Italy Day 5 Florence
Today was an interesting day. We made it a point to wake up and catch the sunrise over the mountains, as well as visit the chapel on the grounds. This 11th century abbey maintains it's character and essence of the ages. The sun shining through the many areas of the property were very mystical in many ways. After the sunrise we went back to sleep for a short bit, and woke up in time for a phenomenal Italian breakfast spread. Once we were willing to finally put down our forks and say no more to the good stuff, we got ready and made our way to Florence for a short visit.
Upon arriving in Florence we found a parking spot a block from St. Marks Convent/Museum where many of the great works of the Dominican Friar Fra Angelico rest, unfortunately however I did not plan well, and the museum closed at 1:20 pm and it does not open again the rest of the day. Thankfully before we left the church re opened at least, and we got to see a couple of his beautiful artworks.
We then made our way over to the Florence Cathedral where the lines were long, and every church charged for entrance. Thankfully we were open to many possibilities during this visit, and Florence turned out to be more of a shopping adventure, as it's considered one of the premier leather places in the world. On our way to the cathedral we found a place where we met a nice Persian man, who sold us a bag for Monica, and a nice leather carrying case for myself and a belt. We stopped in a shop for a light sandwich on focaccia bread, which was awesome, and met a nice Ethiopian woman who I jubilantly shared with my card, and love of her culture. We grabbed several more items along the way, visited Ponte Vecchio (a shopping district on a bridge) and met another nice Persian man in another store and we made our way back to Badia a Coltibuono (the abbey).
We arrived back right at 6 pm and used the remainder of the night to rest and enjoy the scenery. I did a little evening prayer in the garden area in front of a water fountain, caught the 8 o'clock church bells, and from there we had dinner after a short walk up a hill for a better view. Our waiter/host Ricardo was phenomenal for the second day in a row. He was truly a highlight during our stay here. He had a great personality, well knowledge, fun, playful and most of all he let us enjoy our time, both times we shut the place down and spent an hour after closing time, but no one single moment did he ever sacrifice hospitality. A true gentleman and Italian of the countryside. From here we will rest and prepare to travel to Venice tomorrow.
First picture was an asparagus dish with a perfectly poached egg and back, the next was a lasagna made with asparagus and other phenomenal stuff, the next was a great risotto with sausage in it, and then we did a nice size local T Bone which was a 2 person portion, the photo has not uploaded yet, and I need some rest, so you just get to see the T bone, and leftovers of the steak lol.
The Duomo of Florence