Sunday 25 July 2010 - Florence

This morning we went for a walk down some streets we haven't been down yet. We were headed towards an English church to find out what time the service was on Sundays.

We came across Basilica della Santissima Annunciata a catholic church, that was open to the public and free. We saw many paintings and candles and some people saying thier prayers and making offerings. It was a beautiful sight.

We went on and found a cafe that we could not resist. We had macchiatos, 2 gelati (boys) and a custard and choc filled cornetto(croissant). Didn't burn too big a hole in the wallet.

Through the streets to the English church we strolled to find it very near the Santa Croce church. It said something on the door about being somewhere else during July. So I sent them an email for more information.

We walked on across the Arno River and found some Aussies on the bridge, we stopped and chatted for a while, discussing how fabulous the weather is. It was nice to talk to some Aussies here.

Again we moved on down the southern side of the Arno towards Ponte Vecchio, over the bridge of jewellery and headed back towards the apartment this time stopping into the camera shop. Iain purchased a great camera for his birthday present and got a great deal too.

We couldn't resist the pizza shop near the train station :) We bought 2 slices of peperoni pizza for the boys and a drink. The slices ended up feeding the 4 of us and the owner invited us to sit at one of the tables (normally you pay to do this). We paid 10euros for all 4 of to have lunch. I ended up picking the peperoni off because it was really hot. The pizza was the best and cheapest we have had so far. We met some more Aussies in the restaurant from Melbourne, they were surprised at how good and cheap the meal was too.

Hop on, Hop off double deckers rule...

Well on Thursday we purchased tickets for the hop on hop off buses around the city to get our bearings on the area. We ended up with quite a good deal 2 adults at 50euros (for both) and children free for 48 hours use.

The buses are best from the top level and you can see everything from up there. It is also a lot cooler up the top in the sun while the bus is moving, inside is stifling.

We went around Santa Maria Novella train station through the narrow streets, past a church we may attend this Sunday (in english). The bus took us along the wall of Florence past the jewish cemetery. The jewish cemetery was made outside the walls because they weren't allowed to bury the jewish inside Florence a long time ago. Now it is in a bad state and looks a bit disshevelled, they said that some of the stones were moved to the front gate for people to see them and the plaques were put back on back to front.

We go up the hills to the statue of Daniele Bahin ? in Gallilei square. Past this point we hear alot about Gallileo, what he did, where he lived and died and how alot of his instruments are in the Museo Archeologico (very interesting that the Catholic church made him denounce his beliefs in astronomy). We pass the tree of love and up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo where we find the most amazing views of the city below. Also a big statue of David and his friends. From here we took a short walk to the bathrooms (60cents a go) then to the 2 churches we saw from the bus Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte and the Franciscan Chiesa of San Salvatore al Monte alle Croci. We climbed many stairs to visit these 2 beautiful works of architecture (you can visit these for FREE and they are worth the trip), I find the cemetaries very interesting, wish I could go in and have a closer look.

We go through some more streets of Florence around the Cemetery island, past Piazzale Donatello and back to the LungArno towards Santa Croce.

Santa Croce cost 5euros each for adults and kids are free again, I also got a hospital gown to cover my exposed shoulders (woowoo). This is why all the markets sell shawls, I will have to purchase one and take it along with me to wear in the churches for respect. The hospital gown was hot to wear and I felt like an idiot (at least I wasnt the only one). We found the AUSSIE bar near here but it was closed, not sure if it is still open for business , I hope so.

Hop on the bus again to go down the other side of the river to Ponte Vecchio (jewellry bridge I call it now) through Palazzo Pitti and past the Giardino di Boboli (gotta visit here if you ever come to Florence).

Heading back to the starting point (there are 19 stops) we go through Tornabuoni to Antinori, this is where you find Tiffany & Co., Prada, Hermes, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Pucci, Max Mara, Dior, Burberry and those are the ones I can remember. Wish I could go shopping in this street :-)

We then disembark outside MacDonalds and get our 50c drinks with the voucher from the bus (good deal).

On our 2nd day of the hop on hop off we stayed in the centre until about 5pm, that is the latest we have stayed out so far, normally we head back to the apartment for lunch and stay out of the heat, but today it was only 29degrees and was a bit overcast.

When we got home we had pizza and salad for dinner, then went to bed quite early.

At 230am we heard a crash in the apartment and found one of the landlady's photos had fallen from the wall and smashed allover the floor. Iain and I had to clean it up before the kids got up in the morning.

I was still up at 630am I just can't seem to stay in bed past that time.

Today Saturday 24 July 2010 we are having a rest day.

Please find the photos under the Florence page.

A little stroll through the streets of Florence

Today we went for a little stroll through the streets of Florence looking for Vodafone to purchase some italian sim cards. It was a very nice day for a walk and we took it slowly because Iain had saw legs from the day before.

We walked through the streets the way we went into the centre yesterday, because we remembered seeing a Vodafone shop. We found it after a little while and found that it would be 30euros for a prepaid sim, this sounded too expensive to us, so we went next door to "wind" and purchased TIM sims for only 10euros each with 5euros credit on them.

So now we have italian phone numbers that our friends and family can contact us on.

We did a little shopping on our way back to the apartment and found Ciobar chocolate drink (like hot ciok from Toscanis). Yummo!!

Giardino di Boboli-19 July 2010

http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/boboli/index.html

The gardens are in Palazzo Pitti (Pitti palace). We spent a few hours in there walking up and down stairs and hills and looking at the wonderful gardens, statues and fountains. And the veiws from the gardens are absolutely fabulous.

The tickets are 7 euros each(under 6 is free) and the gardens are huge. We walked around for 2 1/2 hours and didn't see everything. We got a bit tired and decided to head back to the apartment.

It has been hot but not much different to Brisbane in Summer infact the buildings are much cooler because the walls are so thick.

I recommend the gardens to anyone coming to Florence for a visit.

Florence 18July 2010 day 4

Today we took it easy and went for a walk down the street for about 10minutes. We found a park at the end of the street that had an Area Giochi (playground) and a Farfalle(butterfly) exibit in a huge conservatory. We didn’t go in there though, it was a bit expensive (caro).
We stopped at a gelataria on the way back to the apartment and got 2 gelati and 2 canolo (canolo filled with icecream instead of ricotta). Very yummy.
When we got home the boys decided to play football (calcio) in the backyard and Levi kicked the ball over the neighbours fence. Phoenix was devastated. Iain and Levi went downstairs to the neighbour to ask them if they could help ask the other neighbours if they could get the ball back. They were not at home, so our lower neighbours gave Iain a ladder to climb over the fence, he made Levi do it seeings as he was the one to kick it over. Quite eventful.
Now we are relaxing and watching Titanic and drinking caffe.