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Awesome trip to Rome and Florence! Part 2

Day 5 - Left Hotel Modigliani at 9:15 to the train station for our 10:05 train headed to Florence. Good tip: Write down all of your info for each day on note cards. The more organized you are the better. Hotel addresses, tour info, train numbers, etc. I read all of the Rick Steve's forums daily for months! Bought the guide books on Amazon and made reservations for everything ahead of time. It made the vacation very smooth. Definitely allow days to relax after your flight! It was nice being able to sleep in a couple days and not be in a hurry! Don't take too many train trips because it is tiring! Arrived in Florence at 11:35. Took taxi to Hotel Duomo. 16 euros for the 4 of us. We checked into hotel Room 31 superior double room with balcony. Room wasn't ready so we left our luggage in the hotel lobby. Then we went to get lunch at Al'antico. 5 euros a sandwich. 3 shops in a row. Walked to Duomo for 1:30 scheduled Duomo climb. Fun experience and great views. Down by 2ish and then walked to Academia Gallery for 3:30 appointment. Found the line for reserved tickets. Let in at 3:30, turned in vouchers for tickets, then security, and then entered. Out by 4ish, gelato, and then off to Uffitzi Gallery. We had a 5-5:15 entrance time. Out by 6:30ish. Walked across the Vecchio bridge and had an apertivo at the Golden View Open Bar at 6:50. Left for dinner reservation at 7:20 to Osteria Santo Spirito. Finished eating around 9:30 and walked back to hotel. Day 6 we took a day trip to Cinque Terre. Took reginal train to Piza and then transferred to Spezia. Arrived around 11ish and got in line to buy 5 terre pass. Long line. Got our tickets at 11:50 and barely made the 11:55 train. Buy online if available! We took the train to the 5th city Monterosso al Mare. Lots of beach and water. Ate lunch. Then got on train to Vernazza. Walked around and had a gelato. Finished at Monorola. Weather was perfect at 70 degrees. Wouldn't want to go any warmer. Water felt good. Got back from trip at 10. Stopped by Mister pizza for a glass of wine before going to room 2.00 cover charge per person to sit at their tables. Day 7 - shopped around the Duomo area and then had lunch at Panini Toscani. Awesome experience and yummy panini! Next we had gelato at Gelato Eduardo. Checked out of hotel Duomo and took a taxi to Glance Hotel where we spent our last 3 nights. Another great hotel! Very modern, great breakfast, and fun roof top bar with pool! This one is very modern and in a different area of Florence. I preferred the Duomo area but this was fine too. It was only a 3 min walk from the train station. Today we took a bus to Castello Verrazzano in the Chianti-Greve area. We got off at the Gretti stop. Message me if you'd like more information! Great winery tour and tasting! Upon return we took a quick nap and then went to up to the rooftop bar to have a drink and watch the sunset. At 8:30 went to hotel's restaurant recommendation just down the street Le Fonticine. We got a table luckily but reservations are needed! Florentine steak was delicious cooked medium well, cacio e pepe, and tortellini with pesto were great! Great service too! Day 8 walked around Florence, went to the Boboli Gardens, and had dinner at L'osteria Di Giovanni. 15-20 min wait. I highly recommend making your dinner reservations prior to going. Two restaurants we tried had absolutely no availablitly! Buca y Lapi and I'latini! Day 9 - Took the e-bikes tour. Started at 10 and followed the gps using our electric bikes. Fabulous ride through the hills. At 12:30 we arrived at the winery. Had a tasting and they happen to be serving snacks on that day. After winery stop we continued the bike gps trail by the river. It was hotter later in the day. Took a few wrong turns but got right back on the path. Definitely a highlight of our trip. We had such a great trip to Italy enjoying a variety of activities, weather, and lots of good food! Thanks for all of the tips!

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I've enjoyed reading your trip report and will take your idea of making daily note cards, thank you!!

We're in the planning stages of our trip and I didn't think a day trip to Cinque Terre was really doable from Florence. Leaning toward Sienna instead but if your family did it......