Tuesday, October 9
The Uffizi Gallery, the Vasari Corridor and then on to Lucca!
Needless to say, the Uffizi was amazing and overwhelming. No photos allowed, so no photos here. The highlight was our private (with 20 people and a guide) tour of the Vasari Corridor, again, no photos of the interior but we were allowed to take photos out the windows.
The top level of the Ponte Vecchio contains the corridor and the self-portrait gallery. In the two photos on the left you can sort of see the exterior and a great view down the Arno.
Almost all the windows in the Corridor were protected by iron cage-like structures. The Medici's were very security minded. The Corridor was built so they could get from one palace to the other without mingling with the masses and risking an encounter with the occasional assassin. The middle photos shows their private area off the Corridor where they could attend Mass, again without rubbing shoulders with the common folks. In the two photos on the right you can see the Corridor and its supports as it goes around the outside of a structure through which they were not able to acquire a right-of-way. (I thought they owned everything.)
I ripped this from Slow Travel Tuscany:
| The Vasari Corridor is an aerial passageway that connects the Palazzo Vecchio on one side of the River Arno to the Palazzo Pitti on the other. It passes over roofs and bridge of the Ponte Vecchio, and through galleries, mansions and churches. At over 500 meters (.33 miles), it is the longest single passageway of paintings and portraits in the world. |
The Palazzo Pitti, a statue of Bacchus (or maybe a saint) and the ugliest statue in Florence!
Lucca!
After our Vasari Corridor tour we headed back to the Hotel, had a quick lunch in the caffé, got our bags out of storage and took a cab to Europcar to pick up our vehicle for the coming week. We got lucky with the vehicle - it was a Fiat Croma diesel wagon, standard shift, with plenty of room and fun to drive. We found our way out of Florence without too much trouble and zipped on over to Lucca on the Autostrada.
We drove into the Centro Storico of Lucca, not that I thought that was a good idea, but because I actually called La Bohème B&B for directions and that's what they told me to do. We eventually found the place, dropped off our bags and drove back outside the town walls to a free parking lot where we left the car for the two-day stay in Lucca.
La Bohème was a decent place, perhaps a little noisy but in a great location. These are views from our second floor window.
Once we were settled we went out to find some food and wine and to hook up with John & Jan who had left a message for us that they were attending this evening's Puccini Opera at Basilica di Santo Giovanni. We found a place in the piazza adjacent to the Basilica and that's me sitting and relaxing there. John & Jan showed up a little later and we enjoyed a glass of wine and some snacks together before they headed in to see and hear some Puccini.
