All about Firenze
We just realized that we hadn’t talked about Firenze (Florence). We have been here for about a week now and we really like it. Just like any big city it is full of people, weird smells and traffic, but when you have places like Florence’s Duomo or Michaelangelo’s David in your backyard those things don’t really matter.
Our apartementi is in a relatively central location and we have started to get to the know the streets and are starting to get around without a map, which I feel is an act of God. There are some amazing sites to see in Florence that make your head turn everytime you see them. I would say that my favorite building in Florence is their Duomo. Although most Duomo’s have a dome the name actually stands for the whole building itself, I am not sure what makes it a Duomo though. In our pictures from Siena the cathedral looking picture is their Duomo. Florence also has a series of very beautiful bridges that go over the kind of gross looking river that doesn’t move very fast but it is very picturesque despite.
Florence is an incredibly easy city to walk. Jill and I seem to walk the entire city once a day just wandering from one item on the map to the next always finding something new that we hadn’t noticed before. Most of the time we find ourselves wandering to Piazza Signoria, which is one of our favorite places to rest and people watch. It is a very surreal area because you have this huge fortess like structure with a very tall tower and at the base you have the location of the David before it was moved to the museum. They have a replica of the David erected and a replica of Apollo (i think) still standing that are just as incredible. There is also an area called the Loggio (i think i butchered that spelling) that houses a group of about 14 marble and bronze sculptures dating as far back as the 14th century. It is just so strange to sit and eat bread and Nutella while sitting next ancient art all out in the open.
Jill and I also made it up to Piazza Michaelangelo, which is obviously a tribute to their famous artist. What makes the piazza spectacular is that it overlooks all of Florence. Jill and I wandered up there as the sun was setting and it was quite amazing despite being sort of overcast.
We have also sampled pizza and pasta all over the city. It is a little hard to deal with, when every time you get a new pizza it is the best pizza you ever had. But it is a problem I am ok with. We have also really enjoyed the espresso here when we don’t get ripped off. We are starting to figure out what coffee shops to go to and which ones not to, because if you go to the wrong one you will end up paying €4 for an espresso when it should cost €1.
I could go on forever with random details but we can tell you all about the rest of the stuff we are back and in the flesh. Here are a few pictures of Florence, we will post more when we have our other memory card with us:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9547617@N02/sets/72157608357212433/
We love you all and can’t wait to see everyone!
<3 Joey and Jill
October 26th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Hey, had to make sure this worked first, the first one would not go out. You talk about all the really neat brigdes, then you don’t send a picture- you lose time for Jill to take over the camera. Glad you are having such a good time, once in a life time expirance. Most of mine were bad, but Australia was great. We were going to stay with your Dad & Co at big bear, but the cabin they rented would not allow dogs, sooo spoiled ass ruined that for us, but your Dad said he get one with dogs allowed next year. Patty and I are going to Disneyland Dec. 7-11, and your Dad & Co are coming up to have dinner with us. Have as much fun as possible, Love you, Ron & Patty