Italy 7th day

No.10 Totti

 After exploring Florence on this day, we will head to Venice, which I was looking forward to on this tour. My family bought a lot of uniform replicas of the Italian soccer team from the first day of the trip. When my family wore Totti → Buffon every day at breakfast, Sofitel's waiter looked closely and asked, "Is it Cannavaro tomorrow?" Immediately after winning the World Cup, interest in soccer seemed to be at its peak.
 Today we are traveling by train to Venice, but the luggage was sent out by bus earlier in the morning. It was not only lighter, but also, for a security measure.

 Walking around Florence

Giotto's Bell Tower and cityscape
Palazzo Vecchio and Villa Cora

 Duomo's Cupola
 First of all, we climbed the Duomo Cupola because we wanted to go to a higher place. We went to the cathedral before 9:30, so we went in without a queue. Unlike St. Peter's Basilica, the stairs were complicated up and down, and the staff was managing traffic on the way. From the middle corridor, we could see the large frescoes on the ceiling. From the top of the cupola, we could see Giotto's Bell Tower in front, the cityscape of Florence, Piazzale Michelangelo in the distance, and Villa Cora, the venue for the yesterday's supper.The wind was blowing and it was very refreshing.

LEF
Basilica of San Lorenzo

 San Marco Museum
 We wandered around to the San Marco Museum to see Fra Angelico's frescoes. On the way, I found a signboard of LEF at a photo shop, and of course I have to take this.
 "Conception notice" is drawn on the wall at the end of the stairs leading up to the monastic room on the second floor. There are numerous pictures of Christ in the monastic room. What made Fra Angelico draw so many frescoes?
 After watching, we walked around the city of Florence again and returned to the hotel.

 Shopping, walking around town
 We went out to the Tornavoni street in front of the hotel.While searching for a Gucci bag store, we were separated for a moment, but we contacted by mobile phone and met again.
 In Florence, 3 women bought 3 items. I took a photo snapshot and walked around the streets of Tornavoni → Ponte Vecchio → Uffizi Gallery → Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Arno River and Ponte Vecchio Palazzo Vecchio seen from the Uffizi Gallery
The Baptistery of San Giovanni Cathedral and Giotto's Bell Tower

Porcini mushrooms

 In Uffizi, I saw a battle between a Mysterious brand seller and policeman and found a delicious Porcini mushroom.It was time to get together(14:00) in no time .

Mysterious brand seller and policeman
Porcini mushrooms

 Venice

In front of Santa Lucia station

 Eurostar 14:39 departure (Florence → Venice)
 Just before we got together, we procured paninis, pizza and sprites and water at the bar next to the hotel and ate at Florence Central Station. It was kind to my stomach and was just right. Eurostar was like an airplane seat. Drink service was included as well. I fell asleep for three hours before arriving in Venice. When I woke up, the train was on the sea. From Mestre on the other side of Venice to Santa Lucia station, the train ran over the sea like in the movie Spirited Away. From Santa Lucia station, we took a water taxi through the Grand Canal and boarded the hotel pier directly.

Rialto Bridge Cityscape along the Grand Canal
Accademia Bridge Church of Santa Maria della Salute

Church of Santa Maria della Salute and San Giorgio Maggiore

 The hotel was THE WESTIN EUROPE AND REGINA.
The hotel has a classical atmosphere in the best location near St. Mark's Square. Our family was blessed with room allocation and had two rooms with a terrace on the top floor (fifth floor) facing the Grand Canal. I felt like we had recovered travel expenses in this room. In front of the terrace of our room is the Grand Canal and the church of Santa Maria della Salute. Our family immediately took a commemorative photo at the terrace.

 From the hotel, we went through the maze of Venice to the restaurant for dinner. It was still bright and there were many gondola in the canal. Venetian glass and brand shops lined up around St. Mark's Square.
 Dinner in Venice was Restaurante MASCHERE. It's a restaurant run by three brothers and recommended by the tour conductor.
 Tonight's menu was as follows.
・ Cloud crab salad-Add by a la carte and share with 2 people
・ Upgrade the main course to Scampi
・ Pasta and house wine
・ Dolce
It was a reasonable price even though it was Venice with less than 200 euros for 4 people after eating this much.

Gondolas crossing the canal Venetian glass shop
Cloud crab salad Scampi goes well with wine

Full moon and San Giorgio Maggiore
Illuminated church of Santa Maria della Salute

 When I returned to the hotel room, the illuminated island of San Giorgio Maggiore and the church of Santa Maria della Salute were mysteriously beautiful, so I was absorbed in taking pictures and stopped walking around the city at night in Venice. Piazza San Marco, Cafe Florian, window shopping, etc. would have another chance.
(This night view photograph of San Giorgio Maggiore was selected for the Excellence Award (Grand Prize) in the European category at the 1st World Heritage Photo Contest of "How to walk the earth".)


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