Firenze

We were sad to leave Rome, but were also really excited for our second stop, Florence, or Firenze in Italian.  Florence was much smaller than Rome and our hotel was centrally located so we were able to walk everywhere.  Nate and I figure that in Florence and Venice we probably walked an average of 15-20 miles a day... at least.  It was nice to not have to take the bus.

My first real train ride.  It was probably the nicest one of our trip.  We sat next to this sweet lady from Sicily and we were able to communicate with her pretty well with the little English she knew, the even littler Italian that we knew and some pretty awesome hand motions.  Again one of my favorite people that we met on the trip.

Our first stop was to see this guy.  I didn't take this picture, as we weren't allowed to.  (Many places were like this.)  It was amazing and much larger than I had imagined.  It was so cool that people chatted in the other rooms of the museum, but the minute they came to David everyone was silent.  Michelangelo was one talented guy.  And after being disappointed with my experience in the Sistine Chapel (it was so crowded, noisy and dark there) it was nice to have a good experience here.

More gelato... we had it everyday.  And it was amazing.  I'm not the biggest ice cream fan and I'd hear people talk about gelato and I thought, "Ice cream is ice cream."  Boy was I wrong.  I don't know how they do it, but I don't think I will ever be satisfied with American ice cream again.  My favorites were Chocolate Hazelnut, Pistachio (seriously amazing), and strawberry, although they were all really good.  

Seriously, how lucky am I?

Okay, so I hate this picture (remember what I told you about the hair?)  But I had to put it up because this was one of my other favorite people.  We purchased some small watercolors from this artist... the best we'd seen in all of Florence... and trust me we looked everywhere.  

Nate and I had the most horrible luck when it came to food.  Not only is Italian food... dare I say it... extremely overrated (and I love my pasta!) but we would see food that looked really good and we would plan to go back.  But when we'd get hungry we'd search forever trying to find it.  We'd finally give in and eat somewhere that wasn't very good.  Then immediately after eating we'd find the place we were looking for in the first place! 

 (Oh, and this is right after getting hit up for money by some gypsies.  Funny story... Nate is stingy with his money (He once was asked at Safeway if he would donate his change, which was $0.03, to some cause and he said, "no.")  So this woman comes up to us begging for money.  I politely said "no", but Nate reached into his pocket.  I was surprised.  When Nate put his change in her cup her smile immediately disappeared.  I asked him how much he gave her and he replied, "One US penny and a .05E."  That's right folks about 8 US cents. 

I have no idea what church this is.

One of many adorable windows in Italy.  My dream is to have a house with windows like these.

Me outside Basilica de San Lorenzo.

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, depicting 10 scenes from the Old Testament.  Funny right after this picture a tour guide moved in with her group and Nate was stuck there for 10 minutes until she was done with her explanation.  We really grew to hate guided tours.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, more commonly known as the Duomo.

Another view.

Nate waiting to get inside.

The stained glass windows inside the Duomo.

Another one.

The cool skeleton man painted in the dome there.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Novella.

A cute street.

Our awesome bathtub.  It had a hook on the wall to hang the shower head, but no curtains so it was impossible to not get water everywhere.  We just embraced being in a different culture and used it like this.

I apologize in advance for the kissing... we're dorks and thought it would be fun to end each video with a kiss, not thinking that we would post these on a blog.  And I don't know how to cut it out (if someone knows how I wouldn't be opposed to it)... sorry!

Coming soon: Cinque Terra.