Making last minute plans with two of my girlfriends to spend Valentine’s weekend in Florence turned into one of my favorite trips so far.

Our journey started at 5:30 AM Saturday morning and we arrived in Florence around noon. We went straight to the Accamedia Galleria where Michelangelo’s David statue stands. As we expected there was a huge line into the museum, so we ended up waiting for our Valentine’s date with David for almost 2 hours. He was worth the wait. Standing at an impressive 17 feet, this biblical character is depicted beautifully.  The details and life-likeness blew my mind, Michelangelo knew what he was doing. The rest of this Galleria housed Renaissance and Medieval style works. Many of them featured the Virgin Mary, Christ, or other scenes from Christianity.

A much needed lunch stop was next on our agenda. We refueled with some pizza at a small cafe, then headed to our hotel to drop off our things. Where we stayed was steps away from The Duomo so we made climbing to the top our next mission. And I’m sad to admit that this mission was unsuccessful. We waited in line for 45 minutes only to get inside and realize that to enter you have to purchase tickets at a different location. Embarrassed, we circled the building to find the ticket line. That line would have taken over an hour to wait in, then we’d have to get back in the other line, and then climb to the top of the Duomo…We had to cross this sight off our list.

To lift our spirits we went to Vivoli Gelateria–the best gelato we’ve had, and then hiked up to Michelangelo’s Piazza. This hilltop piazza offers an incredible view of the whole city and was completely worth the trek. After taking in the scenery we made our way back across the river for dinner. Thanks to a guide book tip, we had a delicious meal at Osteria Dei Benci. This quaint restaurant was not one we would’ve walked into on our own, but turned out to be exactly what we were looking for. The menu was reasonably priced so we treated ourselves to appetizers and dessert. It was the perfect way to end Valentine’s Day.

Sunday morning brought us to the Uffizi Galleria. To make our early afternoon train we allotted ourselves 2 hours in the museum, but we could’ve easily spent more than 3. The most famous painting in the gallery is The Birth of Venus, which I was thrilled to see in person. Overall, the museum was beautiful, and would be worth a 2nd visit. We took one last walk by the river before boarding our train for Rome. Florence stole my heart–I couldn’t have asked for a better Valentine’s Day.