Contiki Adventure Day 10: Under the (freezing cold) Tuscan Sun

January 17, 2012

Day 10

Florence

Today we woke up for a walking tour of Florence that started at 9am. We met in the hotel at 9am and walked together to the Duomo where we met our local guide, Elsa. On Contiki tours, your main guide is not always the one who shows you around major cities. You’ll often be assigned a local guide who is more of an expert on local art, architecture, and culture. Elsa took us on a wonderful walking tour of Florence. The only thing that wasn’t wonderful was the temperature!

We looked up the weather before packing and it looked like the high every day was in the mid-50s. We mistakenly packed as if every day would be mid-50s all day long. Not true- especially not true at 9am on a 2.5 hour walking tour! About one hour into the tour all of our toes were completely numb and we were begging Elsa to let us stop in the various patches of sunshine peeking through between the gorgeous stone buildings around us.

European Holiday Takeaway #4: When going on a winter tour of Europe, make sure to pack long underwear, wool socks, a scarf, gloves, and comfortable walking boots. Taylor and I came unprepared and ducked into Zara Florence to pick up some chunky scarves.

We walked past the Uffizi, the Duomo, and Ponte Vecchio, among other things. After the tour, we sprinted into the Uffizi, the largest and most famous museum in Florence. In the summer you can wait 3-4 hours in line outside the Uffizi but one of the trade-offs of coming in the winter is that while it’s very cold, there are no lines anywhere. We were able to stroll right in.

The Uffizi collection was the personal art collection of the de’Medici family – a family largely credited with sparking the Italian Renaissance by commissioning countless works and supporting the likes of Michelangelo and Rafael. After the Uffizi, we headed over to the Duomo, Florence’s predominant and most famous cathedral. It’s a gorgeous building made of pink, green, and white marble. Once again, we were able to stroll in with no line whatsoever! Following the Duomo, it was time to check out the nicest butt in the history of art – on Michelangelo’s David. Don’t believe me? Check this out.

We were exhausted so headed back to the hotel to nap before our Tuscan Dinner! The Tuscan Dinner was an optional activity and was by far my favorite night of the entire trip. Wine is not part of the included dinners but is included in the price of the optional dinners. We took our bus to this charming little restaurant 20 minutes outside of the city. We were the only people in the place and the service was excellent.

We took turns warming ourselves by the open fire, eating the most delicious pastas, drinking fantastic wine, and listening to live music performed by a man who looks exactly like Meatloaf’s Italian brother. He rocked out on his keyboard and sang his heart out. Over the course of our dinner, Meatloaf alone downed three bottles of wine. It was a fantastic spectacle.  He was so good that he spawned a spontaneous dance party by our dinner table.

After dinner, we all went out to one of the biggest clubs in Florence. There were two other Contiki groups there that night and we had a great time meeting everyone else. The club took pictures of all of us dancing and then showed a live slideshow of the pictures on the dance floor with the caption “Crazy Contiki people in the house tonight” above it. It was pretty fantastic. Once again, another fantastic day of history, architecture, art, food, music, friends, and fun. In other words, another classic day on Contiki.

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