Day 5 - March 28th - Florence

We were on the road early - arriving in Florence a little after 9am, and drove to our hotel. I had redeemed Starwood points for a splurge - 1 night at the Grand Hotel (part of Starwood's Luxury Collection http://www.florence-grand-hotel.com/). We checked in and were given our rooms - 316 & 318. I have never stayed at a place like this (and doubt I will again)!! I also had never been walked to my room by an agent & shown the room - what decadence! The fabrics/decor/furniture were out of this world (well, at least this time). I can tell you that we would not have stayed here if not for the point redemption - the continental breakfast itself cost $52 EUR per person. This was a dream place!

We dropped off our things and headed out the door. First stop - Ponte Vecchio for window shopping (partly because of the prices and partly because stores were just opening up). We walked around & found ourselves in the Mercato Nuovo. There was lots of vendors around selling things, plus here is where we found "Il Procellino" - a statue of a pig/boar. There are 2 legends about him - 1 states that if you rub his snout it'll bring you good luck, and the other states that if you rub his snout you will ensure a return visit to Florence. Either way we rubbed his snout. The Duomo was next - gorgeous but it didn't affect me in the same way that the one in Orvieto did.

We ate an early lunch as Dawn & I had reservations for a 115pm entrance into the Uffizi Gallery (booked while in the States on http://www.florenceart.it/). We chose to eat at the Caffe Caste Vecchi (in the piazza near the Uffizi). I had ravioli burro e salvia (butter & sage ravioli), followed by piselli florentina (peas with prosciutto) and torta al cioccolato (chocolate cake). Dad had scalopine e funghi, canelloni e ricotta & spinaci, and tiramisu. Dawn had pizza margherita & torta al cicoccolato.

We got to the Uffizi early and walked right - there was no line what so ever. Dawn is more of a museum person/lover than I am, so we did the must do's together ("Birth of Venus", "Springtime", "The Pieta", "The Annuncion") and a fast tour, then I sat down while Dawn went back for a more leisurely look at the paintings. I didn't want to rush her enjoyment but I wish I had brought a book with me.

We meet back up with Dad at about 245pm and he said that he wanted to go to the hotel for a rest. Dawn & I had reservations for the Accademia for 430pm (booked through the same site as the tickets for the Uffizi) but decided to see if we could get in early. We found the museum with out a problem and were able to go in 1 hr earlier than scheduled. The "Slave" works (pieces where a man is coming out of a piece of marble/stone-http://www.wga.hu/index1.html) were a sight to see and of course "David" was indescribable. We just sat there staring at this amazing (and HUGE) statue.

Dawn wanted to buy her husband a Harley Davidson t-shirt so after leaving the Accademia we decided to try to find the store. We went into a nearby hotel and asked the clerk if he knew the address for the store. He said "sure" and wrote down a street name for us. We jump into a taxi, get to the street he said & there was no HD store in sight. We wasted both time and money and finally got back to our hotel. We relaxed in our room until it was time for dinner.

Dinner was at the Le Giubbe Rosse (http://www.giubberosse.it/storia.asp?Lan=EN) where I had ensalate capriese (tomato & mozarella salad), followed by pasta con salsiccia e spinaci (spinach & sausage). Dawn had pizza margherita & I don't remember what Dad had. We walked around Florence on our way back to the hotel & while we were eating our gelato we viewd a parade/demonstration by EMS/Ambulance/Emergency vehicles (with sirens & lights going). We assumed that it was for PEACE as most of the vehicles had flags with the work PACE (peace) waving from them.