The most famous thing in Florence is a 500 year old statue of a naked man. And usually it takes a couple hours of waiting to get to see it. Is it worth it? Why is it so famous? I think to myself that if I had a giant piece of marble, I could make a statue. No problem! So if we don't get to see the real Statue of David, I won't be too bothered.
I flew into Rome to meet with Kevin and Pert at the Rome train station, where they had spent the past few days (in Rome, not at the station). It was much cheaper for me to fly to Rome to meet them and catch the train to Florence together. I really want to see Rome someday, more than just the airport and train station, so I'm sure I'll be back.
It was easy to spot Kevin and Pert because they haven't shaved since they've been traveling: Kevin for a week, and Pert for 2.5 months. Pert's been mistaken for anything other than American (Chilean, Southeast Asian, Fidel Castro, and just plain confused) because he is so tan and has an ungroomed fu man chu...he isn't even trying to grow it that way, it just does it on its own!
A well-groomed Pert and Kevin enjoying gelato
Kevin had been eaten by mosquitoes the few days before I saw him. He had at least 50 bites all over his arms and legs. Everyone we met commented on the millions of red dots on his arms. We went into a pharmacy to get mosquito repellent and when he asked for it, the lady responded "Yes we have spray for prevention, but I think in your case you need for after bite". I was laughing for about 10 minutes, but the lady didn't know what was so funny.
To get to Florence, we took the 4 hour version of the train, instead of the 1.5 hour version, since it was 30 euros cheaper, and that means more money for food. We got to Florence in the evening, and walked the 5 minutes to our hotel. Kevin did a great job finding central budget hotels that gave us easy access to everything. The only strange thing is that this hotel advertised itself to being 1-star. Is that a good thing???
If you haven't been, Florence is a pretty small town, and everything is walkable. The main attractions are the billions of museums, statues, and churches and just wandering the streets and piazzas (not to be confused with pizzas, which are also good).
Wandering the streets of Firenze
One thing I have wondered is why we name places in English different than the real name? In Italian, Florence is "Firenze", which is not impossible to say, so why can't we just say it that way? Or "Italy" instead of "Italia"? Or "Roma" instead of "Rome"? Is it so hard to say the extra "a"? Why must we re-name everything to make it confusing for everyone? Then we make the Italians say it our way so we can understand. We're so selfish!
And we've figured out that Italians in general don't learn too much English. Even in some restaurants in tourists areas, people spoke Italian and we just figured it out. Luckily we get trained pretty good when it comes to Italian food, and Italian hand motions.
Anyway, there were 2 BIG highlights of this trip: David, and the food.
We must have eaten gelato 6 times in 2 days, which means I went through my lactaid at a very high rate...I needed to pace myself to make it through the trip. That, and the fact I ate cheese for every meal for the first few days. Each day in Florence we had 2 or 3 course meals (pasta and a meat) and then pizza at midnight. We are trying to eat as much as possible, because...well, why not?
My favorite meal was the toppe al ragu at Trattoria Mario - these noodles were so good, I can't explain it. Usually I eat fast when something is good, but I couldn't help but eat really slow because I didn't want it to end. It was so good that after his meal, Kevin ordered another one. I couldn't do it...but we did go back the next day for more.
Mario's is such an unassuming place
Toppe al ragu - the noodles were so amazing!
Other meals I enjoyed:
- Frutti di mare
- Every pasta
- Every pizza
- Fried steak at Il Contadino (13 euro including pasta, salad, meat, water and wine!)
Frutti di mare
Great pastas everywhere!
Another thing I noticed is that places close in the late afternoon, and they take it very seriously. We were denied pizza at 4:01 when it closed at 4. One guy said it was ok, then another very mean guy said no. I couldn't explain to them that they are throwing away money and that it impacts their reputation, because they don't care. They work to live, not the other way around. Thus, customer service is not always the highest priority.
David is located in the Accademia museum, which was closed on Mondays (our first day there), and since our hotel failed to get us tickets in advance (we asked them to), we had to wait in line...for about 2 hours. We met some girls from Canada in line and told them about Mario's...and when we went to the restaurant after the museum, we saw them there...all eating the pasta ragu! I'm pretty sure it changed their lives forever.
Oh, about David. He is HUGE. No wonder he defeated Goliath. Goliath is tiny compared to the 17 foot David! At first I didn't think I'd be impressed, but after seeing this giant statue, carved out of a junk piece of marble by the famous Ninja Turtle Michelangelo, I was in awe. Every detail is perfect (well, I didn't focus too much on the man-area, but everything else was perfect). It really is something to look at.
Illegal picture of David, who is not shy at all
We also went to the Batigglio museum, Ponte Vecchio, and Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo).
My favorite statue of the trip
Enjoyning Ponte Vecchio
The Basilica is one of the largest in the world, and apparently the dome is the largest made of brick. They had free English tours and when it got too loud a recorded voice said "shhhhhhhh!!! Silencio! Shhhhhhh silencio per favore. Shhhhhhhh. Quiet please." We wanted to be loud just to hear the voice again!
Under the Dome
The tension rods are what has held it up all these years
We were off to Cinque Terre via Pisa, by the end of the second day, where my main goal was to get more tan than Kevin...for the first time in 10+ years we've known each other, he was more tan than me. That needed to change!
There really isn't much to do in Pisa, other than take 1,000 jumping pictures in front of the tower. It's so funny seeing everyone pose in front of their own cameras for pictures. When you look at them, it all looks strange. And in no way, do my jumping pictures look strange (I have others, but they are on Kevin's camera). I have to admit, it was a lot of pressure deciding what to do!
Trying to be creative with my jumping picture
Everyone and their moms posing for pictures
Speaking of Kevin and my other Seattle friends, for some reason when we are around each other we act like 10 year olds and have been saying the same jokes for the past 10 years. Somehow it's still funny. I don't think we will ever grow up.
More from Cinque Terre and Venice coming soon.
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