December 23rd 2014, Florence, Italy - Day 128
Today we headed to Florence for the day. We left the house around 8:30 with a two hour ride in front of us. The travel was easy and we found our parking spot with no major issues. Stacie found a walking tour of the city that started at 11:00 and we made it to the meeting point in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. Our guide was great and we spent the next two hours strolling the streets of the city learning about Florence in the Medieval and Renaissance times.
After the tour we were all starving so we headed to the lunch spot Stacie had found. Peter, Lea and I all had sausage calzone's which were amazing. Stacie had a bowl of Ribollta, tuscan bean soup, which was also great.
After lunch it was off to the Acadamia to see the David. We had to wait in line for a while, but nothing like in summer. The Acadamia is great if you are not much for museums. You get to see an incredible piece of art, and then leave without feeling too guilty for a hit and run museum visit. It is really small and there are not a ton of other pieces of art worth spending a lot of time, so after the David, we followed the route out and were back on the street 10 mins later.
After our cultural enlightenment we strolled the streets of Florence looking for some Christmas gifts and just taking in the wonder of a city like Florence all dressed up for the holidays.
Once we made it all the way across the Ponte Vecchio we were spent and still had a two hour drive home.
We walked back to the car and dropped a sticker along the way. The drive home was just as easy and we were safe and sound in our quiet town of Montalcino by 9:00. A great quick trip to Florence.