Firenze (Florence)

Today was a lovely day. We woke up and headed to the train station to go to the second to last city of our trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time, and we were at the right one for a change. We easily got on our train and took our correct seats. This was the easiest trip we have gone on. There wasn't a single problem all the way to our destination! We shared a booth (four seats facing each other with a small table in between the rows) with a couple from Sydney, Australia. They both were geologists, but neither worked in the field. I talked with them for a lot of the train ride about our trip, their trip, skiing, and school.

We got to Firenze at around lunch time. We found our hotel very easily and checked in. The receptionist got our passport number and stuff then told us that they had upgraded us to a room in a different building that has its own bathroom. We couldn't complain about that. She also told us that if you don't make reservations for the museums in Florence you have to wait up to two hours to get in. She offered to make the reservation for us. We obviously took advantage of that and then the owner of the hotels, Marco, took us to our room. He took both of our bags and rolled them the few blocks to our hotel and then carried them up two flights of stairs! When he showed us our room he also showed us the computer in our room that we can use and how to skype reception if we need anything or have any questions. He showed us how to use the laundry and the phone and said we can use it as much as we would like. We clarified, "we can call the US for free?!" "Absolutely, just dial 001 then the area code and number." We couldn’t believe it, but were happy about it.

After we got settled in for a few minutes we hit the town. Today we saw the Duomo, the third biggest cathidral in Europe. It was incredible. It was marble, white green and pink on the outside and many more colors on the floor of the inside. It was huge! Like most of the old churches it was built in the shape of the Roman cross and at the intersection of the 't' there was a huge dome. It was painted beautifully. We just stood there and stared at it until our necks hurt and then looked a little while longer. The dome and the floors were the most impressive to me. Also the outside was captivating. Right outside of the church was a baptistery. It was awesome (in the sense that it left us in awe). The whole ceiling was gold mosaic. It was so detailed. We could easily follow the stories that were being told. The pieces seemed so small, the image looked like it was painted, not masaiced.

After that we went to another church then walked to Pointa Vecchio, a big impressive bridge. We got some gelato then went over. It used to be the home to butchers and fish markets, but the nobels didn't like the smell and they had to cross the bridge every day so they raised the rents so only goldsmiths could afford to work there. Since the 1500's the bridge has been the center of the thriving gold and jewelry trade here. We went in one shop and Rachel tried on a few wedding bands to see how they would look with her engagement ring.

We continued across the bridge to the Pitti Palace, another royal palace that was closed today. We sat there for a bit in the shade. It is hot here too, not like Venice, but it is still exhausting. We walked by the river to the highest point in Florence, the MichaelAngelo Square. Up there, there was another church with a cool cemetery. We had a beautiful view of the city and looked out over Florence for a time. We started to head home at that point.

We decided to just get a pizza to go somewhere and a bottle of wine and call our parents. We had a quiet dinner in the kitchen right outside our room then figured out the phone. We called my Dad then my Mom and talked to each for about 15 minutes. We tried to get a hold of grandma and grandpa, but they weren’t there. :-( Then we called Rachel's parents and left a message. It was so nice to talk to my parents!

We realized today that we only have one week left of our trip. It has flown by! The first day when we were sitting outside of Palacio Real in Madrid, we thought it would drag, but we can't believe we only have a week left.