Gosh, where is the time going?! So much has been happening
around here that I don’t seem to have had time to take a breath, let alone
blog! I did manage the Christmas Club post on Sunday, but I arranged that to
post whilst I was away!
Yes, Hugh and I had a wonderful trip to Florence last
weekend. I booked up through Lastminute.com and we got a brilliant deal with
flights from London City Airport and a hotel with bed and breakfast literally
30 seconds from the Ponte Vecchio.
WARNING!! PHOTO HEAVY POST!
We left Friday morning, getting the train from Wickford to
London City – apart from there being no seats on the train (well it was rush
hour!) the train journey was really easy. We checked in and then got ourselves
a cup of tea/coffee and did a bit of reading whilst we waited to board our
plane.
Hugh getting us a drink and a pastry! |
The flight over was uneventful – just what you need really!
I did have my phone with me for once – I nearly always leave some sort of
camera in the overhead locker and so can’t get at it – and so I was able to
take a couple of snaps as we were flying.
The Alps from the plane |
Upon arrival in Florence we got the shuttle bus into the
centre of the City and then our hotel was only a 10 minute walk. We dumped our
cases in our room and headed off to explore.
The first thing we did was stop at a little cafe and have a
slice of delicious pizza each and a drink. When we left I took Hugh’s photo out
the front – not a very Italian named cafe!
The sun had set and all the lights were coming on – it was
magical and so wonderful to see all the historic sites lit up. We strolled
around for a couple of hours, soaking up the atmosphere and getting our
bearings for the rest of the weekend.
We had our evening meal at the Hard Rock Cafe as I had never
been to one before! I know it is not very Italian, but it was fun and we had
amazing food.
We returned to our hotel at about 9.30pm – completely
shattered! We both slept well that night!
Saturday dawned bright and sunny, a few clouds, but quite
warm. After a lovely buffet breakfast we set off to ‘do’ the sites.
Our first stop was the Bargello Museum. Wow! The statues
there were fantastic and we saw all the old masters – Michaelangelo, Donatello, etc.
From there we went on a stroll towards the Duomo and stopped
for a gelato.
Once we had finished our gelatos we went into the Duomo. It is such an impressive structure, but in fact I think more so from the outside than the inside! The museum is not open at the moment and so we didn't get a chance to go in there and the Baptistry, although open, was included in a group ticket including the museum and I was a little cross about that and so we decided not to go into the Baptistry! However, we did get to see the doors, which were impressive.
We haggled with a street vendor and bought a selfie stick!
We then went for a mooch around Florence. We had time to kill as we had a guided tour booked at the Uffizi for 4.30pm. So we took in the sights in the daylight!
The Ponte Vecchio |
Me outside the hotel |
The foyer of the hotel (and Hugh in the mirror) |
Sante Croce Church and the Christmas Market |
This is a view of the Palazzo Vecchio from the viewing terrace of the Uffizi |
On our return to the hotel, over the Ponte Vecchio we had a wonderful view of the Duomo all lit up.
We got back to the hotel and collapsed!
I'll do another post for Sunday as I should think you are exhausted if you have managed to read this far! But as you can tell, we had a wonderful time and I am still excited about all the things we saw whilst we were there.
7 comments:
Florence is on my places to see list. I adore Italy.
More photos the better I say, and it looks like you had an amazing time
I'm so envious that you can get to Florence for a weekend! I was there the summer I graduated from college, and had a fabulous time. Looks like you did too.
You managed to Christmas Club in the middle of that? Wow!
It looks like you had a wonderful time and I'll bet it looked magical at this time of year
Wow, looks like a fabulous last minute get-away!!
Oh wow, that's funny. I just blogged about Florence too. Looks like you saw a lot more than we did. That's the trouble when you're on an organized tour I guess. Love the nighttime pictures. By night we were back on the ship.
It looks like you had an amazing time in a beautiful place x
What a lot you fitted into a short time frame! Lovely photos and I feel as if I have had a mini-tour myself :). Sounds like a great thing to be doing this time of year.
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