Big day planned as we have the much anticipated tour of the Vasari Corridor this afternoon. Jim decided to spend the morning on his computer resting his legs for the three hour walking tour this afternoon. I elected to take off about 11:30 am this morning on my own and explore plus get some miles in for the day.
My first stop of the day was of course the beautiful and enticing views of the Ponte Vecchio; got my morning fix and then continued on into the area around the Santa Croce Church to locate the exact address for the laundry and the grocery store that we'd found yesterday. Chased back and forth a bit but finally found both of them. Weather is beautiful with full sunshine and clear blue skies with just a smattering of puffy clouds to make it interesting. But, probably could have used my light jacket as it was a bit nippy even with a long sleeved shirt.
By noon I was over in the Piazza della Signoria to check out the meeting place at Florencetown Tours for our tour this afternoon. From there I headed back through the Uffizi buildings to the river and over to the Ponte Vecchio. Waded through the Easter crowds and crossed the bridge to reach one of our grocery stores to pick up some of the bulky supplies (cereal for me and paper towels) to carry home. Popped in the door before one o'clock and had walked 2.88 miles in less than two hours. My total for the day today was 5.85 miles. I added some photos today of the old style garbage collection dumpsters (that we have on our street) and the new ones that I showed you yesterday for comparison. What a difference they will make in a few more years. Also a few Easter window photos.
We passed the next couple of hours planning a game of Hand and Foot cards and before we knew it was time to leave for our much anticipated tour. Jim dressed up and I went as usual; but, we blended well with the tour group when we arrived. Our tour guide from Florencetown was named Mario Gesu. He was delightful, informative and very personable. The tour was an educational guide to both the Uffizi Museum and the Vasari Corridor. He taught us how to differentiate between the different period
of art: Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-classical, Impressionism and then many different forms of modern. He was constantly questioning us by name so we had to pay attention and learn from him. It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Florence.
You'll find many photos taken in the museum and the corridor today; it seems as though all of Italy has suddenly changed the rules about photos. I hope you enjoy the slideshow. There are ten thousand people a day allowed to visit the Uffizi Museum. There are only about two hundred or less per day on private tours only that gain access to the very unique and special Vasari Corridor that goes back in time to the Medici Family as their private corridor between their home, the Piti Palace, and the Uffizi, their business office where they kept their collection. It runs from the corner of the Museum along the river and then over the top of the Ponte Vecchio and exits into the Boboli Gardens...for us....the corridor actually goes a bit further and connects to the actual palace building.
The exit into the gardens is right at the grotto that Jim has been looking for; he so enjoyed finding this unexpected surprise at the end of the tour. From there we exited the gardens and turned in our headsets, said our goodbyes to Mario and started towards home. We celebrated the day by stopping at Ristosante Borghetto for a wonderful dinner and arrived home by eight o'clock. After dinner we stopped into the church that was built by the Medici Family and had access for viewing the mass from the corridor; you'll see some photos from inside the corridor in the slideshow.
Hope you enjoy the slideshow of this very special tour for us....
Link to Picasa Photo Album
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