Our Numero Uno, Florence

At 6:50am Tuesday, March 25 the conductor knocked on Jordan and my's sleeper car door to let us know we'd arrived in Florence! After taking the scenic route to our hotel (we had to take another train to a different station, went one too far, got on another train and went back to the right one and then walked the wrong way for awhile before we figured out where our hotel was) we weren't able to check in for a bit so we went to a cafe the hotel recommended to us right around the corner and in the two days we were there we probably went the 4 times...that's how good it was. Italy had a great introduction as we had cappuccinos and caprese sandwiches for breakfast, then our room was absolutely amazing! Having once been a mansion, one floor had been converted into 4 rooms and as you can see they were quite impressive! Jordan made up for his booking mishap in Nice with this hotel :) We had old style keys and had to go through a wrought-iron gate to get in...I would highly recommend this place to anyone going to Florence. The location was great as well, we were on the southern tip of the downtown area, so it was quiet at night but we were within a 20 minute walk to anywhere we wanted to go.

Here's what the lobby looked like:

After checking in we were on our way to the Boboli Gardens; here's the front of it. There are 3 museums in this building and the line to get in was quite long but I'd heard that instead of going into the gardens, we should walk around the wall of them to a place that offers great views that you didn't have to pay for. So, we went around the side and ended up walking about a half hour uphill to find another entrance into the gardens and lucky enough it was 'Art Week' so entrance was free, hence why the line in front of the building was so long. So, we went in to find that all that trekking we'd done just led us to a point basically right beyond the front gate on the other side of this building.

Here's where we walked in. This is the other side of the building in the previous picture.

Although a bit tired from all the walking uphill, we were still ready to go...there was a lot of garden to see!


This is the first view of Florence we had from the Gardens, so pretty! You can see the Duomo dome to the right.

Here's a close up along with the crane that is in so many European cities. Since they're so old, these cities constantly need restoring.

Our second find in the Gardens, or I should probably say MY second find. So, without thinking I thought this was quite the unique rock, so I said something like, "Look at how this rock is carved out," and as soon as the words left my mouth I realized that it wasn't a rock but a drainage pipe. Oops! This is quite embarrassing, but Jordan got a kick out of it and wouldn't let me forget as we kept seeing these "rocks" all over the Garden.

My reaction to what I'd just said:


The Garden is filled with fountains, arched pathways, and statues. This was the first fountain we came to with the God of Water (I know it's Poseiden in Greek Mythology, but can't remember what it is in Roman) fishing.


The fountain had lovely cranes right next to it, not the bird unfortunately.


And there were kids feeding fish in the water, much like we used to do as kids in Stillwater.


We hung out by the fountain for a bit and created a little artwork of our own...we're really just a couple of goofballs, Jordan and I.


If only we were here a couple months later these gardens would be in full bloom and beautiful, but I really like the maze effect!


And yet, another fountain.

This is some of the prettiest area in Florence. Here's our view from one of the garden areas




This statue of a human face was one of the most memorable statues we came across, mostly because it wasn't a person sitting with a harp or riding a horse.


More views of Florence!


Here's one of the main paths leading to another fountain. Along here there were lines of tree-covered paths that led from the main one toward different statues.

Hahaha, alright...let me explain this one. There were small speed bumps along one of the paths we were on and as we went over them I started doing the Mario jump from the Nintendo games. It took much concentration as you can see in my face. This was I believe attempt number 4 to capture this :)

This is the fountain at the bottom of the big hill three pictures up from here.

The gate and gargoyle are protecting this inside: I think it might be Hercules on Pegasus toward the right of this picture, but I can't remember for sure.


Oh, another statue to laugh at...we tried to recreate this one...


Attempt #1: Jordan looks like he's about to punch me, with quite the delighted look on his face!


Attempt #2: One of his more profound moments and...


#3: Mysterious maybe? I didn't realize I was supposed to get the statue in the background of these pictures so Jordan's looks would make sense. Haha

After the Gardens, we played cards for a bit (at our cafe) before heading out to dinner. While Jordan and his mom were in Italy last fall they met another mother/son combo while in Pompeii, and the son was studying abroad in Florence for the semester so he gave Jordan a list of recommendations including an absolutely delicious place for dinner, Il Gato e la Volpe (The Cat and the Wolf). Along the way we happened upon the Piazza della Signoria, the oldest plaza in the city. There was a large stage hosting replicas of different statues.

This is a statue of the Roman god of Water, which from reading the guide books, apparently the people of Florence aren't too keen on, saying that it was a waste of marble. Little interesting tidbit for you.


Ah, here we are...makes my mouth water just looking at it! Awesome pasta, in fact we went there both nights we were there, ha! The two favorites of ours were stuffed tortelloni in a truffle sauce and stuffed tortellini in a Gorgonzola cream sauce. Another interesting fact for you courtesy of my friend Alex: Il Gato and La Volpe are characters in the original version of Pinocchio, which was set in Florence.

My first introduction to Limoncello...a lemony liquor that goes down smoothly. A bottle of house red and a shot of Limoncello added to our dinners each night while in Florence.

On our way back there was this cool lit-up zodiac sign piece of art.

After dinner we made our way back via the Ponte Vecchio, or the Vecchio Bridge. It's lined with jewelry shops that fold up into treasure chest-looking boxes. The first time we crossed this was at night, so we had no idea that millions of dollars worth of jewelry hid behind until we walked it during the day to be blinded by the bling.

It was actually a bit chilly the first night we were there, surprisingly...I thought since it would be closer to the equator it would be a bit warmer. But luckily it was only that one night.


For our second and last day in Florence we went to the Academia Galleria to see the David! On the way we passed by the Duomo plaza...we'll come back to this later, we had a reservation to meet!

Thank goodness we made reservations because this was the line (times 4) to get in without a reservation....

...and this was our line. I'm glad Jordan thought of taking a picture of this cause looking back, this captures how funny it was more than just telling you could.

In the museum we saw an exhibit on the history of music which included some crazy instruments like an upright piano, a snake-like woodwind instrument that was displayed among old clarinets, and a small combo of a piano and guitar. Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed so you'll have to imagine these items. Also, we saw Michaelangelo's David, which was Huge! There was a replica in the Piazza della Signoria and that's what's pictured below. Also, there were probably 6 statues of Michaelangelo's that he never finished so they were still blocks of marble that had statues half chiseled out.

Then, we're back to the Duomo...my camera died while we were here so there aren't a lot of pictures unfortunately, but enough to give you an idea of the detail put into this. The church was designed to be the biggest and the best of the time according to the guide books. One thing we noticed were the use of green, red, and white in a lot of their buildings and churches--the colors of the Italian flag.

We're standing in front of the big dome here that you could see from other pictures we took in the Boboli Gardens.

This is the bell tower, that you can climb up and get a great view of the city from. We had every intention of doing this at dusk (another one of Jordan's friend's suggestions) but we didn't think about it closing before dusk hit, so around 7:30pm as we're getting ready to go we saw in the guide book that it closed at 7. Bummer, but at least it gives us a reason to go back someday! (like we need one).

Here's another couple of shots of the Piazza della Signoria during the daytime.

This is the Florentine symbol or maybe coat of arms? I'm not sure exactly which it is, but I do know that it represents Florence.

This is one of the many statues depicting the slaying of Medusa by Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman), you can tell by the wings on his helmet...whoo for mythology! haha


This is inside the Palazzo Vecchio, we didn't want to wait in line because we didn't know exactly what was here, but the entry had wonderful detail!

Here is the Vecchio Bridge during the daytime, and a little clearer I might add. Along with jewelry stores there were a lot of street performers dressed as Pinocchio and statues etc. who people payed money to pose with.

Our hotel's just beyond the next bridge and a little to the left. This is the southern part of downtown Florence.

Then, back to the hotel to get all dolled up for another night of Il Gato e la Volpe. Like our superstar looks? :)

And, one final parting shot...Jordan acting as the missing statue!

Both of us agreed that Florence was definitely our favorite on this trip with Nice a close second. Jordan was already all about Italy, and now I know why. Florence is definitely on the list of places I want to return to! Alas, though...the next morning we were on our way to Rome to check out some of the oldest buildings in the world!