The failed Blog...
So yes, I have let my blog down. Who new that life could keep a person so busy? I had originally decided to call the Europe vacation blog a disaster and move on, but after looking over my lasts posts I would like to finish writing about it. So today we are moving on to the next stop after Nice.... Florence, Italy!
Lately after sitting up late nights sifting through the economics of American history and trying to understand the concept of the time value of money, all I can think about is my trip to Europe. I feel I've left a best friend behind somewhere. I'm hoping the perfect way to revisit this friend is to present in my blog.
Florence . . .
This is where we arrived first once we were finally able to make it to the city (trying to get a train in and out of Italy was a nightmare. First we had to take a small train over the border of France, then get that train to another station, then we finally got on a bigger train to Florence. What should have taken us 2-3 hours took us 4-6. blah)
This being The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore or, just the Duomo.
Our intentions when we first got to Florence was to stay for three days, one of which we had just used on traveling there. We wanted to see the Duomo, The Academia (has the statue of David), and Ufizi Gallery (has the Birth of Venus). That morning we woke up to find a three hour wait at The Academia and no reservations. So we moved on to The Duomo. Here we found another three hour wait to go inside the cathedral, but funny enough, only a fifteen minute wait to climb the four hundred plus steps to the top of the tower. This is where we started. The first view shot you see is from the tower, and the second two taken from the top of the Duomo (a slightly longer line to climb more steps).
Once we had finished the Duomo we decided to not stand in line for the cathedral. You get to peek at it when you enter the Duomo and we'd seen enough cathedrals to last us a while :)
We made our way to The Ufizi Gallery to find another three hour line waiting for us, so we made our way to Ponte Vecchio!
It's a famous bridge that sells lots of expensive things (stores on the bridge included a Tiffany's and Cartier). It was a very pretty area and this is where we bought authentic Italian silk ties for all the boys in the family! (we also found them for half the price in a market the next day).
We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and eating the most delicious Gellato (ice cream) in the world!
That night we met some great people at the hostel we were staying at and planned to go to Pisa in the morning (even though Alex and I had reserved a hotel room there, we quickly cancelled it to stay another night in Florence). When morning came around there was no one waiting at 8 am in the lobby (duh, not only were they from Spain but they were all college age, why would we think they'd be here this early?) Alex and I weren't much for waiting when we had the whole city ahead of us, so we went to ask our front desk guy to make reservations for us (well he offered to, it was really cool) at the two galleries we wanted to go see. We were able to skip the line and see the Ufizi Gallery first, which was okay, and then see the Academia with the statue of David. It was honestly the most amazing piece of art I had ever seen.
The next day we went to Greve in Chianti to a wine tasting museum. I of course forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. It really would have been some great pictures too. We coasted in a nice air conditioned bus along the Tuscan country side for about an hour and the museum was so awesome. They give you a glass and you pay for a 10, 15, or 20 euro card. You insert this card above the bottle you want, which gives you a price per taste, and out spits premium Italian wine into your glass. We felt like wine experts by the time we left (I'm sure the confidence didn't come from all the wine we drank) and went back to Florence to take a very deserved nap. The next day we were off to Pisa to take a few quick pictures and then hop on a train to Rome!
Lately after sitting up late nights sifting through the economics of American history and trying to understand the concept of the time value of money, all I can think about is my trip to Europe. I feel I've left a best friend behind somewhere. I'm hoping the perfect way to revisit this friend is to present in my blog.
Florence . . .
This being The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore or, just the Duomo.
Our intentions when we first got to Florence was to stay for three days, one of which we had just used on traveling there. We wanted to see the Duomo, The Academia (has the statue of David), and Ufizi Gallery (has the Birth of Venus). That morning we woke up to find a three hour wait at The Academia and no reservations. So we moved on to The Duomo. Here we found another three hour wait to go inside the cathedral, but funny enough, only a fifteen minute wait to climb the four hundred plus steps to the top of the tower. This is where we started. The first view shot you see is from the tower, and the second two taken from the top of the Duomo (a slightly longer line to climb more steps).
Once we had finished the Duomo we decided to not stand in line for the cathedral. You get to peek at it when you enter the Duomo and we'd seen enough cathedrals to last us a while :)
We made our way to The Ufizi Gallery to find another three hour line waiting for us, so we made our way to Ponte Vecchio!
We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and eating the most delicious Gellato (ice cream) in the world!
That night we met some great people at the hostel we were staying at and planned to go to Pisa in the morning (even though Alex and I had reserved a hotel room there, we quickly cancelled it to stay another night in Florence). When morning came around there was no one waiting at 8 am in the lobby (duh, not only were they from Spain but they were all college age, why would we think they'd be here this early?) Alex and I weren't much for waiting when we had the whole city ahead of us, so we went to ask our front desk guy to make reservations for us (well he offered to, it was really cool) at the two galleries we wanted to go see. We were able to skip the line and see the Ufizi Gallery first, which was okay, and then see the Academia with the statue of David. It was honestly the most amazing piece of art I had ever seen.
The next day we went to Greve in Chianti to a wine tasting museum. I of course forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. It really would have been some great pictures too. We coasted in a nice air conditioned bus along the Tuscan country side for about an hour and the museum was so awesome. They give you a glass and you pay for a 10, 15, or 20 euro card. You insert this card above the bottle you want, which gives you a price per taste, and out spits premium Italian wine into your glass. We felt like wine experts by the time we left (I'm sure the confidence didn't come from all the wine we drank) and went back to Florence to take a very deserved nap. The next day we were off to Pisa to take a few quick pictures and then hop on a train to Rome!
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