The European Extravaganza!

So... who is this David guy?

First off, you all had better be scrolling down each day to make sure we haven't posted more than once. We have the feeling some of you may have neglected to read the post on Vienna, which was right below the one on Salzburg. Whatever we post first gets pushed down the page when we post again, so make sure you take the time to check. This means that under this post, there will be one on our adventures in Garmisch-Partenkirchen that you won't want to miss.

We arrived in Florence at 5:30ish am. We had arrived at a station far from the city center and so had to take a bus to reach the one near our hostel. We weren't sure where to catch this bus, and when we did find the stop, we then were not sure where to buy tickets since most places are not open at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. An old Italian man seemed to know what our problem was, however, and took us to a little stand and told the man that we need to buy tickets. I then was able to use my Italian, to tell him we wanted 2 tickets to Santa Maria Novella station. Hoorah for knowing what he was asking, and knowing how to say the number 2!

The bus ride was one of the most frightening driving experiences of our collective lives, as our driver was curt and drove like a maniac while talking on his cell phone. Also, unlike the other cities we have visited, the buses here don't stop at every stop. You have to request that they stop, and I had no idea where we were. I was just hoping that we would at least see the train station, and that it would be a popular enough stop that the driver would have to let us get off because people wanted on.

Once we safely made it off the bus, we then faced the common problem of not really having a good map of the city. We often find ourselves in piazzas/squares, which makes it difficult to figure out which way you should walk and locate yourself on the map. After taking a bit of a round about route, we did find the hostel, and after ringing the bell several times, we checked in.

Our rooms were not ready, since the occupants were still sleeping, so we just quickly freshened up in the bathrooms, and then made our way off to La Galleria Dell'Accademia, the home of Michelangelo's David. There were not very many people in line, as the museum did not open for another half hour, so we made our way to La Piazza Duomo, and took some tourist-free photos of that and the Gates. The line was a bit longer when we got back, and we found ourselves surrounded by American tourists. We eavesdropped to pass the time and mimicked Yankee accents (aht = art, etc.,), but soon enough we made our way into the museum. I once again used Italian, and we got ourselves tickets.

What can we say about David? He was much larger than we expected (he is 5.12 m in height). Seriously though, all the hype is totally justified. All the sculptures we saw afterwards just did not compare. You can totally understand why people spend hours staring at it because Michelangelo really knew his stuff and did not gloss over the finer details. Absolutely beautiful, and definitely worth, not just the price of admission, but the trip to Florence in the first place.

On the way out, Laura overheard a girl say (in all seriousness): So, who is this David guy? Oy. And hence a blog title was born.

We then made our way to La Piazza Della Signoria where we saw the Fountain of Neptune, a statue of Perseus, and a plaster replica of our pal David (or Dave, as we call him) which they placed when they moved the original to La Galleria. We then strolled by the Uffizi (but didn't go in... medieval religous art isn't our thing... don't tell us if there's other stuff in there. We don't care.), and took some shots of Ponte Vecchio. We walked along it (sadly, we did not see any poison rings), and then made our way to the Piazza dei Pitti, hoping to wander through the Boboli Gardens. Alas, you had to buy a ticket to the museums to gain access, so instead we began the arduous trek to the Piazzelle Michelangelo. The nice thing about Florence is that everything really is within walking distance, but this square is somewhat out of the way. However, we had plenty of time to kill before we could go the Il Duomo (since it did not open for tourists until 1:30 pm), and we were promised the best view of the city if we could make the climb. What is with us and all this physical exertion and climbing? Several times I did not think I could make it to the top, but Laura reminded me of the view and the prospect of gellato, and so I soldiered on. We work well as a team because one of us always manages to be determined and focussed when the other one's interest/stamina begins to wane.

The view at the top truly was awesome, even though we are still insane for going all the way up there. We saw our friend Dave again, this time in bronze. Apparently there are 5 Davids throughout the city. The ice cream was also pretty good, but we'll reserve judgement as to which Italian city has the best for when we've experienced them all.

We then made our way down the hill, and headed for the Santa Croce, hoping to see the resting places of Gallileo, Dante, and Macchiavelli. Unfortunately (and strangely enough), the monument was closed due to a Historic Florence Soccer game that would be later taking place outside. We actually were able to go into the church, but a service was in session and we did not want to be disrespectful (although I did consider pretending to pray just so I could kneel down and get off of my feet. I didn't though.).

Getting pretty exhausted and with aching feet, we made our way to the Duomo. We sat on the main stairs and people-watched for about an hour. We then realized that a line was forming, and joined the queue. I was a little worried as there was a dress code sign out front, and I was once again wearing the verboten shorts, but really, people were dressed far more scantilly (and had to wear paper ponchos upon entering the church).

Completely exhausted and sore, we made our way back to the hostel and took a little siesta. People were not joking when they said that it gets hot here in Italy. Such a drastic change from Austria! I am not sure how I will make it through the next 5 days here without frying my skin to a crisp (despite copious amounts of sun screen). Once it was a bit cooler out, we went to the train station and paid the supplement for our Eurostar Italia train tomorrow. At €12 extra, it better be a really nice train!

For dinner, we went to the Italian (!) place accross the street where you could get great deals if you got your food to go (take-away) rather than eating in. The old man working there was absolutely adorable! He came over and chatted with us while our pizzas cooked, and I gave him my Canada flag pin. He was so excited that he gave us both a tomato each as a souvenir from Italy. This was by far one of the best moments of the trip so far (Take that, Frommers guide book!). It is doubtful such an enthusiastic display of emotion would have ever occurred in Germany. Oh, and the pizza was really delicious... and we have enough for another meal tomorrow.

It is off to Rome tomorrow, and we have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Ciao!

posted by Steph @ 7:19 pm