Italy Vacation, Part 6 - Florence

5/14/15

We started our day in Florence with a quick breakfast before meeting our guide and beginning our walk toward the Uffizi.  As we rounded a corner, we noticed that the street was blocked off and there was a large inflation device placed under a window.  Spoiler alert: I think Tom Hanks is going to jump out of a window at some point in Inferno.  As we were walking off, we noticed someone milling around inside the roped off area.  Tom Hanks.  Since I got within 50 yards of him, we are now officially best friends.  That is how the rules work.

Tom Hanks.  He's the white one.  

We took the next street over and continued our walk to the Uffizi.  We stopped to check out a large collections of statues, one of which is a replica of the David.  We will find the real one a bit later.

FAKER.

The Vasari Corridor running about the Ponte Vecchio, which spans the Arno River.

We, with the help of our guide, skipped the long line into the Uffizi and made our way inside.  We saw some more statues and paintings by Ninja Turtles, which was tubular.  We ran into Il Porcellino, which they totally stole from Fayetteville before heading into the Vasari Corridor, which is a pretty big deal.  Fancy pants.  The Vasari Corridor is a secret passageway that was used by the Medicis to navigate their way between their home and offices without having to deal with the unwashed masses.  We snaked our way through the corridor before exiting into the Boboli Gardens in the Pritti Palace.

Woo Pig!

Spooky secret passageways

Vasari Corridor

Special entrance from the passageway to the church so that the
Medici family didn't have to sit next to the normal folk.

The Boboli gardens were really cool.  Lots of statues.  I raced dad up the stairs and won because I AM THE ALPHA DOG OF THIS FAMILY.  After the Boboli Gardens, we made our way to the Basilica of Santa Croce.  Santa Croce is the home of the tombs of greats such as Dante, Galileo, Machiavelli, and MICHELANGELO.  Two Ninja Turtles down.  Cowabunga, dude!

Missing: Jennifer

At the top of the Boboli Gardens

Neato view.

Basilica of Santa Croce.

On our return to the hotel, we found another pig statue.  Had to snag a picture.  We grabbed a quick dinner because we had scheduled another opera.  Wasn't nearly as cool as the first one and we bailed after the first act and went to the bar.  Day 1 of Florence is in the books.

Piggy #2

Alcohol - 1 Opera - 0