Firenze

I apologize to this site's regular audience for my recent blog and picture neglect. I don't have much justification for my delay to upload pictures or report my trip to Florence (a trip that I returned from last Sunday), but I promise to catch you all up quickly. 

I must admit, I feel kind of bad writing about Florence without the city fresh in my memory. It was a beautiful place (do I describe any European town otherwise?) that I had been highly anticipating and it did not disappoint. To put it in perspective in relation to my most recent trips; Como and its famous lake had natural, earthy aesthetics while the french riviera contained only the harshest hues of high class. Florence on the other hand, overwhelms both of these; it has an epic amount of historical significance, incredible piazzas filled with churches and local artists, and in my mind, epitomizes the classic Italian city. 

We (John - New York, Mike - Milwaulkee, Diana - New York and, of course, I) left in the early afternoon on Saturday for the city of Florence. We would have liked to leave earlier, but were of course delayed by a mandated appointment with the city of Milan, our final grueling step to attain the insignificant permit of stay. Although many of us were beginning to believe the permit was a myth, a fairy tale told to international students in order to bleed them of time, energy, and money, on that morning, we reached the finish line of our 6 week struggle. This necessitated a picture.

When we got to Florence (around 1:30 PM), we walked to our hostel of choice, Plus Florence, that had been recommended to us by previous visitors. It is a great place for any 20-something to spend an evening - clean, new, with a rec room downstairs, restaurant, bar and even planned outings for long term visitors. We didn't spend much time there however, and, from a receptionist recommendation, headed right to the most famous statue in the city, Michelangelo's "David". The "David" is located in the Accademia, a renowned art gallery in the city, containing many pieces of Florentine art. We walked passed the museum twice (it's actually not even that difficult to find, we just weren't paying close attention), before coming to the front door and leisurely walking in. People I talk to claim they had to wait in line for 2 hours when they went to the same museum; well, not us. We walked right in, and probably wouldn't have had to wait at all to see Michelangelo's work, but an argumentative couple buying tickets slowed things down by about 5 minutes. Still, 5 minutes to see one of the most famous pieces of art in the world isn't too bad I don't think.

In the museum, we walked around, slightly rushing to see in real life what we had already seen on so many postcards, posters, and male underwear while walking to the exhibit. Turning a corner, we saw it down the corridor, and my first thought was that the statue was much, much larger than I had expected. Although it's forbidden, I found a moment and took a pretty good picture of him, just as someone in front of me got reprimanded for doing the same. I'm not a connosseiour of art, most pieces of classical painting I find enjoyable, but have no difficulty walking by in a matter of seconds. But to put it simply, the "David" is something else. I read in a guidebook somewhere its fame is derived from its perfection of humanism - which I think means, making a piece of stone look as similar to a person as possible. Michelangelo seemed to achieve this feet. Each rib on the sculpture's body, each vein on the back of his hand, is so well crafted, that you might think he could turn, look at you, and say aloud, "No pictures please." It was a great opportunity to witness him, seemingly in the flesh.

After this we walked through the city towards Florence's Duomo (Duomo literally means "Dome", but in Italy, signifies a central church and the biggest cities dazzle their visitors with their impressive one, like Florence and Milan). Unlike Milan's enormous place of worship, which is decked in an overwhelming numbers of sculptures, Florence's Duomo is amazing because of its size, artistry, and colors. Red, white and green stone work together to awe the church's spectators, and we made sure to take a number of pictures. Although they say a picture is worth 1,000 words, I'm sure 1,000 pictures couldn't replace a chance to see the building in real life. Very nice.

From here we worked our way to the Piazza della Signoria, a famous piazza overlooked by the Palazzo Vecchio, an old, powerful government building at the heart of the square. Next to this is an almost surprising number of sculptures, including the violent "Perseus with the Head of Medusa" and "Rape of the Sabine Women". Again, all throughout Italy and the european towns I've visited are countless sculptures and churches that are simply incomparable to American architecture. In Chicago you might see a huge sculpture of a lion outside of a museum, or in Champaign, an alma mater statue, but in Italy, these exist all over the place. At the center of piazza fountains, as 1 of 1ooo decorating a significant Duomo, on bridges, and in countless other locations. The additional fact that they are hundreds of years old or were crafted by artists like Michelangelo, only makes them seem more impressive. 

We headed to another incredibly well-done church, this one not only spectacular for its decor and size, but also for its famous permanent residents. Under the Santa Croce church, Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Dante, as well as others, are all buried (so they say), each with an elaborate monument of dedication. Pretty cool. By the way, I find it strange that all I can think to say in describing the church covering the graves of those four, is that it's 'pretty cool'. It is though. 

Nearby, we stopped (intentionally) at Vivoli, the most famous Italian gelateria, recommended by all 3 of the guidebooks which he had brought, and by my recent Aon boss as a must see. She was absolutely right. After walking for a number of hours, sitting down to Tiramisu flavored gelato was exquisite and the quality was absolutely incredible. My advice, if you go to Florence, see the "David" and get some gelato at Vivoli. Really, really, really good. 

From here, we made our way to our final coordinated destination (at least for Saturday evening), the Piazzale Michelangelo, a hill on the southern side of the city which overlooks the entirety of Florence. We had been recommended to arrive with a bottle of wine, so we brought 2 just in case. Sitting on a set of steps with a number of other tourists, or possibly locals, we watched the sun fall behind the trees, throwing it's last rays to the peaks of the red roofs below. It was my favorite part of the trip. 

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for dinner at Osteria de' Benci, another guidebook recommendation that held its own. I suppose it was moderately priced for an income earning traveler, but as students it was a tad pricey. We wanted a good meal though, so everyone ordered wine, pasta, and a meat dish. Diana, John and I split a steak, or rather, a good portion of a cow, that was the house specialty. It was extremely good, but as you may be able to tell from the picture (if I ever get around to posting it), it was questionably rare. I think the wine may have lowered our inhibitions to devour such bloody food, but it did taste fantastic, and I don't think any of us really cared. 

At night we did what most young people do on Saturdays; we went out. Nothing too spectacular, although we did get in for free at our club of choice because they assumed we were NYU students (NYU has a campus in Florence and locals bars advertise to these patrons). We didn't correct them and therefore received better deals all night.

On Sunday, our only decided upon destination was the Uffizi, one of the world's most famous art museums, probably second to the Lourve in Paris. Unlike the previous day however, the line for this was extremely long; after waiting 1 hour we realized that we hadn't moved and that we still wanted to accomplish other things with our day, so we skipped it. 

We headed to the Ponte Vecchio, a famous 13th century bridge, the only remaining from that period. Apparently during the second world war, German troops were destroying all of the bridges in the city; however, a German commander had so much respect for the bridge and its beauty, that he decided to destroy all of its surrounding buildings instead, leaving it intact. There a number of jewelry and fabric shops on this structure, so we walked across and window shopped.

The afternoon was wearing on, and with a train leaving in only a few hours, the last item on our agenda was shopping. Each of us needed to buy souvenirs, if not for ourselves, for others, so we headed to a famous Mercato di San Lorenzo, an enormous area of streets filled with vendors selling ties, scarves, leather goods, clothes, t-shirts and art, all at a relatively affordable price. I won't say what I bought, but I did find some nice things that caught my eye for myself, friends and family. See you all at Christmas ; )

Worn out, we all slept on the returning train home, having seen only a portion of one of the best cities of Italy. I enjoyed the trip and can only imagine when I will return (I have most certainly decided to return to Europe at some point in the relatively near future, although exactly how is at the moment unknown). It was a city of classic Italian beauty and I enjoyed it for all it was worth. Wine overlooking a warm, rust colored city, sculptures soaked in sunlight, inimitable ice cream... this is how I will remember Firenze.