The penultimate city on our trip

European Trip - May 26, 27, 28 & 29, 2002

Ve Bene!!!!!!!! We made it to Italy! And there really wasn't a more beautiful city to plunge into in Italy. We got here, a tad hungover and groggy from Munich, the morning of the 26th, and immediately got on our way via taxi to our hotel which was just a few blocks from the Palazzo Vecchio. I'm glad we took the cab, as the streets of Florence are freaking crazy! The Duomo sits right in the middle of the city, and tends to mess up the traffic pattern, especially if your hotel is sandwiched between the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio. At the hotel, we were told our triple room would be ready in just 15-20 minutes.....THANK GOD! We were all so skanky, it was a relief to know we'd be clean soon. After getting cleaned up and settled, we needed lunch. We found a quick pizza bite at a sidewalk cafe, started walking again, and Wendy let us know that she was STILL HUNGRY. Not to rattle the beast (which we'd been called on the phone already when trying to make hotel reservations in Florence; we'd said to the guy we wouldn't mind having to sleep on the floor if necessary, and he said that we were beasts for suggesting such a thing and hung up. Oops. We didn't end up staying there.) BACK to the story....we made our way to the Palazzo Vecchio courtyard, gazed at the wonder, and then promptly sat down at another sidewalk cafe and chowed down. Ah, Italian food! But the best was yet to come........ After lunch, since the Uffizi Art Museum is right there next to the Palazzo Vecchio, we decided to go there. Bad idea, on so many levels. First, we didn't make a time reservation for entering the museum, so we had to wait in a god awful line for about an hour just to get in. Lots of cigarette smoke later, we got in. Well, while I'm sure art historians and connoisseurs would appreciate the gallery, the three of us just weren't too impressed. Sure, there were some nice Botticellis (the most famous, actually), and some Da Vinci and a whole LOT of other Renaissance painters, but coming from the Louvre, Prado, etc, we felt it was lacking. Call it American bourgious. I dare you. And I wouldn't even be sure what you were calling me. We were tired, and this just didn't do it for us. But I encourage you to make your own decision. After that, we then partook in what became the theme of the whole trip, our siesta. Yay! Three hours later, we were ready for dinner. Woo hoo! And what a dinner! We went to Restaurante Bibo, a place you MUST go if you want some outstanding Italian food while in Florence, or Firenze as us locals call it. We all had outstanding food, but let me tell you about mine. I had two courses (as did Jason), with my first course being the best lasagne I've EVER had (sorry Mom and Harv). But the piece de resistance was a breast of chicken in a white wine sauce and rice pilaf. It sounds almost mundane - NOT!!!!!!!!!! It was absolutely incredible. Every bite was like heaven. I didn't want the meal to end, it was that good. Good GOD it was good. Have I conveyed to you how good I thought it was? Ask Jason or Wendy. They'll tell you. After that orgasmic meal, we walked back at night over the Ponte Vecchio and gazed at the lights of Florence as seen over the River Arno. Wow. To top it off, as we came by the Palazzo Vecchio, an orchestra was set up in the courtyard and the palazzo was illuminated in lights and had fires burning on the top floor. Incredibly atmospheric. What a first day in Florence!

Florence Day 1 pictures

The vacation finally took its toll on me. I woke up that next day with a fever and having not slept well at all on a crappy bed that had absolutely no back support. Ugh. But you're not in Florence every day, now are you? On this day, a Monday, most everything is closed. Our options were thus limited (I know, my problem solving skills are unbelievable!). We walked over the Duomo, which is the impressive center of Florence. It can be seen from almost anywhere in the city, namely due to its namesake dome (Duomo), a huge red canopy over the huge church. It is actually the inspiration for Michelangelo when he designed the even larger dome over St Peter's church in Rome (which I saw back in December 01 - I'll have to put those pictures of my 2-day Rome trip up one day). Anyways, we kind of beat the rush, and went inside the church. It was an amazing church and the interior of the dome is incredibly painted. Now the Duomo is famous for its two domes and the fact that you can climb up them. Well, none of us were particularly keen on MORE stairs, and we decided to climb a different set of stairs, namely those of Giotto's Tower, which is a very tall tower right next to the Duomo. Rick Steves recommended us to do this and it was a fantastic suggestion. You exercise a whole lot and get rewarded with an awesome view (including the Duomo in it), unlike the Duomo, in which you get to the top but you can't see the dome, since you're on it. Suckers... Well, my feverish sick self made it, and you can see the tons of pictures we took overlooking Florence. It was great. Our next destination was the Israel church - which we walked to. Did I mention we tambien'd the hell out of every city we went to. Anyways, we got there in due time. Inside the church are the tombs of many many famous Italians, notably Michelangelo (which I couldn't wait to see), Machiavelli, Dante, and I think Galileo. And that really is just to name a few. After that, we took a cab (thankfully) to the train station, as we were on our way to Pisa! You can't come to Florence and not take a quick train ride (about 45 minutes) to Pisa! Well, we arrived there, and while it was a little overcast and rainy, we started our walk there, stopping at a horrible restaurant with horrible service and horrible waits for food. And then they had the nerve to charge a lot. Never go there (I just wish I could remember the name of the place). A 20 minute or so walk later, we rounded an alley bend and there was the Leaning tower in all its glory. It was pretty cool to finally see it - but it also makes you painfully aware that there is absolutely nothing else I really wanted to see in the town that I didn't see on the walk there. Well, we took the obligatory pictures of the tower, and then hopped right back on that train to Florence. We passed out but got there okay - me still feeling pretty horrible and wishing I felt better. It sucks to be on vacation and sick. I"m sure you understand. I ended up staying in the hotel the rest of the night as J&W went and did laundry (and like very cool friends, they did mine too - they rule) and went to dinner (and again, they brought me back some food - they rock and rule).

Duomo and Florence, and Pisa too!

Me, redux

Them, redux

Looking straight down - yikes

Israel Church

American bourgioues at the Israel church

Sickly Hobie at the church

Inside the Israel church

Me and Michelangelo's tomb

Jason cutting in on my action

Michelangelo's tomb, without me or Jason

Machiavelli's tomb

The Tower of Pisa

Looking up its skirt

Me and the tower

again

Jason and me at Pisa

Shot with a vase - classy, eh?

Everything opened up again the next and final full day we were in Florence. We first went to the Barghello museum which is primarily focused on sculpture. Inside were some Michelangelos and a sculpture of David by Donatello that our guide Rick Steves said was painfully beautiful. We agreed, as it was quite painful to look at this sissyboy statue that couldn't compare to Michelangelo's David. Donatello's David even had a pimp's hat on, and his hand on his hip. A little scary.... The highlight of the day came as we walked to Accademia, which is the museum that houses the world-famous Michelangelo David. Of course there was a line to wait in, but it wasn't that long and it moved pretty quickly - and I knew that it would be worth the wait. Of course, it was. You walk in the museum, and there is nothing but interesting pieces of sculpture all around. The Uffizi could take a hint from them. But as you round a certain corner, you look down the hall and see the David. Your breath stops as you realize this....is.....it. Not a drawing, not a Caesar's palace knock off (although now that I've seen both, I must admit Caesar's is pretty good), but the real deal. Michelangelo himself molded this amazing statue. It's of course mobbed by people, but it's not unbearable and you can walk all around the statue. It's very impressive and very well displayed. Additionally, Michelangelo's unfinished Slaves are here, which is incredible to see. After reading The Agony and The Ecstasy by Irving Stone, it was incredible to actually see the real sculptures. After seeing the most famous statue in the world, it's hard to find anything else to look at that can compare. And in all honesty, we were pretty much done with Firenze by this point. We did go to the famous ice cream shop, Vivoli's Gelado. I didn't get any (it seems Europeans LOVE to put nuts in their ice cream - bastards!), but Jason & Wendy reassured me it was fantastic. So, we had the rest of the afternoon to do something, so we decided to trek to Pitti Palace, after a siesta of course. A few hours later, we rushed over to Pitti Palace before it closed so we could see the Boboli Gardens and the view of Florence, which was rumored to be great. Of course, it was. We didn't explore any of the art museums (we were done with art museums for the time being), but the gardens (while very big, not as big as Versailles, big surprise there) were quite impressive. We then went back to the hotel for another siesta (catch a theme here?), and then awoke in time to catch a chamber music concert in a small church across the street from our hotel. It was unbelievably cool! This church had an immense organ that sent shivers down your spine when it played. The highlight for me was a religious-like performance of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (which I mentioned in my About Me page). Like I said there, I wish my friend Roni's mom, Toni, could have been there for it, as she is the one who introduced me to Bach in the first place. Extraordinarily incredible. It was a fitting way to end our Florentine adventure. The next morning we awoke, packed, and headed to the train station to board a Eurostar train bound for Venice, our final big city to visit before we headed to Aviano AB and ultimately Lajes.

A MightyFine view of Florence from the Palace

Me and the mightyfine view

 The River Arno

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