madonna with Child's and portraits of Venus look the same.  As I suspected, I am much more of an architecture girl than an art-fiend.  Nevertheless, we are glad we went, but were ready to move on after 2 hours of paintings. 


We then decided to hit the Museo Galileo- a small museum to dedicated only to Galileo.  And no lines!  In fact the museum is just around the corner from the Uffizi and is lesser-known.  It is also much smaller and the admission was also included in our Firenze card.This was much more up our alley.  This museum is dedicated to the science and astronomy of Galileo Galilei, originally from neighboring Pisa. He was eventually imprisoned here in Florence just across the Arno River from the museum now erected in his name, held on charges of heresy for defending heliocentrism.  


We found this museum filled with Galileo's inventions, tools, and instruments to be pretty interesting.  It probably only took us about an hour or so to wander through it.  We even saw Galileo's fingers and teeth!  This was fascinating to me!  What can I say- I like dead people. :)  Apparently, the as the story goes, some of his teeth and decaying fingers were removed by admirers when his body was moved to Santa Croce Basilica in Florence in 1737.  After they were missing for centuries, they turned up at an auction in 2010 and here they now sit in a slender glass case. Read more about the story here. 

Galileo's finger! 

We were getting ready to the leave the museum and were wandering through the gift shop, when Sam and I noticed a familiar face..Steve Martin!  He returned glances, and he knew immediately he had been recognized.  I have never seen anyone famous before so this was a first!  And of all people, thank goodness it was Steve Martin and not Jessica Simpson or someone ridiculous!  I couldn't get the guts up to say anything to him, but I made Sam sneak a picture as I pretended to look at my map in the lobby. He seemed either very bored or or a little grumpy.  I got the impression that his wife was dragging him around Florence, but I found out later that he is an avid art collector.  In retrospect, I thought that I should have brought up his bluegrass music with him, as I am sure not many people do. Oh well.  It was cool anyway and the highlight of our day in Florence!  Is that sad?   Here is a pic.  (Please excuse the sweaty lady in the front!) 

Steve Martin! 

After our celebrity run-in, we thought we would venture over the Ponte Vecchio and to the other side of Florence to see if we could find the house where Galileo lived out the rest of his life, imprisoned.  After much walking in the heat, we never found it.  However, we just continued to walk to the Piazza Michelangelo. This is simply an elevated portion of the city- up many, many, many stairs and uphill climbs- where you can look out and see spectacular views of Florence.  Check it out! 

Views of the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. 

Florence and the Duomo

Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

More of beautiful Florence

We then trudged back down the hill, by this time late afternoon and pretty hungry.  We were looking for a place along the way, but then somehow passed the area, and we figured we would run into something before we made it back to our hotel.  Eventually, out of desperation, we found a place fairly close to the Hotel Hermitage that looked basic and would fit the bill.  Little did we know that we were about to get the worst meal of our entire vacation.  Bad choice.  We went to the Sun Cafe Firenze.  See the full review here.  We sat down and had two disgustingly expensive cokes, an ice cold piece of pizza and a soggy egg sandwich with horrible service for a whopping €

A horrible lunch.  Really. It was worse than it looks. 

After a couple hours of resting in the nice, cool hotel room, we left to truly explore the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore!  We left around 5pm and walked to the Duomo in less than twenty minutes or so.  The beautiful dome was artfully engineered by Fillipo Brunelleschi.  By the way there are separate charges for the cathedral itself, the Baptistery (with its famous bronze doors designed by Ghiberti), and Giotto's Campanile. We decided to climb to the top of the dome, which closes at 7:00 pm (19:00).  We immediately got in line to tour the Duomo for €8 each.  This is not covered by the Firenze pass. Better yet- there was no line!  Perfecto! The dome was modelled after the Pantheon in Rome and was a first in engineering at the time.  The "dome within a dome" is still the tallest building in all of Florence and served as the model for Michelangelo's St. Peter's.  Read more about this remarkable feat and the construction of Il Duomo here. We climbed the 463 small spiral steps to the top.  It was a little spooky, but very rewarding! I think this was by far our most favorite sight in Florence.

Amazing sculptures half way up to the top of the Duomo

The inside of the Duomo - The Last Judgement by Giorgio Vasari and Frederico Zuccari 

Another view of the Duomo and the cathedral 

The Baptistery

After our visit to the Duomo, we hopped over a street or two and hit Ristorante Self-Service Leonardo.  After our previous dining debacle earlier in the day, we made sure to research where we were eating dinner so we would leave satisfied and like we got our money's worth. This place was it.  We found this recommended in our Rick Steve's book, and to be honest -  it is nothing fancy! However, there was a line out the door (mostly Americans), waiting for them to open at 7:00 (19:00).  This is when many restaurants open for the evening meal.  It is straight-forward, no frills, but lots of good food for your money. It is actually a cafeteria-style restaurant (with air conditioning!).  It is definitely not known for its ambiance, but its variety of comfort food, generous portions, lovely service, and affordable price.  This place was perfect for what we wanted that night- good food at a cheap price.  They offered everything from various pastas, meats, sides, several types of salads, desserts, and FREE ICE WATER!  Yes, I said free water- with ice in it.  This is almost unheard of in Italy, and they kept the pitchers coming.  It. was. awesome.  It's the little things, right?  Please read the full review here- it would be a perfect place to go with kids. The total bill for all of what you see below (and it was a lot of food) was €22. Here is a picture of our meals that night:

The Chow at Leonardo's Self-Service Restaurant

Then we walked and got gelato at Gelateria de Neri.  This place was phenomenal! They had tons of flavors to choose from- more than three times anywhere else we had been!  I got cookies and cream- which is different than its American cousin- it had chocolate-covered graham crackers in it, but it was good.  Sam got a cone that had a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of amaretto. Excellent!  Read the review here. 

Sam's gelato.

Later we enjoyed a bottle of wine on the rooftop of our hotel while we talked with people from all over the world- mostly to a couple of gals visiting from Long Island. ...And then we went to bed.  

Day 5: Cinque Terre to Florence

On Thursday morning, we slept in until 8:30 am, packed up our belongings, went down for breakfast at Hotel La Spiaggia in Monterosso.  We then took a short stroll- about 100 meters- to the statue of Gigante, a giant statue of Neptune, holding up the seaside cliff.  Read more about Gigante here. Unfortunately, Monterosso al Mare was bombed during WW II, and he lost both arms and his trident. 

We then returned to the hotel and checked out, where Andrea Poggi, the owner, made several recommendations for places to eat for our travels later in the week in Florence and Rome.  He also had several great travel tips, in particular to avoid those infamous pit-pockets! 


We took one more walk along the shore and then headed for the train.  We took a train to Pisa and then switched trains towards the Florence Santa Maria Novella train station. We got off the train and walked out into Florence. I have to admit, this was pretty overwhelming.  For some reason, Florence hit us like a ton of bricks from the moment we stepped off the train. This was far busier and overwhelming than Venice.  The sheer amount of people in such a small space made me feel somewhat claustrophobic. Not knowing exactly where we were heading, we tried to make our away from the busy train station (and all those pit-pockets) and struggled with the map for a few minutes, before just heading for the only land mark we knew- the Duomo. We knew this would give us an easy spot to navigate from towards our hotel.


Once at the Duomo (the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore), we immediately admired the beautiful craftsmanship, baptistery doors, and stunning, detailed artwork!  But we would end up visiting this location at least twice more during our stay, so we will get back to that soon... We then made our way toward hotel, which was right by the Ponte Vecchio, a historic bridge and one-time-market that stretches over the Arno River. 

Ponte Vecchio

The hotel was a little difficult to find, as it was tucked away in a tiny piazza and around a corner.  We accidentally stumbled into the Uffizi art museum, back-tracked a block and then found the door to the Hotel Hermitage tucked away in a small alley, directly adjacent to the Ponte Vecchio.  See the full review here. 

Here are some pics of the Hotel Hermitage.   

We relaxed for about an hour after arriving and took a break from the stifling heat, happy to put our backpacks down and giving our backs a break. An hour later, we rushed outside to meet our friends, Abby and Dogan!  Both Abby and Dogan are old friends of mine from the days of Miami University. Abby and I were roommates in college and still remain close friends, despite the fact that she lives in California, and we are now in Iowa.  Coincidentally, Abby and Dogan were also in Italy that week, but had the opposite itinerary as us, starting Rome and then heading north toward Florence.  Luckily, we were able to meet up for one night in Florence for a ron de vous!

Together, we ventured out toward the Uffizi museum, in an effort to pick up the Firenze Passes that I had pre-purchased for Sam and myself.  The Firenze Pass is a card that you can buy that allows direct access to almost all the museums and gardens in Florence (Firenze).  It was well-worth our money! There is more information on this pass here. They are a bit pricey at €50 each, but can pay off if you plan to visit enough locations included in the price of the card or- we mutually agree on this- we did not have to wait in any of the lines!  Lines for the Uffizi, Accademia, or other tourists sites can take hours, with patrons lining up before 7:00 am!  This pass will allowed us direct entry, bypassing these dreaded lines and the few extra bucks was worth the time we saved.  We ended up having to try a few different locations before we found an open tourism office, but we were able to show our ID (Don't forget your passport!) and our email confirmation and picked up the passes with only a few minutes lost. 


Next we proceeded toward the Piazza del Mercato Centrale.  When we arrived, we sat at The Fish Pub and we refreshed ourselves with several cold brews during happy hour. See the review here.  Just a few minutes past 6:30 (and our reservation-oops!), we walked the whole twenty feet across the piazza to Trattoria Za Za.  I had heard good things about this place, but it was Abby and Dogan who got the recommendation from the owner's of the agriturismo where they were staying and decided to make a reservation.  Thanks goodness they did! We sat outside in a beautiful, relaxing environment.  It was cozy and comfortable. The service was perfect.  Try the truffles- they are known for this! We sampled a bottle of the house red wine. (OK- maybe two bottles.)  We shared a Tuscan cheese and meat platter as an appetizer. We also tried the delicious fried zucchini flowers as well- wow! All four of us shared our meals and they were all excellent!  We sampled risotto with saffron, zucchini, and shrimp, fried chicken with rosemary potatoes, steak with truffles, and a trofie pasta with truffles. It was to die for!   Everything was awesome! See the full review here. 

Abby and Leslie meet up in Firenze

Creepy doll heads in the bathroom at Za Za

Dogan, Abby, and Sam

Tuscan Appetizer

Dogan enjoying the fare

Trofie with Truffles and with a side of Ta Ta's ;) 

Florentine Steak with Truffles- Delish!

Risotto with Saffron, zucchini, and shrimp

Zucchini FLOWERS!  Yum.... 

Chicken and rosemary potatoes

Good times!

A little tipsy after such a fun night, we almost talked Abby and Dogan into coming back to our hotel so we could continue to party it up in Florence.  We almost had them convinced, as we all wanted to hang out longer, but they had to catch one of the last trains out to the place they were staying out in the countryside of Tuscany. After they left, Sam and I made our way back toward our hotel. A couple blocks away, I had a momentary meltdown, as I thought I left my iphone on the table at the restaurant!  I frantically tore apart my purse in tears, as we walked VERY briskly back toward the restaurant.  Luckily Sam kept his cool (and kept me calm) and found it hiding away in one of the many pockets of my purse. Ooops.  This was not the last time this happened...

We then made our way back past the Duomo again and caught a couple late-night pics. 

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Baptistery Doors

The Duomo!As we walked further, we heard music and right outside the Palazzio Vecchio- in the Piazza della Signoria- and only a block from our hotel , we ran into a full symphony!  It was beautiful!

The Pallazo Vecchio - the old town hall and now a museum

A symphony performing outdoors at the Loggia dei Lanzi 

Rape of the Sabine Women by the Flemish artist Jean de Boulogne 

The Centaur by Giambologna