Hey guys! I'm on a train once again but this time I'm on a train from Venice back to Rome. I didn't get a chance to write about Florence on the train ride from Florence to Venice so I'm going to write about it now and write about Venice and my last day in Rome when I get a chance. On a side note, I heard that yesterday there was a huge earthquake 60 miles outside of Rome. As you probably already know because you are reading these words, I am completely fine. I was in Venice when it happened which is a good 5 hours by train from Rome. One of the only reasons I knew that there was an earthquake in Italy was because I received some nervous emails asking me if everything is all right. Thanks be to God, but Kels, Steph, Sarah and I didn't feel a thing and were completely unaffected by it.
On Friday night, we arrived in Rome and took a taxi to our hostel. It has been a huge blessing that the majority of people that we have encountered here have spoke English, but this was not the case with the gentleman who was running the taxi. We just pointed to the address and he took us to our hostel. When we got there, I opened the door to get out and he said something to me in Italian. I think he told me to either close or open the door to the car. I obviously didn't understand so he started SCREAMING the same thing over and over again to me. So I just got out of the car. I thought "sure, buddy, just scream louder and then I'll magically understand what you're saying". That night, we met up with Stephanie's dad and sister. They had actually been in Seville a few days earlier to visit Steph and then went to Italy afterwards and we were in Florence on the same day. We also met up with Steph's friend, Alex from her sorority, who is studying in Florence for the semester. It was really nice to talk to someone who knew their way around and had no problem showing us all the right places to go to see, eat and hang out. That night all 7 of us went to dinner and then went to a bar to have a drink.
That next morning, we met up with Steph's dad and sister to have a quick lunch, cappuccino and dessert before the two of them left for Rome. Before coming to Italy, I knew that there were a few things that I needed to eat because they were Italian and cappuccinos were high on my list. Obviously, pizza, pasta and gelato are also on my list and I cannot even explain to you how much I have been eating of all of them. Anyway, this afternoon we went to a cappuccino bar that probably had the best cappuccino I've ever had in my life. For the much of the rest of the day, we just wandered around Florence. It seems like Florence is the Italian version of Seville. While there were differences between the two of them, Florence REALLY reminded me of Seville. For example, it's based next to a river, it's main attraction is a huge cathedral, MANY Americans study there and you can walk absolutely everywhere in the whole city within 40 minutes. The weather wasn't amazing on Saturday, it was a little dreary and rainy, but it fit the city perfectly. It gave the entire city a green, grey and brown shade. We went to a huge outdoor market (very common in Europe)and visited the Duomo (the huge cathedral). My favorite part of the day was hiking up to La Piazza de Michelangelo. From the Piazza, we could see a view of the entire city. The other cool thing about Florence is that it is surrounded by mountains, so it seems like a mixture between Salzburg and Seville. We hiked up a little more to a church that gave us an even better view. For some reason, at the church there were a lot of groups of Italian teenagers who were calling us really bad names (none of them that I will mention here) simply because we were there . We never really knew why, we literally just walked by them and had multiple people cuss at us (maybe it was the flip flops, they're not well-liked in Europe). I didn't let that take away from the breathtaking view on the steps of the church. Not only could you see all of Florence, but you could also see the deep green hillsides that surrounded it. That night, we met up with Alex again, went to a few bars and ended our night at a dance club called Space. It was a little funny because Sarah didn't know that the club was called "Space" so we were at one bar and I said "I really want to go to Space" and then Sarah starts this whole conversation about how she thought that being an astronaut would be terrifying. It was only when we got to the club that she realized I was talking about the club and not outer space.
The next day we woke up and we knew that we had to move kind of fast because we had to catch a train to Venice that afternoon. Florence is the historical and current center of Italian art and it is famous for all of its art museums, mainly the Academy Gallery which has Michelangelo's David. We started our day bright and early and walked over to the Ufizzi Museum which is famous for its works by Raphael, Michelangelo and Botelli. We had heard that the line was about a half and hour long. Turns out that it was about 4 and a half hours. Thankfully, after standing in line for 45 minutes with it barely moving, we bought a pass that lets you come back at a specified time. So we were able to walk around the city for a few hours and then come back. I got to the "The Birth of Venice" and I've decided that Botticelli is my favorite artist (even though I don't think that I had one before). I've never been a huge fan of art, but Botticelli blew me away. I was convinced I could have stayed there for hours staring at one piece where the Angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary. Sadly, I had to tear myself away because we needed to get to the David before our train left. While part of it seemed a little silly to stand in an hour line to see a statue, but Michelangelo does not disappoint. I know that this is pretty general, but this statue was a recreation of probably the most perfect, beautiful human I have ever seen in my life. We sat there for a good half hour just staring at the body wondering HOW Michelangelo made his skin and his muscles SO realistic. It's obviously stone, but it really looks like his surface is flesh and bone. It's seriously magic. Plus, it's a LOT bigger than I thought it would be. It was overwhelming. I'm officially a HUGE fan. That afternoon, we got on our train to Venice. I should also mention that in between just about everything we did in Florence, we stopped for gelato (Walk around, stop of gelato, hike to piazza, gelato, museum, gelato, David, gelato, etc.) Europe has gelato everywhere, but Florence tops them all. I'm sure my arteries are clogged, but hey, you're only in Italy once ;).
On Friday night, we arrived in Rome and took a taxi to our hostel. It has been a huge blessing that the majority of people that we have encountered here have spoke English, but this was not the case with the gentleman who was running the taxi. We just pointed to the address and he took us to our hostel. When we got there, I opened the door to get out and he said something to me in Italian. I think he told me to either close or open the door to the car. I obviously didn't understand so he started SCREAMING the same thing over and over again to me. So I just got out of the car. I thought "sure, buddy, just scream louder and then I'll magically understand what you're saying". That night, we met up with Stephanie's dad and sister. They had actually been in Seville a few days earlier to visit Steph and then went to Italy afterwards and we were in Florence on the same day. We also met up with Steph's friend, Alex from her sorority, who is studying in Florence for the semester. It was really nice to talk to someone who knew their way around and had no problem showing us all the right places to go to see, eat and hang out. That night all 7 of us went to dinner and then went to a bar to have a drink.
That next morning, we met up with Steph's dad and sister to have a quick lunch, cappuccino and dessert before the two of them left for Rome. Before coming to Italy, I knew that there were a few things that I needed to eat because they were Italian and cappuccinos were high on my list. Obviously, pizza, pasta and gelato are also on my list and I cannot even explain to you how much I have been eating of all of them. Anyway, this afternoon we went to a cappuccino bar that probably had the best cappuccino I've ever had in my life. For the much of the rest of the day, we just wandered around Florence. It seems like Florence is the Italian version of Seville. While there were differences between the two of them, Florence REALLY reminded me of Seville. For example, it's based next to a river, it's main attraction is a huge cathedral, MANY Americans study there and you can walk absolutely everywhere in the whole city within 40 minutes. The weather wasn't amazing on Saturday, it was a little dreary and rainy, but it fit the city perfectly. It gave the entire city a green, grey and brown shade. We went to a huge outdoor market (very common in Europe)and visited the Duomo (the huge cathedral). My favorite part of the day was hiking up to La Piazza de Michelangelo. From the Piazza, we could see a view of the entire city. The other cool thing about Florence is that it is surrounded by mountains, so it seems like a mixture between Salzburg and Seville. We hiked up a little more to a church that gave us an even better view. For some reason, at the church there were a lot of groups of Italian teenagers who were calling us really bad names (none of them that I will mention here) simply because we were there . We never really knew why, we literally just walked by them and had multiple people cuss at us (maybe it was the flip flops, they're not well-liked in Europe). I didn't let that take away from the breathtaking view on the steps of the church. Not only could you see all of Florence, but you could also see the deep green hillsides that surrounded it. That night, we met up with Alex again, went to a few bars and ended our night at a dance club called Space. It was a little funny because Sarah didn't know that the club was called "Space" so we were at one bar and I said "I really want to go to Space" and then Sarah starts this whole conversation about how she thought that being an astronaut would be terrifying. It was only when we got to the club that she realized I was talking about the club and not outer space.
The next day we woke up and we knew that we had to move kind of fast because we had to catch a train to Venice that afternoon. Florence is the historical and current center of Italian art and it is famous for all of its art museums, mainly the Academy Gallery which has Michelangelo's David. We started our day bright and early and walked over to the Ufizzi Museum which is famous for its works by Raphael, Michelangelo and Botelli. We had heard that the line was about a half and hour long. Turns out that it was about 4 and a half hours. Thankfully, after standing in line for 45 minutes with it barely moving, we bought a pass that lets you come back at a specified time. So we were able to walk around the city for a few hours and then come back. I got to the "The Birth of Venice" and I've decided that Botticelli is my favorite artist (even though I don't think that I had one before). I've never been a huge fan of art, but Botticelli blew me away. I was convinced I could have stayed there for hours staring at one piece where the Angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary. Sadly, I had to tear myself away because we needed to get to the David before our train left. While part of it seemed a little silly to stand in an hour line to see a statue, but Michelangelo does not disappoint. I know that this is pretty general, but this statue was a recreation of probably the most perfect, beautiful human I have ever seen in my life. We sat there for a good half hour just staring at the body wondering HOW Michelangelo made his skin and his muscles SO realistic. It's obviously stone, but it really looks like his surface is flesh and bone. It's seriously magic. Plus, it's a LOT bigger than I thought it would be. It was overwhelming. I'm officially a HUGE fan. That afternoon, we got on our train to Venice. I should also mention that in between just about everything we did in Florence, we stopped for gelato (Walk around, stop of gelato, hike to piazza, gelato, museum, gelato, David, gelato, etc.) Europe has gelato everywhere, but Florence tops them all. I'm sure my arteries are clogged, but hey, you're only in Italy once ;).
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