Firenze

If Venice is a storybook or fairytale, Florence is a movie. I mean walking along the river looking at the mountains just looks straight out of a movie – Much Ado About Nothing had to have been filmed nearby. I was really surprised by Florence because it wasn’t quite what I expected, but I loved it nonetheless. The train ride from Venice to Florence was great – the Tuscan country side was beautiful. Our little train compartment was filled with 6 people – all really nice Italian people.

We got there around 1pm and it was soooo HOT!! I expected a cute little town but it’s a bustling city with lots and lots of people! We took a bus – well many city buses to our hotel and got there FINALLY after lugging our bags through busy, hot hot streets and it was really nice and in a great location on Via Cavour on the Piazza della Liberte. We took our map and headed toward old Firenze and saw the Il Duomo – a massive white cathedral decorated in green and pink panels, with the bapistry? right across. We then just strolled from piazza to piazza and passed beautiful buildings and gardens and statues. One piazza was filled with gardenias so I was in heaven.

We walked along the river and just couldn’t get over the view of the mountains. We walked over the Ponte Vecchio and drooled over all the diamonds in the windows. We then went to Piazza della Signoria where the famous Uffizi museum is – again the line was crazy so we passed. But the piazza holds a copy of David and many other statues – like Perseus and Rape of Sabine. All the outdoor cafes were so cute and the apartments were lined with red flowers in the flowerboxes. After some more gelato we met up with Katie’s friend who took us to Santa Croce where Michelangelo and many other famous folks are buried as well other neat piazzas and palazzos. We got sparkling red wine and a delicious dinner – tortellini pruscuitto for me, followed by chocolate gelato. We strolled back to the Ponte Vecchio and listened to a man play the guitar for a while, and went back to Piazza Signoria with all the statues and fountains lit up.

The next day we went to the Fortezza da Basso which should have a pretty lake, but we couldn’t find it so we left. We tried to buy train tickets but apparently the trains were on strike, so instead we check out the basilica across the street – Santa Maria Novella. We saw the Accademia museum from the outside (it houses the real David) and passed the Palazzo de Medici. We strolled through a great outdoor market and chatted with the vendors – just so nice and not the fake kind. One guy warned us about Roma, “In Firenze we are all nice people and like nice people. In Roma – mean. Mean people, you won’t like it.” We met up with Sarah – our new friend again and scammed our way into the Boboli Gardens using her student pass.

The gardens were my favorite – huge and beautiful filled with ponds and statues of Roman gods. They love Neptune in Firenze! We walked around for a few hours and saw the most amazing view of the city and the Tuscan countryside. It’s dotted with olive trees and purple and pink flowers. Old buildings line the tops of the hills and mountains and it’s just absolutely breathtaking. Katie and I were pretty much dead at this point so we walked back to our hotel and then went to Sarah’s for some home cookin. We had pasta covered in garlic and olive oil, bread with olive spread and more olive oil. I feel like I ate and entire olive grove – so I was in heaven. The next day we left for Roma, and while Florence was much more urban than I expected, I still found it lovely and people were pretty great.