We finally slept in this morning! Or rather, we woke up early but both managed to fall back asleep until 9:15. It was nice…
We were going to check out the Galileo Science Museum this morning, but it’s closed for rennovations until next week (so close!), so we just wandered around for the morning and ate some croissants. We got our first batch at a little place where we picked them up and went, then I wanted to sit down later, and it was ten euros more just for the privilege of sitting in a cafe. I think it was worth it for the people-watching, though. We also did a little shopping in the San Lorenzo market. We did not get our pockets picked, though I saw a pickpocket at work there yesterday. (He literally sidled up to a dumb American elderly tourist, looked the opposite direction, and bumped into him, his hand conveniently by the man’s pocket. I was three feet away, and I said Wow! loud enough for the guy to look up in my eyes, withdraw his hand, and say Scuzzi to the victim as if he’d just bumped into him. I wanted to lecture the tourist on safety, but I figured I’d saved him enough.)
Anyway, we did not get our pockets picked, because there’s nothing in them. Instead, we got a decent lunch (the food was good, the service poor) at a RS recommended place (he redeemed himself after the pretty mediocre dinner rec last night). Part of the bad service was that it took three times of asking for the check (plus another request by a ticked off Italian patron who was waiting for a menu the whole time) and half an hour to actually get it and pay. Then we had to high tail it to the other side of Florence to get in line for our Uffizi reservations. Strolling through Florence is pleasant; power-walking is less so.
The Uffizi is great. It’s crazy to think that the European elite like Lord Byron used to come here, too, to see the same paintings and sculptures we’re looking at today. The free RS audio guide was nice, but the necessity of sharing headphones in a very warm museum with swarms of tourists made it a little less pleasant. We were pretty worn out by the end of the Renaissance rooms–so much artistic splendor in a short time. The other bummer was that there’s a sheet of glass over most important paintings, so you can’t lean in close and really look at it. It was amazing, though, don’t get me wrong!
We wandered around afterwards, completely worn out and dehydrated, hoping that gelato would bring us around. It didn’t, so we headed back by way of the Duomo (it was nice to sit inside and ponder architecture for 15 minutes) and Derek took a pre-dinner siesta. Pizza and earlier to bed tonight! We’re wiped!
i love love love the Uffizi.
btw – are you buying any souvenirs on this trip?