The Jarvii 
We made a huge mistake with planning our excursions outside of Rome. The only day we could visit Florence (my absolute favorite city in all of Europe, perhaps the world) was on a Monday! Why is Monday bad you ask? Because all the museums are closed on Monday, so we were unable to go to the Uffizi (probably a good thing with two small kids?) and we couldn’t see the real statue of David (although there’s a replica one elsewhere in the city). So I’m telling you now–if you want to visit Florence for a day trip, don’t do it on a Monday!
We took a quick train to Florence, which didn’t require us to wake up too early in the morning. When you arrive to Florence, you can easily walk to all the tourist spots from the train station; just make sure you have good walking shoes. Florence is quite a pedestrian friendly city, mostly due to its very narrow cobblestone streets.
Our first stop was the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. There’s something really beautiful about this cathedral with its intricate facade and pastel colors–I just love the looks of this church. My mom and aunt enjoyed it as they are very devout Catholics. You can can tour various parts of the cathedral, like the dome and the bell tower. But each of these tours are separate tickets and sadly they were sold out when we planned for this trip.
After lunch at a quaint pizzeria, we then meandered our way to Il Porcellino. Il Porcellino is a bronze fountain of a boar. And legend has it is if you rub the boar’s snout you’ll return to Florence. You also need to place a coin on its tongue and let it fall into the grate for good luck.
The same location has a little outdoor market that sells, mostly, Florentine leather goods. Florence is known for their leather, and these stalls remind you of that. You won’t find any branded things here, but if you’re into browsing this is one place you can do it albeit a bit pricey.
From here we then walked to Ponte Vecchio (see, everything is walkable!). It’s a unique medieval bridge that houses shops. You’ll find jewelers and kitsch touristy things here now, but it’s still pretty cool to see. If you walk a bit further down the river, you can cross one of the neighboring bridges and get a deeper appreciation for how unique looking the bridge is. It’s not necessarily beautiful architecture, just unique.
We then walked to Piazza della Signoria, where there is a replica statue of David. As I said before, museums are closed on Mondays. This includes Galleria dell’ Accademia, which is where the original statue of David lives. It’s worth it to go to the Galleria dell’ Accademia because as you walk towards the statue you are surrounded by Michelangelo’s mistakes. You truly have a greater appreciation for the real David when you see these tall marble slabs just a quarter to halfway done before he scraps them. And these slabs kind of look like the time Hans Solo was encased in carbonite (for any Star Wars geeks) except in marble! So while the replica is pretty grand, you definitely need to make your way to the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see the real deal.
From here, while my mom, aunt, and cousins went shopping, I took the kids to Piazza dell Repubblica where there is a carousel. It’s a cute square lined with cafes and plenty of al fresco dining and a carousel in the middle. The kids really enjoyed it, especially after an entire day of mostly boring sightseeing.
And before we headed home for the day, we decided to have an early dinner. And by early I mean a sensible time to eat dinner for anyone except Italians. 😛
Again, you can easily do Florence as a day trip. However, you shouldn’t do the Uffizi if you do decide to only spend a day. I would only do the Galleria dell’ Accademia and then see the sights. The Uffizi will take up most of your day or should take up most of your day. There is just a lot of art to appreciate. If you want to do the Uffizi, then you should plan on spending two days in Florence, in which case you should book a bed and breakfast (there are many cute ones in the city).
Anyhoo, it’s such a lovely city and I’m glad I got to show my kids. Hopefully we’ll visit again soon and this time not on a Monday so they can see some great art work. 🙂
