We found a bus to take us back to the shopping area with the morning outdoor market close to the Duomo and Mercato Centrale (Central Market). I was looking for a leather purse. Didn’t find one though we did find a leather-bound sketch book for Misha for her birthday. Chris found a belt and had it sized for his waist by Max or Maximo, a rather interesting character.
We had lunch at a street bodega, Moka Arra, though the quality was definitely lacking. So many carbs.
Chris purchased tickets at the Ufizzi Museum for a little later in the afternoon. We definitely didn't complain about enjoying a little air conditioned comfort during the hottest part of the day. We listened to an audio tour through the museum. Though I am not much of a museum fan, we enjoyed the Ufizzi. I do believe the girls have had their fill of nude statues however.
Michaelangelo's Holy Family
After two hours we finished the tour and sat outside in the shade of the museum to try and make some plans for Saturday--Republic Day.
The beauty of Florence won us over to this wonderful city.
Oh, if only I could have cleared out all of the people from this view for a couple of moments.
We walked around a bit checking for a restaurant for dinner but ended up choosing the same place as the night before since it was the most reasonably priced, it was at the base of the hill to the Piazzale Michaelangelo (Michaelangelo Square) lookout point, and it seemed the best option since we were heading back up so that Misha could see the view and sketch with her newly acquired sketch book.
We already knew where the road by Fort Belvedere went so only walked a short distance to check it out with Misha.
The steps were already full of artists and tourists when we arrived and much of the wall space was claimed by people waiting for the sun to set. Misha found a far off, unclaimed spot and settled in to sketch. I took pictures.
As we left the piazza, Amy FaceTimed us and we chatted a bit. Kristen urgently needed to find a bathroom and we went in search, only finding one that was closed. Boo. We hiked to the bus stop and climbed on with all of the others descending from the piazza.
The bus terminated close to the Hotel Villa Medici again and Chris sweet-talked the front desk guy to let Kristen use the bathroom and asked about some destinations for tomorrow that would suit a half day trip. We finally found a second bus that took as back to our hotel. We were all so tired. Chris stopped at the front desk to talk to Vladimir about tomorrow and things that would be possible to do on Republic Day, June 2nd (similar to our 4th of July).
"Republic Day, also known as Festa della Repubblica in Italian (Festival of the Republic), is a national holiday in Italy on June 2 each year. It celebrates the day when Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946 so their country could become a republic". (www.timeanddate.com)