Florence, Day 2 - Sightseeing is WAY better with a headset on!

We got up really early in the morning, since there was so much to see!

We tried to make online reservations for the art galleries to avoid waiting in lines all day before we got to Florence, but they were already full.

We decided to go with a tour group instead to avoid the lines.

Jen wasn't too keen on the idea of "following the flag" (as we call the hordes of people who follow the woman with her umbrella or a dorky flaged raised above her head, shouting out fun facts about the city).

However, Abbey was able to find a company that had the oh-so-coveted "asian headsets" as we call them -- we had been so jealous of the Asian tourists in every other city that each have an earpiece and the tour guide has a microphone.

Jen was convinced - we were so excited to get our hands on those headsets.

We had a quick (and cheap!) cappuchino and brioche on our way to meet with our tour group.

We arrived to find obnoxious southerners and old men in white socks, white sneakers and matching white hats - Jen was appalled.

But, then we were presented with our headsets - and all was well with the world!

Our tourguide was an adorable Italian woman, who we could hear perfectly through her little microphone and our radios (which we were wearing around our necks... so cool.)

First, we headed to Palazzo Davanzati, an old palace that is open to the public.

Our guide told us all about how old Florentines used to live, what the city was like hundreds of years ago, about the process of making frescoes, etc.

It was very interesting!

We then moved on (keeping a surprisingly fast pace, which made us happy!) to the Mercato Nuovo, famous for the golden boar statute.

The "Trevi fountain of Florence," it is rumored that if you rub the pig's snout you will get to return to Florence.

(Note: we would later return, the next night, to this site - and instead of just riding the pig actually climb atop it -- but that's a story for tomorrow's entry).

We then walked to the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge) which now houses all the jewelry stores - we learned how it used to house meat shops but the smell got so bad that this practice was banned by the Duke.

We walked by the site of the 1993 terrorist attack in Florence, where a car-bomb exploded killing 5 people and damaging the art gallery of the Uffizi.

Today, there is an olive tree planted in memory of the lives that were lost and to promote peace.

After that, we walked by the Uffizi gallery (we would return later in the afternoon for our tour), and learned about the building itself - which was actually built to house offices for the royal Medici family, rules of Florence for 300 years.

We headed to Palazzo della Signoria, aka the Palazzo Vecchio, which is today the town hall.  There was a wedding going on, and many carriages filled with distinguished Italians in beautiful tuxedos were arriving!

We looked at the Loggia de' Lanzi, the outdoor sculpture garden.

There, we saw Benvenuto Cellini's famous "Perseus," Giambologna's marble "Rape of the Sabine Women", and "Hercules with the centaur Nessus," also in marble.

They were all beautiful!

There is also a copy of the David, as this was the original location before it was moved inside to protect it from the weather.

We walked through some alley-ways and learned more about the city's history, including the Medici family, and ended up at the Duomo.

The Duomo is the giant cathedral in Florence, which took hundreds of years to build.

The dome itself wasn't even possible when the building was designed; instead, the roof sat uncovered until Brunelesci was born and designed a way for a giant dome to sit atop the building - incredible!

The outside facade of the main church wasn't added until the 1800's, though the bell-tower was completed far before that.

It was so interesting to hear the history and architecture that came out of Florence!

We walked to the famous golden doors, named "the Gates of Heaven" - Jen was really excited because she remembered studying these in the past.

Our guide told us all about them, describing the scenes from each and the mastery of perspective that you see in the frames; also, she pointed out the artist's self-portrait.

From there, we headed to the Galleria' dell Accademia to see the David.

Everyone waiting in line hated us - partially because we got to jump to the front and head right inside, and partially because they were jealous of our incredible earpieces!

We saw Michelangelo's famous "Slaves," and then the "David" which is so impressive in person.

Having just been restored last year, the sculpture really was in perfect condition, and was breathtaking.

There are of course witty/crude jokes to be inserted here about David's cash-and-prizes - but, they're just too easy so we'll let you use your imagination.

Needless to say, it was a funny afternoon.

We left the tour group for some lunch, and then re-convened at 2:00pm to see the Uffizi Gallery.

We had a different tour guide, which made us sad - the one from the morning was so cute, and this one had a backpack of a hamburger with a cat's face in the middle -- Abbey wishes she had taken a picture of the world's tackiest bag.

Though we had some technical difficulties in the beginning with the headsets, we forgave the tacky tour-guide because she knew EVERYTHING about the Uffizi and art!

She told us all about perspective and how you can see its development from early paintings to Renaissance art.

We saw the Duke and Dutchess of Umbria, as well as various Botichelli works (including "La Primavera" - Jen's favorite - and "The Birth of Venus" - Abbey's favorite).

We also saw Michangelo's famous round painting of the Holy Family.

There was also an entire exhibit on DaVinci (thanks probably to Dan Brown and Tom Hanks), but we breezed through that pretty quickly.

The roof of the Uffizi had a cafe with a beautiful view - the coffee was too expensive for our budget, but the view was free so we enjoyed that for a bit before moving on.

Many of our friends had raved about a restaurant called Acqua al' due (Acque al' 2) - we made a reservation for dinner, but still a few hours to kill.

The tour book Abbey had recommended what they called the "best gelato in the world" - ever fans of Italian gelato, we decided to be the judges of that!

We headed to Vivaldi Gelateria...

OH. MY. GOD.

It was incredible.

Like, literally... incredible.

We could not contain ourselves.

Any prior claims of great gelato are hereby revoked, and let us state for the record: the best gelato in italy is in Florence, at Vivaldi.

Go, now, and get some (and yes, every flavor is good -- we know because we went back and tried them all over the course of our stay!!)

We walked to the Churce of Santa Croce, where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machivelli are all buried - we sat on the steps and enjoyed the sun a bit, which was lovely!

We walked to a bridge that was just past the Ponte Vecchio to watch the sunset - it was beautiful!

We took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the people watching as well - gotta love Euro-trash.

We headed to Acqua al' 2, which was a very cute restauraunt.

They are famous for their "sampler" dishes - so we ordered all five; the waiter suggested that we start with the first three, but we told him we were hungry, that eating is the highlight of our day, and not to under-estimate us!

We started with the salad trio, which was very fresh (though a little bland -- at this point, not blown away).

The pasta sampler consisted of five different pastas, but nothing to write home about... we didn't really get what all the fuss was about.

Then, came the meat sampler - they served a blueberry steak, as well as a balsamic stake, and some other meat with rosemary and peppercorn - it was sooo delicious.

We also had the cheese plate (since we just love cheese!) and the dessert platter - it wasn't Vivaldi gelato, but it was delicious none the less!

Top it all off with house red wine, and we were happy girls!

By the time we got back to our room it was only 11, but we were both stuffed and exhausted after a long day of walking, and decided to go to bed.

You know it: another wild night for the us.