Florence

So last night we watched the Count of Monte Cristo--great show. We weren't really sleepy after our day in Venice, so we stayed up way past our bedtime to watch the movie. I set our alarm for the morning, but I must have been half asleep because it didn't work, so we slept in. We had intended on walking around Venice in the morning, but instead we just headed to Florence.

Wendi and I are very funny. We planned this trip so that we had a rough outline of where we would go but could make spontaneous decisions about how long to stay. We wanted a good mix of quantity and quality, but you can't have that without a few regrets along the way. "Oh if we had another night in Paris," was last week's regret. Now this week it will be Venice. Such wonderful places that will hold a special place in our hearts for the rest of our lives--what an amazing experience.

We don't miss Venice because we don't like Florence, on the contrary. We love Florence! This renaissance city is still alive with what I imagine to be the renaissance spirit. Street merchants line many of the streets with their canvas covered tops and try to entice you towards their goods. They have everything from fine leather purses, wallets, and coats to magnets and cheesy, copyright infringement (no doubt) Simpson's shirts. Gelato (Italian ice cream) shops are on every corner, as are pizzerias, and the streets are made of cobblestone.

It has a very different feel than Venice. I didn't think much of it, but I didn't see one car (or scooter) the entire time we were there. We were walking down a side street (in Venice) and saw this guy running down an adjacent street hauling a little carriage carrying an old man. At first I thought it was some kind of makeshift human taxi, but Wendi pointed out that the man was wearing a paramedic outfit and another paramedic was jogging about 10 seconds behind. Cars are so convenient.

But we left Venice, so let's talk more about Florence. Our little hotel is very nice, up on the third floor. We are very close to the city center where all the sights are, so we don't have to use buses--yay! One of the huge tourist attractions here is Michelangelo's David. I had seen pictures of it but never thought much about it. I would have to say that it is the most amazing piece of art I have ever seen. The Mona Lisa was cool, at the Louvre, but this statue was astounding. It stands probably about 15 feet tall and was carved from a single block of marble, and it took Michelangelo almost 3 years to complete. When we walked into the museum room containing David my jaw literally dropped. The detail is so fine and I can't even write it in words. There was a description in front of the statue and an art critic was quoted saying that you would never need to see any other statue for the rest of your life because David is so perfect--or something like that. Wow. We weren't allowed to take pictures for whatever reason, and they had these guards everywhere yelling at anyone who had a camera out in the open. So, needless to say, I am very proud of this picture:

We also went into Florence's Duomo. Milan also has a Duomo, but it looks completely different. Florence's Duomo is much less flashy inside with the architecture. Inside it is very plain, resembling it's renaissance surroundings, but outside it is made of marble with a red tiled dome. It's really big too--the biggest of any cathedral church we've been in so far. It's nearly impossible to get a good photo of it when you're standing in the piazza because it's just so big. Tomorrow we are heading to a panorama viewpoint on a large hill overlooking the city, we should be able to get a good photo then.

The Florence Duomo

Inside the Dome

Inside the Duomo

Outside the Duomo

The Duomo from a side street

It started to rain midway through the afternoon. It was a bummer at first because we got soaking wet, but it turned beautiful when the rain let up. The sunset shined across the buildings and the Duomo, the cobblestone streets glistened and showed a slight reflection of the spectacular scene--it truly was beautiful.

As it got dark and everything started to close we decided that we needed to get some laundry done. The weather hasn't really been like what we thought. I only brought one pair of pants, but that's all I've worn since we got here. We did a load in Paris, so I was due for another. It was kinda fun. We brought down my laptop to laundromat and watched Mission Impossible (the first one) while we waited--and as soon as I'm done with this post we will finish.

We ate in random places, had gelato in random places, and tomorrow we'll do it all again and more.

Mmmmore, Gelato

-Cameron