Viva Italia free time

[jlou]

Yeah ..in my opinion 7PM is too early -Florence is wonderful at night. Perhaps there is a way to arrange a cab back to the Villa? Either way, if during the day ABD offers the opportunity to climb the Duomo -I would suggest doing that. I have slight asthma and I didn't think it was bad at all -when you reach the top you forget the effort you put into it. The views are amazing and knowing that you are walking inside Brunelleschi's creation was inspiring ...read up on him a little, the back story is fascinating. No matter what you do you will have a wonderful time!

Great advice. This trip is right around the corner. Will have to read up on Brunelleschi. So much to do, but now's the time!

 

[jcb]

Great advice. This trip is right around the corner. Will have to read up on Brunelleschi. So much to do, but now's the time!

The "Villa" (scare quotes added because you don't really stay at the Villa but at the Villa's servants quarters) is about an hour to an hour and a half bus ride from Florence. The Villa's website says it is a 20 minute drive. I can't imagine how unless, perhaps, you drive like an insane person down a narrow road with hair pin turns.

If you want to extend your time in Florence, and I highly recommend you spend as much time as you can there, you might want to make sure you have a way back.

Frankly, I wish we had booked a night at a hotel in Florence for the last night and met the group at the Florence train station the next morning.

I hope you have a great trip. We've been back for about a week and I'm still daydreaming about all we did, the people we were with, and how much we enjoyed it.

 

[stenogoddess]

The day of the welcome dinner in Rome we did a food tour. I can't say enough how much we enjoyed it. It's well worth it.

http://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com/