We decided to spend Monday walking around Florence, Tuesday touring the highlight museums, and then spend Wednesday in Rome. With that plan, we got up early and explored the free breakfast buffet at our hotel. It was delightful!
We walked down to the Duomo again, then along the waterfront until we came to Ponte Vecchio. We admired the shops up and down both sides of the bridge. It wasn’t far from there to Palazzo Vecchio with its sculptures and large square. On Monday, there was very little foot traffic. We walked up the tower for some great views of the city.
Next we went to the Museo del Bargello which includes Donatello’s David. There weren’t many people around and we were able to take our time viewing the piece and Diana captured some great photos.
We ate lunch seated outdoors at one of the many little restaurants throughout the city before walking to Piazza Santa Croce. I had read that a Christmas Market is usually going on this time of year, and we found lots of little stalls with food and crafts with a very German flair. We spent a while looking for the Pazzi Chapel there at Santa Croce. It was designed by Brunelleschi. After we found it, we walked across the river to the Piazzale Michelangelo where we anticipated beautiful views looking across to the city.
We arrived there close to sunset and we were met by the largest crowds we had encountered yet. There were wide steps at the top of the hill that were covered with folks sitting watching the sunset. We finally walked back to find dinner and our hotel. Our phones said we had walked 23,787 steps, 9.79 miles, climbed 39 flights, and burned 3,468 calories!