Our final stop on this Tuscan tour is Florence. Gillian and I both started in Florence but most of our tourmates did not. So Florence was a wonderful surprise for them.

We took a public, scheduled long distance bus from Siena to Florence – about 1.5 hours. It was too early to check in, so we dropped our bags off at the Hotel Berchielli and went for lunch.

This was the first time we have been taken for pizza! It was very yummy! Note to self – repeat!

The Hotel Berchielli is right on the Arno River, and well located for exploring Florence. I recommend it for your future visits to Florence.

One reason I like Road Scholar tours is that we have experts come to lecture on what we will see, or experts who take us on tours of galleries etc. Emily Moloney spoke to us for an hour about what we would see in the Uffizi Gallery in two days time. She gave us an Uffizi’s Greatest Hits list to make our visit more productive. One thing she pointed out about medieval and Renaissance paintings of the Virgin and the Child is that baby Jesus always looks out of proportion. She refers to them as SMBs – shrunken man babies. We got a good giggle out of that, and it definitely informed our visit to the Uffizi.

We walked to the Galleria dell’Accademia for an expert-led tour. The highlight of the Accademia is, of course, Michelangelo’s David. I questioned the expert a few times about things that were in The Agony and the Ecstacy that did not jibe with her remarks. It turns out the A&E is full of inaccuracies. And I spent 33 hours listening to them! Aargh.

What a magnificent scupture is the David. 17 feet tall. Sculpted on the round which was relatively new at that time.

Our guide recommended the music section of the Accademia which was a great recommendation.

Following dinner around the corner from the Accademia, walked home in a dark Florence. You can see part of the Duomo is covered. It turns out that the Cathedral is so large, that there is always a part that is covered with a tarp with a graphic of what is behind, and is being cleaned. No one ever gets to see the whole thing in real life.

I really enjoyed Lucca and I adored cute Siena, but I LOVE Florence! Più domani.