Our Amazing Race (part 4)

DAY 4

Today was a little different -- today was not so much of a "race". Ben had more obligations at the Conference and so part of the day was an "alone day". We had breakfast together and then went our separate ways. I walked down to San Lorenzo.


It was a beautiful sunny morning and I sat on the steps and people watched for quite some time. It is amazing to be here.




The markets (San Lorenzo and Centrale) are right here by the church and I spent a lot of time shopping along the corridor of vendors.


As you turn the corner by the shops you can enter a large building that contains the Mercato Centrale, which is the food market. It was beautiful to walk around and see all of the veggies, cheese, wine, meat, fruit, etc. that they had for sale.


I really enjoyed walking around the city. It was amazing to be walking down a narrow street and have it open up into a large piazza with bustling people and more often than not a beautiful cathedral.

In the late afternoon Ben finished up with conference obligations and we met up at the San Lorenzo Market. We headed over to Santa Croche. It is a very interesting building made almost entirely of brown brick . . . except for the white marble facade. This is where many famous men are buried (Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli and Rossini -- plus well over 250 more people).


Our TASK of the day was to make it to the Piazzale Michelangelo before sunset. It's about a 25 minute walk from Santa Croche -- across the Arno River and up on the hillside. We made it with time to spare for a little shopping at the vendor booths up there and picture taking. There were wonderful views of Florence. It was like looking down on a map, or a scale model -- but it was the real thing.


We walked over to the steps and sat down to watch the sunset.


Then we made our way back down the hillside and walked along the Arno river toward the Ponte Vecchio. The water was so peaceful and the sky was beautifully streaked with purples, pinks, oranges and yellows.


We stopped and ate at a resteruant that hung over the river (If you look in the picture below it is the white enclose section on the left.). The atmosphere was amazing! The reflections of the lights in the water were beautiful.



After our dinner we walked back up toward our hotel (passing by the Duomo and San Lorenzo) lit by street lamps and still dotted with tourists. It was a little chilly . . . but, we couldn't pass up getting gelato. But, then again, I can't imagine anyone who can pass by nearly 30 gelattarias and not stop to get some.

We made it back to our hotel -- PIT STOP. I think that there is just one thing here that we may not get to do -- sleep in. There is just too much to do! Maybe we can sneak a nap in somewhere . . . we'll have to see.