Florence

In front of Ponte Vecchio

view of Firenze from the top of the duomo

Raquel and I had a whirlwind of a trip in Florence. We arrived via train around 1pm on Saturday January 9, and only had a day and a half to explore the city before our train to Rome on Monday. The train was a high speed line and fancy and high tech inside like the Ave train in Spain. Also, our seats were the closest they could have been to the snack car! That was a plus. Found our hostel easily--only a 15 minute walk from the train station. We stayed in Plus Florence which I would recommend to anyone. It's a huge hostel; can hold more than 400 guests at once! Had a pool, turkish bath, and really nice staff. We stayed in an 8 bed female dorm and had nice roommates both nights.

Santa Maria del Fiore


Bummer that it was raining, but it didn't stop us! We went first to the Academy Gallery to see Michelangelo's David. Entry was 10 euros, a very steep price with no student discount available. I think the David is considered the most famous statue in the world, so we coughed it up. He is very hot. I didn't know he was going to be so tall! The coolest part was looking at his facial expression from both sides--from the left profile he looks boyish and humble, and from the other side he looks a little angry and scared, about to fight Goliath. I also enjoyed seeing a few other sculptures by Michelangelo in the hallway before the David. Some of these were unfinished, and it appeared the figures were trying to escape from the stone. Pretty cool how real every sculpture looked, with each muscle so clearly defined. Next, we went to the Santa Marie del Fiore Cathedral known for the big duomo with another famous painting on its ceiling. We walked up 463 stairs to the top of the tower and even though it was cloudy and rainy we were able to see a beautiful panoramic view of Firenze from the top.





Ponte Vecchio

On Sunday, it didn't rain! We walked around the entire city that day. Found a great flea market which was fun even though we were hassled a lot. Ate a yum pizza in the Piazza della Republica, a famous square with a huge arch in the middle. We continued south and found an outdoor sculpture garden! There was a replica of the David and a lot of other cool sculptures. Right next door was the Uffizi Museum. I really enjoyed this museum--it's not overwhelmingly big, and had paintings from Boticelli, Fra Angélico, Rafael, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Tiziano...all of whom I learned about in my art history class this semester. I liked the painting of Venus by Boticelli. Also, the museum had a great view of the river and all the bridges, especially the Ponte Vecchio. After leaving the museum, we explored that bridge and the area south of the river. Even though it was really cloudy, the bridge looked so beautiful. I love the colors around there--mustard yellow, orange, green. On the bridge is fun window shopping for jewelry. We had a fun exploration on the other side of the bridge! It's much less touristy on the other side, and we found some cool shops to peek into and even a vintage flea market! We went to a restaurant recommended by a friend for dinner also south of the river called 4 Leoni. It was the best meal we had thus far. Favorite part--pear and cheese ravioli. Yum! Although Firenze was completely different from Venice (there were real streets and cars there!), it is also a beautiful elegant place that seems different from the rest of Europe.