Florence Florence Florence.
Unfortunately, due to the slothly nature of this busted Roman computer (everything in Rome being technically Roman), pictures are not on tap, but a tourist-rich and otherwise crowded account of Florence is.
We arrived after a long, pigeon endangering, train hopping day to Florence, the city of David, the town of Domes, the great bridged city of the.... Florence. Home to the Medici family, Michaelangelo's David, a million overweight American tourists, more high school travel groups than you can shake a knockoff Louis Vuitton bag at, and enough gellato to kill a person. Or drain their wallet (as Aaron found out with a cone that rang up for 6.50)
We arrived to our B&B, to find the lady had no idea that we were staying there.... we then wandered the town and experienced overpriced Pizza and Tiramisu at a local restaurant, completely underdressed but remaining calm... we returned back to the room after a quick walk along the river, and crashed early to some dubbed-over Pimp My Ride (X to the Z Xhibit seemingly even cooler with Itialian subtitles)
The next day we spent 5, count them 5 hours in line and breezing through the Uffizi, a museum most famous for its Botticellis (Birth of Venus, Spring) and its shit ton of Renaissance sculptures (including my favorite, 'Roman boy removes thorn from foot'...it's a classic)
We visited the Dome, had some gelatto, visited more sites, had more gelatto.... all in all another good day...
most of my memory of the trip comes from pictures, in part due to my now recent lack of motivation to journal while away from a computer, so at times it gets a bit hazy...
In a mad dash to see everything before it closed, we rushed north to the Academi, where David is displayed.... This David, the real one, is one of several displayed in the city- there are bronze replicas, marble recreations, and literally thousands of small recreations sold in shops lining most streets, but the real deal resides there. Pictures not being allowed, i only took one, and blogging issues being what they are, i�m unable to post it because it was taken sideways.
life.
The morning brought EASTER. We went out the night before to buy KinderSuprise Eggs, a shout out to Easter past, and made a slow, tourist congested walk to the centre of town, where a parade of some kind was supposed to be happening.
The parade was not exactly what we expected... rather than a straight path, it seemed to be more of a dramatic, costumed affair, all taking place on the steps of the dome. We tried to get a better view, but instead opted to go inside the dome using a side entrance, where we found the entire centre aisle was empty, blocked off to tourists.
Doing what most lemmings do, we crowded around, grabbed our cameras, and prepared for whatever procession or parade was about to occur. After awhile, i became a bit upset- at one point yelling- I WOULD KILL FOR SOME FIREWORKS, ACROBATS, EXPLOSIONS....ANYTHING?!.... thirty seconds later, a machine gun of sound exploded from the front of the church, and the place was lit up with smoke and sparks.... red smoke filled the church, and what your about to see cannot be explained in words....
After the dove of fire (Jesus?), we left to wander the streets in awe of what had just happened. Eventually, we met up with Emily for some guided Florentine support, and had more caffe and gelatto.
A quick trip through some dirty parts of town, back to the train station, around for a Kebab, and we called it a night. The trip to Rome would be a long one, as we opted for the cheap, derelict Regional train that stopped every 15 mintues....
When in Rome...
Rome so far has been... interesting. More tourists than at any other place (however Florence�s small size added to the overwhelming feeling there)....
We arrived to the train station (Rick Steves calling it the place where more people get pickpocketed in the world than any other place...), and settled in. We used our first afternoon in the city to get some walking in- eating more gelatto, having an expensive (whoops) pasta dinner, and finding the Holy Grail of Sports... an Irish Pub that showed MLB for Aaron.
Not one to shy away from a 4 hr stay in a sports bar, we settled in for the long haul, and bought a few pitchers before seeing the Twins embarass themselves early.... We accidentally stumbled upon the Colosseum in a bit of a stupor home (who can say that? most of the time it's a difficult walk from Roscoes back to Towers....)
And today we're getting some online time out of the way before seeing it again, this time with a bit more clarity...
More gelatto, pizza, and chiante await....
When in Rome...
