Advertisement
Published: March 12th 2012
Duomo
Outside viewBonjourno!
This week I've been catching my rest from Budapest and gearing up for a trip to Florence and Pisa, Italy!
We started our journey having to travel up north about an hour to Girona airport, staying overnight in the airport to catch our super early flight. (Like I said, early bird get's the cheap flight!) Thank goodness I'd loaded up some movies and slept on the plane and bus that took us to Florence.
The Pisa airport is another 45 minutes from the center of Florence, where we met up with a few girls also from Plattsburgh that are studying there. We got to walk along the cobblestone roads past a ton of shoe, watch, leather and gelato shops! We dropped our stuff off at the girls' cute apartment, complete with a brick kitchen, lofted bedroom and windows overlooking the narrow streets. While catching up on Plattsburgh who's who and he said she said we climbed up a very steep staircase to the best view of the city! From here we were able to see all of the church steeples, Doumo, and the Arno River seperating the city. On the way back we crossed over the "Golden
Bridge", where the side of the bridge are lined with jewlery shops. The rest of the day we wandered the city and planned out the weekend.
That night we went to a restaurant named "Dante's" which serves all you can drink wine with your meal. JACKPOT! I ordered a Tortelloni of potatoes in a tuscan meat sauce and it was so incredible. The wine wasn't too bad either, we definitely got our money's worth and more!
On the way home we stopped and got gelato, of course, and got to see the lively night streets of the city.
Saturday we were able to sightsee a bit more and try some other great food! We started off with a panini at a shop the owner opened just for us when we arrived. The people in Florence were all very welcoming and made it feel like a small town. We headed to the Duomo, the domed cathedral and largest brick and mortar dome in the world. Inside the ceilings (you know me) were so incredibly high and arched. Opposite the altar is the Colossal Clock that reads in 24 hour form. The altar is sheltered by an amazingly detailed ceiling by
Michaelangelo
...everywhere two different artists and finished within a 10 year span, it depicts the "Last Judgement".
Next we headed over to the Academia Musuem, with the main attraction being "David" by Michealangelo. Every other street you can find something named after this influentail artist. Most or all of the artwork in the museum is religous and all accounts different stories of the bible. One important scene, worked by aritsts with different views of the event was the angel coming to Mary. Also down the hall from the David, was an entire hall of sculptures by different artists that were requested by families and royalty to make them forever remembered.
Now of course the greatest work in the museum is the David. There are different statues of David "after his fight with Goliath" and also before his fight scattered around the city. Each has a different mood or look of victory and valor. However the grandest of them all is Michealangelo's because it is after the fight, but he is not standing over Goliath's head with his sling of victory. This David is in the process of putting the sling on, and has a look of gracious relief on his
Michaelangelo
He's everywhere! face. He isn't grinning confidently or gleaming with pride, he looks content in his success. The most amazing part of the sculpture for me was his hands and arms. Michealangelo took the time to perfectly sculpt his hands to look imense and strong and with his viens still not yet relaxed from after the fight. This kind of detail blew me away completely!
Again we walked around the city and that night went to a really cool restaurant for "Apertivos". At this place you can buy a drink and it is all you can eat for the hour that you're there! The food is buffet style and included rice, pasta, pizza bread, quiche, and my favorite, fried dough puffs.
The next morning before our train ride to Pisa, we got a taste of America! We went to a place literally called "The Diner" and I was able to pounce on some great cinnamon french toast with jam, and blood orange juice. Our train ride was about an hour long and then we were in the center of little Pisa!
The walk to the leaning tower was about 20 minutes from the station and there was a market
Duomo
Awkward family photo outside! going on for most of the walk there. From down the road, the tower and neighboring cathedral and baptisery that makes the Piazza del Duomo Pisa, looks like a mural blocking the end of the road. Walkig toward the tower it was really funny to see everyone doing the classic "Oops I pushed it" or "THIS IS HEAVY TO HOLD" pictures with the tower...until we realized that would be us in about 5 minutes! We wanted to climb to the top (even with the lean!) but the next tour was only 2 hours before our flight! 😞
We were spoiled with good weather, great guides and amazinggggg food this weekend!
Until next sunday/monday, have a great week, and Happy St. Patrick's Day early!
Air
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0513s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sharon Hare
non-member comment
Hey There!
Erin, I am loving this blog. The pictures you posted are awesome and such a great variety. I love the steep cobbled hill and the huge green bean. You look great in the picutures! It looks like you had a ball in Italy. Is it competing with Spain???? Let's skype soon.....It seems like so long since I've "seen" you! Lots of love, hugs and kisses, MOM