Florence and Siena

I had a wonderful time in Florence. It is a very approachable and walkable city with incredible sites. Unfortunately, it was very crowded this week before Easter so I think it lost some of its charm. I got into my hostel on Tuesday night and met some really nice people in my room. The hostel itself was very big and quite nice. I ended up spending almost no time in it over the next few days, but it had a pool, sauna, and terrace that I missed out on.

I went out exploring the city on Wednesday. I went in search of the Duomo but found San Lorenzo first. When I was standing outside of San Lorenzo, I thought, “This just can’t be it.” When I turned the corner to the Duomo, I literally said out loud, “Oh.” The Duomo has perhaps the best façade of a church that I have ever seen. It is breathtaking and so intricate. I don’t understand how they constructed that so many years ago when I couldn’t do it with a forklift today. I went to a secret ticket booth, and after a huge internal conflict about whether or not I wanted to spend 14 euros to see a museum, I bought a ticket to the Uffizi. I literally avoided over 2.5 hours of lines by reading about this secret hole-in-the-wall ticket booth online. I walked around Ponte Vecchio by the river and sat on the sloping ground outside of Pitti Palace. I loved looking at the hills over the river – the river area is usually my favorite part of cities and it was beautiful here. After several scoops of gelato and bouts of people watching, I went to the Uffizi Museum. It was filled with great Renaissance art, including Birth of Venus. I enjoyed walking around it, but almost all of the exhibitions on the first floor were closed, which was disappointing. Afterwards, I headed back to the hostel and met up with an English girl, Maria, whom I had met and two other people she had met in her hostel. We ran up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set over the city. It was definitely worth the climb. The view was incredible. I think Florence is even more beautiful from above than on street level. Then we went out to a delicious dinner at a place someone had recommended to me called The Cat and the Wolf in Italian. We shared some pasta and pizza and each other’s company, as we were all solo travelers. We got a bit lost on the way back but I eventually made it home and passed out after a very long day.

On Thursday, I took a day trip to Siena, a hill town about an hour outside of Florence. Siena has a beautiful main square called Il Campo that is a sloping semi-circle surrounded by various cafes and gelato shops. It also has a gorgeous Duomo whose outside is kind of like a miniature version of the Florence Duomo. It was very cute and intricately decorated. The inside, however, was incredible! It was one of the coolest insides of a church I have ever seen. It reminded me a little bit of Candy Land. It was very colorful and the ceiling was gorgeous. There was just so much to look at. As I was sitting outside the church after walking through it, my friend Andrea from Sevilla spotted me. I knew she was in Florence at the same time but we randomly found each other in Siena. After a few hours of reading and people watching on Il Campo, we met up again for some relaxation and pastry eating. Andrea and her friend had found this adorable pastry shop, which we went to…twice. As we were leaving the second time, the adorable girl who worked there said, “See you later.” Siena was very nice to walk around and a nice contrast to Florence because all of the buildings are made of brick. After we took the bus back to Florence, I met up with Maria again for a light dinner and to catch up on the day.

On Friday, I had a few more sites in Florence to hit up. I waited in line to see the inside of the Duomo. I’m sad to say it was very underwhelming. It was huge but very barren, really nothing special, especially compared to its outside. Then I went to the inside of San Lorenzo which was nice and free because it was Good Friday. As I went to get in line for the Medici Chapel, I spotted Maria so we walked through it together. It was pretty good – it had one very grand and unique room. Before she had to leave for her train, we got lunch at a place called Za-Za which had pictures of all the famous people who had eaten there lining the walls so it might have been something special. The food was certainly good. I had the classic fetuccini alfredo. No complaints here. After saying goodbye, I headed to Santa Croce, yet another church. I just saw the outside of it which was beautiful. I spent about half an hour wandering around trying to find this famous gelato place called Vivoli. I had been there before with friends of Wednesday but could not for the life of me find it again without asking about four different people. Eventually, I followed the scent of delicious gelato to the store and got three great flavors – egg nog, hazelnut, and rice. Rice was amazing – it was basically like a rice pudding flavor. After a bit more wandering the streets, I spent a while sitting on the steps of the Duomo and people watching. Randomly, two girls in my hostel room sat next to me and I ended up spending the next 20 hours with them. They were twins who were traveling with two other girls. We wandered around the city for a while and through San Lorenzo market, where many guys tried to sell us leather products. I resisted buying a beautiful purse but got a few watercolor prints of Florence to hang on my wall. We chilled at the hostel for a little while before heading back up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set again. It was still gorgeous the second time, but it was cloudier so there wasn’t really a sunset. We had a lot of fun there, though, and I was so glad to have company all evening. On my way to dinner with the twins, we strolled through Florence at night. It was infinitely better in the evening with fewer people. I think if the feeling and ambiance at night penetrated to during the day, I would have fell in love with the city. It was just gorgeous walking around the Duomo at night and the city felt more alive even though there were much fewer people. We ate dinner at a friendly restaurant and I had ravioli in walnut sauce. It was delicious and the sauce had a unique nutty aftertaste. We packed up at the hostel and hung out before bed.

The next morning, we got all ready to leave and the five of us went out for bagels at an adorable café. It was not an authentic bagel, but it did the trick for my bagel craving. I said goodbye to all the girls and headed to the train station. I had the best thing happen to me there. When I put my 10 euro bill in the ticket machine, it rejected it and also spit out a 20 euro note! I was so excited – my lucky day! I ran to catch the train and had trouble figuring out how to activate my ticket but made it just in time. Now I’m on my way to Pisa, pretty much just to see the Leaning Tower.