Ahhh Firenze!

Aaah, Florence, my home away from home. At least that’s how it felt after we arrived.
We had left Pisa in good time, checking out of our hostel about 10am and getting a taxi to the train station. There were trains departing for Florence every half hour and it took only a few minutes to work out how to get our ticket from a machine and validate it.
We waited maybe half an hour for the train, skipping the earlier one so as not to rush ourselves between platforms.
There were plenty of seats and we had no trouble getting comfortable with our packs. Soon Sam had the computer out and plugged in, yes they have power points on the trains, and was doing some desperate blogging, so behind are we.
The trip took about an hour and it wasn’t hard to find our stop as it was the last one - Firenze Santa Maria Novella.
Off the platform it was a little trickier working out where to go. We knew our hotel was only a five minute walk and in which direction but had no idea what side of the station we were on when we came out.
Finally we found a tourist information centre who gave us a map, for free (Amsterdam charged for everything), and worked out the hotel was only a few minutes away.
So we found it easily enough and checked in at noon rather than at two - technically we already had the room - since our booking had started the night before. Of course we were able to go straight up.
It was something of a let down after our beautiful one star in Pisa. This was supposed to be two star and the room description had promised a hairdryer and a safe. I didn’t care much for the safe but the hairdryer I could really have used. I have been without dryer or GHD for almost three weeks now and my hair is a Greek tragedy.
Anyway, it didn’t have those things nor was it a proper double bed as requested but two singles pushed together - the ultimate in stinginess.
Still, out the door and only a few hundred metres up the road and we were in the city centre, the duomo and all the sights were within walking distance. We couldn’t really complain.
We dumped our bags and head straight out.
It had not been my intention to hit every major sight in one afternoon but that’s kinda what happened. Like I said, Florence has become very familiar to me and it’s amazing what comes back to you after years.
We found the duomo easily enough, like I said a few hundred metres and we were there. Sam was blown away by the sight of it and it is impressive. Green and white marble façade and HUGE. It is enormous and of course the tower and baptistery and only a few metres away.
We decided to jump straight on the queue to get into the cathedral as it was free and moving very quickly.
Inside is nothing like the exterior but it is huge and imposing.
Outside and we pressed on toward the river, only because that seemed to me the best place to head. It wasn’t long before I stumbled onto the Piazza della Signoria and right away I knew where I was. We admired the replica of David in the square and I showed Sam the face carved into the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio that was said to be Da Vinci’s face.
Before we checked out anymore, it was time for lunch. A Panini for Sam and a pizza for me and we walked towards the Uffizi gallery and onto the river. From here I showed Sam the Ponte Vecchio, or the love bridge as I call it. This very famous bridge is the one with all the (jewellery) buildings on it and it is said that if you kiss the person you love on it, you will be together forever. It was also the only bridge in Florence that wasn’t destroyed by bombing in WWII. Prior to the renascence all the shops on the Ponte Vecchio were butcheries until the Medici family ordered them off and the jewellers in.
Along the river walk towards it, from the Uffizi, are chains of padlocks. Hundreds and hundreds of padlocks, most marked with the initials of lovers and graffiti in the same vein adorns every surface. It is the love bridge after all. We wandered down and onto the bridge and kissed - because that’s what you do - before heading back towards the Piazza della Signoria.
“I thought you wanted to go the markets,” Sam said.
“Oh my god, I forgot the markets. Veering in another direction and using only my memories, we found the San Lorenzo markets, so called because they start at the intersection of the Basilica di San Lorenzo. I well remembered these markets from both my previous trips but whether it’s cos I was with a guy this tine, Sam and I walked them in about 15 minutes flat. I was stunned. But it was also somewhat different to how I recalled. All the knock off brand items were gone, as signs indicated, it was illegal it buy fake goods. But it was what I remembered about it most.
Having seen the duomo, the Uffizi, the bridge, the fake David, The Palazzo and the markets, I was all out of ideas so I suggested we head to the museum housing the real David.
Last time Soph and I had been here we had walked straight in with no line and were amazed. That was also late autumn and not high summer.
There was a queue and Sam ad I were in no mood to stand in line, plus my feet hurt.
We head back to the Piazza della Signoria to people watch and rest our weary legs. It had been a massive afternoon and we toyed with the idea of going into the Palazzo Vecchio, originally a fortress and later a royal court for the Medici family which installed itself there. It was only 6 euro each but we decided we’d do it tomorrow when we were fresh.
Pizza for dinner and it was more wandering after until I felt less full. I needed to fit in gelato.
We head back to the fake David, which was put there by the way in about 1890 when the original was removed and put in a museum.
Sam took some silhouette shots as the sun sunk lower into the sky before we head back to the love bridge for some sunset shots. Unfortunately the prettiest aspect of the bridge is on the east so it was in shadow but we still managed to take probably 50 shots between us as the sun lowered over it. The water in the river is also murky brown and I am almost positive the last time I was here it was more clear because I have a great reflection shot. Anyway, we spent probably half an hour photographing the bridge from various perspectives.
Having exhausted my creativity for the day, we set off to find the perfect place to get some gelato.
Mars and choc mint - it was soooo good.
Then the saddest thing, with my beautiful gelato half eaten, I tried to get a better grip on my enormous cone and dropped the whole thing. It was a tragedy.
A good day ruined, we head back to the hotel only to discover their wifi was not working. Not surprising for this place really but did put us in something of a predicament since we had nothing booked for the days after Florence. We would have to find an internet café tomorrow.
- Alysia (August 7)