Day 4: I'm whipped up into a Firenze!

Day 4: Florence, Italy aka Firenze, Italia

Buongiorno from Firenze! Florence was fun to check out. We only had a day here before we had to catch our overnight train to Paris, but it was fun to explore. It's much smaller than Rome. And had a much more nostalgic feel to it. We got up early again, ate a delicious fresh amazing breakfast at the Hotel Berchielli and then took off for our day in Florence!

Sunrise from our window over the Arno River

Ponte Vecchio Bridge - remember, the one with all the medieval shops!

We walked down this bridge in the morning and found out what was behind all the medieval store fronts. They were jewelers. All of them. They all had gorgeous diamond displays in the windows. I saw my future engagement ring there too. I'll be taking my future husband on a trip there and pointing that ring out when it comes time to have him get me one!

If I lived here, I'd sit here often... I know it. This on the Ponte Vecchio.

Buongiorno Principessa!

Archways along Arno River... neat!

The copy of the David statue. It used to stand in this spot, but was getting damaged and was moved inside the museum it currently sits in. We couldn't take pictures of the original.

A Chanel store and some charming carriages. Super romantic.

This window display was made out of Swarovski Crystal elements. Pretty fancy!

In Florence we would find had some of the richest shopping we'd seen. Designer stores were everywhere. Actually Rome had a lot too though. There's one shopping district where all of the designers are ridiculously expensive. It was really fun to window shop while we looked for H&M to see what it was like in Europe! Interesting fact about Italian fashion, they all wear black, grey, brown, tan, and sometimes white. The brightest color I saw in most stores was a very dusty pink, or a deep purple. Sometimes we'd find red too, which was a pleasant surprise. I felt like a bullseye in Rome with my bright red coat. Thank heavens for the market in Florence where I got the cute black coat you'll see in the rest of my pics for 25 Euros (About 27 or 28 bucks). And it's made of Lana... wool! :)

This is the front of the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore.

The Santa Marie del Fiore, or Duomo, as it's nicknamed was one of my favorite buildings we passed on our walk around town. Alia and I walked around the whole building and found out it is in a giant cross shape, and is quite large compared to other churches there. The Duomo has a bell tower that rings out nearly every half hour and the sound of bells echoes through the neighborhoods. I fell in love with this sound. It made me feel all giddy, and despite how weird that sounds, I just wanted to sit in the piazza in front of it and lose myself in contemplation. The sound of those bells was probably one of the most gorgeous things I've encountered in my 26 years.

Below is a video from a block away of these bell sounds. Alia and I were sitting on a corner bench, deciding where to get lunch when they started ringing again. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Alia next to a line from my favorite Italian movie "La Vita è Bella" (Life is Beautiful)

A walk in the rain outside the Duomo. We returned to this area of town a couple of times. It was near our hotel.

During our day in Florence, we were able to find the museum with the David statue in it. It's as cool as they say it is. One side of the statue gives him a more cherubic look to show that he was still a child, while the other side looks more aged and ready for battle. The artists that made these famous sculptures and paintings we were able to see never ceased to amaze me. Their ability to capture the human form and sculpt with such precision is beyond my capabilities.

In this museum there was also a musical instrument museum. I thought this was really interesting. There were pianos, string instruments, and woodwinds for the most part. One of my favorite pieces was the first upright piano. It was basically a grand piano with the huge back end of it tilted up against a wall. It must have been 10 feet tall. Eventually they were able to encase the strings differently and create the more boxy uprights we have now.

Another really cool instrument we found was a giant bowl with golden handles. To play this one we had to dip our hands in the water sitting in the bowl, and then rub them on the gold handles. It produced a similar sound to when you do this around a champagne glass, only much deeper of a tone and louder. I also loved that despite all the centuries that have passed, string instruments have changed very little. Sure we've invented electric versions, but the acoustic ones haven't changed at all. I guess the inventors of those instruments really knew what they were doing.

Congrats to Alia for taking one of the coolest pictures of me I've ever had taken.

Most of our day in Florence was spent exploring the city on foot. We walked all over town that day, through markets, and got some awesome Italian gear (we shopped in Rome too). Most of the day it was raining, so we bundled up, and got an umbrella since we had to hang out until 9pm when we had to catch our train. I would definitely return to Florence in a heartbeat! I'm sure there is far more there than we ever even realized. The city seemed like it had a rich culture/history to figure out that we didn't have time for.

Dec. 8 in Italy is a holiday for the Immaculate Conception. It celebrates Mary and her conception of her son Jesus Christ.

There was a parade in town that started in the Piazza Della Signoria, near the Palazzo Vecchio where the copy of the David statue stands. We were eating at a trattoria across the street and could hear the drums. We hurried to finish eating so we could see the parade, and realized they would've come right past our outdoor table.

For one of our meals in Florence I ordered the below pictured food. It was called Ricotta Cheese and Spinach Ravioli with Butter and Sage sauce. Let me tell you, this is by far the best thing I've ever eaten in the Italian food category. I've been craving it ever since Dec 8th when I had it in Florence. It was light, and filling, and amazingly delicious. Have I mentioned how awesome food is in Italy? You will not taste anything like that in any restaurant in America. If you have been to Italy and you know of a place like that here in Utah or in North America, please send the info for it my way. I couldn't believe how delicious the food was there.

Heaven on a plate. Ricotta cheese and Spinach Ravioli in Butter and Sage sauce. Delicioso!

The David Statue in front of Palazzo Vecchio at night.

After dinner and the parade disappeared, we walked around for a while longer, got our last Italian gelato, and headed to the train station. We had no idea how interesting the sleeper car train would be. To save money we booked a shared car with 6 beds. I assumed they'd give you a decent amount of space for a train. When we finally got on the train, we could barely fit our suitcases down the hallway to find our car. We opened the car's door and our car was already filled with 4 people. Alia and I looked at the space, realizing we'd barely have room to breathe, and no room to walk, and panicked. We worked our way in the room, squeezed into our beds and kept quiet.

There were a French couple and two men from India in there. The Indian men kept speaking to each other and we'd hear the word English and then they'd look at us creepily. I was too afraid to fall asleep in there, or leave Alia in there while I went to the bathroom. We sat in there for about 5 minutes before we decided to go talk to a train worker and try to get a better sleeping situation. Alia found a 27 year old Italian man named Salvatore who worked in our car and asked him to help us. We flirted a little but more actually pleaded to help get us out of that car. He was very nice and unlocked an empty one for us and kept people out of the room the whole night so we wouldn't have to share!

We let him come hang out with us a little bit until we needed sleep. We talked to him and learned about his life. He's done with college, is from Naples, and speaks French, English and Italian from working on the train. He told us Naples was a cool city but was full of a lot of trash right now, and wasn't extremely safe. He was a really nice guy and we owe him big time for saving our butts on that sleeper train!

Me kissing my free water bottle on the sleeper train once we got in our own private car. It never hurts to ask for a room change, you just might get a hookup from a young cute Italiano.

Here is what happens, when you put Alia and I in an overnight sleeper car, and we can't go to sleep.

Description of how our butts were saved.

Dance party on a train somewhere between Florence, Italy and Paris, France. Please note we are on the top bunks, completely exhausted and at some point Alia tries to do a cool hanging maneuver trick and eats it down below.

Also I snuck a video of Salvatore talking to us. It's really short and you can't see his face because I didn't want Alia or him to know so I didn't get busted!

Postcard for 12/8/10:

Today in Florence was interesting. The city has a very medieval feel to it. All the streets are very narrow and the vibe is different. more quiet and serious compared to Rome's lively, young, attractive vibe. I fell in love with the Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo) where the building is enormous, shaped like a cross and every 30 minutes the bell tower rings it's massive bells for 5 minutes! Our room had a view of the river complete with window shutters. We saw the David Statue and hit up a large street market. Saw a parade for the Dec 8 Italian holiday and spent quite a bit of time in the rain of Firenze! We were freezing! Ate great pasta, and caught a 9:30 pm overnight train. Hated the sleeping car situation until Alia got Salvatore to let have our own. 6 people in 1 room? I THINK NOT! :)