So, we're in Florence. Florence turned out to be, without a doubt, one of my favorite cities ever. I was slightly skeptical, as I'd heard a few times that the city was overrated. I couldn't disagree more.
We spent four days in Florence, so I don't want to give a play-by-play, but I'll leave you with a few of the highlights for me.
One was, without a doubt, our campground. We were staying in a house-tent, which is basically a very sturdy and thick tent. Now, it was late October and early November, so this wasn't exactly the warmest situation. However, we got a whole bunch of blankets so it turned out pretty well. And the view, as you've seen, made everything worth it. We also met some pretty cool people there - we ended mostly hanging out with three Australians and a New Zealander - a couple in their early twenties, then two 30-somethings. Every night we'd meet up for Uno, then a couple times we ventured out to find a wine cellar.
Another was the wine - I had the first white wine I've ever liked, as well as some delicious reds. Mediterranean wine is somehow really different from Hungarian wine. The whites were without a doubt better - Hungarian only has one white-growing region, and I find it really quite mediocre. Too sweet. I do like Hungarian reds though; I was happy to return to my Egri Bikaver. Yes, I'm becoming a bit of a wine snob.
One of the other things I loved, and I know this is a bit unspecific, was just the nature of the city. One afternoon I ended up wandering the city by myself. I have no idea where I ended up, but I found this beautiful little outdoor flea market.
It was closed, but I could still peer into the shops, which were just packed with tons of fun junk.
The city just seemed to be packed with gems like this. I'm a big fan of cities where it feels like people actually live, as opposed to cities that seem to be simply vacation spots or tourist destinations. Now, around the Duomo (we'll get to that), of course Florence was simply a tourist destination. However, unlike Prague or even Dublin, I felt that I could find the part that wasn't that. It wasn't even hard to find - it was there for anyone willing to stroll out of the Piazza Duomo and open their eyes a little.
Okay. The Duomo.
Now, to me, for whatever reason, this seemed like a place that was totally fake - it just existed in Art History books or something. But, actually, its a real place. I've been there. I've been inside.
I even went to mass there. On All Saint's Day. Actually, it was my first mass, which was quite an experience. It was a really fascinating and, to me, fairly incomprehensible combination of ritual, religion, performance, show, and splendor. I had this bizarre feeling of being included in something ancient combined with my skepticism about the Catholic Church. I really enjoyed it.
Another highlight, and I'm sure this goes without saying, was the food. Our best meal was in this tiny little hole in the wall. You walk in and you're seated with whomever happens to have an open space. The first half of our meal was with two other American tourists, and the second half was with Italian businessmen. The pasta was amazing. Dan's meal was great - fried beef with an absolutely incredible sauce. I don't like tomatoes much, but Italy can feed me tomatoes any time it wants. I ordered tongue. Like that thing in your mouth. It actually ended up being pretty good - hard to get used to, and the parts that weren't very meaty were kind of gross, but there were sections in there that were absolutely to die for. We also had biscotti with sweet wine which was a really nice light dessert. Our second best meal was in Siena, where they made the most delicious homemade pasta I've ever had. I had ravioli. No ravioli will ever be the same again.
Now for my favorite part of Florence. I don't have any pictures of this, so I'll just include my favorite online image.
Yes, Michelangelo's David. This completely surprised me. I knew going that I wanted to see him. However, I didn't expect to be so impressed.
Now, the David is HUGE. He's probably 1.5-2 times the size of a normal human being, and he's placed up on a pedestal. He's also absolutely gorgeous. Michelangelo knew how to make a man. Alone, I know I'd be impressed. However, I think the that the Galleria d'Academia, where he is located, knows how to do art. David is located at the end of a fairly long corridor, which is lined with six unfinished Michelangelo sculptures.
This setup definitely enhances the experience. First of all, the unfinished sculptures are incredible. They seem to be coming out of the stone just like a ghost would walk through walls or a person would walk through a waterfall. I snuck into a bit of an english-language tour, and one of hte main parts I heard was the tour guide explaining Michelangelo's theory of sculpture, which was that you simply needed to peel away the stone to allow its true shape to appear. Looking at his unfinished sculptures, some of which were unfinished because he died and others because he simply abandoned them, this was definitely the sense I experienced.
Also, looking at the unfinished works made the David that much more impressive. I really realized how incredible it is that any of these scultpures came out of one block of stone. These stones are HUGE. Also, David looks real. He doesnt look like any work could have possibly gone into him. He looks effortless. The contrast is amazing.
Alright, enough of my little art history paper. Lets move to Siena.
I, honestly, was not impressed with Siena. I had heard amazing things, but it seemed to me to be more touristy than Florence, with less reason. The central square was beautiful with all its burnt sienna coloring, but packed with people.
The main church was beautiful. It was zebra striped, which was just cool, and the entire floor was covered with marble arranged in scenes, which is amazing.
However, the lines were long, it was a bit expensive, and one cool church is not enough to warrant 839289214 tourists covering an entire, tiny city. I feel like such a spoilsport saying that, but hey. Maybe it was just the contrast between Florence and Siena that didn't quite work for me. Who knows.
That night we took a night train back to Milan, which consisted of spending from 1AM-4AM in the Bologna train station, then flew out in the morning.
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