After saying my goodbyes to Derek, Abby, Becca, Sterling and Shanti, I took off to Florence and began the segment of my trip that I would complete on my own. Although I was traveling alone, I was by no means lonely as my hostel was very conducive to meeting people. Surprisingly, these people were all Canadian and I was outnumbered 6:1. I don’t think I’ve ever taken part of a conversation with more mispronunciations of the words “out” and “shout” or have heard more people say, “eh” in my life. All was well though and we enjoyed the nightlife of Florence together.
Unfortunately we were all on different sleep patterns, so after waking up before my northern neighbors I toured Florence solo. Without a Rick Steve’s handy or any real knowledge of the city, I probably could not tell you any of the names of the places that I went except for the Medici Chapel, but that does not make them any less spectacular. After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly, I found myself staring at an enormous green and white, marble, Gothic cathedral. The line in front of it was huge, so I figured it had to be of significant importance and that I had to go in. 30 minutes in line and then 463 stairs later and I was standing at the highest point of the city – the top of the Duomo. The red rooftops of Florence continued on for seemingly forever until they reached the foothills of the mountains. Honestly, I feel like all city overviews are pretty similar, but this one was distinct because it came with an up close view of the painting on the interior of the dome and a damned good quad workout. After snapping a few pictures, I went back down to ground level and continued wandering. Only in Florence can you stumble into an enormous plaza filled with Michelangelo and other Renaissance sculptures, including an exact replica of the David. Can’t say that happens much in Atlanta. The most interesting thing I saw in Florence was something I never expected to be there: a special art exhibit they had on Picasso, Miro, and Dali. They had a vast collection of the Spanish artists’ works on lease and traced their friendships and how they created the origins of cubism. Although Dali and Miro are more known as surrealists than cubists, the three artists were closely connected and influenced one another a great deal throughout their careers.
After visiting Rome, I presumed that I would never find better cuisine on my trip than that of the pizza / pasta / Panini / doner kebab that I had there. That opinion was short-lived. When I was actually trying to go somewhere and knew my desired route, I (predictably) made a wrong turn and started navigating small side streets. Either that, or I was following my instinctive nose instead of the highlighted route on my map. In the most unassuming of places, I found an open market much like the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid; however, instead of tapas, empanadas and Mahou cerveza, it was a slow-cooked Florentine steak sandwich, gelato and Birra Moretti. Apparently the stand I went to is pretty reputable because I saw a few tour guides taking their group there, but it was cheap and delicious.
I wish I could have spent more time in Florence, as it was a fascinating city that I only small a small part of, but I think I saw most of the highlights as well as discovered some of its small secrets. I'll still mark it down as a place I'd love to go to again.
No comments:
Post a Comment