Florence

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After taking the train from Sorrento, via Rome we ended up in Florence, home of the Medici and center of the Renaissance... Of course we had to start with a trip to the Duomo, or central cathedral, which in Florence’s case is a massive green and white marble building. Audrey’s take on it was it looks like it’s covered in giant 70’s kitchen tiles. It certainly was spectacular, the Medicis sure know how to spend a fortune. About 1500 other tourists thought so as well, creating a huge mob standing out the front. We decided to find a café to have a relaxing beer, walking to one of the nearby piazzas. Upon getting the bill we found out it’s always wise to ask the price, as these became two of the most expensive draught beers I think I’ve ever had clocking in at €19.00 for two… We did exact our revenge by warning another unsuspecting couple who gladly took our advice and wandered to the nearest supermarket.

We were starting to realize July isn’t the best time to visit the more popular cities in Italy, the extreme press of tourists and complete lack of Italian being spoken anywhere made the streets feel a little more like Manhattan on a Saturday morning than a little street in the center of Florence.

The hostel we were staying at, Locanda Starlight, had a great hostess who’s recommendations for everything from places to eat to our day trip to Sienna made our stay. Zio Gigi’s, or Uncle Gigi’s, had the best Italian Tuscan specialties we had anywhere during our stay, and was pleasantly cheap as well.

On the 10th, our first wedding anniversary, we were up early and on the bus to Sienna. This turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous town, very medieval with towers, turrets and giant walls in between an amazing cathedral. The bus trip out and back through the Tuscan and Chianti region countryside made us wish we had more time to explore the area around Florence.

Of course our trip wouldn't be complete without some Museums (swear Mik was a college professor in some former life!) We were apalled to learn we were about to miss out on one of Florence's biggest sites. Back from Sienna, even though we were tired we rushed to the L'Academia before we left early the next morning. We nearly missed him, but the most incredible statue either of us have seen was Michelangelo’s David. You really have to see him to appreciate what an impact he has. We went to other museums during our stay but the only other relic we can remember is a full armor for a toddler (it was cute!) turns out it was also of historical significance at least in Italy as it belonged to Cosimo III, some ruler or another.

That night to mark our 1st anniversary (and later our lack of judgement) we dined on McDonalds. We blame it on being tired and sick of pasta but we when we both got sick that night (how romantic!) we just blamed it on stupidity. Something about an injection of grease to make our digestive systems recoil in fear. This turned out to be the only hiccup in an otherwise wonderful stay, we loved Florence and cannot wait to come back!

(I just managed to bluescreen the pc in the internet cafe trying to get our pictures uploaded, so they'll have to wait... damn microsoft!)

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