in my tree: Eurotrip '05: Florence

Fri, June 24, 2005 (Day 24)

Well unfortunately, I’m a little behind once again… but lets see what I can recall about Florence. We got in about lunchtime on the 23rd. We head for the hostel with the Tuscan sun beating down on us in what was arguably the hottest weather we’ve experienced yet (we’ve been rather fortunate to have unseasonably cool weather up to this point). Dropped the bags at the Maria Novella and headed for the Duomo (the famous church – it’s the 4th largest on earth). Absolutely beautiful – so white! I honestly looked like one of those 3D puzzles. I’m pretty sure I’ve even see it before on a store shelf! Then, as we strolled around the downtown area, we just happened to walk down near a concert venue, and were invited inside for a free concert of classical music! How do you like that? It was great… the musicians were phenomenal. Our first night trying to sleep in the hot weather without A/C was pretty brutal. Think intense sweating with no sign of relief. I guess it was cool we got our own room tho.

The next day was much the same, except that June 24th is the regional holiday in Florence! (Think Regatta Day home, except bigger). We got to see a pretty cool parade which wound through the city. We headed down to see Michelangelo’s David, and then hiked up a large hill on the Southeastern side of the city to Piazza Michelangelo for some fantastic photos and views of the city. You don’t really appreciate how large the Duomo is until you see it from above. It dwarfs everything in sight.

We headed on back home, got some grub, met up with some American hostel-mates (Texas and DC), grabbed some local booze and headed on down to the main street along the north side of the river. We were told that this would be the best vantage point for viewing the Fireworks display that we were told would be pretty intense. They didn’t disappoint. I’ve never seen fireworks like that in my life. Man… the Chinese aint got nothing on these Italians! There had to be 7 or 8 finales! It must have lasted for near on an hour! Afterwards we moseyed on back to the hostel, as we had an early train to catch to Rome. Florence was beautiful. Oh, that Tuscan sun.