Sunday May 14th - Florence arrival

I arrived from the French Riviera via Paris around 5PM CEST. There is no Uber service allowed in Florence anywhere, so I taxied from the airport to my hotel, the AC Marriott Firenze. I had a crazy taxi driver who drove like a wild man through the crowded, narrow streets. Surviving that, check-in was disappointing. The front desk seemed practiced at the art of saying "no". No upgrades, no free breakfasts, no local maps. Undaunted, I did a quick turnaround and then walked 20 minutes along the Arno riverbank to Piazza Santa Croce (first picture below) as the sun was starting to set. Around the corner was the Church of the Holy Cross (second picture below). I found a hole-in-the-wall cafe just off the piazza and enjoyed a relaxing dinner before taxiing back to my hotel.

Monday May 15th - Sienna, Montalcino, and Montepulciano

I had interviewed and arranged for a driver through Driver in Italy months before for my day trip to Siena, Montalcino, and Montepulciano. He turned out to be unavailable that day and sent a substitute. The substitute was okay, but knew next to nothing about wine. Our first stop was in Siena, where I did a nice walk around from the Cathedral (third picture above) to the huge Piazza del Campo (large picture, top of page left). I grabbed a snack on the piazza before we headed out toward Montalcino with a stop at the 14th century walled village of Buonconvento (fourth picture above). I did a quick walk through the backstreets there, past quant courtyards (first picture below) and market spaces. We arrived in Montalcino (second picture below) too early for my first winery tasting appointment, so I found a wonderful little wine bar just inside the fortress wall, Enoteca La Fortezza. The owner, Fabio Tassi, was an expert in everything Brunello and I had the best tasting of the day there with him - seven Brunellos in all, each with a distinctly different character.

We arrived at my first scheduled brunello tasting at Paradiso di Cacuci in the early afternoon where my driver insisted that I would enjoy their tour before the tasting. The tour was garbage with Brunello information that anyone could have read about on the internet, so I cut it off diplomatically after about 10 minutes. The tasting itself was adequate, but had several non-Brunellos to wade through before getting to the various vintages of their Brunellos (third picture below). My driver tried to pick up the pieces by scheduling another Brunello winery, but that one turned out worse. Heading out of Montalcino, we arrived at Montepulciano in the late afternoon (large picture top of page right). Montepulciano still has all free tastings everywhere - including mini charcuteries, which allowed me to try several shops as I walked along the narrow streets (fourth picture below). I found a few Vino Nobile gems. We arrived back in Florence around 7PM. I had a nice Italian dinner at a local restaurant that was recommended by the hotel and then retired for the night.

Tuesday May 16th - Florence Museums

I woke early and walked along the Arno riverbank to the Uffizi Gallery in time for my appointment at 8:30AM. The voucher to ticket exchange went smoothly and I was inside the gallery in 10 minutes. The collection and organization of art at the Uffizi is impressive (first and second pictures below). I spent a couple of enjoyable hours there while clouds and rain started moving in outside (third picture below). Crossing the Piazza Santa Croce on my way to my next appointment at the Accademia Gallery Museum, I took the fourth shot below of a couple and their photographers doing wedding pictures.

The Accademia was pure chaos. The first picture below is the line for people with reservations! My reservation was for 11:30AM and at 11:45 there was no information, and no discernable line or order anywhere. It also was raining on and off to add to everyone's misery. I finally got in at 1PM, only to face another mob scene inside (second picture below). The Accademia is as disorganized and poorly laid out as I could imagine. The third picture below shows a room crammed full of what seemed like every statue in their collection shoulder to marble shoulder. This was my third visit to the Accademia and also my last. For what they put all of the visitors through, David should have hopped off of his pedestal and done a break-dance or two.

I had bought tickets for the Duomo ahead of time, but one look at the long line outside and I knew I would do a hard pass on that. The Baptistery of Saint John, just across the piazza, was included in the Duomo ticket, so I did a quick tour, snapping the ceiling shot in the fourth picture above. I found another hole-in-the wall cafe a few blocks off of the piazza and enjoyed a leisurely early Italian dinner coupled with a very tasty house Sangiovese. I walked back to my hotel, did some packing, journaling, and picture processing before retiring for the night. Onward via train next to Bologna, continuing my 22 day European adventure.