Thanks for everyone's continuing information on Firenze! (thought I would change the name to it's proper one so no one will be confused with the location! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif)

Thanks SEA-Flyer for the offer to dig up the phone number. I just called Starwood concerige who will be getting the hotel in florence to get us the museum tickets. I will call them back tomorrow to make sure everything is okay.

Hopefully, I will have the tickets for the first day I am there.

I have also booked a rental car for the second day in case I decide to go to Siena and Montevarchi. I will probably decide on the day whether to stay in Firenze or drive out.

DOC, could you e-mail me at the address in my profile? I cannot seem to find one for you. I would like to know the address of the factory outlets if I decide to go. Thanks! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

BA --


Click on clothing and away you go!!
http://www.torben.com/default.htm

As you can see, there are many other products, as well.

And for those of you who are interested in Armani, or Hugo Boss, you will not be disappointed!

[This message has been edited by DOC 2 BE (edited 03-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by DOC 2 BE (edited 03-15-2001).]

Re.: Siena. The bus company is called SITA, and you can catch it near the central station. R/T should be less than $10, and buses are frequent. It's a little over 1 hr to Siena, and the bus drops you off right downtown. For this route, don't bother w/the trains: they take longer (2 hrs at least), and the train station in Siena is WAAY out of the way.

I'd definitely go to Siena rather than Fiesole. This is not to say that Fiesole isn't pretty, but Siena is bigger, more interesting, very walkable, and not crowded this time a year.

Re.: Firenze.
Since nobody else mentioned it, I'll say it: if you like gelato, don't miss Vivoli when you're in Firenze. They're on Via Isola delle Stinche, right across from an English-language movie theater, less than 5 min. walk from Santa Croce (closed on Mondays). Quite simply the best gelato in the world... (with Nannini in Siena a decent second). Finally, if you get tired of the traffic and the crowds, catch a city bus to Piazzale Michelangelo, enjoy the view of the city from the hillside, and take a walk up to San Miniato, a beautiful Medieval church up on the hillside in the trees.

For the shopping, Via Tornabuoni and the surrounding area have all the big names in fashion, Via dei Calzaiuoli (Shoemakers Street is lined w/shoe stores), and Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge, the only one that survived WWII bombing) has the jewelry stores.

I hope you'll enjoy your visit.

montevarchi...

I was there in Jan. just as the sales were starting. I took the train from Florence (towards Arezzo). The train takes approximately 1 hour, and then there are cabs waiting at the montevarchi station to either Prada or D&G and Gucci. I think the cab was around $20, but I split the ride with a few others on the train.

I didn't go to D&G or Gucci, but the Prada outlet had some really good deals, and it was worth the trip.

Slight correction. The Ponte Vecchio DID survive bombs in WWII but, unlike the rest of the bridges spanning the Arno, it was thankfully sparred the effects of the retreating German demolition teams.

Great news! I had called the Starwood Platinum desk yesterday to request the musuem tickets. I called the hotel in Florence today and they confirmed that they had purchased the tickets for me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I then asked them about the factory outlets and they knew them well and would give me driving instructions when I got there. They also confirmed that I could visit Siena and the outlets in one day since it is in the same direction as long as I don't shop too much! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

In my opinion, you should stick to Florence. Siena is incredible -- the quintessential Tuscan experience -- but you need to spend at least a couple of days there. Plan on going back, seeing Siena and the rest of Tuscany/Lombardy (the hill towns) in a separate trip.

If you try to do both, you'll miss too much. Also, beware that lines for the Uffizi are usually very long. Try to book in advance, go at off hours, etc.

My Florence List (in order):
0. Gelati :-)
1. Duomo (THE must-see in Florence)
2. David (in the Accademia - the one in the square is a replica.)
3. Pitti palace (I liked this better than the Uffizi)
4. Ponte Vecchio (Italian for Bridge of Jewelers :-))
5. Take some time to enjoy the shopping, (BIG market in the middle of town) and head away from the tourist areas to enjoy the food & wine!

Great suggestions everyone. I too am off to Florence April 5-10th (for my birthday) and have taken notes on the comments here. I signed up for Italiatours deal which cost me $679 for airfair and hotel stay for five nights at a place called the Ambasciatori near the train station. They say it is a three star hotel and I really don't plan to spend much time in the room except for sleeping.

I am also thinking about going to Siena for a full day. Any restaurant suggestions at either place?

thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I want to thank everyone for their comments / suggestion for Florence. It was a wonderful place and we packed a lot into 2 days in Florence. By the end we were completing exhausted partly because we were also in London for 2 days, Paris for 1 day and then Florence.

On day 1, we arrived from Paris at 9am, checked into the hotel and then visited the Ufizzi (definitely recommend getting the tickets ahead of time because it saved us at least an hour wait), bought some leather goods (including a jacket!), ate Gelato, walked around the most of the town, and more shopping....

On day 2, we didn't get up until 10am because we were really tired, hired a car from Avis which was just down the street from our hotel (Westin Excelsior) and drove out to the Gucci and Prada factory outlet. The Gucci outlet wasn't that great. Prada was much more organized and a better selection. Thanks to DOC 2 BE the website for the factory outlets provided invaluable. It provided better information and instructions than the hotel did! After the factory outlets, we drove through the wine region (Chianti) and bought some really good wine at unbelievable prices! We made it to Siena around 6:30pm, figured out we were suppose to park outside the city and take the escalator into the city. We arrived later than planned but still managed to walk around for a couple of hours. Definitely worth a trip back the next time! We drove back to Florence and had a late dinner.

Next day was a long trip home. Due to the the tickets we traveled FLR-CDG-LHR-ORD-DFW. Made it home after 21 hours!

Thanks again for all the suggestions. All the help you gave made this a wonderful trip packed with everything possible within 2 days! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm going to Florence in May. Do you think I'll have enough time to visit Firenze? I've heard it's very nice and I think it's close to Florence.

I think Firenze stands for Florence. Maybe you mean Fiesole?

Bagold:

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to get that joke. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif It's one of my favorites.

Maybe you should visit Turin and the nearby city of Torino?

BAGold,

I am very glad that you found my help valuable to you.

I hope that you got some really good bargains! Were the rest of the "regular" shops having any sales of any note, as well, since it was February?

Also, how much did the car cost, and was it an automatic?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 03-15-2001).]

Some shops were still having sales, but not all.

The car was suppose to cost around US$45/day, but I went over the 150km that was included and returned it after hours which cost me extra to park it in the parking lot. Total was around US$110. It was a manual car which was good for me to practice on! I learnt to drive in a manual but haven't had much chance to do so in the US.