i swear I didn't realise this was a Kimye wedding florence walking tour

Day 51-52 - Rest day around the Oltrarno, a Rose Garden, graves, San Miniato, and a shut Medici tomb

After our intense three-day Firenze card marathon, Rob gets a sore throat and niggly cough. I jokingly accuse him of Stendhal Syndrome. We don't leave the apartment till 2 pm. When we do, it's only to collect provisions for our final days in Florence; bread, cheese, fennel, rocket, chocolate, crispy flatbread, more of these delicious oval shaped and slightly green tomatoes that you just don't get in New Zealand.

heaven is a santa maria novella pharmacy

Day 50 - Bargello, Duomo, Crypts of Santa Reparta, Accademia, Baptistery, Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy

We're finally inside the Bargello. In the courtyard, the rain is made extra dramatic, courtesy of pipes that line the roof and dump waterfalls of rain onto the paving below. It's serene inside the halls and hard to imagine the prisoners and executions that used to happen here during the time of the Medicis.

chianti and the palazzo vecchio

Day 49 - Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella

The night before, I calculated how many more museums and basilicas we had to hit before we recouped the cost of our Firenze card. The answer sends me into a fi-renzy. I set the alarm for 7 am. The next day, it's raining a mild, benevolent kind of rain. But not so benevolent that we can get away without buying an umbrella on the way to the Uffizi. I declare peppily, "Perfect museum day!"

day one of the firenze card marathon

Day 48 - Pitti Palace, Museum of Natural History, Santo Spirito, Santa Croce

On Sunday afternoon, the lines into the Uffizi made my hair stand on end. It frightens me enough to come up with a strategy to beat the line. The Firenze Card is our blunt, expensive instrument of choice. 72 euros for 72 museums, chapels, crypts, etc and all public transport, valid for 3 days. No lines but to recoup our money, we have to average about 4 museums a day. I feel up for the challenge. The Renaissance is my art era of choice and I'm in its capital city. 

out of the city gates

Day 47 - Santo Spirito, Porta Romana

Mondays are super chill in Florence. Most of the must-see museums and sights are closed. The shops are shut. I spend most of my day peering through a variety of iron bars at unspeakably cool things; sleek Italian wedding dresses, canisters shaped like an old crone's head, cross-sections of windows, hefty cuts of meats, and reproductions of antique guns.

italian joy in florence

Day 46 - Florence

We're on the move again. The Freciarossa 9528 high-speed train from Rome to Florence reminds me how awesome European train travel can be. There's lots of room, everyone gets a table, the ride is stable and smooth, and I get to watch the screen that shows you what the train driver is looking at. Ace. Firenze Santa Maria Novella is a cool modernist station, built in the 1930s and stylish once again. It's low slung in shades of brown and black and peppered with signage in a very now font.