Another day in Florence, had our usual bakery treats from the panetteria down the street and then hit the road. We picked up a 3-day pass called the Firenze Card. It gives us free access to most of the museums and attractions in town, including free bus rides. Also more importantly we get to skip the lines. So the first thing we did is head to the offices. The offices of the Medici that is. The Medici family ruled Florence for many years and supported many artists (such as Michelangelo) and science folks too (like Galileo), who were not popular with the church at times. They built a large building for their administration called "The Uffizi", which translates into "the offices", and they filled it with art. Today that building holds many paintings that covers from pre-renaissance times to both during and after the renaissance. It took us a few hours to go through the highlights. I had downloaded a Rick Steves app for free tour info and Beth and I listened and followed his descriptions and directions as we went, it was a big help.

By that time we were famished and needed to re-charge. Museums can be draining! We headed off to the Mercato Centrale, a large food market housed in a massive old stone and brick building with a large glass and iron roof. On the upper level is Florence's version of a food court. All kinds of various food outlets serving all kinds of tasty treats. However, it was a warm day and the building was quite hot and stuffy. We needed fresh air. So instead we went another restaurant with an open-air patio on the nearby piazza and had to suffer through more homemade pastas and salads. What a life!

Ready to go for the afternoon, we tackled more sites. The Medici Chapels were close by so in we went. As I said earlier, the Medicis were rulers, the Grand Dukes, the big kahunas if you will for quite some time. The needed their own chapel and fancy burial spot, so they had an addition tacked on to the end of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. They had good ol' Michelangelo design their "new sacristy" around 1520. There's a few of his sculptures in there as well, but he didn't quite finish them as that guy in Rome was calling for him, you know,the Pope.

We wondered through the streets and shops until we found our way back over the Arno to our apartment in the Santo Spirito neighbourhood. As today is our 27th anniversary (thank you) we planned a nice evening out. I managed to make a reservation over the phone and off we went to our 8:00 pm slot at Trattoria Giovanni. Good thing we had a reservation too as by 8:00 pm all the various ristorantes, trattorias and what have you are busy and full. We started off with an antipasti of various cheeses with crusty bread and honey-onion spread. For my "primi piatti" I had a Tuscan dish - wild boar and polenta. Beth had a pasta dish with truffle sauce (not like truffles from Purdy's, but those mushroom like things they find buried in the dirt). Both were excellent. Washed it all down with a nice Montepulciano red wine. Can't think of a better way and place to celebrate my anniversary with my lovely wife than here in Florence. I'm truly grateful.

OK, I'm going to post a few pics and hit the hay. I'm actually a day behind on this thing, we've been so busy. Ciao for now.