J Our time in Firenze (as it is called in Italiano) seemed short, as we remembered once we got there that we were a day-trip away from Pisa, Siena, and of course Cinque Terre. More on those adventures later.The bad weather we had in Venice followed us south unfortunately, and more then one day we got home wet, and grumpy. We did however get right into all the sights, this being the only major advantage of traveling at this time of year as many places do not offer a seasonal discount, the big money in summer they make means they can survive less tourists in winter. Alas hearing from others about summer lineups made us less upset about the lack of sunlight.
The accomodation selection was once again scarce, so for the price of a dorm we got a nice double bed just 3 blocks from the train station. We also met two Aussie girls at our hostel who kept us company and made the long evenings enjoyable. They introduced us to an Italian red wine called Chianti which we have bought twice now, a very good wine and at least half the price you would pay for it at home. The evening of our first day we ventured into the Accademia, which is home to Michelangelo's masterpiece David. A marble statue 25 feet tall, which after we stared up at for 30 minutes, was still impressive. Proportions (his hands for example) were so accurate despite the large size of the statue, and the details of the muscle, bone, veins, it was certainly the most impressive sculpture we had ever seen. No pics of the authentic one inside (none allowed) but there was a replica outside, who would have known.
The next day, after sleeping in (the double bed wasn't actually two singles pushed together for the first time in how long, it may have been a queen actually), so after we crawled out of bed we went exploring. We found the Duomo (a large church) which was very impressive from the outside, a little less inside, but amazingly free to see. Then we marvelled at the Bronze doors to the baptistry next door, nicknamed the gates of paradise.We walked north from there and came to the famed bridge of Florence, Ponte Vecchio. It's interesting to see the different colored houses that seem to sprout out of the bridge, although it was certainly a first (the design) it was after all, just a bridge. Then as we walked up close we discovered why it had been referred to us the most precious jewel of Florence.. the shops! Jewelry shops to be exact, lining both sides of the bridge, and of course we didn't go into one of them, after all Michelle had just got a lovely pair of earrings for Christmas, and wearing sparkly things when travelling the world is just asking for trouble.
We cooked dinner that night, spent some time looking up flights on the internet, and dove into our new book. Then we got an email from Julie (Michelle's sister) suggesting we find our way to Japan for the end of March, as they had just booked a flight after finding a seat-sale! So we've since been making plans and dicussing if we are going to meet with her and Cory. More on that in a future post. For now we are looking at all the details.
Our hostel friends Erin and Brooke convinced us to stop by Siena, and since we had so many Eurail days left on our pass we decided to attempt to see Pisa and Siena in one day, which was easy enough, it just meant getting up at 7am, which after sleeping in until 9am for the last 3 wasn't a problem. Unfortunately in the morning it was so windy in Pisa.. that the tower in Pisa actually fell over! The pictures I took of it falling are simply incredible, and I think I'll print them and sell them on ebay. Actually the tower didn't fall over but it may have leaned a bit more by the end of the day. So we took a half dozen pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa, the usual with Mich pretending to hold the tower up, us in front of it tilting our heads to watch it, etc. Then we said "no gratzie" to a staggering €15 entrance to be able to climb the tower, ran back to the train station and headed for Siena.Siena was beautiful, but we could barley see it from the shelter of our umbrellas as the rain just poured down.
We took some photos, got lost on a few buses, and took the long way to get to the town centre, then we found Siena's own Duomo, which was much more impressive inside then the one in Florence (although mucher smaller and less impressive on the outside), but there was a fee to enter, which of course goes against our policy of paying to see a church, so we smiled and went on our way. The town centre and buildings were beautiful though, and despite the weather we enjoyed our short time there, and got some great pictures. Then, soaked, we stumbled our way back to Florence, put on some dry clothes, and made dinner while chatting with people at the hostel.
We took some photos, got lost on a few buses, and took the long way to get to the town centre, then we found Siena's own Duomo, which was much more impressive inside then the one in Florence (although mucher smaller and less impressive on the outside), but there was a fee to enter, which of course goes against our policy of paying to see a church, so we smiled and went on our way. The town centre and buildings were beautiful though, and despite the weather we enjoyed our short time there, and got some great pictures. Then, soaked, we stumbled our way back to Florence, put on some dry clothes, and made dinner while chatting with people at the hostel.Our last day in Florence wasn't terribly exciting, we visited the Museum of the History of Science which unfortunately was half closed due to renovations, the worse part was it had closed down just 3 days earlier. The first floor which we missed is home to Galileos instruments and information on astronomy. A temporary exhibit on bicycles was Michelles favorite part, mine was of course.. astronomy, and the funniest thing was the sign outside which stated the museum's first floor was closed from January 1-11, we assumed this meant the 11th day of the month, but after speaking with the ticket agent we were informed it would be closed until some time in 2009, luckily we entered and inquired as we visited on the 10th and had been pondering returning the next morning before we left town.
We enjoyed some authentic Italian food at lunch (bruschetta and tortellini) and returned to a few more of the architectual sights the city had to offer as we had a break in the rain. It's so much more enjoyable to take pictures without juggling an umbrella!
The next morning we got up early, and headed west to the coastal area known as cinque terre or five terraces. The train ride had beautiful views of the mountainous area, but we were completely blown away as we stepped off the train into the little town of Rio Maggiore. That however, is another post away.
Michelle's most overused phrase this week: "bonjorno principesa!" lol
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