June 1 - Florence, Italy

Wednesday, June 1 - Florence, Italy

There is rain forecast for today, and right on que at 12:30 it rained for 5 minutes, and then the sun came out.

Today Karen and I are exploring the Monte alle Croce (Viale Michalangeo), with a commanding view of the city  from a very high vantage point.  It does take over 1 1/2 hours of walking (uphill most of the way) to reach this area.  It might not have been the most direct, and we may have been off by one street to the West, but worth it, as we saw some fantastic hillside homes and villas of the more prosperous Florenctino's.

Of course there is a church which is the centre point on the hilltop, and this might not be considered a “primary” church of Florence, but it was totally marble, and no expense was spared in its construction back in the 1600's.

The walk down was a bit easier, and Karen now remembers the route she took last Sunday to reach the Monte alle Croce was not the one we took to reach the top, oh well as I said it was worth the hike.

In the evening we found another outstanding restaurant, just about 3 blocks from the apartment called, Ristorante Mamma Gina [http://www.mammagina.it/], thus another 2 liter wine night. We highly recommend adding this to your list of places to eat in Florence.