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Published: March 16th 2011
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Me trying to hold up the towerThe next day was a long bus ride to Florence, Italy. We stopped by the Leaning Tower of Pisa on the way, where I got to take one of those must have ridiculous photos of me trying to hold up the tower. The grass was roped off which made it harder to take a picture. My sister tried to get into a picture but fell and hit her head. There was this huge bump on her forehead, but she told me that she felt fine. She was the accident prone one on the trip and she always seemed to get herself into the worst situations (more on that later...). So after spending about an hour at the leaning tower of Pisa, we headed off to Florence. It was night time when we arrived at our hostel in Florence. We had a nice Tuscan meal at the hostel. The food was quite good for hostel quality, probably one of the best meals on the trip besides the dinner in Paris and it was probably the best quality hostel we stayed at for the entire trip. So after dinner, we headed
out to a bar/karaoke club where a couple of people got a little too drunk. There was this guy name Tim, on our tour, that got so drunk that when he arrived back at the hostel, he took someone’s wallet and was causing havoc in the halls. He almost got our group and our Tour Manager in trouble. Nevertheless, he apologized for his antics and the next day he was nominated by our group to wear the fire helmet, the symbol of shame for our time in Florence. After a good night, we got some much needed sleep for the long day ahead in Florence and the evening tour of Rome.
Day 7: Florence, Italy to Rome, Italy Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 The next day, the group woke up early for a tour of this great city from a local guide in Florence. I wanted to wake up even earlier to see the real Status of David at the Accademia gallery, before the tour started but I could not get myself out of bed. I'm glad that I was able to wake up for the tour though. Florence is a pretty small city and all the tourist attractions
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Renata trying to sneeze down the tower. are relatively close together within walking distance. The tour guide was quite knowledgeable, and I learned a great deal of information about Florence history (not much that I remember right now though ;-). Well, that's what I get for writing this blog a year and a half later. Some of the things that I learned are that David is a really popular figure in Florence. There are numerous replica statues of David all around Florence, one of which is found in Piazza della Signoria, in front of Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall. Furthermore, I learned that in Benvenuto Cellini's, Perseus with the Head of Medusa sculpture found in the Loggia dei Lanzi, , the artist Cellini's face is engraved in the back of Perseus's head. I also found the sculpture Rape of the Sabine Woman by Giambologna interesting because it could be looked at all different angles.
After the tour, Renata, Kathy and I decided to go explore the inside of the Duomo. The Duomo, is this magnificent cathedral found in the center of Florence, with the exterior built of different colours of marble. The famous dome built by Filippo Brunelleschi, is the first 'octagonal' dome in history to
be built without a wooden supporting frame. The frescoes on the interior of the dome are a representation of the Last Judgement. It was a beautiful work of art, I must say!
After exploring the Duomo, we decided to pay a visit to Santa Croce. The façade of the church was designed by Jewish architect, Niccolo Matas. On the outside of the church one can see the Star of David displayed at the top of church, a symbol of Jewish faith. When the Jewish architect died, he was not allowed to be buried inside the church because he was not of Christian faith. Instead, he was buried outside and underneath the entrance to the church. Santa Croce holds the tombs of many famous Italians, including that of Michelangelo and Galileo, two important figures in Italian history. After exploring the interior of Santa Croce, it was almost time to leave, so we decided to go to a nearby restaurant, where we met some other Topdeck travelers and had one of those famous Italian pizzas. Yum!!! Then we got ready for our bus ride to Rome ;-)
When we reached Rome, it was late at night and our tour manager
quickly showed us around so that we somewhat knew are way around for our free day the next day (We still got lost though!). We got to see the Spanish Steps, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, the Church of the Capuchin Monks. Victor Emmanuel Monument, and the Pantheon. One of the great things about Rome, is that there are freshwater drinking fountains everywhere, so you can refill your water bottles wherever you go. After the tour we headed back to our campsite, where we got some much needed sleep to prepare for our incredible day ahead exploring Rome and Vatican City
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