Florence

After our day trip to Venice, we decided to take a couple days to explore Florence on our own. We took the train out there and stayed at a beautiful hotel right next to the train station called The Hotel Ambasciatori. It was a nice modern place with spacious rooms and quality amenities. It was a breath of fresh air after tiny, cramped Japanese hotels that smell like mildew because they don't ventilate their showers.

After checking in and bundling up we headed out directly toward the heart of Florence - Piazza del Duomo. This is where the cathedral, bell tower and baptistry are located. They are beautiful and huge and so full of history!

In the square we found a little pizza stand that had the best pizza I've ever tasted!! They had all kinds and you could buy a single slice and take it to go. The kind I got was almost like a caprese salad in pizza form, with lots of tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil and salt and pepper. We took our food with us and sat on a stone bench across from the baptistry and just soaked in the view.

The doors of the baptistry were called "The Gates of Heaven" by Michelangelo. The bronze-casting and gilding was done by the Venetian Leonardo d'Avanzano, widely recognized as one of the best bronze smiths in Europe. The artistry was truly amazing.

The Baptistry

We decided to climb up the 200 steps inside the bell tower to see the city and the dome close-up. It was a pretty killer climb, especially after stuffing our faces with pizza. It's pretty amazing to think that, back in the day, someone had to climb all the way up there to ring the bell. It was worth the climb, though, because the view was spectacular!

Looking up through the bell tower

Then we continued walking through the city toward the river. We stopped off at Piazza della Republicca which marks the spot where the original Roman forum was. Now, the only thing that remains from Rome is a carved pillar called the Column of Abundance. Still pretty cool to see something that old.

As we got closer to where the famous Uffizi we saw several sidewalk artists. We bought a couple of small water color paintings from one. But I think the most impressive artists we saw were those doing chalk drawings on the street.

Palazzo Vecchio - Florence's political center. It's right next to Piazza della Signoria where they have outdoor displays of several marble sculptures by Michelangelo and other famous artists.

The statues were beautiful but it was bothersome that they were almost all naked. haha

The ceilings in Palazza Vecchio were pretty incredible

By that time the sun was starting to set so we walked across the river to a high area called Piazzale Michelangelo. Artists and performers gather up here to cater to the tourists and Flourentine teenagers lounging on the steps eating gelato while the sun sets. This was the time I was most thankful for coming to Italy in the off season because we actually got a good spot to plant our tripod. So we got lots of good pictures with that famous view in the background.

Ponte Vecchio - famous bridge

So romantic!

One of many amazing sidewalk artists

Silhouette of the David at sunset

Once we'd had our fill of that magical view, we walked back down into the city via the Ponte Vecchio and window shopped all the way to the restaurant where we we had dinner.

The restaurant we ate at was called Trattoria Za-Za. It was SO good. I think I especially appreciated it because traditional Florentine cuisine is more than just pasta. I had a delicious veggie soup with spinach and beans, then some grilled chicken and rosemary potatoes. James finished off the meal with some real Italian tirimasu. Yum!

Sorry for all of the pictures of food - but since that was one of the best parts of our trip to Italy, I felt like I needed to include them!

That night we were exhausted so we went straight to bed so we could get up early the next morning and get in line for the museums. First we went to see Michelangelo's David. We had seen so many replicas of it the day before I wasn't sure it would be worth the wait out in the cold - but it was. The statue was so remarkably detailed - with veins and finger nails and curly hair. I can't believe that something so perfect was carved out of a block of rock - totally freehand. Michelangelo was a very talented dude.

Next, we went and attempted to get into the Uffizi, which has the greatest collection of Italian art anywhere - including the famous painting of the birth of Venus. We read in the guide book that you really need to make a reservation about a month in advance the get in - and as soon as we got there we saw why. We stood in line for about an hour and were about to despair when someone walked by offering to take us in on an English tour. It was a lot more money, but totally worth it to skip the line and have an expert take us through all the high points in about an hour and a half. We got to see works by Michelangelo, Rafael and even Da Vinci - SO COOL!

By the end of that day my feet were SO sore that I really couldn't do anything else except hobble to a gelato shop on our way to the train station. We couldn't leave Italy without sampling some of the creamy goodness, and yes - it was SOOO GOOD. I wish it wasn't so bad for me because I could have had some of that with every meal.

Florence was a beautiful city and we had a wonderful time walking around, window shopping, picking up gifts and sampling the local cuisine. We were thankful to get back to Caleb and Jordan's house and put our feet up. But as we left the city behind, we were a little sad to think that our time in Italy was almost up.