Florence

We left Sappada a day early for our impromptu trip to Florence. On our drive to Florence I estimate we drove through 25 tunnels. It was a beautiful drive, and when we got to Florence we were overwhelmed with the views. The city is tucked between the hills, which are covered in beautiful gardens, and the Arno flows through the middle. We drove into the city from the hilltops above, near Piazza San Michelangelo, and at my first glimpse of the city I gasped. Since it was a spontaneous stop we had to find a hotel, so that was our first mission. The streets were crowded, and we could hardly find a place to park, but finally we did and got the last room at a very nice hotel with... air conditioning! Our first lodging with air conditioning in Europe. However, the shower was just a curtain that I pulled around myself and a drain in the floor. In a very small bathroom. So we left our bags there, ate some lunch at a hole in the wall (best pizza we experienced in Italy) and walked up the hill to the Piazza San Michelangelo. The views were incredible. We saw Il Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and some beautiful gardens.

After that, we walked down to the Ponte Vecchio, saw some amazing gelato, piled about a foot high, and saw the many jewelry stores on the Ponte Vecchio. We wound our way to Il Duomo and went inside. It was beautiful, and really cool to see things that I'd read about in my Literary Walk in Tuscany class. We also saw one of the Medici palaces, and one of their churches, which was right next door. Convenient. We walked around the city quite a bit and found an old fort, the name of which I've forgotten, and apparently I didn't take any pictures of it either. We also saw San Croce and had a wonderful gyro with falafel. It was fabulous after all the pizza and pasta we'd had. I didn't like the gelato in Florence as well as in Venice, but it was definitely still good. All in all, I loved Florence, and would love to go back for longer.

The next morning we got up rather early, had breakfast at our hotel and headed for Rome.

Michael was excited about the air conditioning.


Florence skyline and me.


The Ponte Vecchio, from Piazza san Michelangelo


Outside Il Duomo, I don't know the names of the other buildings.


Inside Il Duomo. It was amazing.


A hillside garden


Gelato, piled high. Do you see the fresh cantalope on the melon gelato? It was beautiful.


A street artist. He was amazing.


The Medici church


Santa Croce


Me and the Arno


Florence skyline


The sunset over the Arno and Ponte Vecchio


We got a nice Korean girl to take our picture with the Arno


Some fresh fruit and sandwiches that looked delicious and colorful