It was an early start (6:00 a.m.) to a long day – a nine hour excursion to Florence. But it didn’t start well – there was no water at all. When I called guest services the bad sign was that it took forever to get someone on the phone. The next bad sign was what the guest services person said, “Yes, we are aware and we are working on it.”
Very encouraging. And we had no idea what to do next.
Luckily the water came back at 6:20 – or that’s when we tried next. When I called guest services again, they said the water was indeed back, but to let it run for at least 5 minutes before using it.
The water was a little yellowish, and the hot water barely made it to “not cold”. No showers for us today!
Then I made a terrible miscalculation by going by the weather forecast in the daily ship newsletter – 60s and partly cloudy! I left my umbrella behind.
Things improved somewhat through breakfast and boarding the bus. Andy ran ahead to get seats in the front of the bus to make it easier to get off.
Our tour guide was Giulia. She was absolutely fantastic. She made the 90 minute drive to Florece fly by.
By then it had started to rain. Not only rain, but pour. Uh oh. And when it was time to get off the bus, the street peddlers were literally in our faces selling ponchos and umbrellas – so close to me, in fact, that I didn’t have enough room to make a soft landing on the ground from the high step wrenched my knee. That still didn’t stop them. I had to shout at them to get away.
It was a long walk from the bus to the Piazza Santa Croce, one of Florence’s main squares. By now it was really, really pouring, but we ducked into a gold shop for a “demo” of gold jewelry and leather work. And a clean (and free) bathroom, though the water pressure left something to be desired.
We continued our tour and stopped to look at the Duomo –
Back out into the rain, Giulia talked about Florence’s four quarters. We were now in the “political” quarter, with a fake “David” and an obviously not-Michelangelo statue of Zeus.
Giulia talked about the covered walkway that the wealthy people used to cross the river without getting wet.
At this point it was really pouring buckets, and I caved an bought yet another umbrella for 5 euros (probably worth 2, but oh well).
By now it was time to wander over to the Galleria dell’Accademia to stand in the line for our turn to see the David.
Giulia explained that the time, representations of David always had him holding a sword with one foot on Goliath’s severed head. That is one of many striking things about Michaelangelo’s David so extraordinary – this David is holding a sling shot. The position of his head, arms, and body show he is focusing on the shot he is about to take.
The rain had stopped by the time we exited the museum, and now it was time for a very long schlep back to the Piazza Santa Croce for lunch.
Giulia had been promoting this one particular restaurant and its lasagna all morning, so now we all had to try it. It was, in fact, amazing – from somebody who is not a pasta/tomato sauce kind of person.
After lunch we went into the Santa Croce church. Entombed there is Michaelangelo, Dante, and Galileo, with a monument to Rossini. This is Michaelangelo’s tomb:
Our day in Florence was over. Giulia arranged for a few of us to take a cab back to the bus, because we were a bit worn out.
Before getting on the road, we stopped for a panoramic view:
The very long day ended on a great note!
Tomorrow: Arrivederci, Italia! Bonjour Cannes!
Maryland Meshugas 