Florence

Our first ten-day break happened the weekend after my Hallstatt trip.  The school offered trips to both Rome and Assisi, but we weren’t required to go with the school to get to Rome.  A few friends and I originally planned on going to Venice and then Florence before meeting up with the rest of the school in Rome, but a few unforeseen circumstances prevented us from getting to Venice (I am planning on going to Venice this weekend actually).  Instead of Venice, we ended up just going to Florence. 

I don’t remember much about the actual traveling part, I just remember that we got to Florence a few hours earlier than we planned on checking in to our hostel.  Because of this, we had to carry all of our ten-day supplies with us for a few hours.  We found a sandwich shop thing and got burgers; it was a unique experience.  The guy running the shop made our burgers for us his own way, because we couldn’t really communicate what we wanted to him.  I have never eaten anything quite like it.  The sheer amount of toppings that he gave us pretty much turned the burgers into soup (fortunately he gave them to us in bags). 

After the burger place, we went and got gelato.  It was excellent, and a lot cheaper than traditional American ice cream.  When we were done with the gelato, we went back to our hostel again to see if we could check in.  We had to wait a little bit longer, but after that we got checked in.  The hostel itself was great.  For anyone planning to go to Florence I highly recommend it; it is called Casa Nuestra.  It is run by a really nice woman who speaks English well, and is just generally helpful.  She gave us maps and great advice for seeing the city.  On top of that she decorated the hostel herself, so it is generally just a really good place to be. 

The next morning, we set out to explore the city on foot.  We got to see quite a few interesting sights.  Here are some pictures and a few explanations.

Mary eating gelato.

Me eating gelato.  Mary and I shared a big cup of dark chocolate and tiramisu flavored gelato.  It was a lot better than any ice cream I have ever had.  It is really strange to think that it is healthier and generally cheaper than ice cream.

A statue of Dante.

The Basilica of Santa Croce.  It is a traditional gothic style church that was consecrated in 1443.  I am pretty sure that it was run by the Franciscan order.

This is a copy of David.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the real David because it was a little too far out of the way.  Honestly though, fake David was enough for me.  Apparently it is about fourteen euros to see the real David, which is terribly expensive.

This is a statue of Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa.  This is right across the street from the fake David.

Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge.  This was the first bridge across the Arno river, and the only bridge to survive World War Two.  I thought that it was really interesting that it is kind of a shopping center.  Shops lined both sides of the street, and it was one of the busier parts of the city. 

The Arno River, seen from an open spot on the Ponte Vecchio (I think). 

This is The Baptistery of John the Baptist, it sits beside Il Duomo.

This is the Campanile.  It is a bell tower designed by Giotto that is slightly to the left of Il Duomo. 

The doors to the Baptistery.  These are copies, I am pretty sure the originals are in a museum somewhere. 

Il Duomo from the outside.  I couldn’t get any good pictures inside, but basically it is a massive dome/cathedral. 

This is a statue of Hercules wrestling with a Lion.