Florentine Fun

Our second stop on our tour of Italy was Florence. We caught the train from Rome in the late morning, and little did we know that we'd bought business class seats. Yay for fancy trains! The train was easy and relaxing, and we arrived in Firenze ready to explore. We were also pleased by how nice our hostel was--and the air conditioning was AMAZING! For the first time in days, we finally felt cool!

Blurry sunflower fields of Tuscany

Our new hostel

We set out to explore the town and started off by checking out am amazing food market called Mercata Centrale. It was great to see the different foods and flavors of the region. Locals and tourists were both picking up all sorts of tasty treats, and it made for some good people watching.

The market made us hungry and thirsty, so we popped into a restaurant for some wine and lunch. After lunch, we continued our exploration of this small, lovely city and ended up down by the river where we watched the sunset. Florence is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen! I really enjoyed watching the colors change from blue to yellow, pink, red and back to deep blue as the night set in. It was peaceful and gorgeous and such a special moment.

That dome building is the cathedral called the Duomo. 

The next morning, we headed straight to Galleria dell Accademia, which is were Michelangel's David statue is held. Unfortunately, you can't take photos there, but it's incredible to see in person. He is so much larger and more defined than I realized, and the way he is centered under a dome really sets the light on his curves and angles perfectly. It was stunning. After taking in David, we set out to explore the Duomo and it's surrounding buildings. We really wanted to see the big Uffizi art gallery, but the lines were going to take forever and all the pre-booked tickets were sold out. Instead, we decided to really take our time at the Duomo.

After touring the cathedral, we stopped for lunch, which turned out to be the best lunch I had throughout our entire trip. My starter was the most amazing truffle bruschetta. Oh man, was it good! Truffles are a local specialty, and I love them!

After lunch, we went back to the Duomo, this time to climb the 463 stairs up to the top of the Dome. I was worried I would die because of how strenuous it was and hot frickin' hot it was, but I managed just fine (well, ok, I did feel like dying a little!). I knew it was something I should do, though, because everyone kept saying how worth it the climb was once you saw the view. So, off we went up all those winding, narrow, spooky old stairs. Our saving grace was that there were a few back ups on the climb, so we had a chance to stand and wait and catch our breath. The view from the top was truly incredible though!

Waiting in line to start the climb...

View part-way up.

About 3/4 of the way up, you get to walk around an outer
ring inside the cathedral and see the painting on the inside
of the dome up close. So cool! It's a really intense painting
of the last judgement.

So far, so good!

Once you reach the top, you get to walk all the way around the outside
of the dome. Amazing, breathtaking views of Florence!

We made it!

Cool little window we noticed on the walk down.
Funny how we missed it on the way up! ;) 

Some of the stairs. They came in all shapes, sizes and forms.

We did a bit more exploring after the hike, but not before we'd all drank a couple sports drinks! Then later that night, we headed back to the river to watch the sunset again. Another perfect day!

There's the top of the dome where we were!

Ponte Veccio

On Ponte Viccio 

Lilly of Firenze flag

We saw this cultural parade on the way back.

Florence was just as lovely as everyone said it would be. I love how small and compact it is compared to sprawling Rome. Even though we only had a couple days there, I feel like we got a really good taste of the city. And I know I'll definitely be back one day!