Halls of the Uffizi
We began our next day in Florence early, hoping we could brush off the events of the previous day. Our day began at the Uffizi gallery as soon as it opened at 9:00 am. If you plan on going to see the Uffizi, morning time as soon as it opens is the best time to go. We didn’t have to wait in line at all for tickets and security check in. We made a beeline straight for the famous Birth of Venus and Primavera by Botticelli first, and we shared it with about 6 other people. It was fantastic. The paintings I had seen only in books and movies were right in front of me. I then wandered through the different galleries guided by Rick Steves’ audio tour. It was definitely a plus to go early. Also, a forewarning, when you see a sign that says exit on the top floor, it actually takes you down to a whole other floor of art before you actually get to exit. Overall, we spent about a good 2 ½-3 hours in the gallery, which was plenty of time for us.
Birth of Venus
Primavera
After we exited the building, we went around looking for some food and ran into a restaurant, which was famous for its Panini. We decided to give it a try as it seemed to have a lot of awards. All 7 of us squeezed into the tiny restaurant and I decided to be daring and order a gorgonzola and walnut bruschetta as well as a tripe Panini. The bruschetta was too…cheesy. Usually, I have gorgonzola cheese in a salad with walnuts and apples. But the cheese by itself without anything sweet to balance it out was a bit overwhelming for me. (My friend had a gorgonzola and pear risotto, which sounded better than it tasted. Koreans don’t do well with heavy food).
Meh.
I was also very disappointed by my choice in panini because I thought tripe would be more meaty rather than rubbery, and it was just too salty. My friend loved it though. After that day, I learned that I’m not really adventurous after all. The tiramisu was on point though. Good ol’ dessert. I could’ve eaten a whole pan of that thing.
YESSSS
Duomo
After our meal, we decided to explore the Duomo. After looking around for a bit, we sat on a bench inside and just people watched. It was very relaxing and also interesting to see people from all over the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t want to pay the 10 euros to climb the bell tower, and we made our way to our next destination, the market next to the Medici chapel. If you are looking for a open air market to bargain for all sorts of goods, go to the market adjacent the Medici chapel. It was a lot of fun and I bought a couple of things for myself and my family.
The last thing on our agenda was going to the Academia to see Michaelangelo’s David. A word of advice for those who want to see David, go right before the Accademia closes at 6:30 pm. We went around 5-5:30 pm, and there was virtually no crowd. (We all got pictures with David without other people in it.) An hour to two hours is plenty of time to see the Accademia.
David was actually quite larger than I expected him to be. He commands your attention, standing majestically at the center of a dome that was specifically constructed for him. I sat for a while listening to Rick Steves describe David and offer some interesting information about his history. (I had no idea a crazy person actually attacked David and damaged his feet!). After we finished gawking at this masterpiece, we took a quick look around the rest of the Accademia and bought some Cannoli (too sweet for my liking) to have with our hot chocolate back at our Airbnb.
Lindsay In Wanderland 