Florence

Ok sooo….. Siena didn’t work out like we had hoped. Since we had hour and half delays everywhere, we were forced to skip it (with hopes of making a day trip from Roma) and stay a couple of days early… I know, I know, you feel bad for us, but don’t worry I’m sure we get over it eventually… we’re soo deprived.

It actually worked out well though, because for some reason both of us have come down with a good head cold (and I better not hear one of you say we deserve it… whether we do or not). So after Jeannie being conked out for a day, I was… and so by the end of it, we would have been in Florence anyway.

I enjoyed this city a lot more this time around than the last… although not getting my camera stolen was very probably a big part of this. We hit everything… well ok most everything. Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo (damn stairs still under construction… grrr), il Duomo, Santa Croche, piazza Republica, piazza Signoria, The Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Strussi, Hospital of the Innocents, you know mostly everything.

We didn’t make it to the Boboli Gardens or the Piazzale Michangelo or Chapelle Medici this time, but that’s ok. Oh yeah and we of course went shopping… I swear this is the one place in the world I will never be able to stay on budget… now ask me if I care…

You know one thing I love about Italy is that for the price of two beers you can get a liter of casa rossa and get at least 6 good glasses of wine out of it… on a side note red wine seems to do wonders for my cold… hey I’m not going to complain.

One thing I love about this city is its youth. For a place that served as the birthplace for perhaps the most significant period of art of all-time, and for it be still so filled with a vibrant youth and collegiate community it is just awesome. Although I do have say it seems most of the other Americans we meet over here tend to make complete asses of themselves, but hey if you listen to the Italians that is what we do best anyway…

I think the things I appreciate most about Florence are all the great loggias (a kind of colonnaded porch) and the public artworks. The Hospital of the Innocents, piazza de Republica’s arc de triumph, piazza de Signoria, and the Uffizi, all have great loggias attached to them. Whether they are intended for fresh air and a breeze (Hospital), or as a place to promenade (arc de triumph and Uffizi), or as a place to display works of art (piazza de Signoria), all of them become produce air of openness and comfort that has become one of the city’s hallmarks.

Now we are off to Roma… ahh fair city of my heart…