Me excited to be on my first TrenItalia ride
Florence represents the essence of Italy in my opinion. Cafe's on every street corner, beautiful piazzas, crowded street markets, magnificent architecture filled with ancient artwork, and picturesque mountains and vineyards surrounding the beautiful river flowing through the city. It goes without saying that I absolutely fell in love with Florence after only being there for 2 days!
We started off our first day by visiting the Piazza del Duomo of Florence. Upon entering the piazza the first thing that caught my attention was the Cathedral that had an architectural character I had never seen before and pictured being in Russia by its appearance. Next to the Cathedral and the Giotto Bell Tower, in the same Piazza, was a similarly constructed building, the Baptistery of St. John.
The inside of the Cathedral was grand much like all other European cathedrals and contained crypts of people such as Brunelleschi and other Florentine bishops. Among all of the crypts and simple decor was a stack of olive branches. Italians use olive branches instead of palm branches for Palm Sunday celebrations and we were lucky enough to be in Florence on Palm Sunday to witness the Palm Sunday celebrations.
I made sure to light a candle for my parents and take in the moment of being in the cathedral before we started the long 414 step hike to the top of the Giotto Tower standing tall next to the Cathedral. All 414 painful steps were more than worth the view. Dad always says you have to work the hardest for the best views and that has held true throughout my journeys. Off to one side I could see the Tuscany hills lined with wineries and beautiful houses and to the other side I could see all of the Florence with its most prominent sites standing above all else.
After Jenn and I spent a lot of time enjoying the scenery and gazing into the distance while under the Tuscan sun, we decided to hike back down and walk through the famous Florentine leather markets. They were definitely memorable as there was leather, jewelry, men pushing fake purses, sunglasses, and watches on anything that moved and odds and ends tourist presents. The markets lined the streets for a couple of blocks and had enough to keep anyone occupied for the whole day!
After making a few innocent purchases including Jenn's Christmas ornament and my cheap jewelry, we returned to our hostel to get ready for dinner and to meet Jenn's friend from school afterward. Jenn and I decided to go to dinner at a place we had received recommendations about and the meal and atmosphere definitely lived up to all expectations. We sat at a candlelit table outside and ate caprese salad (mozzarella and tomatoes) and the best Gnocchi we found in Italy, gnocchi drenched in a savory gorgonzola sauce.
After finishing dinner we went to meet Jenn's friend for the best gelato we found in Italy as well. Needless to say we had great luck in the food category the entire trip! Jenn's friend then took us across the Ponte Vecchio and up a huge hill to a spot in Piazza Michelangelo where he showed us the best view of Florence by night. To complete the scene he had bought baguettes, wine, brie, and brought his Ipod and speakers.
I was caught many times during our trip saying "I think this might be what heaven is like" but that moment really might be what heaven is like. It was amazing looking out over the city and seeing the monuments lit up and the Ponte Vecchio gleaming over the river while enjoying the perfect atmosphere!
The view of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo by night
We stayed in the Piazza Michelangelo and listened to music until past midnight and decided to head down to the most American bar in Florence for some karaoke! My night of heaven continued as the first song I heard come on the karaoke happened to be Sweet Home Alabama. I also realized that my Duke game was being shown on the t.v. screen. You have to admit that this night was made for me! I loved every second at the bar (especially because my dukies won) and was so excited for the next day in Florence.
Monday morning we met Jenn's friend in the Piazza del Duomo again and walked around the San Lorenzo market that had the most beautiful spreads of fruits, breads, cheese, and meats spread out over a huge covered building. Jenn's friend, Ben, made us try the blood oranges which were by far my favorite and I loved finally getting my fix of fresh fruit. He then took us to a new restaurant he was trying where we could choose the ingredients to make our own paninis. I, of course, chose the tomato and mozzarella and my 2.80 euro panini was the best meal I had my whole time in Italy! After eating lunch of the stairs of a basilica overlooking the street markets we walked down to see the Ponte Vecchio by day.
Once again, heaven came calling when I saw that every store across the Ponte Vecchio had its own wide array of sparkling jewelry.
From the Ponte Vecchio we walked back to the Piazza Michelangelo, the spot we had been the night before, so we could see the beautiful view in the daylight. The day was so clear and beautiful that we could see all of Florence's most important sights including all of the churches like Santa Croce that holds the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. Pretty important place right?
We walked up a little ways from the piazza to a pretty church on the hill and continued around back to a cute cemetery with ornate tombs unlike anything I had every seen before. The cemetery was kept up very well and we saw many family members bringing flowers in just the 20 minutes we were there. We found out later that the author of Pinocchio is buried there too! We had another amazing dinner Monday night and went out to another American bar and had a great time.
Since we found out the Academia that houses Michelangelo's David, along with many other sites to see, is closed on Mondays we had to wake up to make it to the museum by its opening time, 8am, so we could catch a glimpse of David before trying to make our 10:00 train to Naples. David was more massive than I could have imagined. Upon walking into the museum, I rounded the corner and there he was standing tall above all else! The more I stared at David the more amazed I was that an artist had the ability to carve something that detailed out of one block of marble...definitely worth the early wake up!
The visit to see David concluded our wonderful two days in Florence. We headed back to the Santa Maria Novella train station and hopped on another TrenItalia train en route to Naples with the final destination of Sorrento! Our days in Florence seemed almost picture perfect. We truly experienced the essence of Italy through many amazing experiences and like I've been known to say..."I think this is what heaven is like"!
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