Because Florence was all about money and we allocated too many days for going around Florence without entry to museums which required payment, we decided to go to two museums.
But before that, we went walking around a bit because the weather in the morning was great and there was sun. Traveling during winter or early summer is a race in which you gotta try to see all that you wanna see when there’s sunlight. Keep the indoor activities to late afternoons when there’s less sun.
In any case, we headed towards the Piazzale Michaelangelo early in the morning. On the way, we passed by the Porta alla Croce (which looks really uninteresting).
Porta alla Croce at Piazza Beccaria
We reached the River Arno really soon. Just in case you didn’t read my previous post. River Arno is the main river that passes through Florence. Our destination was just across the river.
River Arno
River Arno
Crossing the river via a bridge (Ponte S. Niccolo), we arrived soon at the foot of the hill on which the Piazzale Michaelangelo is located.
Climbing up to Piazzale Michaelangelo
Reaching the Piazzale, we were greeted by a magnificent panoramic view of Florence. We spent quite some time taking pictures, dawdling around, enjoying the view.
View of Florence from Piazzale
Awesome view with Ponte Vecchio in sight
Yours truly
The scenery is too good not to take pics
Strong winds
Unfortunately, the winds were really strong and it started raining soon after that. We snapped a few more pictures and then the rain became really heavy. So, we headed for shelter.
Awesome view of the outskirts of Florence where there’s plenty of greenery
Small church we took shelter in
Jesus
When the rain turned lighter, we headed towards the back of Piazzale Michaelangelo where San Miniato al Monte (a church) was located. We entered, as usual, and took a few pictures…… as usual.
San Miniato al Monte
Closer
A special room inside
When we were done walking around the church (while some of us rested), we decided to head to a museum (because there was nothing else to do outdoors and the weather wasn’t that nice). We crossed River Arno again via Ponte alle Grazie, from which Ponte Vecchio can be seen (on the side w/o restoration, yay!)
River Arno again
Ponte Alle Grazie
Ponte Vecchio at the back
The Galleria Degli Uffizi was just beside the River Arno between the bridge we just crossed and the Ponte Vecchio. In between there was an interesting statue so we took a few silly photos there.
Random statue
Unfortunately the Galleria Degli Uffizi had an extremely long queue and there were absolutely no reduced rates for students or young people so we decided to give it a pass. We felt that another museum was more interesting and if we had to pay to enter, we might as well just enter a museum which is worth the money and spend more time there.
So, we went to the Galleria dell’Academia where David by Michaelangelo is located. The entry cost me 6.50 euros.
Unfortunately, within the Galleria, photo taking was forbidden
so I took some photos in secrecy and I shall not post them online.If you read my previous posts, you’ll realize that we actually thought the Vitruvian Man was in this museum but in fact it was in the Galleria dell’Academia in Venice. Bad mistake on our part. But anyway, if we went, it would’ve been another 6.50 euros. And to be honest, I didn’t even know about it until I read The Da Vinci Code a few years ago.Anyway, once the hotel visit was done, we went to buy some leather goods. I bought two wallets for my parents (which I later found out could’ve been bought for 12 euros each) at a highly bargained price of 13.30 euros each.
Once we had that done, it was dinner time. We decided to enter a random pizzeria on the way home. I spent 4.50 euros on a tranch of pizza, then exchanged a few small portions with my friends. The pizza was quite awesome, just a little pricier than usual.
PIZZAAAAAA
I <3 pizzas
But, good pizza is good pizza. It was worth the money. That night, as usual, we played some cards in the room and then went to sleep.
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