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Published: August 30th 2010
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The trip from Verona to Florence was probably our one and only uncomplicated train ride from city to city. Thankfully. We needed some simplicity to our lives.
It was hot and the sun was beating down on us as we made the trek from the train station to the hostel.
Arriving at the hostel it felt for the first time like we were arriving to a hotel. A huge building with 10 floors, a swimming pool, sauna, Turkish baths (whatever those are), a bar, restraunt, and physical lobby. It was a cheap hotel!
We settled into our room that was full of a total of NINE beds, and then hit the streets. It was already about 6pm by the time we showered and washed the dripping sweat off our backs. Being said, everything worth seeing closes between 4 and 6 so we just roamed the streets.
We found a "fake David" outside the building that David was once kept. There was a huge statue garden next door, along with a fountain and castle in the background. There are so many marble statues here it's overwhelming!! I'm sure all of them are important in a way or two,
but when they all look alike it's quite difficult to distinguish the well-known ones from the little guys.
Here is where we had our first taste of real, Italian gelato! Lauren got pistachio while I got a creamy peach. Both were to die for! Gelato is everywhere in this city; on your left, on your right, above you, below you--everywhere! We each had a pannini snack after our gelato, to hold us over until dinner later, because rumor has it that Italians and Spaniards eat on the very late side...
We visited the Ponte Vecchio bridge just as the sun was setting, and it was perfect timing. This bridge is deifnitely famous for a reason--its beauty and age. The Ponte Vecchio is the oldest bridge in Florence, and one of the 3 oldest bridges in Europe. It is such a historic bridge that during WWII, the Germans purposefully did not bomb it because of its history and beauty. It was the perfect backdrop for any picture!
Near the bridge, there are these chains used as fences in a way, and on each chained-link there are hundreds of locks connected. These locks are written on, carved, with initials,
hearts, ect. The tradition is for lovers to come to this bridge, lock a metal lock to the chain and throw the key into the Arno River. This ties the lovers together forever since the key has been thrown into the river 😊 It was adorable. And quite romantic!
By 10pm we made it to a restaurant for some real old-fashioned Italian food.
We shared a 5 course meal that consisted of--4 cheese Gnocchi, meat raviolis, salads, bread (to-die-for olive oil for dipping!), and TiramisĂș! It was soooo good! Definitely the best food we have had thus far.
Arriving back at the hostel, we met some nice guys who had just graduated from Cal. They were both runners on the track team and we made plans to all go visit David later the next day.
NEXT DAY!!!!
August 24, 2010
Today we had one goal--see David!
We bought our tickets in the morning from some smaller museum down the street from the museum the statue of David is in. I felt bad for the people we bought our tickets from because they were working at a Precious Gems museum in Florence, and
I'm sure it's a great museum, and I'm sure it's their passion in life...but there was NO ONE inside 😞 But they gave us some tickets that let us go in the VIP entrance so we could skip all the lines!
We couldn't go see David until 3:00pm so we were going to meet up with our Cal friends then. Lauren and I ventured into the city. Leather goods are EVERYWHERE in Florence! The streets are just swarming with vendors selling leather jackets, purses, wallets, belts, anything in the world you could want made of leather. I had no idea Florence was the leather capital! Not too PETA friendly...
We decided to visit Duomo di Firenze which is one (if not THE) of the biggest cathedrals in Florence. There is a dome at the top of the cathedral that people can climp to the top of...if they dare.
Being the dare devils we are, Lauren adn I decided to make the 500 stair trek to the top of Duomo's Dome in the scorching heat. We decided they should REALLY warn people of how dangerous this climb is!!!
These were the steepest stairs I have ever climbed!
Some parts of the climb consist of people going in both directions, squeezing through very narrow hallways that resemble catacombs. The inside of the dome is magnificent! Michael Angelo was inspired by this dome for the Sistine Chaple, and I can definitely see why.
Once we reached the tippy top of the dome, you walk up the world's steepest "staircase" which is more like a latter, and have sweeping views of all of Florence!
It was definitely worth the climb.
After climbing the dome, it was about time to go see David! After all the hype, I have to say, the museum itself is NOT impressive. There are a lot of old paintings, a lot of big marble statues, but nothing compares to David. The statue of David is absolutely huge! So much bigger than I pictured it being in my mind! I stand as tall as one of David's leg, if that helps put it into perspective...It's just amazing to think that at one time "he" was just a block of marble. One single block of rock...woah! That makes me think pretty hard...
After we reached our goal of seeing David, Lauren adn I decided
we each needed to purchase something leather since we are in the leather capital...we each bought a very stylish little leather purse 😊 All the leather goods are real, and very, very cheap it's crazy.
One day wasn't enough time to explore all of this wondrous city, but it was enough time to make us want to return. Florence, you have us hooked!!
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