Pigs and Palaces

We are in hotel #13 of our ‘Super Trip’ (as David has dubbed it) so I thought I’d relax for a few minutes and take advantage of these cute little foot washers they have in Italy. I filled it with warm water, rolled up my pajamas and soaked my feet. They even have these special little soft towels just for your feet, which is very thoughtful. I felt like a new woman.

Biking through London was so much fun that I signed us up for a cruise through Florence. The bikes were pretty hilarious and David’s rattled so badly that he spent half of the tour jimmy rigging a fix for it.

We had a very knowledgeable tour guide that shared all the inside information about Florence with us; and she should know. She’s from California. We pedaled by the Piazza Santa Maria Novella, the Petit Palace, and the church of Saint John the Baptist, the Florence Duomo… She even treated us to two scoops.

In 1993 a law was passed preventing mafia members from having as many family visits whilst they served prison time so as payback they set off a car bomb just outside the Uffizi. The scar is still on the building where the blast occurred killing two and destroying over 300 works of art.

We biked past the Ponte Vecchio and through the ancient streets of Florence.

After our high intensity workout on the bikes, we popped into a corner grocery store and bought some sandwiches, sodas, chips and cookies. Behind the Petit Palace are the Boboli Gardens, which was our destination for a picnic. The view from the highest part of the park was fantastic. We toured the buildings and then made our way back to the center of town.

The Duomo! We paid our 8 Euro each and climbed the 468 steps to the top of the dome. Again, the view was stunning!

The Duomo was built with the colors of the Italian flag; red, (pink) white and green marble to signify the unification of Italy. However, I guess the pink marble that is from Sienna is a thorn in the side of Florentines. Sienna and Florence have been and still are fierce rivals.

Wandering through the streets we came to the Central Market, which looked very much like the old city of Jerusalem.

Just as many cities, Florence has a good luck charm with a legend. Here it happens to be a wild boar. You must rub his nose and toss a coin in the drain if you’d like to come back to Florence. A nearby plaque informs visitors that this particular wild boar was inspiration to a particular story written by Hans Christen Andersen.