Advertisement
The next stop on our Euro Trip is Florence. We were already behind schedule
because the train we were planning on taking at 10:45am was booked. Instead we
got a ticket for 11:15. We chill for a bit on the floor in the middle of the train station
waiting for the gate number to appear on the boards. We see Gate 11 pop up and
head to the train. When we get on the train, we see that there is a group of old ladies
sitting in our section. For some reason, they had the same seat numbers as us. We
decide not to make a big deal out of it and sit in the section beside them until a man
walks up and says to us that we are sitting in his section. We tell him that the ladies
have the same seat as us and he pompously says "imposible." He takes a look at our
ticket and points out that our scheduled train ride is for June 12. Fuck our lives. We
go back to the ticket office, obviously missing that train, and get it sorted out. Finally
we got on the 11:45am train and all was well.
After looking at the map of Florence, we see that the hostel is not too far from the
train station- only about 15 minutes. We decide to walk it. We arrive at the hostel
and are greeted by Sorin- the hostel keeper. This hostel was a lot different from the
other hostels we stayed in because it was privately owned and kept by Sorin. It was
basically a house where the rooms were rented out to backpackers like us. It
smelled very homely walking into the building. Rooms were clean; bathrooms were
clean (only downside: no toilet paper...). After talking to Sorin for a bit about
checking in, he points out that there is a pizzeria right across the street with 5-euro
pizza. He wasn't done making the beds for our room, so we decided to drop off the
backpacks and head straight there. The pizza was good and being the cheap
bastards we are, we snuck our water canteens into the restaurants for our beverage
(we actually did this at almost every restaurant). After our late lunch, we decide to
head back to the hostel to plan the rest of the day. We decide to hit up one of the
museums, the Galileo Museum. As we walk up, we see swarms of security guards
(with pretty cool ties) surrounding the museum. After asking around what was
going on, we find out that the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano decided to take
the tour of the museum around the same time so they closed the museum to all
tourists. We decide to wait and after about 20 minutes, we see the President’s
motorcade drive up to the entrance and we see the President step out and walk into
the museum. (See video. Oh wait, you can't cause LOPEZ lost it.) Instead we decide
to postpone that tour until tomorrow and make our way to the Piazza Michelangelo
to watch the sunset. We climb the hills and arrive at the Plaza where many couples
were gathered holding and fondling each other. PDA is very common. The view from
the plaza was amazing. You could see all of Florence: the river, the temples,
churches, houses, and the mountains far in the distance. Twas very romantic.
After the plaza, we start looking for the next place to eat. We find a restaurant
and order some calzones, spinach and cheese ravioli, and lasagna (canteens still the
main source of beverage). After dinner, we realized that we still hadn't had gelato
since we've been in Italy. After walking the streets, we see a place called Festival
del Gelato. They had a huge variety and were reasonably priced. We chill with our
gelatos for a bit and start heading back to the hostel when we come across a street
performer whose main form of entertainment was scaring innocent women with
a loud horn and wrapping a balloon around a dog's neck confusing the shit out of
him (See video. Oh wait, you can't cause LOPEZ lost it.) We rush back to the hostel to
start getting ready to go out.
We were handed a flyer earlier that night by a person promoting a pub called
Amadeus. It was ladies night, free cover, 3 drinks for 10 Euros, and open until "late
night." We thought we would start there. We arrive and see 2 guys and one 40-year
old woman. That's it. We decide to just stay there for a bit to take advantage of their
drink prices. I ordered a Long Island while Sammy ordered a Tequila sunrise. We
ask the bartender what other places are good to go out. He mentions a place called
YAB right down the street. We arrive there and find out they have 15 Euro cover and
the crowd was a bit old for us. We keep looking and find a bar street. It was already
late and we were tired so we decided to call it a night and go hard the next night. We
had a long day (to say the least) ahead.
Day 2 started early because we had reservations for a tour at the Uffizi
museum at 8:30am. This museum consisted mainly of Renaissance shit. We had
allotted 2 hours but did not realize that going through the whole museum would
take us 4.5 hours! Paintings and sculptures started to become redundant and we
were all hungry, dehydrated, and tired. But since we paid for the reservation, we
just decided to suck it up and finish the tour in its entirety. We don’t half-ass shiiiit.
We eat as soon as we leave the museum and then head straight to the Piazza Pitti.
On the way there, we walk across the Ponte Vecchio, which is one of the most
famous bridges in Florence consisting of tons of jewelry shops, souvenir shops, and
artists. This piazza consisted of the Boboli Gardens (where we headed to first and
PTFOd under the trees for about 30 minutes). After that we hit up a fashion museum
and a treasure museum. We were kind of tired of museums but we had one more to
go to, which was by far the most fascinating. It was the Academia, which consisted
of Michelangelo’s “The David.” This sculpture is epic. You enter into the room from
the opposite side and are just taken aback by the size and magnificence. Leading up
to the David were 4 incomplete statues started by Michelangelo for Pope Julius’s
II tomb. He stopped work on these after Pope Julius requested him to work on the
Sistine Chapel.
After seeing The David, all any of us could think about was heading back
to the hostel and taking potentially the best nap of our lives. Walking there, we
passed a dessert shop and saw one of the biggest canolis we’ve ever seen (and we
still hadn’t tried a canoli yet). It was amazing. Nothing like a good canoli to reward
yourself after taking tours of 4 museums in one day (Btw, our plan was to fit in 6
museums in one day but we decided to skip the Galileo Museum and Santa Croce-
a church where the tombs of Dante, Machiavelli, and Michelangelo are located.) We
head back to the hostel and decide to set our alarms for 11pm (it was about 7pm),
so we can be refreshed and go out. We don’t wake up until 12:30am. No need to
say, both nights in Florence were a bust. But the stuff we did during the day was
definitely worth it.
After having one of the best sleeps of my life, we had to check out and make
our early morning train for Venice. Only problem: Sorin (the hostel keeper) was
nowhere to be found. I checked his bedroom; the kitchen, everywhere and we
needed to pay him. After searching and waiting for him for 30 minutes, we decide to
leave him a note saying that we will contact him ASAP to make payment arranges.
(Update: We wrote that note on the morning of May 14th. I am writing this blog on
May 19 and we have not contacted him in any way.)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0343s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Donatello
non-member comment
PTFO!
Let's open a Shake Shack in Florence.