Our next stop on our trip through Italy was the lovely city of Florence.
It rained our entire stay (we were beginning to notice a trend), but we still saw the whole city and had a great time.
We stayed at the Plus Florence Hostel, conveniently located right near the city center.
Here's a look around:
DAY ONE:
After checking in, the first thing we did was grab lunch. The receptionist at the desk recommended a nearby bakery called Pugi--it had some of the most delicious food I've ever eaten! We went back everyday we were in Florence, either for breakfast or lunch.
Then we walked over to the main attraction in Florence, the breathtaking Duomo!
There was a very long line to get in, but totally worth standing in the rain for.
Next, we headed over to the Galleria Academie to see many famous works of art, most notably, Michelangelo's David.
There were no pictures allowed inside, but here's us waiting in line!
Next we walked through the Piazza Signoria, which holds the Palazzo Vecchio and many famous sculptures-both replicas and originals.
Finally, we were hungry for dinner. My guide book had recommended a gelato place called the Bar Vivoli that was much closer to the piazza than the place we had decided to go to for dinner, so we decided to eat dessert first--life's short right?
My guide book was spot on--this gelato place in a little back alley and hard to find, but totally amazing and worth it.
Then we went to Za Za's for dinner. This place was also recommended by our hostel. Apparently Florentine steak is a must-have, so we went to this place for a steak dinner.
This was by far the rarest, but most delicious cut of steak I've ever had.
DAY TWO:
The week we were in Florence and Rome turned out to be Culture Week, which meant all museums and most of the sites were free! We saved a ton of money and were able to get into sights that usually charged 10-15 euro! We totally lucked out!...uh, I mean we totally timed out our trip like that on purpose because we knew about it and are smart.
Anyway, we had originally planned on starting off the day at the Uffizi museum, but the line was over two hours long to get in! Instead, we headed over to the Bargello museum instead, an equally amazing museum, but slightly less touristy, so there was no line to wait in when we arrived.
The Bargello entrance leads you into this lovely courtyard.
My favorite thing we saw in the museum was David, a wonderful bronze sculpture by Donatello that we'd studied in Art History.
Amy's favorite was this peacock she made friends with
We had such a good time at the Bargello, Rachel was dancing for joy!
After the museum, we were all super hungry and decided to try a place called I Buongustai, recommended by guide book as having cheap, traditionally Florentine eats.
Once again, my guidebook did not disappoint, the food here was ridiculously cheap and unbelievably good. To start, I got chicken liver on toast--yum!
Then, I got artichoke risotto,this was not only the best risotto I've ever had, but possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten--it was that good!
After lunch, we headed over to see Santa Croce, another beautiful church in the city.
The church is definitely worth a visit especially because it hold the elaborate tombs of famous Italians such as Dante...
....Michelangelo....
....and Galileo.
The church also had a lovely courtyard with museums all around its porticoes.
To wrap up our sightseeing for the day, Rachel and I broke off from the group and decided to check out the Hospital of the Innocents. Here's the rainy, but lovely courtyard.
For dinner we went to a pizzeria called Rosso Pomodoro (literlly, red tomato).
We got wine with our pizza, which was actually cheaper, somehow (they charge for water often in Italy) Everything was delicious!
DAY THREE:
We started off our last day in Florence by heading to the Uffizi, this time with a reservation, so no lines!
On the way, we quickly discovered that Florence was having some sort of marathon. There were hundreds of people running all through the city, in the rain no less!
Anyway, we made it to the Uffizi
No pictures in inside!...No anything inside actually....
Although we couldn't take pictures in the museum, there was a patio in the museum that afforded lovely views of Florence, and since we were outside, we could take pictures:
After spending a couple hours in the museum, we walked over to the Ponte Vecchio, a famous Florentine bridge that hold many jewlery stores that you pass as you walk across.
It also afforded great views.
Once across, we checked out the Pallazo Puti, a former home of the Medici's
Then, on our way back across the river, we stumbled upon this wonderful farmer's market!
We were all pretty excited about it.
We got bread...
...and cheese...
...and ate on the steps of a church...
Then we crossed another bridge, giving us a view of the Ponte Vecchio itself as well as the river.
Our day was only just starting however, because then Amy, Rachel, and I hopped on a train to the town of Pisa!
We were all very tired and slept on the train, but Rachel was the only one unfortunate enough to get caught!
We finally arrived at our destination, the reason we went to Pisa---the Campo di Miracoli (the field of miracles) to see the famous leaning tower!
Here was our first glimpse of the famous structure
People aren't kidding, it's seriously crooked.
Infact, all the buildings on the field lean, because they were all built with shallow foundations with sandy soil. The tower, however, leans at the most, that's why it's the famous one. The reason it leans so much more is because it's actually a bell tower, and the bells make the structure top-heavy, causing it to lean even more dramatically.
Apparently, the tower started to lean as they were building the third story, but for some reason, the builders convinced themselves that this didn't matter and kept building it anyway!
The most important reason for our visit was to take ridiculous pictures. It was super fun!
Afterwards, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped in to the McDonalds---it was the only place to eat nearby, in our defense. We got fries and milkshakes---a McDonald's classic.
Then we took the train back to Florence, and stopped to get pizza to-go for dinner on our way back to the hostel.
The place was really nice, and the food was quite good. The restaurant's slogan and logo was a little odd though, take a look:
Anyway, we got back to the hostel and we got in our PJs and ate pizza and snacks in bed---it was the perfect way to end our busy day.
And so ended our amazing stay in the lovely city of Firenze! Next stop, Rome!
p.s. This was unrelated to anything I said before, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we loved the cars in Florence, they were super funny! We saw many many of these tinie-tiny cars that only had one back wheel!
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