FB: Florence

FALL BREAK Part two:

Florenza! So we started this part of the trip kinda stressed again [shrug]. But it ended up really great.

On Sunday we got on our train in Genoa travelling first to Pisa, then we had to transfer to go to Florence. Train rides are great. However, the first one that we got into was a little weird.

We got on hoping we had everything we needed and that it was going to take us to the right place [we had it all and it did]. Inside, the train was separated into little rooms with 3 seats facing 3 seats and then a sliding door to get into the hallway. We pick the first one that had two seats in it and lugged all our stuff in after us. It was first filled with three younger guys and an older French man [we figured that out later]. When the boys left, however, and we took over the window seats and relaxed a little, this man in his 30’s comes in and starts pointing to our seats and talking Italian. Whit and I obviously have no idea what he’s saying, but try to move to satisfy whatever it is he is requesting. In the end though, we end up out of the window seats and this mama’s boy and his mother end up sitting in them. He was so pathetic and ridiculous. Ask me about it sometime and I’ll tell you.

We then arrived in Florence and after getting oriented [ie: walking the wrong way and then walking back the right way], we found our way to our hostel. On the way there though, some girl and her boyfriend tried to get into my bag! I turned around and she was like “Your bag is open!” and I gave her the nastiest look ever!!! Then I turned around and kept walking and called after Whit. When I turned around again to find the duo she was reaching into someone else’s purse, so I glared at her and she once again told me that my bag was open [rolls eyes]. Luckily, all that they could have gotten was my pj’s [lol].

This hostel I didn’t think was that bad [David Inn], but Whit claims that it was the worst that we stayed in all week [I think that freezing cold water in the shower for 4 days (Rome) ties with the no-blankets and sketchy bathroom hostel (Florence) to receive the worst-hostel award]. We did get a lot of excercise here though. I don't think that I have mentioned yet that when we wanted to go to our room from outside the hostel, we had to climb 79 stares to get there. Yeah, we both have buns of steel....and calfs of steel...shoot, we have complete lower bodies of steel!

At this point I would like to add that when travelling Italy, take t-shirts that you can wear 2 or three days in a row [smile]….the duffel bag that we carried [along with the two backpacks] became incredibly heavy!

First lesson: in Italy never say that you want your food for here [they charge you a LOT more $$].
Second lesson: you can most always find touristy things cheaper.

On Monday we went to the Duomo and paid 6 Euro to climb the 414 stairs to the top of the bell tower [wow], where we met a Canadian boy who works in NY, and was travelling Italy by himself after being in Amsterdam with his friends.
We then went to San Marco but didn’t go in. We kept on walking and found a square that had the “Hospital of the Innocence” in it; this was used as an orphanage originally. Now it has a museum in it. It was cool.
After the Hospital museum visit we went to San Croce.We paid something like 6 euro to get in, but it was well worth it. Whit read off of a Spanish brochure because there were no more English ones [of course] and translated for me. We saw the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo and others. There was also the statue of poetry here; she was beautiful. And Whit read something about her being the cousin of the statue of liberty (but much smaller of course). We saw paintings by Donatello and frescos by Giotto. This place also had a leather-making school that was originally created for the orphans to learn a trade. We also saw a great random art exhibit [it was wonderful].
We then left San Croce and shopped for a bit and went over the Ponte Vecchio, this bridge that has a bunch of shops on it. Apparently most of the bridges used to be like this in the city. We listened to music in the square near our hostel and then went to a place called Chiaroscura for coffee [which was wonderful].

Tuesday we went to the Academia and got to see Michelangelo’s David, and a bunch of other stuff. Then we went shopping which is really all we did for the rest of the day. Didn’t end up buying much, but sure did try! I think that we went into every shoe store in Florence twice!

Wednesday we did the Uffizi Gallery. And that’s it…….we woke up, got croissants and juice and then got in line at 10am. And we waited in line until 3:30pm. Yeah. Believe it. We’re crazy…okay, I am crazy, but none the less, we saw some really incredible things. We saw Botticelli’s “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus”. Then we saw some Caravagio and Titians “Venus of Urbino”. I think it was worth it, but I’m not sure Whit quite agrees with me [she’s been there before]. I did buy a great little black leather purse after dinner.

Florence was pretty great. Every night we sorta calmed down in the hostel by reading books and just talking, and every night we had accordion music playing from outside. It was great.
For some pictures of Florence [not mine but you can see what we saw]:

http://www.dal.ca/~rsyvitsk/Vacation_spots/Firenze.html

Here is the Duomo [the first picture has the bell tower that we climbed] and the very last picture on the right is San Croce.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*