Day thirteen was dedicated to Florence. We had a big list of things to see so the walking shoes were on and ready.

We made the decision to just explore as we were a bit museumed out. The first major site we saw was the Santa Maria Del Fiore cathedral which was stunning. The outside of the building has so much detail, more detail on the outside than there is inside.

We climbed the Cappolla (dome) which had something like 496 stairs. This one in my opinion was much more steeper than the one at the Vatican. At one point I thought Ry wasn't going to fit and he spent a lot of time ducking his head.

The view at the top was pretty amazing though - worth the wait in the line and the €16 we spent on it.

We continued walking through central Florence keeping in mind that I was surrounded by some very beautiful and inviting shops so the pressure was on to not stop or buy anything! Although Ry was pretty good and let me look at plenty of leather items.

In the middle of San Lorenzo there is an amazing place called the Mercato Centrale. It is two stories high and is full of fresh foods including fish, meat, fruit and veg, flowers, coffee, oils, wines, pasta and the best bit is the cheeses! It was heaven, and I was drooling! You could do cooking classes and tours which would be fantastic if you had the time.

We walked through to Piazza Della Republicca where we stopped for a gelati and then onto Piazza Della Signoria which has the duplicate of Michelangelo's David and took a look at the Piazza Vecchio building.

Moving on we walked past the Galleria degli Uffizi but again didn't go in as we were more than happy walking around.

We reached the famous romantic bridge - the Ponte Vecchio. I have never seen so many padlocks or jewellery stores in one place!

In case you dont know, when you are in Florence you can take the opportunity to lock your love for your dearest for all eternity.

Needless to say us being the true romantics we didn't bother!

You can get fined €160 if you get caught putting one on, so we'll use that as a good excuse. And for all those people thinking that a proposal may have been announced (Sticko, Sam, CoGG Staff and co...) - nope not here!

We kept walking and came across the
Palazzo Pitti Museum and a great leather shop. We kept walking and came across the Giardino di Boboli Park. It is 4.5 hectares of garden and it was close to the end of the day so we skipped it in favor of Piazzale Michelangelo.

Sunset was not to far away so we made our way up to the top pretty quickly. We scored a seat and table at a cute cafe, ordered a beer and watched a beautiful sunset over all of Florence. Definitely a nice way to end the day along with every other tourist.

Headed back and grabbed some dinner at a nice little wine cafe which was beautiful and then with tired feet we couldn't wait to get into bed.

Signed
Salad and Chop from Florence

PS Andy we looked everywhere for the machine but couldn't find it, she must have taken it with her.