So we have decided to do the posting for the past few days in separate posts. We will be posting them one at a time, so thank you in advance for your patience. Please enjoy!!
Florence, Italy - Day 1 (6/29/10)
So we left pretty early on Tuesday morning (early for us that is) and headed over to catch our train to Milan, Italy. From Milan, we took the train to Florence (a 6 hour total trip). We arrived in Florence around 2:00pm and walked from the train station to find our hotel. After walking around for a bit and figuring out pricing, we decided on a hotel that was right in the heart of the city. It was called the Hotel Palazzo Benci and was made from an old building in the 16th century. The rooms were small, but cute and they actually had bathrooms inside the rooms (which seemed to be uncommon in most hotels). After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we planned out our afternoon. First stop - the Duomo, the 4th largest cathedral in Europe. Oh my goodness, was it beautiful - breathtaking in its detailed carvings and height. We wanted to just sit and stare at it all afternoon. And that was only the outside! Inside was just as beautiful with its painted ceilings and wide halls. Pictures could not capture the sheer magnitude and beauty of this building. After taking what seemed a million pictures, we had to leave because they had mass starting and needed the church emptied of all visitors. So we made our way over to the Piazza della Signoria, which is the plaza outside of the Uffizi (the art gallery). There we saw the fake version of the "David" by Michelangelo (the real one is in the Accademia) and many other fascinating sculptures. We took our time just marveling at the beauty of the city that surrounded us and relishing each moment. After just walking around, we decided to try and get gelatos (best form of ice cream ever) and thanks to Uncle John's handy dandy iPhone, we found this cute little mom-and-pop type place that became our gelato shop for the remainder of the stay. So with our gelatos in hand, we headed over to the Fiume Arno River and got to see these exquisite jewelry shops that ran along one of the four bridges that cross the river. It was a gorgeous time of day to be by the water and we got some great shots of the buildings by the river. (God gave us beautiful weather each day by the way.) Sarah and I kept saying, "Ok, I could live there... ok wait, now I could live there..." We kept changing our minds.. :) After some more wandering around, our stomachs told us it was time for dinner and so we started the long trek into the city (using Uncle John's iPhone again) to find a good dinner place. By this time it seemed like it would have been too late to find a place to eat, but we later found out that restaurants don't actually open until 8:00 pm for dinner anyway... I really do love this city. :) We walked....and walked....and did I mention we walked... Until we finally decided on a place right across from the Duomo called "The Cafe Duomo." (These Italians are so clever, aren't they? :)) So we settled down for some delicious italian food and wine and watched the World Cup game right across from the Duomo. ("Can life get any better than this? I submit that it cannot!" :D) Stuffed to the rafters (Brian Regan theme here), we headed back to our hotel and said "Buona Sera" to Florence until the next day... for it was going to be a long one.
Pictures from Day 1:
^ The train station in Milan
^Sarah and Kelsey (and Uncle John :)) in the train station
^ The square around the Duomo
^The Duomo :)
^My dad in front of the Duomo
^Sarah in front of the door of the Duomo...just to give you a taste of how massive it was
^The bell tower of the Duomo
^ The back of the Duomo
^ Inside the Duomo
^The ceiling of the Duomo
^The halls of the Duomo
^while walking we saw this... :)
^The Piazza della Signoria which is right across from the Uffizi (the tall building is called the Piazza Vecchio which contains many sculptures)
^The Piazza della Signoria
^The Fountain of Neptune outside in the Piazza della Signoria
^Kelsey and Andy outside the Piazza Vecchio
^ The outside of the Uffizi
^Sarah and Kelsey eating gelatos outside our new favorite place :)
^The Arno river
^More of the Arno river
^Kelsey and Sarah in front of the Arno river
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