7.6.09 Rome-Florence.

our train ride to florence...we were really tired

Sadly, we left Roma today. I was so sad to say goodbye to the city, our hotel and pool, but I couldn’t wait to see Tuscany and go to Florence again. We took a 2 hour train ride to Florence and looking out the windows was all of Tuscany, with its rolling hills and rows and rows of sunflowers. It is the most breathtaking view I think of Italy. We finally arrived in Florence and came to our hotel – quite a down grade from our palace in Rome. I guess we are getting the real Europe experience through it all. After getting situated in our hotel it was off on a walking tour of Florence.

I have been to both Rome and Florence before but never in both cities the same day and I realized how very different the architecture of Florence is compared to Rome. Florence is much more cottage looking and less imperial if you will, than Rome. Stucco seems to be the most used material here rather than stone and elegant marbles and other expensive materials. You can definitely tell you have left the capital and entered into more of the country. I really like the look and feel of Florence though and have been surprised at how small the city is and how easy it is to navigate here. On our walking tour, I learned that Firenze’s architecture is a very mish-mashed modge podge of time periods that it was built in. There could be two buildings right next to each other one built a thousand years ago and the other during the 18th century. I like the eclectic mixture of the architecture and the diversity of the city. We were able to see the Florence skyline and the famous Ponto Veccio bridge view. The first place we stopped at was the Santa Maria del Carmine that houses a very famous chapel. It is the chapel that brings most people to Florence so they can worship there. The walls are frescos done by multiple artists depicting scenes all with St. Peter in them. He is depicted with a yellow robe so as to stand out and be easily seen. Each fresco is a narrative and could have been a political statement of the time and the painters were intertwining their political views into the painting. It was a really small chapel but the frescos are so incredible and a it was a small treasure in Florence to see. I must interject here that our tour guide is Meryll Streep and I’m not kidding. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. I will post some pictures of her because I am creepy and took pictures of her from every angle I could so as to prove my point. Just something to look forward too.

fresco of saint peter being crucified

☺

the first church on our tour in florence...love the jade green doors

our tour guide miss meryl streep herself

We continued walking through many different piazzas of Florence and caught a glimpse of the Duomo right before the sun began to set. We are going to do more of the Duomo tomorrow so I won’t post much about it now except that it is iconic in Firenze. The red and green marble stone symbolizes the colors of Florence in my opinion and I love the detail work and all the different patterns created in each section of the building. Thinking about how the stone for that building was cut out of a mountain and brought to the site to create this masterpiece of a building is just tiring to comprehend. I don’t understand how anything got made in that time period with no technology. We kept walking the city and it is just all cobblestone and brick laid streets. I love that there is like no asphalt and it is all like we are back centuries before. I think these Italians take for granted the cultured place they live in. This place makes America look like a bulldozed, manufactured project… well I guess it is. Don’t get me wrong, I love America but it is so nice to experience other cultures and see and adapt to how other people live in this miraculous world we live in.

beautiful view of florence

h & m...always a welcome site and worthy of picture taking

From our long day of traveling and walking, it was time for a good ol fashioned Italian dinner since we had been skimping on food in Rome to save money. We found this little ristorante that was pretty cheap (in euro’s, not dollars) and advertised air conditioning so we were sold. Turns out the air conditioning is a sad fan spinning above us, but that was better than the humid heat we had been in all day. Luckily, our food was INCREDIBLE! It was the best meal I’ve had. Ever. Well maybe not ever, but it was so good. Don’t worry I photographed most my food here because it is all so beautiful and delicious. It was worth every euro and was topped off by the best gelato in Florence at a place called Grom. It has become all of ours favorite little hot spot for gelato and go quite frequently. Let’s just say the Italians never let me down!

honestly and truly the best pasta i've ever had...farfalla pasta w/ spinach & bacon

gelato at groms! i believe i had strottatella (spell??), raspberry, & cream. buonissimo!

simply beautiful gelato