After the early train trip, the first stop was the Duomo! It was rad. And totally looks like pajamas (there are green and white stripes along the facade…it's so colorful it almost looks fake!).
Right across from the Duomo are the Baptistry doors. They're sweet and made out of real-life gold! Ok, actually, these are replicas. The real-life ones are in the Duomo museum, which were getting restored when we went (it's where we went next…after snacking on some dill-flavored spitz sunflower seeds and making all the birds think they were actually getting food…I know, we're mean)
The museum!
Ry looks just like the statue, no?
Uh…we totally forgot what Ryan was doing in this picture…Apparently we took it so we wouldn't forget and then promptly forgot.
[edit: Ryan just remembered for me. We was the finger of Philip and the tooth of St. Gerome. Ahhh relics. I love 'em (read: think they're rediculous but secretly wish I was Catholic so I could have them all around my house and see them all the time)]
Yes, I'm awesome.
Ok, this gelato place is A. MAZE. ING. For real. Grom. In Florence. I highly suggest it. They keep the gelato in metal tins instead of out like at an ice cream place. And they have to almost lather it up to get it out because it's so darn creamy. Also, they had the best lemon and grapefruit gelato ever. I'm telling you, grapefruit. gelato. ridiculous. bitter and creamy. Seriously, I can't brag more about this.
Also, thanks to our friend Rick Steves, we found Dante's house! Ryan also told me all about Dante. In a video. That I recorded. It's the cutest thing in the whole world.
Next up, Piazza de la Segnora. Here's the statue called "rape of the sabines." Ok, so it's not the most uplifting thing ever, but it's sweet because a) it's the origional (and even has rad wires all intertwined so that it'll shock and kill any bird that tries to touch it and b) you can see the imprint of the guy's hand on the girl's behind. Literally, there are indentions in the marble. It's sweet and I'd never be able to create anything as cool as that in a thousand years. Go marble statues!
Michaelangelo's "David," ever heard of it??? Actually, the statue below is a replica (we saw the real deal on day two…can you believe we're still on day one? Sorry to exhaust you guys. Maybe take a little water break now and get on with you lives, you can come back tomorrow and finish it and there won't be any hard feelings or anything.) Anywho, the statue below is a replica outside of the Medici Palace. There was a raid or something and someone threw a rock out of one of the windows and it totally broke off David's hand (don't worry, they put it in a cast for a few weeks and now he's fine, thanks for asking!).
After this, we were now right by the Arno River, so we ventured over the awesome bridge (Ponte Vecchio) and decided to make our way to a little mini hike so we could see an awesome view of the city. And an awesome view we found.
It looks like it came straight out of a painting or something!! So rad. We took a billion and one pictures. And each one is awesome. And when we get to Boston, we're framing it. Florence is the classy Rome. You can quote me on that one. I dig it. And can't wait to go back.
Also, quick shout out to Rick Steves. And the Provo City Library for letting me check out this book and take it all the way across the world. We made sure not to write in it or doggy-mark any pages, promise.
The view was awesome and I'm seriously the luckiest girl in the whole wide world. The view was also sweet because below us there was a sweet cafe playing chill songs, like adele and awesome coldplay covers so you could just stare and have awesome music playing. Awesome (sorry, I can't find another word to describe it right now.
After our hike we ventured around the piazza (the one with the fake david and the awesome (and terrible all at the same time) rape statue to find the leather shop where Ryan got his wallet two years earlier. It was rad. I even tried on a leather jacket just to see what it felt like. Amazing. But sorry sir, even with the fake student discount, $300 just isn't up my alley right now. Or in the next 10 years. Or 15. Maybe 20.
Brief interruption: I had to use the bathroom and saw this sign while washing my hands. It reminded me of the Ellen skit about washing hands with automatic sinks and lookings/acting like a racoon. I laughed out loud and took a picture so I could remember it forever.
One last look at the Arno before we headed back into the city. It's so beautiful. And there's a private yacht club that's at the bottom of the picture. We totally saw men there lifting weights the next day. In nothing but little European shorts. Ridiculous. But we were in the Uffizzi museum and you're not supposed to take pictures so I refrained. You're welcome.
After this we went in search of a pizza place and found one! For 5 euro they made a fresh pizza for us. It was like a Hot n Ready pizza but a bajillion times better.
The next day we went to both the Academia and saw David and the Uffizi, which had really awesome Reneissance paintings. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures at either one, but it was such an awesome experience, to see all that history and art…ahh.
For lunch we went to this tiny little place…not a restaurant because you could only sit outside, and not a stand because it was totally built into the wall…either way the panini were amazing. I got one with goat cheese and arugula and proscuitto, and Ryan got one with sundried tomatoes and something else (obvo mine was super duper amazing, since I remember it to a "t"….)
See??? So tiny! And so good...
And last, but not least, we rode the train! I know, I already talked about riding the train, but here's a little more evidence.
WE RODE THE TRAIN! A REAL LIFE TRAIN!
We went back to Rome, got a quick bite to eat and then stayed up all night so that we could be awake for our 3:00 AM taxi to the Rome airport. That's a story for another day though…
Anyway, we had loads of fun and whew, you made it to the end of the post! For that, I congratulate you. And myself for that matter, and for finally getting it done. :)
I've been to Florence and it seems like I went to that same leather shop! Haha. It probably wasn't the same one, but I did buy the cheapest thing from one of those shops, just because. And you're right, the gelato is AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteYour post is rad!
ReplyDeleteAh, your wonderful post brings back wonderful memories of Florence (even thought I was sick there). We had the opportunity of staying at a B&B on the Piazza De La Signora. It was great. That place is going day and night!
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