i returned from my italian adventures yesterday, and it was such a great trip! i really enjoyed italy. it is a beautiful country with lots of really wonderful assets, like pizza and pasta and gelatto (okay, so they have other things besides food... that´s just what i happened to enjoy the most)! so here´s a post in tribute of my trip. it´s going to be another long one, so bear with me!
thursday:
thursday morning, chelsea and i woke up bright and early. we had to catch the 7:15 bus to head over to the sevilla airport, which meant that we left our house around 6:50 am--waaay too early for my taste, but i made it out of bed and we made it to the busstop on time. my experience in the sevilla airport was easy and quick. it still blows my mind how lax they are about airport security here in spain (and, basically, in all of europe). i definitely carried way more than my alotted amount of liquids on the plane, and no one hesitated. for our flight to pisa, we flew a very cheap airline called ryanair (again, not making it up... that´s the actual name). the plane was a good plane, but the whole flight was an interesting experience. if the airline can afford to fly people to and from italy for $60 round-trip, you know that they charge you for everything else possible! you have to pay to be in the front of the line and get your seat (there are no seat assignments, so it´s a mad dash for good seating). you have to pay for any sort of refreshment, including water (though they were having a special: buy one whiskey shot, get one free). in addition, they sold scratch-cards (like lottery tickets), international phone cards, store items (like perfume and make-up), and bus passes on the flight! everytime an announcement would come over the loudspeaker, chelsea, liza (our other travel partner), and i would always play a game to see if we could guess what they were going to sell next. it was really interesting.
we made it to pisa without a hitch. the airport in pisa was tiny, but the city is too, so i guess that works. we decided to actually go into pisa in order to see the leaning tower. that wasn´t an original part of our travel plans, but we figured that florence could wait a few more hours and that we couldn´t pass up an opportunity to see this world-famous monument. after navigating the very confusing italian bus system (makes me incredibly grateful for sevilla and how easy it is to ride the bus), we arrived outside the leaning tower. some kind italian man told us to get off the bus (we had no idea what stop we were looking for), and after entering a courtyard, there it was! the tower definitely looks strange, as it definitely leans. i was surprised at how small it was. i´ve seen pictures of it before, and it wasn´t quite as big as i had imagined. also, instead of being in the middle of no where (like i´d always pictured), it´s right in the heart of the city, surrounded by other fabulous buildings, like pisa´s cathedral and a lovely museum. we spent an hour or so hanging out in pisa. we thought about climbing up to the top of the tower, but the hour-long wait, 300+ stairs, and $15 entrance fee detered us. instead, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the train station, where we caught a train into florence.
the train ride was nice and relaxing, and we all enjoyed seeing a bit of the italian countryside. after accidentally hopping off at the wrong stop (ooops...), we arrived in firenze (the italian name for florence) without any problems. it did, however, take us longer than it should have to find chelsea´s friend´s apartment. we finally cornered some american tourists (who were surprisingly not nice), and they offered us a map of the city. we finally found the apartment, and then were stuck waiting around for a good hour or so. we had made arrangements to meet up with one of chelsea´s friend´s friends in order to get the apartment key, but it took her awhile to meet up with us. we finally made it inside the apartment, and it was very... interesting. the room was definitely not as clean a i am accustomed to (and i am definitely not a neat freak). it was also pretty cold and lacking in some important essentials (like towels... blankets... toilet paper). we chatted with the people living in the apartment for a while, and they were all very kind. after sitting back and relaxing for a few minutes, we headed across the street to use an internet cafe and find some dinner. the internet cafe was a very interesting experience. according to italian law, all internet cafes must take down the information of all people using the computer. this means that they have to copy your passport or id card. it made me really uncomfortable, and i just have to wonder what the italian government does with that information. oh well, i guess that i don´t really have anything to hide, so it´s not a big deal... right?
after checking our email, we headed off in search of food. we walked around for a while, getting the feel of the neighborhood and spying on different restaurants. we finally picked a restaurant with a good pizza and pasta menu. we ordered a TON of food, as we were all really hungry: bruschetta (which is toasted bread with olive oil, fresh tomatoes and garlic), an ensalata caprese (fresh tomato and mozzerella cheese salad), and then a delicious pizza and some fabulous gnocci. we ate ourselves silly, and then followed our dinner with a dessert of gelatto (so amazing) and tiramisu. all in all, it was a fabulous first dining experience in italy. i can tell you right now, this blog is going to have a lot of information about food, so i apologize! after dinner, we were exhausted. we headed back over to the apartment and, after constructing a make-shift bed out of two couches for liza and i, we headed to sleep.
hanging out in pisa--chelsea, liza, and me.
look at that tower! pretty awesome--the leaning tower of pisa.
me, leaning like the tower. note all of the really cool buildings around. this area was a really neat place.
a rainbow over the cathedral and museum.
that´s right--i can hold the tower up with one hand!
another look at the tower from a different angle.
the three of us at the base of the tower. looking at it from this angle, i think that the lean is even more pronounce--so crazy!
kicking the tower over... what can i say? i have massive amounts of brute strength.
really wonderful bruschetta and the remains of an ensalata caprese.
our waiter and the chef were incredibly flirtatious. they made us a pizza in the shape of a heart and warned us not to break it. this was my response!
thursday:
thursday morning, chelsea and i woke up bright and early. we had to catch the 7:15 bus to head over to the sevilla airport, which meant that we left our house around 6:50 am--waaay too early for my taste, but i made it out of bed and we made it to the busstop on time. my experience in the sevilla airport was easy and quick. it still blows my mind how lax they are about airport security here in spain (and, basically, in all of europe). i definitely carried way more than my alotted amount of liquids on the plane, and no one hesitated. for our flight to pisa, we flew a very cheap airline called ryanair (again, not making it up... that´s the actual name). the plane was a good plane, but the whole flight was an interesting experience. if the airline can afford to fly people to and from italy for $60 round-trip, you know that they charge you for everything else possible! you have to pay to be in the front of the line and get your seat (there are no seat assignments, so it´s a mad dash for good seating). you have to pay for any sort of refreshment, including water (though they were having a special: buy one whiskey shot, get one free). in addition, they sold scratch-cards (like lottery tickets), international phone cards, store items (like perfume and make-up), and bus passes on the flight! everytime an announcement would come over the loudspeaker, chelsea, liza (our other travel partner), and i would always play a game to see if we could guess what they were going to sell next. it was really interesting.
we made it to pisa without a hitch. the airport in pisa was tiny, but the city is too, so i guess that works. we decided to actually go into pisa in order to see the leaning tower. that wasn´t an original part of our travel plans, but we figured that florence could wait a few more hours and that we couldn´t pass up an opportunity to see this world-famous monument. after navigating the very confusing italian bus system (makes me incredibly grateful for sevilla and how easy it is to ride the bus), we arrived outside the leaning tower. some kind italian man told us to get off the bus (we had no idea what stop we were looking for), and after entering a courtyard, there it was! the tower definitely looks strange, as it definitely leans. i was surprised at how small it was. i´ve seen pictures of it before, and it wasn´t quite as big as i had imagined. also, instead of being in the middle of no where (like i´d always pictured), it´s right in the heart of the city, surrounded by other fabulous buildings, like pisa´s cathedral and a lovely museum. we spent an hour or so hanging out in pisa. we thought about climbing up to the top of the tower, but the hour-long wait, 300+ stairs, and $15 entrance fee detered us. instead, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the train station, where we caught a train into florence.
the train ride was nice and relaxing, and we all enjoyed seeing a bit of the italian countryside. after accidentally hopping off at the wrong stop (ooops...), we arrived in firenze (the italian name for florence) without any problems. it did, however, take us longer than it should have to find chelsea´s friend´s apartment. we finally cornered some american tourists (who were surprisingly not nice), and they offered us a map of the city. we finally found the apartment, and then were stuck waiting around for a good hour or so. we had made arrangements to meet up with one of chelsea´s friend´s friends in order to get the apartment key, but it took her awhile to meet up with us. we finally made it inside the apartment, and it was very... interesting. the room was definitely not as clean a i am accustomed to (and i am definitely not a neat freak). it was also pretty cold and lacking in some important essentials (like towels... blankets... toilet paper). we chatted with the people living in the apartment for a while, and they were all very kind. after sitting back and relaxing for a few minutes, we headed across the street to use an internet cafe and find some dinner. the internet cafe was a very interesting experience. according to italian law, all internet cafes must take down the information of all people using the computer. this means that they have to copy your passport or id card. it made me really uncomfortable, and i just have to wonder what the italian government does with that information. oh well, i guess that i don´t really have anything to hide, so it´s not a big deal... right?
after checking our email, we headed off in search of food. we walked around for a while, getting the feel of the neighborhood and spying on different restaurants. we finally picked a restaurant with a good pizza and pasta menu. we ordered a TON of food, as we were all really hungry: bruschetta (which is toasted bread with olive oil, fresh tomatoes and garlic), an ensalata caprese (fresh tomato and mozzerella cheese salad), and then a delicious pizza and some fabulous gnocci. we ate ourselves silly, and then followed our dinner with a dessert of gelatto (so amazing) and tiramisu. all in all, it was a fabulous first dining experience in italy. i can tell you right now, this blog is going to have a lot of information about food, so i apologize! after dinner, we were exhausted. we headed back over to the apartment and, after constructing a make-shift bed out of two couches for liza and i, we headed to sleep.
hanging out in pisa--chelsea, liza, and me.
look at that tower! pretty awesome--the leaning tower of pisa.
me, leaning like the tower. note all of the really cool buildings around. this area was a really neat place.
a rainbow over the cathedral and museum.
that´s right--i can hold the tower up with one hand!
another look at the tower from a different angle.
the three of us at the base of the tower. looking at it from this angle, i think that the lean is even more pronounce--so crazy!
kicking the tower over... what can i say? i have massive amounts of brute strength.
really wonderful bruschetta and the remains of an ensalata caprese.
our waiter and the chef were incredibly flirtatious. they made us a pizza in the shape of a heart and warned us not to break it. this was my response!friday
after sleeping for what felt like waaay too short a time, we all woke up around 6:45 am. we had big plans to go over to the academia in florence, which is a large art museum best known because it houses michaelangelo´s wonderful statue, the david. normally, a responsible tourist makes reservations to enter the academia so that they don´t get stuck waiting for hours just to enter the museum. we were, unfortunately, not that responsible, so we decided to head over there as early as possible in order to line up before the museum even opened. we arrived around 8:00 am, and the museum opened at 8:15. it was amazing how few people were there! we had absolutely no problem entering the museum, even without a reservation. the museum had a lot of impressive art, but nothing could even compare with the david. he was, by far, the quintessential definition of a masterpiece. every crevice of his body was absolutely perfect and in flawless details. it´s so hard to imagine how michaelangelo sculpted the massive work out of a single piece of marble without making any mistakes. i was incredibly impressed (and a little smitten, i´ll admit it). it made me laugh, too, because my art history professor had told everyone in the class was an amazing ''culo'' the david had, and she was right (culo is the spanish word for ass). it was a great thing to see, and i definitely thought it was worth it!
after wandering around the museum for a while, we decided to head out and grab some breakfast. we ate a quick snack from a nearby cafe, and i had a pretty fabulous chocolate croissant (not italian, but still tasty). afterwards, we walked over to the uffizi museum, florence´s other famous museum. on our way, we passed through the center of town, and got to take in the gorgeous duomo (cathedral) as well as some wonderful piazzas (plazas or city squares). everywhere in florence, artwork abounds, and i loved that about the city. we hopped in line for the uffizi because we didn´t have reservations (darn it!). after waiting--and not moving--for a half an hour, we decided to make reservations for tomorrow. however, as luck would have it, they had open reservations for later that afternoon! we made a reservation and left the stress of waiting behind us. with our extra time, we decided to head across the river and explore the other side of florence. crossing the river was quite the experience! we crossed over on ponte vecchio, which is the oldest bridge in florence. on the bridge, several shops have been built straddling the water. these shops have the most exquisite and beautiful jewelry selection that i have ever seen! it was amazing! we just stopped and window-shopped for a good while, enjoying the beautiful craftsmanship and the sparkling jewels. after we pulled ourselves away from the shops, we headed across the river to a restaurant that had been recommended to us. the restaurant had delicious food! we had wonderful pizza and gnocci (again) and a very interesting starter. it was some sort of toast with a meat spread on it--surprisingly tasty. again, we ate waaay more than we should have, but it was totally worth it.
after lunch, we wandered back across the bridge and got our first, real italian gelatto. man, there are not words to describe how fabulous it was! it was thick and creamy and fresh and the most wonderful ice cream i have ever had! i fell in love, right there on the spot. it was amazing! after lingering over the most wonderful gelatto, we walked backed over to the uffizi. the uffizi was very impressive. it is a huge building that was built and owned by the medici family--a very powerful, rich, florentinian family during the renaissance. the medici´s were huge fans and supporters of the arts. as a result of their patronage, florence became one of the most crucial artistic hubs in all of italy during the renaissance. the most impressive artwork, in my opinion, was the artwork of boticelli, a famous italian painter. i got to see his ''birth of venus'' firsthand, and it was beautiful. i overheard a tour guide explaining the painting in english, and i enjoyed mooching off her information. it seems like boticelli was criticized for this painting, as he did not pay very much attention to correct anatomy (if you google to painting and look at the two figures to the left, who are blowing venus ashore, you can´t tell whose legs belong to whom... very interesting!). it was a gorgeous painting, and i was incredibly happy to have seen it.
we spent hours wandering around the uffizi before we finally tired out and headed back to the apartment. on our way, we stopped at this really amazing outdoor market just a few steps from the apartment. they had a huge assortment of jewelry and leather goods. it was really fun shopping, though all of the vendors were a little bit interesting, and some of their products were even MORE strange. i did happen upone some lovely earrings, though, and that made me pretty happy. we finally ambled back tot he apartment and, once we were there, there was a slight rooming conflict, and we decided that we needed to leave the apartment. we grabbed our jackets and coats, and started wandering down the streets looking for a decent but cheap hotel (i promise, it wasn´t as pathetic and desperate as it sounds). we found a great little hotel about three blocks away, and we booked a room for the next two nights. we returned to the apartment, said good-bye, and headed back to our hotel to drop our stuff off. then we headed out to dinner where we had another set of wonderful, amazing pizza and gnocci. it was sooo good. we also had a delicious glass of sparkling wine (which is not normally my favorite), and some very tasty tiramisu. it was all so good and so delightful. we headed back to our hotel room and relaxed for the rest of the evening, stopping to make friends with the very cute and very fluffy hotel dog (see the picture). we hit the sack pretty early, as we had woken up so early the previous two days.
an illegal photo of michaelangelo´s david. he´s blurry, so it does him absolutely NO justice...
the multi-colored facade of florence´s duomo. a very beautiful and impressive structre from the outside.
hanging out in the piazza del duomo in florence´s center.
a look down a florentine street.
when i said that artwork was everywhere, i wasn´t kidding! we stumbled upon this open-air sculpture exhibit in one of florence´s piazzas. it was pretty impressive.
my favorite sculpture--it depicts some scene in mithology where someone has just beheaded someone else. you can see all the blood spurting out of his neck and dripping from his severed head... pretty gruesome!
looking down at the uffizi (on the left). the uffizi´s art collection was very impressive--full of boticellis, carvaggios, michealangelos, da vincis, etc. etc. i could have spent an entire day in the museum, it was pretty huge!
looking out across the river.
looking out over the river again. i´m looking at ponte vecchio, though it´s hard to tell, because all you see are a bunch of house-like structures (the fabulous jewelry stores).
cool walking path along the river...
a closer look at ponte vecchio. the bridge was built (for the last time... it was destroyed several times by floods) during the 13th century.
hanging out on ponte vecchio...
really awesome, wonderful, fresh pizza! i love italian food, and it is definitely better when prepared and eaten in italy :)
on our way back across ponte vecchio looking towards the historic center of florence.
gelatto! sooo unbelievably good! this is the first of many pictures, as i ate twice my body weight in gelatto during the course of my italian adventure.
the view of the duomo from atop the uffizi. the duomo is florence´s most famous monument, and it always made me think about the movie ''while you were sleeping,'' because all she wanted to do was go to florence, and she had that great snowglobe of the duomo... pretty sweet that i actually got to see it!
me in front of a really awesome castle tower that stands right next to the uffizi. i´m pretty sure i´m laughing about how awesome i look with my money necklace... either that or chelsea said something funny...
our first (and last) glass of italian wine. it was surprisingly tasty!
another really fabulous italian pizza experience... so good! note the awesome new earrings, too!
after sleeping for what felt like waaay too short a time, we all woke up around 6:45 am. we had big plans to go over to the academia in florence, which is a large art museum best known because it houses michaelangelo´s wonderful statue, the david. normally, a responsible tourist makes reservations to enter the academia so that they don´t get stuck waiting for hours just to enter the museum. we were, unfortunately, not that responsible, so we decided to head over there as early as possible in order to line up before the museum even opened. we arrived around 8:00 am, and the museum opened at 8:15. it was amazing how few people were there! we had absolutely no problem entering the museum, even without a reservation. the museum had a lot of impressive art, but nothing could even compare with the david. he was, by far, the quintessential definition of a masterpiece. every crevice of his body was absolutely perfect and in flawless details. it´s so hard to imagine how michaelangelo sculpted the massive work out of a single piece of marble without making any mistakes. i was incredibly impressed (and a little smitten, i´ll admit it). it made me laugh, too, because my art history professor had told everyone in the class was an amazing ''culo'' the david had, and she was right (culo is the spanish word for ass). it was a great thing to see, and i definitely thought it was worth it!
after wandering around the museum for a while, we decided to head out and grab some breakfast. we ate a quick snack from a nearby cafe, and i had a pretty fabulous chocolate croissant (not italian, but still tasty). afterwards, we walked over to the uffizi museum, florence´s other famous museum. on our way, we passed through the center of town, and got to take in the gorgeous duomo (cathedral) as well as some wonderful piazzas (plazas or city squares). everywhere in florence, artwork abounds, and i loved that about the city. we hopped in line for the uffizi because we didn´t have reservations (darn it!). after waiting--and not moving--for a half an hour, we decided to make reservations for tomorrow. however, as luck would have it, they had open reservations for later that afternoon! we made a reservation and left the stress of waiting behind us. with our extra time, we decided to head across the river and explore the other side of florence. crossing the river was quite the experience! we crossed over on ponte vecchio, which is the oldest bridge in florence. on the bridge, several shops have been built straddling the water. these shops have the most exquisite and beautiful jewelry selection that i have ever seen! it was amazing! we just stopped and window-shopped for a good while, enjoying the beautiful craftsmanship and the sparkling jewels. after we pulled ourselves away from the shops, we headed across the river to a restaurant that had been recommended to us. the restaurant had delicious food! we had wonderful pizza and gnocci (again) and a very interesting starter. it was some sort of toast with a meat spread on it--surprisingly tasty. again, we ate waaay more than we should have, but it was totally worth it.
after lunch, we wandered back across the bridge and got our first, real italian gelatto. man, there are not words to describe how fabulous it was! it was thick and creamy and fresh and the most wonderful ice cream i have ever had! i fell in love, right there on the spot. it was amazing! after lingering over the most wonderful gelatto, we walked backed over to the uffizi. the uffizi was very impressive. it is a huge building that was built and owned by the medici family--a very powerful, rich, florentinian family during the renaissance. the medici´s were huge fans and supporters of the arts. as a result of their patronage, florence became one of the most crucial artistic hubs in all of italy during the renaissance. the most impressive artwork, in my opinion, was the artwork of boticelli, a famous italian painter. i got to see his ''birth of venus'' firsthand, and it was beautiful. i overheard a tour guide explaining the painting in english, and i enjoyed mooching off her information. it seems like boticelli was criticized for this painting, as he did not pay very much attention to correct anatomy (if you google to painting and look at the two figures to the left, who are blowing venus ashore, you can´t tell whose legs belong to whom... very interesting!). it was a gorgeous painting, and i was incredibly happy to have seen it.
we spent hours wandering around the uffizi before we finally tired out and headed back to the apartment. on our way, we stopped at this really amazing outdoor market just a few steps from the apartment. they had a huge assortment of jewelry and leather goods. it was really fun shopping, though all of the vendors were a little bit interesting, and some of their products were even MORE strange. i did happen upone some lovely earrings, though, and that made me pretty happy. we finally ambled back tot he apartment and, once we were there, there was a slight rooming conflict, and we decided that we needed to leave the apartment. we grabbed our jackets and coats, and started wandering down the streets looking for a decent but cheap hotel (i promise, it wasn´t as pathetic and desperate as it sounds). we found a great little hotel about three blocks away, and we booked a room for the next two nights. we returned to the apartment, said good-bye, and headed back to our hotel to drop our stuff off. then we headed out to dinner where we had another set of wonderful, amazing pizza and gnocci. it was sooo good. we also had a delicious glass of sparkling wine (which is not normally my favorite), and some very tasty tiramisu. it was all so good and so delightful. we headed back to our hotel room and relaxed for the rest of the evening, stopping to make friends with the very cute and very fluffy hotel dog (see the picture). we hit the sack pretty early, as we had woken up so early the previous two days.
an illegal photo of michaelangelo´s david. he´s blurry, so it does him absolutely NO justice...
the multi-colored facade of florence´s duomo. a very beautiful and impressive structre from the outside.
hanging out in the piazza del duomo in florence´s center.
a look down a florentine street.
when i said that artwork was everywhere, i wasn´t kidding! we stumbled upon this open-air sculpture exhibit in one of florence´s piazzas. it was pretty impressive.
my favorite sculpture--it depicts some scene in mithology where someone has just beheaded someone else. you can see all the blood spurting out of his neck and dripping from his severed head... pretty gruesome!
looking down at the uffizi (on the left). the uffizi´s art collection was very impressive--full of boticellis, carvaggios, michealangelos, da vincis, etc. etc. i could have spent an entire day in the museum, it was pretty huge!
looking out across the river.
looking out over the river again. i´m looking at ponte vecchio, though it´s hard to tell, because all you see are a bunch of house-like structures (the fabulous jewelry stores).
cool walking path along the river...
a closer look at ponte vecchio. the bridge was built (for the last time... it was destroyed several times by floods) during the 13th century.
hanging out on ponte vecchio...
really awesome, wonderful, fresh pizza! i love italian food, and it is definitely better when prepared and eaten in italy :)
on our way back across ponte vecchio looking towards the historic center of florence.
gelatto! sooo unbelievably good! this is the first of many pictures, as i ate twice my body weight in gelatto during the course of my italian adventure.
the view of the duomo from atop the uffizi. the duomo is florence´s most famous monument, and it always made me think about the movie ''while you were sleeping,'' because all she wanted to do was go to florence, and she had that great snowglobe of the duomo... pretty sweet that i actually got to see it!
me in front of a really awesome castle tower that stands right next to the uffizi. i´m pretty sure i´m laughing about how awesome i look with my money necklace... either that or chelsea said something funny...
our first (and last) glass of italian wine. it was surprisingly tasty!
another really fabulous italian pizza experience... so good! note the awesome new earrings, too!saturday
saturday was our one day the entire trip to sleep in, so we didn´t roll out of bed until 9:00 am (which, in my book, still doesn´t really count as sleeping in). we had plans to head over to the duomo and hopefully climb to the top of the dome. after grabbing a quick bite for breakfast, we made out way over there only to find out that italy was celebrating a holiday. as a result, the duomo was only going to be open for a few hours, and there would be no access to the actual domes that day. i was somewhat bummed, but we decided to make the most of our day anyway, and we wandered around town for a while, shopping and taking in the sights. we wandered over to a local, popular gelatteria, and we each had some gelatto. it was so tasty! the flavors are so rich and wonderful... i always wanted more after finishing a cone (though i exercised a little bit of restraint and never got seconds...) after enjoying the gelatto, we finally made our way back to the market (where we had planned on eating a cheap but very tasty lunch) only to find out that the market was closed as well due to the holiday! with those changes in plans, we instead walked over to a nearby sandwich shop, where we enjoyed really great paninis for very reasonable prices (yay for trying to do europe on a budget...). the food was really excellent, and i had a wonderful fresh tomato, basil, and mozzerella sandwich that was very delicious!
saturday was our one day the entire trip to sleep in, so we didn´t roll out of bed until 9:00 am (which, in my book, still doesn´t really count as sleeping in). we had plans to head over to the duomo and hopefully climb to the top of the dome. after grabbing a quick bite for breakfast, we made out way over there only to find out that italy was celebrating a holiday. as a result, the duomo was only going to be open for a few hours, and there would be no access to the actual domes that day. i was somewhat bummed, but we decided to make the most of our day anyway, and we wandered around town for a while, shopping and taking in the sights. we wandered over to a local, popular gelatteria, and we each had some gelatto. it was so tasty! the flavors are so rich and wonderful... i always wanted more after finishing a cone (though i exercised a little bit of restraint and never got seconds...) after enjoying the gelatto, we finally made our way back to the market (where we had planned on eating a cheap but very tasty lunch) only to find out that the market was closed as well due to the holiday! with those changes in plans, we instead walked over to a nearby sandwich shop, where we enjoyed really great paninis for very reasonable prices (yay for trying to do europe on a budget...). the food was really excellent, and i had a wonderful fresh tomato, basil, and mozzerella sandwich that was very delicious!
afterwards, we headed back over to the duomo to enjoy it´s short opening. the inside of the duomo was, unfortunately, not nearly as impressive as the outside. i might be slightly jaded, having entered in numerous fabulous cathedrals during my travels, but it was still nice to see the inside. we only spent a few minutes exploring the duomo, thn we decided to head across the bridge to the other side of the city in order to visit the boboli gardens. we had heard that the gardens were lovely, so we made our way over there. unfortunately, we had limited time, as we were trying to make it to the piazza de michaelangelo in time for the sunset and to hear a group of monks sing a church service at 5:00 pm. we made it to the gardens, but decided that we didn´t actually have time to enter the gardens. so we waved hello (and goodbye) and began to make the hike up the hillside of florence to the piazza del michaelangelo. the piazza de michaelangelo is where david originally stood and it has a fabulous view of the entire city. we enjoyed exploring a new area of florence, and the walk was beautiful. it followed along the river until it began to ascend the hillside, weaving through quiet back street and beautiful neighborhoods. everything was so green--something that i haven´t experienced while in spain--and i absolutely loved the foresty feel.
the climb up the hill wasn´t too bad, and the view was amazing. i could see the entire city of florence, with all of its buildings and the duomo. so incredible! we hung out in the plaza, watching the sun set and taking pictures of the incredible sight. i saw the place where the david originally stood, and i could only imagine how marvelous the piazza would have been had david still stood there, looking down over the city. i enjoyed it so much! we continued up the hill to a little church, where we sat and relaxed for a while. we thought it was the church featuring the singing monks, but after hanging out for 15 minutes, i began to doubt that. so, we continued up the hill and found the church. wow. it was so beautiful, and we arrived just in time to enjoy the candlelit service complete with singing monks. it was phenomenal. they sounded so peaceful and beautiful. singing in latin and italian, the monks praised God and conducted an entire saturday evening mass. it was unbelievable, and i was so happy that we managed to find the right church in time!
after our lovely reverie, we headed back down the hill at a leisurely pace, enjoying the walk and the twinkling city lights. we returned to our sandwich shop for dinner, eating sandwiches and a really tasty appetizer plate. it was cheap and tasty. afterwards, we returned to our hostel to go to sleep. we had to catch a train the following morning at 7:50 am, making our early nights totally excusable!
the climb up the hill wasn´t too bad, and the view was amazing. i could see the entire city of florence, with all of its buildings and the duomo. so incredible! we hung out in the plaza, watching the sun set and taking pictures of the incredible sight. i saw the place where the david originally stood, and i could only imagine how marvelous the piazza would have been had david still stood there, looking down over the city. i enjoyed it so much! we continued up the hill to a little church, where we sat and relaxed for a while. we thought it was the church featuring the singing monks, but after hanging out for 15 minutes, i began to doubt that. so, we continued up the hill and found the church. wow. it was so beautiful, and we arrived just in time to enjoy the candlelit service complete with singing monks. it was phenomenal. they sounded so peaceful and beautiful. singing in latin and italian, the monks praised God and conducted an entire saturday evening mass. it was unbelievable, and i was so happy that we managed to find the right church in time!
after our lovely reverie, we headed back down the hill at a leisurely pace, enjoying the walk and the twinkling city lights. we returned to our sandwich shop for dinner, eating sandwiches and a really tasty appetizer plate. it was cheap and tasty. afterwards, we returned to our hostel to go to sleep. we had to catch a train the following morning at 7:50 am, making our early nights totally excusable!
hanging out in front of the duomo... again.
a closer look at the duomo´s beautiful facade. the red dome in the background is florence´s most popular and famous icon.
the doors of the duomo. the doors were once made out of pure gold. currently, those doors are stored in a museum nearby.
oooh, spiral!
me and a very small italian car!
even the street artists in florence are high quality! check out how awesome this chalk drawing is!
tasty sandwich! i do love italian food!
hanging out in front of the duomo waiting in line to enter.
the pretty cool clock inside of the duomo.
a look across the river on our way to piazza de michaelangelo.
enjoying the bridge and the view across the river...
walking along the river...
the city light by sunlight...
stairs headed up to piazza de michaelangelo...
enjoying a small patch of sun during the mostly rainy weekend.
FLORENCE!!!
me and florence!
enjoying the fake david... look how big he is!
florence actually had fall and i really enjoyed it.
sunset from piazza de michaelangelo... very beautiful.
florence at night. look at all the pretty lights!
hanging out at the top of the hill after listening to the monk service...
me and the city.
the promised photo of our furry friend at the hotel.sunday
sunday we woke up early and headed out for the train. we had to take a train from florence to cinque terre, our next stop. cinque terre is this beautiful area along the mediterranean coast consisting of five towns all linked by hiking trails. the ride from florence to monterroso (our stop in cinque terre) was pretty uneventful. we read and looked out the window, enjoying the countryside. italy has an absolutely beautiful countryside, and i enjoyed watching the small towns and vineyards fly by the windows.
we arrived at cinque terre to a sunny day with a nice breeze coming off of the sea. we wandered around the city for a while, trying to find a hostel or hotel. we finally settled on this hotel located right on the water and only a five minute walk from the train station. after finalizing the arrangements and leaving our stuff, we headed out for the hike. the cinque terre hike has four sections, one between each of the five towns. we started out in monterroso and hiked to vernaza. it was a good 2 hour hike! it was actually pretty difficult, as we followed the coastline and did lots of climbing (oh, so much climbing!). the views, however, were spectacular and we walked through some pretty amazing vineyards and little areas. the trails were incredibly narrow--large enough for one person most of the time--and we were definitely grateful that we were there in the off season, and not during the summer. the 3km hike took 2 hours, and we arrived at vernaza a little hungry and tired. after a quick pesto pizza (that was incredibly wonderful) and some gelatto, we hiked from vernazza to corniglia, the next city. this hike was 4km and took us about 1.5 hours--not too shabby. again, the views were wonderful. after arriving in corniglia, we took a train back to monterroso because the rest of the trails were closed due to weather (though the weather felt perfect to us). we relaxed at the hotel for a while before venturing out for food. we found the most AMAZING PIZZA EVER!!! it was soooo good! i can´t even describe how wonderful it was! i could´ve died and gone to heaven--it was that good! after pizza, we had our customary gelatto, and then returned to the hotel and hit the sack! we were all exhausted from hiking and we had a 6:55 am train to catch!
train to monterroso...
the city from our hike around it looking for a hostel...
pre-hiking gelatto... gotta get our blood sugar up!
monterroso boardwalk...
the view from the beginning of our hike.
me and monterroso.
wider section of the path...
so many stairs!
monterroso from farther away... we traveled a good distance!
vernaza!
me and the hike...
bridge along the trail...
vernaza again...
vernaza closer up.
beautiful street in vernaza.
i thought this sign was funny!
me and the harbor at vernaza.
taking a breather.
pizza!
goodbye vernaza!
appreciating fall again...
corniglia at sunset...
sunset...
awesome pizza!
i LOVE italian food!
sunday we woke up early and headed out for the train. we had to take a train from florence to cinque terre, our next stop. cinque terre is this beautiful area along the mediterranean coast consisting of five towns all linked by hiking trails. the ride from florence to monterroso (our stop in cinque terre) was pretty uneventful. we read and looked out the window, enjoying the countryside. italy has an absolutely beautiful countryside, and i enjoyed watching the small towns and vineyards fly by the windows.
we arrived at cinque terre to a sunny day with a nice breeze coming off of the sea. we wandered around the city for a while, trying to find a hostel or hotel. we finally settled on this hotel located right on the water and only a five minute walk from the train station. after finalizing the arrangements and leaving our stuff, we headed out for the hike. the cinque terre hike has four sections, one between each of the five towns. we started out in monterroso and hiked to vernaza. it was a good 2 hour hike! it was actually pretty difficult, as we followed the coastline and did lots of climbing (oh, so much climbing!). the views, however, were spectacular and we walked through some pretty amazing vineyards and little areas. the trails were incredibly narrow--large enough for one person most of the time--and we were definitely grateful that we were there in the off season, and not during the summer. the 3km hike took 2 hours, and we arrived at vernaza a little hungry and tired. after a quick pesto pizza (that was incredibly wonderful) and some gelatto, we hiked from vernazza to corniglia, the next city. this hike was 4km and took us about 1.5 hours--not too shabby. again, the views were wonderful. after arriving in corniglia, we took a train back to monterroso because the rest of the trails were closed due to weather (though the weather felt perfect to us). we relaxed at the hotel for a while before venturing out for food. we found the most AMAZING PIZZA EVER!!! it was soooo good! i can´t even describe how wonderful it was! i could´ve died and gone to heaven--it was that good! after pizza, we had our customary gelatto, and then returned to the hotel and hit the sack! we were all exhausted from hiking and we had a 6:55 am train to catch!
train to monterroso...
the city from our hike around it looking for a hostel...
pre-hiking gelatto... gotta get our blood sugar up!
monterroso boardwalk...
the view from the beginning of our hike.
me and monterroso.
wider section of the path...
so many stairs!
monterroso from farther away... we traveled a good distance!
vernaza!
me and the hike...
bridge along the trail...
vernaza again...
vernaza closer up.
beautiful street in vernaza.
i thought this sign was funny!
me and the harbor at vernaza.
taking a breather.
pizza!
goodbye vernaza!
appreciating fall again...
corniglia at sunset...
sunset...
awesome pizza!
i LOVE italian food!monday
monday, our last day in italy, was actually really anticlimatic. i was so tired by that time that i could hardly think straight, let alone walk around and explore. plus, it was raining in milan, and everything was closed! we enjoyed a nice lunch and explored milan´s duomo (more impressive than florence´s, i´ll admit) and then we headed back to the hotel, where we relaxed and went to bed around 8:00!
thus ends my italian adventure! thanks for reading! i´m off to madrid tomorrow, so i´m sure there will be more pictures and more fun things to share when i return!
monday, our last day in italy, was actually really anticlimatic. i was so tired by that time that i could hardly think straight, let alone walk around and explore. plus, it was raining in milan, and everything was closed! we enjoyed a nice lunch and explored milan´s duomo (more impressive than florence´s, i´ll admit) and then we headed back to the hotel, where we relaxed and went to bed around 8:00!
thus ends my italian adventure! thanks for reading! i´m off to madrid tomorrow, so i´m sure there will be more pictures and more fun things to share when i return!
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8 comments:
That was a joke right? Where is the rest of it? I am dying to know what your Italian adventure was like? Did you meet a tall, dark, and handsome italian man with an accent? Oh wait, thats Kev with out the accent, what more could you want? :)
Yeah...what Staci said... :)
ha! yeah, that wasn't really on purpose... sorry about that! the real post is up now, and hopefully it's complete with sufficient details and photographic evidence of my adventures :)
YOUR AMAZING!!! I am so proud of all the photos your taking...my personal favorite...you kicking down the leaning tower! Once again, need to figure out how to ship Gellato and pesto pizza my way! I started licking my computer screen again! I am so glad your getting to go on so many adventures! YOUR ONE LUCKY DOG!! :)
Now I really want pizza. And go to Italy. And see you!
ITALY! I love Florence, and I'm glad you went and saw my good friend David :) I hope he remembers me, I mean it's been 5 years but who's counting...
Can I just say that my mouth was literally watering looking at all your yummy pizza pictures! You must have had about 8 different kinds, lucky. Italy looks and sounds amazing, that is my next destination for traveling...in probably 5+ years though ;)
Meara,
What an entertaining blog. I love the pictures. I am glad you are getting to see and do so much but I was really shocked to hear that you actually chose to go HIKING!!!Are you sure that is the same Meara we all love and remember? Can't wait to see you again. You must come to SLC and bring Kevin. I know it is not as exciting as traveling through Europe but it should be some great skiing. Love you lots.
Aunt P
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