Florence - Pisa & The mall outlet

Day trip to Pisa:

We first walked to the train station, and there was this big board displaying the train schedules, yet the ticket machine was confusing.  There were several stations in Pisa and we weren't sure which station to get off at.  We finally got someone to ask about it.  So we took the regional train from firenze to Pisa Central.  There was no need to pre-book the tickets, you could just buy it at the train station.  The trains came quite frequently; it was about 7 Euro per person, one way.  The regional train sucks, there was no AC and it stunk.  The ride was LONG cuz the train was quite slow.  It was more than 1 hour (you can almost reach Rome within 2 hours with the high speed train).  There was no one checking the validity of our tickets on our way to Pisa Centrale.

very small station…half an hour walk to the leaning tower... 

We weren't sure where to get off, once we saw the sign "Pisa", we basically just followed the crowd.  We walked to the map and figured our way to the leaning tower.  The map looked simple and the tower didn't look that far away; so we just walked.  It was kinda too hot and sunny to walk there, it was a nice and quiet walk.  It took us approximately half an hour to walk there.

So I would recommend you to walk to the leaning tower and then bus back…bus ride was only 10 minutes.. The fare was only 1,50 - 2 Euro.

We saw some abandoned ruins on our way there

Duomo 

Famous Leaning tower…..I guess it doesn't look that leaning in this photo

 ok..One check off the checklist, I don't think I would come back again……

So after our lunch at mcdonald, we took a bus (10 minutes ride) back to the train station.  We didn't check the schedule this time, and we just hopped on to the earliest train that could get us back to Florence.  As the train came, yes, we just hopped on and we forgot to buy tickets……oh on….so this time, there was someone who came to check tickets, and we didn't have tickets.  She asked us to buy the train tickets from her.  Alright.  24 Euro for two people, not bad!!! Then later I looked at the receipt, she charged us 10 Euro for penalty (5 Euro per person).  Honestly, that was quite cheap for penalizing someone who didn't pay for the train fare, (not that I encouraged it), but i rather pay the extra fee than missing the train.

Anyway, this time the train took even LONGER to get back to Florence.  Different trains stop at different stations, though the longer it took.  It was almost 1.5 hour….

Mall Outlet: Prada, Miu miu, other high end Italian brands outlet:

So Pisa and the outlet are very far from each other.  Once we got off the train from pisa, we needed to take this shuttle bus to the Outlet.  It took us a long time to locate this bus station around the train station area.  It was quite hidden, and nobody was able to give you the direction.

The shuttle comes every hour, we were running back and forth to look for the station because we didn't want to miss it.  The outlet closes at 7, while we were trying to catch the 4pm bus.  After half an hour of searching, we could finally find it.  The round trip costed 10 Euro per person.  The ride was approximately one hour, it was seriously out of no where.

But it worth the trip if you love brand names products, their Prada stuff were quite cheap compared to retail prices  A regular Prada wallet (Long one), retail price is 350 Euro, it was 220 Euro.  Purse that was 1200 Euro in retail price, it was 450 Euro there.  So if you love shopping, you might not want to miss it.  Again, this is an outlet, so you might not get the popular stuff that you see at the retail stores.

Tax return:
You can file the tax return there, please do it because you get almost 11% back.  There's a tax return office there.  Line up and DO IT.

Last bus back to the city:
one bus leaves at 7, one bus leaves at 7:30pm.  Make sure you don't miss the last bus, cabbing back would be very $$$.

Note:
It took us a whole day to go to Pisa and the outlet.  So much commute, it was worth it though :)  Do some research if you want to go to the outlet, because there are more other outlets as well.

Florence - Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo:
When you come to Florence, you must come here for the panoramic view of Florence..especially come right before the sunset...

We walked to the main train station and took bus #12 to Piazzale Michelangelo…  We bought the bus tickets from the bus driver.  It was a nice ride; it took about 30 minutes to drive up the hill (some people suggested to take a hike up there)…

It was a magnificent view of Florence.  We were waiting for the sunset..I made a reservation at the restaurant up there at around 7 (just about the sunset time).  I thought we could sit at the terrace to enjoy the sunset, but unfortunately the terrace was closed.  I was a little disappointed, there was nobody inside as it was still a little early.

La Loggia del Piazzale Michelangelo 

We picked the table that was closest to the door…it was quite nice inside.  We ordered some wine and enjoyed a little of sunset :)

some salad to start with

Rabbit meat ….. it was quite moist… 

It was my first time tasting rabbit meat…….it was quite good..but it kinda tasted like chicken…..

Sea bass

The ambience of the restaurant was quite good.  The food was not bad and it wasn't very expensive.  I would recommend to try this when you want to have a comfortable meal at Piazzale Michelangelo.

After a nice dinner, we walked around and took some very nice night shots with tripod.

Bus ride back to town:
We thought we could take the same bus back to town, but the bus driver turned us away saying this was the last stop….We actually needed to take bus #13 which was across the road.  We waited for a while and when bus #13 finally came, we went up to the bus driver to buy the tickets…and he said he only had 1 ticket to sell…and he couldn't accept cash.  I asked him so what do i do? He told me to get off the bus to buy the bus tickets…he was pointing at the parking lot.  In the end we were running back and forth, trying to figure out what he was talking about….it took a good ten minutes before we could take the bus back to town.  Good that it was probably his break time, or else we would have to wait for another 30 minutes for the next bus to come.

Florence - Uffizi Gallery

View from Uffizi Gallery's patio

We pre-booked tickets for the Uffizi Gallery at 12:15pm online.  We arrived early and we went to the ticket office to get tickets with our reservation number, and we got in quickly.

View from window

Uffizi was huge; there were a lot of Roman sculptures and awesome paintings....But it was a little overwhelming (maybe after so many museums)....so eventually we lost interest....

After the Uffizi, we walked around the Duomo and we bought some Belgium waffle with ice cream.  It was so chill...such an awesome day :)

We went back to the hotel to chill and got some free drinks from the Hotel's roof terrace....pretty nice view :)

Very nice weather...can't ask for more... :) We chilled for a while before we go to the Piazzale Michelangelo

Florence - brunch & parade

Brunch
We had a good sleep at the Best Western, we slept until we woke up naturally.  We had a refreshing morning; we first walked to a pizza place for some brunch.  We ordered two slices of pizza, cappuccino and water, quite cheap.  The pizza types in Italy are more simple than the ones we have in North America; it is not common to see "meat deluxe or hawaiian pizza" in Italy.  The italian pizza I saw in Italy usually have only 2 toppings.  I guess they only treat pizza as appetizer or a small meal??

stuff pizza and meat & mushroom pizza

While we were having brunch, we heard it was quite noisy outside the pizzeria.  There were some people with Roman and Medieval costumes that were marching on the street.  Quite interesting.

I booked the tickets for the Uffizi Gallery at 12:15pm.  We arrived early and there was some street artist painting on the ground with chalks.

Florence - late night strolling

Strolling in Florence is quite romantic at night....the streets are so quiet and the lighting is so soft.

Mix of new and old buildings....so chill to walk around.

Street performance with lots of audience around...the streets were so clean..

Ponte Vecchio aka The Old Bridge

late night snack

late night dessert....yummm :)

love these road signs...

Florence - Piazza della Signoria

Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio

It was a nice day strolling around the Piazza della Signoria.  According to Wikipedia, Piazza della Signoria was created in 13th century, the piazza is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, it was named after the Palazzo della Signoria.  Palazzo Vecchio ("the old palace") is the town hall of the city.

Palazzo Vecchio (left) and Loggia dei Lanzi (right)

Loggia dei Lanzi
The original purpose of the loggia was to shield dignitaries from the elements during ceremonies, public meetings and events.  Today it is an outdoor gallery with a collection of impressive Renaissance and Roman sculptures.

The statue of David
The square is almost like an open air sculpture museum with plenty of statues that remind visitors of Florence's glorious past.  Michelangelo's masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture, the statue of David (left), was created in 1504 for the city of Florence and placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.  But in 1873, the original David was replaced by a replica, now the original David is located in Galleria dell' Accademia - as mentioned in my previous post.

inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Reference

Florence - random night shots in Florence

First night in Florence:

After dinner, we just walked around Florence.  We took a lot of random photos of the gates, the texture and the tiles were so vintage and unique. 

Some said the cobblestones were from the medieval era

..to be continued.. :)

Florence - First Dinner in Firenze

Our first dinner at Florence:

We walked around the Duomo and we decided to have an early dinner right behind the Duomo.  The waiter was waving us over, so we sat at the outdoor terrace.  We were the first guests there as I guess it was a little too early for the tourists and locals to have dinner; it was around 5:30 pm.

Pappardelle with mushroom

We got a bottle of white wine and some fresh bread to start with.  We ordered only two pasta dishes as we weren't that hungry, we just want to sit and chill.  This time we ordered a type of pasta we never tried: pappardelle.  This type of pasta is large and broad, similar to lasagna...I'm not a big fan of this.  I would probably prefer lasagna better.

Risotto with Lobster

I ordered this pasta dish: risotto with lobster.  It was pretty good, quite creamy but not very special.  Overall we were not super satisfied with the food quality, but the location was good.  It was quite a nice place to chill around the Duomo, aka: tourist trap.  It wasn't super expensive though, probably 15- 18 Euro per pasta dish.

Florence - Accademia Gallery & Basilica de San Lorenzo

Galleria dell' Accademia:

Michelangelo's masterpiece - The real David you can't miss seeing in Florence.

Day 1 - After a nice lunch, we went back to hotel and rested up.  We unpacked and got changed.  At around 4pm, we walked to the Accademia Gallery to get our prebook tickets.  It got us in quite quickly, we skipped the long line up.

The gallery had some modern arts, but our main purpose was to see the real DAVID by Michelangelo.  There was no photo allowed, but we still happened to take several sneak shots inside.

The real David is big, bigger than I had expected.  The masterpiece was so detailed.  we were quite amazed at this famous sculpture.  (see below).

There are quite a few of David replica placed around Florence, but nothing could be compared to the real one.  This was bigger, and you can actually see the details of the veins and muscles.

Tips to skip the line to the Academia Gallery:

 - prebook the tickets online from the OFFICIAL website.  (b-tickets)

http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/venueAccademia.aspx

If you just google online, there are tons of websites that sell you the tickets but they are more expensive.  So it's best to buy from the official website.  The time we went, the museum had an expedition so the ticket price was a little more.  You do have to pay for reservation cost of 4 Euro.  In general the info of the ticket price should be:

The official site for Polo Museale Fiorentino museum ticket sales

Opening hours

Tuesday through Sunday: 8:15-18:50, entry every 15 minutes.

Closed: Mondays, Christmas, New Year’s Day, May 1st

Tickets

Full price: € 6,50

Reduced : € 3,25 

Entry free of charge 

In conjunction with the exhibit "Dal Giglio al David. Arte civica a Firenze in età comunale", 14 May - 8 December 2013, full ticket price € 11.00, reduced € 5.50

Reservation cost

€ 4,00

After I made my payments online, I only got an email but it didn't give me an authorization or reference number.  So I made a long distance call to their museum and asked.  They said they will try to send it again, and even if I didn't get it, it should be ok.  They would have a list of my name and the visiting time on that day.

When you buy the tickets online, they made you reserve a time.  I picked 4:15pm; so we had to arrive by 4pm.  Make sure you don't go to the wrong line.  You first need to go to the reservation counter, across the street from the museum.  Then they checked ID and the confirmation number, and then print you the tickets.  Then you walked across the street to line up to get into the museum and for security check.  It felt good to skip through a big line up to get in.

- Avoid bringing a big backpack or any food in.  They would make you leave your bags at the security counter until you leave the museum.  

Basilica de San Lorenzo:

After visiting the Accademia Gallery, we hung out around the Duomo area.  Everything was so close together.  We took some nice photos and bought some postcards.  We also visited the Basilica de San Lorenzo - the oldest church in Florence, I believe.

It was a nice walk inside, not bad...but nothing special.


My first impression of Florence:

I fell in love with Florence.  There were many tourists walking around, very commercialized with shopping and brand names, yet very classy with the cobblestone and the vintage buildings.

Florence - Hotel: Best Western Premier Hotel Laurus

Best Western Preimer Hotel Laurus: 

1 Double Bed, Non-smoking room

Hotel Review:
Hotel Location: Very convenient, 5 minutes walk to the Duomo, 7-10 minutes walk to the train station, 7 minutes walk to the Galleria Dell Accademia, 1 minute walk to shopping district

Room: Very spacious, bed is very comfortable, very clean overall

Wifi access: wifi access included, yet it asked you to log in with their complicated access code like every 5 minutes, very inconvenient.

Guest service: Quite helpful with directions

Breakfast:  Not included.  But there's a nice cafe that was located right beside the lobby with SUPER GOOD and FRESH pastry.  Great price too.  It was 1 Euro per pastry and 2 Euro for a nice cup of cappuccino

Complimentary: Bottle of red wine (coupon from TripAdvisor) & 1 free drink/person at their roof terrace

View: Magnificent View from the Terrace, you can see how close the hotel was located from the Duomo

Bathroom: Washroom is quite clean and spacious.  Shampoo provided only, no conditioner.  Their shampoo products were not good at all.

My thoughts of the Best Western Premier:
Walkable distance to almost everywhere we wanted to go (except for Piazzale Michaelangelo, Pisa and the Outlet).  We really liked the cafe beside the hotel (opens only in the morning).  Very comfortable bed, the room was very spacious.  There was a lot of storage space.

Price was a little expensive: $686 Cdn for 3 nights.  We didn't regret staying here, we love this hotel. When we got tired, we just walked back to the hotel room to take a break or to take a nap.

Florence - Arrival

Train: Venice to Florence:
We took the first class train to Florence's Santa Maria Novella Station.  We arrived to Florence at 11am.  Once we arrived to the Florence train station, we went to the customers assistance to ask for directions to our hotel.  She said it was very close by, it should be only 5 - 10 minutes walk.

1 Euro per person to use the washroom
Both of us needed to go to washroom, so we went to the W.C., it costed 1 Euro per person to use the washroom.  They had gates to take money, just like how the gate takes money to enter the subway.  Most people had trouble figuring out how to exit (by pressing a button).

Awesome hotel location:
We looked at the big map in front of the train station to check where our hotel was.  After 7-10 minutes of walk, we found our hotel: Best Western Premier, it was probably the easiest hotel to find throughout our trip.  The hotel was super close to the Duomo and everything.  But it was too early to check in, we couldn't check in until 2pm.  So we walked towards the Duomo and we had lunch at the outdoor cafe with a nice view of the Duomo.


First lunch in Florence:

I ordered: Black Truffle Mushroom Ravioli

Lasagne

We ordered a big bottle of water (4 Euro) and some beer.  Alcohol is way cheaper in Europe than water.  I fell in love with black truffle during this trip.  The ravioli was quite good.  Lasagne was pretty good, simple but nothing special.  Pasta is usually not the main entree, that's why the portion is quite small.

Dessert time: Tiramisu & cappuccino

Finally, I got to try tiramisu in Italy....Yummm...along with a cup of cappuccino.  The texture of the tiramisu is very soft and creamy, taste of coffee/expresso was not that strong.  It was quite different from the ones I usually had in Canada.  The presentation didn't look that great either, but it still tasted good!

It was a nice day, weather was good.  Even though we were walking on the ancient cobblestone roads, the streets we were at were quite commercialized.  Brand name stores and shopping stores were everywhere.