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Published: January 15th 2009
Janaury 4th- 7th: Florence
We left Roma while the streets were dark and abandoned, it felt like night time but really it was 5:30 in the morning. We remembered to make our train this time which was a blessing as we are headed to Florence or Firenze as the Italians say. We are spending three nights here and then headed to Venice. Mitch booked the hotel this time and he found a gem at only $16 US dollars a night. It will be interesting to see what it looks like, all we care about is a bed and a toilet. Our arrival into Florence was great because it was sunny and our hotel was right down the street from the train station. It helps when you don’t have to lug our 50 pound bags around everywhere. The first stop on our list was the leather market because Florence has a world renowned leather industry that makes some of the finest purses in Italy. You know, that Italian leather? It’s from Firenze. Mitch might be the greatest bargainer on earth and he struck gold with this one guy and got me this incredible lambs leather purse for only 45 euros when the
guy tried to sell it to me for 85 (he buys the purse for 41 euros). It was a great moment in our trip, and Mitch had a special little glimmer in his eye as he we both walked away as the two victorious tourists who outwitted the local merchants. They make such a killing in the summer, so we didn’t feel too bad at all. The guy told us that they double their prices in the summer because the demand is so great, so they would actually sell my purse for two times what they sold it to me for. Freaking awesome. I got a few other things at the market but I can’t write of them because there are a few presents in there for that wonderful family of mine. After we conquered the leather market, we went back to our hotel which turned out to be super nice. I am really proud of Mitch as this is the second hostel he booked, the first one being in France which turned out to be smaller than our room on the cruise ship. He is going to be so mad when he actually reads these blogs after our trip,
so much humor at his expense. Good thing he is a tough boy. We grabbed some dinner a little piece of junk restaurant and regretted our decision for being so cheap, but decided we would get to bed early because we were planning on heading to Cinque Terra in the morning to see the Italian Riviera.
Well, we woke up really early at like 6:00 am but looked at the weather forecast and saw that it was raining in Cinque Terra and decided that it would not be a wise move to go and try to enjoy the seaside in the rain so we went back to bed which was glorious. Our cheap hotel came with a free breakfast which was really handy and saved us some money. We decided that today was the day that we would conquer the city and see the sights. Our first stop were the museums but to our dismay they were all closed on Mondays SO we decided we would do it on the Wednesday we were leaving for Venice. We basically had the whole day to walk all over the whole city and see the beauty of a Tuscan city with our
own eyes. The city of Florence is really beautiful and quaint, not nearly as loud and busy as Rome. The streets are very narrow and there is a large, green river running through the center of the city. Numerous bridges connect one side to the other, one in particular is famously lined with gold and silver jewelry stores literally built into the walls of the bridge. The roofs of Florence were a dark orange and red and most of the buildings had the same white flecking paint on the walls. There more vespas and bicycles than cars on the tiny streets that wind throughout the city. We went to the Duomo cathedral which was in the center of the town. It was huge and the limestone and orange and white marble made it quite the sight. The inside was just as impressive as the outside with its massive marble statues depicting Christ and His life. It is such a blessing being able to see all these wonders of the world, Mitch and I are just so thankful. After the Duomo, we walked about a mile or so across the river to the Michelangelo Piazza which sits up on top of
a hill overlooking the whole city. It was a gorgeous view and we spent some time up there just resting and enjoying not being on our feet. It was quite a romantic view with the Tuscan hills enclosing this delicate little city with this massive river flowing through it…So many great moments!!!! We eventually decided we should head down back into the main area of Florence to get some dinner. Our second eating experience in Florence wasn’t good once again and we have decided that it is some of the worst food we have eaten in Europe, maybe it’s the kind of cheap restaurants we are going to…who knows. We always follow up a meal with some fresh gelato which makes everything seem alright and we went home around 9 to get some rest so we could try and go to Cinque Terra again tomorrow in the morning.
The alarm went off at 6:30 am again this morning and this time we decided we were going to Cinque Terra rain or shine. The train ride wasn’t too bad, 2 hours in which Mitch and I just completely and totally passed out in our chairs…heads bobbing, drool flying. We got
into Cinque Terra around ten and it had turned into a wonderful day with bright sunshine and a cool breeze. The temperature was a lot warmer out by the ocean, easily t shirt and shorts weather and Mitch and I were in about 5 layers of jackets and sweatshirts. It was hot. There are 5 main towns in Cinque Terra, all which are right on the coast. They sit at either the bottom of the cliffs or at the top and there are not more than 30 or 40 brightly colored but weathered cottages. The Italian Riviera is similar to the French except the towns are much smaller and way less commercial. These are tiny fishing and wine villages which had some of the most classic Italians we have encountered yet. All the towns are connected by an 8k rocky path that winds through the cliffs and rocky vineyards. Some of the paths were closed but we walked for a good 3 hours through the cliffs to different towns. It was so great to get out of the city and breathe some fresh Riviera air…We had some of the funniest conversations on our little hike, you think we would have
run out of things to talk about after being attached at the hip for the last 4 months, wouldn’t you? Not the case. The paths were kind of dangerous and really steep but they went right through the center of the towns and then back up the cliffs through the rocky vineyards and olive trees. We had an incredible lunch at this tiny little hole in the wall restaurant in one of the towns…homemade pesto spaghetti with some fresh ice cold water. Truly refreshing. After hiking for a few hours, we decided that we had seen all we could see and that maybe we should go see Pisa, I mean we have the Eurail pass so why not? The train ride to Pisa was only an hour and when we got there we had to walk about a mile and half to get to the actual leaning tower of Pisa or Pizza as Mitch says. The tower of Pizza was one of the weirdest things we have ever seen. I didn’t think it would be that cool but seeing it in person, it’s so strange. It was really cool, and we took some of those funny pictures that looks like
you are pushing the tower over. The sun was just setting and we had timed our arrival perfect. We spent an hour or two looking at the tower and the cathedral next to it before we jumped back on a train to Florence for our last night. We had another crappy dinner followed by incredible gelato and found ourselves going to bed early again…I think we are getting older than we realize.
We woke up early again this morning as it was our final day in Florence and we had reservations to get into the two museums that we had not seen yet.: Galleria de Academia and the Uffizi Gallery. Luckily for us, there were absolutely no crowds which made the reservation pointless but greatly increased the overall viewing pleasure. The first one, Academia, is home to the most beautiful statue in all the world. Seriously. I have heard a lot about David and how it’s the perfect male body but I wasn’t ready for what I saw, neither was Mitch. For starters, the statue is over 17 feet tall, I mean it just towers over you, and the overall body size is massive. The detail is incredible, you
could see the veins and the tendons in his arms and hands. You could see the ribs and muscle indentions in his chest, he looked like at any second he might jump off the stand and run out of the museum. His hair is just beautifully sculpted, it must have taken forever for Michelangelo to create such a masterpiece. Mitch and I took a seat on a bench and stared at him for a good 30 minutes. The marble is so smooth and soft and his posture so nonchalant after just killing the giant Goliath. It was just awesome, one of my favorite “artistic” moments this trip. The rest of the museum was beautiful and we loved being able to take our time and not be bothered by all the other dumb tourists with their loud voices, crying babies, and cell phones. It was peaceful. The next museum was a short distance away from the other and we got right in, no line! This museum had some of both Mitch and I’s favorite art: The Birth of Venus, Primavera (Spring), and anything else by Boticelli. He is truly a master at art, his work is so moving and incredible. I
can’t stress enough how wonderful it was to not have throngs of tourists pushing your back while you are trying to view a priceless painting from 1425. We finished our little museum excursion and got some lunch at a local self service restaurant. It turned out being the best food we had in Florence, a shame we found it on the last day. The rain had been dumping down all day so both Mitch and I decided the best move was to just go to the train station and wait for our train. Unfortunately, the guy at the station had given us the wrong information and we had to wait another hour for a train to Venice, but it’s ok, we are learning to deal with little mishaps like this. We took a Eurostar train from Florence to Venice which is the nicest of the Italian trains. The seats are big and puffy and there are tables unlike the inner-city trains we have been on most of the time that are covered in graffiti and the seats are all ripped and broken. It was a nice change. It was a 3 hour train to Venice and the scene from Florence to Venice was like staring at a watercolor canvas in the rain…each drop forcing all the colors to bleed together, creating one big blotchy masterpiece. The hills and the mountains are dark black, almost a sick brown, covered in a misty white veil while the evergreen trees stick their frosty blue heads through the holes of the wet mist giving off a faint silver glimmer. The red, yellow, and orange houses seem to all run together beneath the grey stormy skies. It’s just beautiful. Mitch is of course lost in another movie and I split my time between my book and my journals. As you know, these journals do take a lot of time but I know it will be worth it in the end….and the end is getting so close, yikes. At one point on the journey to Venice, we were in a dark black tunnel for a good 20 or 30 minutes and when we popped out we were in a winter wonderland. I mean snow absolutely everywhere, and a whole lot of it. The trees were weighed down with it and the branches had at least 3 or 4 inches of fresh powder on them. It was crazy because 45 minutes ago there was grass and not one flake of snow!! As the train continued it got darker and darker until I could only see the reflection of myself in the window, so I decided it was time to crack the book open and get some reading done. We got into Venice around 6 at night and it was freezing and dark outside. From what we could see, it was one of the most unique places we had ever been. There were no cars, buses, vespas, or even bikes…just people walking. We have our 60 pound bags on our back as we lef the train station and it took us a good 30 minutes to find our hotel in the dark which meant both of us were in a sour moods beause our backs were broken and we were sweating in 30 degree weather. Not so good when that sweat cools. Our hotel is awesome and only 5 minutes from the station, too bad we got lost for 25. We were both just totally exhausted from our crazy days in Florence so we got two pieces of pizza for 3 euros and called it a night. We both couldn’t wait to see Venice in the morning!!
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