Firenze

Yes, I know... I have been the biggest blog slacker on Earth! Aunt Sandy made me feel guilty today so I decided to finish this blog regardless of how tired I am!!!

So here's a recap of my trip to Italy. I went for Spring Break with my friend, Chisca, and we stayed for 4 days. Florence was a beautiful city and I highly recommend it if you are ever passing through Italy. A lot of people told me beforehand that it was their favorite place in Italy and I really enjoyed it as well. We had thought about going to Pisa or Siena, but in the end, we wanted to relax and enjoy our spring break so we stayed in Florence. We were also lucky enough to have our own tour guide, Lucia, one of Chisca's long time Costa Rican friends, and she brought us to all the great spots. Lots of beautiful buildings, shops, churches, monuments, pasta, pizza, paninis, Chianti wine, and of course--GELATOO (Italian ice cream)! (I had my first gelato when I arrived in the airport, so I didn't waste anytime.) Here is our trip summed up in pictures!

This was actually the last day of our trip... heading to the bus station with Florence in the background. A river runs right through the city, Arno River, with many 'pontes' to cross from one side to the other.


The famous David sculpture. He was outside on this day because they were renovating inside his museum.

Chisca and I again. Enjoying paninis on a bridge and people watching!

Here comes one of our favorite cars with one wheel in the front. It was actually quite interesting--there were a lot of battery-run cars there. I believe I am saying that correctly. When the people came home at night they would plug their car in to charge it.

We discovered this place in front of the Palazzo Pitti and they had really yummy frappucino coffee drinks. The coffee in Italy was amazing for you coffee lovers out there. Illy is a great brand to try out. They don't have any Starbucks in Italy either because they believe their coffee is just as good or better.

This picture and the next one are of a famous pharmacy in Florence. They had every possible medicine you could imagine, but it was more old-fashioned. What you would imagine medicine to be in the 50's. It was a really pretty farmacia too!

My other favorite lil green car that I think I might have been bigger than!

C and I in the Palazzo Pitti (the Palace) with the Duomo and Firenze in the background.

The palace grounds
People hanging out in front of the palace...there were always people there studying, reading, hanging out, or sunbathing.

Chisca, me, and Lucia in the 'park' area of the palace

The US Congressional building

So usually every country has some sort of 'happy hour.' In Italy it is called 'aperitivo.' The people basically go have some drinks and appetizers before dinner and pay a set rate for unlimited food. You could substitute it for dinner because there was always a lot of food. The drinks were quite tasty as well! However, I must say, Spain still tops in the drink category in my book.

Best known of all Florence's treasures, the glorious bridge, Ponte Vecchio, was the only one of six spared by the retreating Germans on 4 August 1944. Over the centuries flooding unfortunately took its toll; few traces of the 10th-century bridge remain. Today's bridge, built in 1345, was filled with butcher's shops which would routinely discard the carcasses into the Arno causing quite a stench. Grand Duke Fernandino I issued an edict to replace the butchers with goldsmiths to eradicate the smell...

One of the plazas (squares) in Florence

Different statues in a plaza

Il Duomo--this was pretty amazing. The largest masonry dome in the world...it was really big and beautiful.
A night shot of the Duomo

Another view--there were always tourists here.

The famous boar...supposedly if you rub his nose, you will return to Florence!

So we did!

This is a nice little drawing a lady on the street made out of chalk!!! WOW!

One of the famous plazas

These were the doorbells or where you rang up to people's apartments. Very old-fashioned. That was one thing I noticed there...I think Florence was older than cities I have seen in Spain or they haven't gotten rid of anything.

Here we are standing in front of the church near the Michelangelo--typical Romanesque architecture.

A cemetery outside of the church

Piazzale Michelangelo

We are at one of the highest points in Florence and it's also where the statue of Michelangelo is...

A part of the city walls. There are city walls that run around the center of Florence. To go to the Michelangelo, we had to leave them.

Me walking out of one of the city wall's gates.

The follwing pictures sum up Florence very well. I couldn't believe the old shops they had there. It was like you were living in the 50's or 60's and everything was hand made for you. Above is a leather glove shop...you can go in and the lady will just look at your hand and make you a glove!

Here is a hand-crafted hat shop

The button store... any kind of button you wanted!

Paninis and pizza everywhere!

Gelato!

Pottery... I bought a little olive oil holder

This was the best...all different patterns of paper and you could buy anything--pens, bracelets, 'to-do notes of every possible to-do list,' notebooks, lamps, etc...

First night out to dinner at our fav place in Florence--Napoleano.

If you want to read more on Florence, go here because I am going to bed! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence

I promise to update quicker the next time! I have lots to update about--another 10K, more visitors! TTFN!