April 16: Feisole, the National Archeological Museum, and Santa Croce

Today we had no pre-booked tour appointments, so took the advantage of sleeping in to 8:00.  We took the city bus out to Feisole, a town about 8 kilometres from Firenze, where we had wonderful views of the city below us.  We went to the archeological dig and its accompanying museum, and marvelled at the Etruscan walls, Roman theatre, baths, and temples, and returned to the city for the short walk to the “MAF”, the Archeological Museum of Florence. This museum has some of the most important examples of Etruscan art and culture, and also fabulous Greek pottery.  Around three thirty we collapsed into chairs in the OK Bar (I chose it because it wasn’t overselling itself by its name!) for some desperately needed cappuccinos and pasta.  A few blocks brought us straight to Santa Croce, one of the oldest churches in the area, where we had only 40 minutes to see the great works of art, and the graves of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei, just to drop a few names.  We were kicked out promptly at 5:30 – do you know people go around blowing out the votive candles paid for by the faithful at quitting time? – but found ourselves only two bocks or so from our hotel, so staggered “home” a bit early.  Since lunch was so late today, our plan is to visit a pasticceria for bibete and dolce in a while, and maybe even bring it back to our room!