Florence, Italy (Firenze, Italia) is a beautiful city with a concentration of art and culture.

View other posts in this series:

• Secret Trip Preview
• Destination #1 – Clues
  • Lufthansa A380 First Class
  • Activities in Vienna, Austria
  • Food in Vienna, Austria
  • Park Hyatt Vienna
• Destination #2 – Clues
  • Transit – Vienna, Austria to Florence, Italy
  • Activities in Florence, Italy (this post)
  • Day Trip to Pisa
  • Hotel de la Villa (Florence)
• Destination #3 – Clues
  • Transit – Florence, Italy to Milan, Italy
  • Activities in Milan, Italy
  • Restaurant VUN
  • Park Hyatt Milan
• Destination #4 – Clues
  • Transit – Milan, Italy to Zermatt, Switzerland
  • Activities in Zermatt, Switzerland
  • Gornergrat
  • Hotel Matterhorn Focus
• Destination #5 – Clues
  • Glacier Express
  • Activities in Zurich, Switzerland
  • Park Hyatt Zurich
• Destination #6 – Clues
  • Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class
  • Conrad Maldives Complimentary Food
  • Conrad Maldives Dining
  • Conrad Maldives Water Villa
• Destination #7 – Clues
  • Transit – Maldives to Singapore
  • Activities in Singapore
  • Dining in Singapore
  • Grand Hyatt Singapore
• Destination #8 / 9 – Clues
  • Thai Airways Lounge and First Class
  • Activities in Hong Kong
  • Dining in Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong Disneyland
  • Ocean Park Hong Kong
  • Day Trip to Macau
  • Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
  • Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
• Destination #10 – Clues
  • Cathay Pacific Business Class
  • Activities in Seoul, South Korea
  • Dining in Seoul, South Korea
  • Park Hyatt Seoul
• Asiana A380 First Class

We took the City Sightseeing Firenze bus tour to Piazza Michelangelo, which offered panoramic views of the city.

We made reservations to visit Galleria degli Uffizi between 15:30 and 15:45 our first evening in Florence and entered the museum without much wait time. Inside, we marveled at the works of art by famous artists, including Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci. We recognized pieces that we had only seen in textbooks and on slides from art history class in high school. We viewed the Uffizi Tribuna from each of the three doorways to the spectacular octagonal room. We also had a great view of the Ponte Vecchio (bridge with shops) from inside the galleria. The highlight of the museum was Botticelli’s Nascita di Venere (Birth of Venus). Beside the Birth of Venus was a relief sculpture of the painting for the touch tour (for blind people).

We also made reservations to visit Galleria dell’Accademia between 8:30 and 9:00 the next morning. This museum is famous for its sculptures the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo. For many, including Chris and I, the highlight is getting a glimpse at the majestic David Di Michelangelo in person.

Florence is a city filled with sandwiches. For dinner the first night (and again for lunch the second day), we picked up sandwiches made on fresh focaccia bread from All’Antico Vinaio for 5 Euros each. We sampled La Favolosa (sbriciolona), L’Inferno (porchetta Toscana), La Summer Sandwich (prosiutto Toscano), and La Dante (prosiutto Toscano).