.. Ok it appears that the Italian free to air channels only show the last game of each day - no fun! Guess Stu will have to settle for the live online updates for now. Fingers crossed Australia has better luck this game!
Anyway back to the blog. So today is the last day of our 3 day stint in Florence and what a fantastic time we've had - this place is amazing! I think the best way to describe Florence would be "a quaint Tuscan town with the pulse of Rome". Not sure if that makes sense but what i'm trying to say is that Florence is ancient and modern all at the same time. As Stu mentioned in our last blog, our hotel is right on the Arno river near the famous Ponte Vecchio so we've got a great base camp to explore from.
We arrived by bus around lunch time on Thursday and were greeted with grey storms clouds - oh no! Having a vague idea where the bus dropped us, we headed in the direction of the river dragging out luggage behind us along the small cobbled pavements (and prayed that the rain would hold out). About 5 blocks and 4 dead arms later, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. Dumping our bags we headed straight out towards the Ponte Vecchio when it starts to rain.. hard! Ducking into a cafe for a sandwich the heavens open will full force; rain, hail, thunder and lightening! Lets say we ate pretty slow! Once the weather had died down we headed back out into the streets (umbrella's at the ready) to check out the famous jewellers of the Ponte Vecchio! Amazing stuff there girls...
From there we headed towards the Duomo to climb Brunelleschi's famous dome (al a Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour). As we pay the entrance fee we see a sign "450+ steps to the top" - argh! Heading up the steps everything seemed ok... until we got to the tiny, claustrophobic stone spiral staircase! We kept climbing and climbing the tiny windowless staircase (ok there were the occasional windows but nowhere near enough for my claustrophobic liking) until we reached the platform into interior dome. As we walked through the door we were hit with a beautiful fresco painting on the dome ceiling (see facebook shots). The walkway covered 180 degrees of the dome, giving us a great view of the art work in all it's glory. We were then back into a tiny corridor to continue our climb to the top - and what a climb it was. Up and up we went between the inner and outer domes for what felt like forever until we finally reach the top. What a view - definitely worth the 8 euro and mental anguish (for me anyway). Just now to survive the narrow corridors and stairwells on the way down.... (which we did). Actually I have to add here that on the way down we were almost died... not by falling, not by a claustrophobic panic attack but by a tourist who decided that the windowless, narrow stairwell would be a good time to drop a fart. Lucky there were no children around, it smell so bad that I think it could have killed a small child. Lets just say this fart was so bad it would have turned Stu into an Ambipure air-freshener by comparison! But enough about farts... arriving at the bottom (no pun intended) it was soon dinner time and we decided to hunt out the infamous Florentine Streak! After some google research of the local restaurants we settled on Acqua il 2 and were not disappointed! You must all research the receipe for Balsamic Steak and make it right away... AMAZING! A perfect end to a perfect afternoon in Florence!
Day 2... the day had finally arrived that I had been so looking forward to since Rome... our outing to THE MALL! Eeeeeee (that's my excitement)! We headed back to the bus terminal we were dropped yesterday and bought two tickets to Leccio! Next bus 30 mins... YAY! Boarding the bus I noticed that we weren't the only tourists there... in fact the whole bus was FULL of tourists (mostly women and the occasional stylish male), all with credit cards at the ready! After a quick dash down the Autostrade (read: highway) we had arrived and my shopping adventure began... and continued for the next 6 hours (with a detour to D&G thanks to a local taxi driver). All I can say is thank you Stu for all your patience and for carrying my bags around. Let's just say it wasn't really Stu's scene. He did like the meat platter we got for lunch though so all was not lost right Stu!? Before I knew it (and for what felt like hours to Stu) we were back on the bus to Florence and were planning our evening; aperitivo at the hotel, blog/photo update and dinner / watch the England match. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with our dinner this night (nor was England with their performance) - back to Acqua il 2 tomorrow night me thinks?
Day 3... today was booked in to explore Florence a little more (and to give my credit card a rest). Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and our umbrellas we out for another day on the town. We started our exploration on the otherside of the river, searching for Brunelleschi's less famous mini dome (as seen on Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour). Having no idea where it was we kept walking until we stumbled on S. Spirito, an unassuming church which turned out to hold many amazing art works under the dome designed by Mr. Brunelleschi himself (well he designed the whole church). Lucky find. From here we headed back across the Ponte Vecchio in search of the San Lorenzo food market and hopefully a cheap lunch. One hour and one crappy stylized map later we still hadn't found the market and popped into what we though was a small pizza joint for refuge and a cheap lunch. What a fantastic place this turned out to be! Not only was it not "a small pizza joint" (it was a really cool artsy restaurant) the food was both cheap AND amazing! Best pizza / pasta yet! Tummies full, we headed back out into the rain to check out some more sights; S. Maria Novella church, San Lorenzo food market (we found it), the outdoor markets and finally the Santa Croce, final resting place for many greats; Michaelangelo and Galileo included. The tombs in this church were so beautiful - you can see all the pictures in the facebook link below. Michaelangelo's tomb was the most impressive however as his was made of Porphyry! This is the super expensive marble that we learnt about in the Vatican! A great monument to a great artist and sculptor! Well I guess that's all for now.... we're off to Venice tomorrow! Can't wait! Until next time..... ARRIVDERCI!!
To view our photos CLICK HERE or go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=442575&id=664955104&l=dd390e1059
No comments:
Post a Comment