Two different views of the Duomo in Florence

We visited the cafe of the Oblate library

located just behind the Duomo, as we had heard that this has one of the best views of Brunelleschi's dome in Florence.  It has.........

Lots of people climb to the top of the dome but we were not tempted, after we heard it had 432 steps to the top and no lift!!

The Oblate cafe is however a great place to have a cup of coffee with a view......

and we can also highly recommend their innovative paninis and wine at a very economical 3 euros per item! One of our more inexpensive lunches!!

It has a very tranquil courtyard..........

and lots of space for students to study........

WiFi is free after one registers!

The other great view of the dome is from Piazzale  Michelangelo.  We walked up very slowly!  And this was after a long walk in the San Croce area...........

and we were rewarded with the most fantastic sunset views!

We stopped at a nice restaurant the  Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolo on the way down....in need of a slight rest!

Alternative museums to visit while in Florence

We decided to go to a few museums which would not have too many tourists! And of course we have been to the major ones in the past.....
So we went to the Ferragamo Museum which is housed in a fantastic old Palazzo, the Palazzo Spini Feroni .......

right by the Ponte Santa Trinita....
Emphasis was obviously on shoes.........

....... and of course we were especially interested because we were staying in an apartment which we assume is owned by them! At least they had an office in the building, right opposite our apartment door and underneath us seemed to be a conference room for the Lungarno Hotel... and we shared the hotel entranceway.....

Their door on left.........

Our door on right......

And as seen from the bridge.........our apartment has the 4 windows to the left of the sign Hotel Lungarno..... no balcony!  But we weren't complaining!!

The museum is under their main store and is extremely interesting because they have a series of photos of famous actresses wearing shoes they (Ferragamo) had made especially for them for specific movies! And the actual shoes were there!
They even had the handbag and shoes worn by Meryl Streep in the film 'The Iron Lady'.......turns out Margaret Thatcher had been one of their clients.

I took a few photos but once again was told very politely that photos were not allowed. I had not noticed a sign ......

Each room had a lot of video surveillance!
So definitely no more photos!!



Next stop was the Gucci Museum....... on the Piazza della Signoria.

This was renovated just last year.......

same thing here......found out after the first few photos that they were not allowed!

However there are some sites on line with photos of the opening of the museum last year.........


This was fascinating and well worth a visit!

Terme di Saturnia

We decided to spend a weekend away from Florence.....in part because if we were taking the car out of the garage and through the narrow streets we should stay out for a while to make it worth the agony...........
So we decided to go to Saturnia for the weekend!

The hotel we stayed at was not the expensive Terme di Saturnia  ....
We were up the hill from it, with an absolutely fantastic view, in the Saturnia Tuscany Hotel.

I have to say, however that as we were arriving,  I muttered.... I hope that is not it..... I didn't have much choice....i.e.don't blame me!!! I have since changed my mind...somewhat!
Our view while having a before dinner drink was fantastic....

The architecture of the hotel left a lot to be desired, we thought, and they really need to work on the paper thin walls!  However the views were absolutely magnificent!! And the people there were very friendly and helpful..... and breakfast was very peaceful...

We had hoped to use the pool..... however we went to the Cascate di Gorello ( also known as del Mulino) on the Saturday morning in full sun....

but the afternoon became overcast and the pool was no longer an option after the rain started....

A word of advice to those thinking of visiting the waterfalls........ bring flip flops, crocs...... the rocks are very difficult to clamber over without shoes........

So we visited Pitigliano in the afternoon, which was very interesting, if somewhat alarming to get to as it is on top of a tufa hill/mountain with a sheer drop........

This is the road to get there....

A little scary!!

And it was also very difficult to drive around..........we went through this arch to find parking............... but there was none..........

And this tour bus had a difficult time.........

But the locals had no problem......

We had dinner in a restaurant in Saturnia  in the evening.... i due Cippi

which was really great.....definitely to be recommended......
We thought we were having difficulties finding parking until we found the town's huge parking lot......which was absolutely empty as no-one wanted to pay 1 euro per hour!!And it was very close to the restaurant!

Food there was excellent and we were happy to have a great table behind the fire (with safety glass)..... it was a little cold out by then!

This was when we began to realise that the restaurant was known for its beef!

We should have noticed this on our way in........

We had a much lighter meal.....

Followed by gnocchi.......

and Pork Crackling, a speciality of the restaurant....

Unfortunately the 'dolce' were too tempting to resist....
ricotta mousse with hot coffee..

and strawberry millefeuille....

On our return journey to Florence....in heavy rain...we stopped for lunch in Bagno Vignoni which was very interesting.

And having discovered their treatment centre we think this should be an excuse for a return trip in the future...

We can recommend the Osteria di Leoni.....

we had a very good lunch there..