Firenze

Firenze

Arriving in Florence, Dave and I were met with the same heat we encountered in Rome. Dripping with sweat, we arrived by foot to our apartment, which we booked through hostelworld.com. At first glance it seemed alright, the host was nice enough and gave us a map along with a few tips for getting downtown to the historic center.  After settling down in the room, we decide to shower and head out right away. Nastiest shower ever. It was about one square foot and had a creepy old plastic shower curtain that kept touching me while I was showering. To top it off, when you stepped out of the shower, you were greeted with an old, dingy bathmat that immediately became sopping wet. Either way, we were excited to get out on the town quickly so we got dressed and headed out. 

Thanks to some awesome advice, Dave and I made our way to Trattoria Za-Za. The food was incredible. We started with a selection of cheeses served with tangerine jam. Then, we shared a plate of assorted 'soups' that are typical from this region. The soups were hardly soups by american standards, but rather more of a mash. We had pasta fagioli (our favorite), a mixed vegetable soup, and a Tuscan white bean with tomato. Unlike anything I have ever had. We also had mussels in white wine sauce and salmon with capers, roasted red peppers and roasted potatoes with rosemary. Best dinner ever.

After dinner, we decided to do some night time sight seeing to beat the heat. We got beautiful views of the duomo and the surrounding areas and got to walk off our dinner on the way home. 

The following morning, we woke up earlier than we had all vacation (8:00) to avoid crowds and heat and  climb the duomo. After a heavenly iced coffee and about 465 claustophobic steps we finally made it to the top and viewed beautiful panoramic sights of the whole city. On the walk down, we noticed how eerily the inside of the dome was painted. It features  images of both heaven and hell that leave an impression that will forever be burned in my brain. 

Without much time left in Firenze, we decided to skip out on the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia, which would have spent a lot of time and money, we instead picked up an awesome panini and had a picnic in the Bobli Gardens. The rest and the shade were both much needed in the scorching heat. Thanks to a damp bandana and about 6 waters each, we made it to Ponte Vecchio and enjoyed some gelato while admiring the sights and sounds along the River Arno. I love Florence.

When we got back to our terrible hostel, we found that we had been given the wrong keys and were locked out. We had a lot of difficulty getting in touch with the owners because we didn't have a telephone and because we had to ask 4 different people to use their cell phones, 2 who said no, and 1 who charged us a euro each minute (wtf?!) . We finally got in touch with the owner and after some talking with Jersey, she finally decided to come over and let us in. We grabbed our things and got out of there as fast as we could. We have yet to write the review of the accommodations, but this place is going to be ripped to shreds. 

Besides all the mess with the apartment, Florence is in the running for my favorite place visited. I loved the beautiful small streets, the relaxing atmosphere, the amazing food, and the small town italian culture. Definitely somewhere that I want to revisit. 

Things I will always remember about Firenze:
Amazing. Trattoria za-za, traditional "soups", mercato, leather, duomo at night, terrible dirty apartment, climbing the duomo at 8:30 am, gelato, bobli gardens, sandwich with pesto, wet cloth, ponte vecchio, heat, locks of love, being locked out of our apartment, loved florence