Final Day in Florence

In actual fact, we didn't allow ourselves a full final day, just a morning, because we had to make a massive train trip that afternoon to our next Italian location (to be advised). We still hadn't managed to get into the Duomo, which we had gazed at almost from our first moments in Florence. We had a grand plan to visit it the previous day, but given that our theme for the day was to avoid lines such as those we'd spent our second day in, we just couldn't bring ourselves to join the giant lines.

We got ourselves packed up and ready at our hotel slightly later than we originally hoped, and made our way straight to the Duomo, hoping that the same policy as with seeing David would apply - that the crowds wouldn't be very big first thing in the morning.

Har har dee har. There was no way I was getting in that line. So we continued walking along it, trying to at least see where the end was, when we came across this second entrance, that had only about ten people lined up in front of it. Entrance to the dome. Since our whole reason for even contemplating lining up for anything was to climb up to the dome, this seemed almost too good to be true. So we got in this very short line.

And in comparatively no time, we were inside! We were only allowed in a tiny little area of the main church itself, but we certainly got a good view of the main building anyway.

And then we started the ascent to the dome.

And went around and around and around the spiralled staircase. I was actually getting dizzy by the time we reached the top!

We got plenty of time to wander around the inside of the dome admiring it.

And the spectacular floor below.

We also got a few peeks of the Florence skyline from windows as we ascended.

The way this dome was built, to prevent it being too heavy to support its own weight, was as a dome within a dome. So there's a cavity between the inner and the outer domes. This, I think, was us climbing up between the two (sorry about the unflattering view of the lady in front of me - I was holding people up behind me waiting for her to get further out of view).

And then we emerged into sunlight again, and got to be awestruck at Florence from above again.

Then it was time to make our way back down again.

We got a final few minutes to gape at the inside of the church itself again...

And then we were back on the streets of Florence, thoroughly satisfied, and incredibly relieved that we didn't have to line up for hours to do that!

We started walking across town, only stopping to stare at jaw-dropping window displays. Seriously, could anyone walk in these shoes?

And impressive statues.

And light fittings that I'm adding to my inspiration folder.

We walked and walked and walked, aiming for some local markets out along the river, so far out of central Florence that they were off our tourist map. *gasp* Eventually we got there, and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Tom was incredibly impressed at how compact this shovel could be. Never mind that we don't often come across situations where we wish we had our fold-up shovel...

I have a bad habit of tilting my head backward to take photos of windows (does that surprise anyone??) causing my sunnies to fall backwards off my head and get nice little sets of scratches on the lenses when they crash to the ground. Don't worry, I never spend much money on sunnies because I'm clearly very bad at looking after them - my first (and last) pair of reasonably pricey sunglasses are at the bottom of a teatree lake near Lismore in New South Wales after a canoeing escapade on school camp, so I don't get precious about these little camera vs. sunglasses episodes. No big drama. Nevertheless, Tom deemed it unacceptable that I had giant scratches in the centre of my sunglass lenses, and announced that he would shout me a 5 euro pair of sunnies. Aww. Don't you love it when they put their foot down?

These are the winners. Like?

These were a close runner up.

As the day wore on we decided it was probably time to leave, so we strolled along this beautiful tree-lined avenue just on the other side of the markets from the river, and hopped on a tram that took us straight to the central train station. Thank goodness, because my feet couldn't have taken the giant walk back again!

We found yet another cute little three-wheeler...

This one was a SpeedRace! Hilarious, since Tom tells me most of these little vehicles have as much power as the lowest powered scooter (50ccs). Gotta love that optimism!

And then we had what I'm going to fondly remember as our best ever meal in Florence, in a little cafe just down the road from our hotel.

Simple, but tasty, affordable food, with excellent service. Does it get any better??

Plus the menu was good for a giggle.

We even stayed for dessert.

And then it was time to make our way to the train station for a later-than-planned-but-totally-worth-it departure. Bye Florence!

So. What's our opinion of Florence? We arrived with very high hopes, since quite a few people had told us that it was their favourite of all the Italian cities. I have to be completely honest here, because my feedback's worth nothing if I'm not.

So, being honest? I don't really understand why. It had less tourist attractions to see than Rome (and you had to line up or book in advance to see most of them - granted we booked tours in Rome which saved us that hassle, but we still walked to see the less major attractions on foot).

It wasn't a particularly pretty city to walk through. Venice delighted me around every corner with its quaintness and charm. Florence, not so much. It was clean and neat and reasonably easy to navigate, but it wasn't beautiful from the ground.

It was absolutely chocka block full with loud, obnoxious and rude tourists (not naming any particular country here for the sake of diplomacy). It's possible we were lucky enough to avoid most of these in the cities we saw previously, but it definitely affected our enjoyment.

The absolute highlight was climbing to the top of Piazza Michelangelo and watching the sunset and then the night lights from above. Florence is gorgeous from above, no bones about it. And for that reason alone, I will say I loved it.

But will I come again? Possibly not. Once you've seen the main attractions - David, the Uffizi Gallery, the Duomo, there isn't much else to do. So... my verdict (although I'm a bit sad to say it, and don't want to offend those who loved it), is that Florence was definitely not my favourite Italian city, but it was certainly worth visiting. If you do one thing when you go to Florence, BOOK AHEAD to see the attractions!!!!