From the Uffizi Gallery you can see the Vasari Corridor as it snakes its way toward the Ponte Vecchio.

I’m sure we’ve mentioned our love affair with Florence, Italy before. We’ve mentioned how we began our romance there, honeymooned there, and spent our five-year anniversary there, each time staying in the exact same hotel room “our room” at the Pendini Hotel on Piazza della Repubblica.

We were deeply saddened when we went to book our upcoming trip and found that the hotel was booked solid. I did everything short of offering bribes to get our room for our 10^th anniversary trip. Alas I failed. Amanda, being a little more level-headed at the time, had me research several other hotels and present them to her as options. We looked at a handful of hotels in historic Florence and only found a few that seemed to match our location and budget as well as the Pendini. The others in the area of Piazza della Repubblica could cost as much as $400 a night and the less expensive ones  just didn’t seem to fit our personal tastes.  So we cast a wider net and still didn’t find one that would give us the something special we felt we were missing.

We decided to try something radically different and forget the hotel concept (no, we’re not ready for AirB&B just yet). We expanded our search to short term apartment rentals, the kind that cater to vacationers. I mean, my parents have been renting a cottage at the beach for years on weekly basis — so why should this be any different?

We searched the Apartments Florence website and came across a beautiful apartment with a view of the Ponte Vecchio. The rental didn’t even need to be for a full week, which is good since we are starting our trip in Rome with a side trip to Pompeii.  We’ll be able to stay five nights for €842 or $940.  The best part is we are only spending $100 more compared to what we spent to stay at the Pendini five years ago and we’ll get a lot more space, free wifi and a view. That’s something we never had in our sentimental room at the hotel.

We look forward to admiring that view after making morning coffee and planning our day on the balcony. We can’t wait to tell our readers about this new experience in detail when we return.