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Florence, Italy
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This place was Amazing
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This is my cupboard in Florence
Florence was absolutely awesome. I hit Florence in the late evening and wanted to find my hotel right away. I found it in record time, it was only 3 blocks away form the station, and set up my base of operations. It was called Hotel Rex and it appeared nice when I checked in. The manager spoke good english which was a good sign, They served breakfast which was a better sign, and I got a 50% discount for having a ISIC card which was the best sign of them all that this was a good place. My cubbyhole of a room was boiling hot though. By this time I am used to not having air conditoning so it was fine. I wanted to get out and explore so off I went. The closer I got to the Duomo, the more english I heard being spoken. I realized that Florence is actually just a Little America in diquise. I latched onto the first Americans I found because after a couple of weeks of Italian T.V. and broken english, real english is like a gift from heaven. I found these people from California and we talked about what was going on in the world for about an hour. The Italian News stations are only useful if you know Italian, which I don't. The city at night was incradible because they were still vendors set up, people walking around, and nice cafes set up for business everywhere. I ended picking this cafe next to my hotel where I had some of the best prosuitto pizza I have had yet (prosuitto is ham). I went back to my hotel to get a shower and some sleep. The 'bathroom' was about as big as the vaccum closet at my house. There was a sink, toilet, and shower all in a 5 ft. by 3 ft. area. I kid you not check out the pictures. I knew it was small when you can sit on the toilet and take a shower at the same time. The next morning I started out at the Duomo and Baptistery. I got to see the 'Gates of Paradise' without anyone else in my way. See it in the morning because the crowds come around noon. I decided to try my luck at the Uffizi line. It didn't appear to big so I jumped in. I started talking with this lady in front of me. She was a teacher from Minnesota that has taught for the past 2 years in Shanghi. I ended up waiting in line for 3 whole hours. Our part of the line became like a family because with 3 hours around each other we knew everybody. When we got to the front of the line, some people tried to jump the ropes and cut in. 2 women next to me were not having any of that. They ran after them and started yelling. THe guards came and finally escorted them out. The women returned triumphally back to the line to the sound of applause. I don't know how they expected to get away with it because like I said before we had 3 hours to wait so we had nothing better to do than watch and talk and also by that time we were so tired of waiting, the prospect of taking out our anger seemed pretty inviting. The meusem was awesome!! There was Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus' and 'Primavera' and Da Vinci's 'Annunciation' and many other stars of art. In the mean time I had missed my reservation for 11:00Am to get into Accademia. I thought that I would plead ignorance and give it a shot anyway. I hiked over there and jumped into line. Some guy came up to me and asked if I was a Phi Delt. I was wearing a Phi Delt shirt and he had seen it. I said yes I was and we starting talking. His name was Adam Pumphrey and he was a Phi Delt at Ohio State. After talking for a couple of minutes he invited me to meet his family that was in front of me. They were really nice people. There was him, a younger brother, an older sister, and his parents. We started talking about the states, and what I was doing in Italy, and other stuff. When his dad heard I was a mechanical and aeronautical engineer he perked up. He asked what I wanted to do with my degree. I said probably go into the space sector somewhere. He said that he worked for General Electric and works on the jet engine projects in Cinnicinati. He gave me his email and told me to keep in touch and he might have something for me after I get out of school. I have been looking at GE for a job oppurtunity after school, so this was lucky day. Michelangelo's 'David' was incredible. You are not supposed to take pictures but I didn't care. When taking pictures of things you are not supposed to keep this in mind: boldness is golden. Don't hanng around just waiting for the right time or take the shot from you hip or something. Just take the picture, if they tell you that you are not supposed to take pictures than ok so what. They do not make you erase the pictures so as long as they don't kick you out then there is really no harm done on your part. Just always make sure that the flash is off. The flash can actually do damage you art and some other things. So I finally had to leave the Pumphrey family and wanted to see the inside of the Duomo. It was enormous. I puts the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. to shame. I then went to St. Croce to see where Michealangelo was buried but was to cheap to pay the €5 charge to get in. I was too cheap and by this time I was completely worn out by queues (lines). It seems everyone comes to Europe to stand in line. Seriously everything in Florence had a line somewhere, whether it was to see art or just eat. Lines make for some interesting times but I was not having anymore of them that day and also I figure that all I was going to do is take the picture then leave so what was the point. Outside St. Croce they were setting up for some sort of medival times type thing. I later found out that they have games every year and its a huge deal. I watched it on TV in Pisa and the orginal families that took part in it hundreds of years ago are still represented. There was elaborate parades in authentic costumes and armory. The final was the jousting tournament and the winner got this ornate lance. I was pretty interesting to watch. After St. Croce I decided it was worth the hike to see Palazzo Michealangelo across the Arno River. If travelers are young enough or cheap enough the hike is not bad at all, but for all others there are mulitple buses that go to the top for €1 each way. I was both young and cheap so off I went. By this time I was already sweating my butt off, but the climb finished me off. The view of the city was unbelieveable. I took my shirt off to let it dry and sat down and just enjoyed the view for about an hour. I of course got a gelato from the local vendor to cool me off. That time just sitting there was probably the best part of the day. I forgot to mention that I didn't want to bring my watch for fear of it getting stolen, so I only brought my cell phone for the time. The night before, my battery came off and when I put it back on I needed to enter the PIN number I left at home. I went to call Antonella and the paper with all her information that I keep in my wallet was gone. So there I was with no way to contact anyone I knew in Italy and I didn't know that time anymore. I had to ask people all weekend for the time. I walked back down through Ponte Vecchio just to saw I had been there. Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge in the world with permanent shops on it that are 3 stories tall. Its been there for ages and it is the only bridge the Nazis didn't blow up on there retreat out of town. It was neat but it is only jewlery shops (to cheap for that) and full of pickpocket (i am cheap so losing my money means death). After I got free unscatched I started making my way to the train station. On the way I saw the Boar at the Reppublica Commune where all the flea market type vendors were set up. I finally gtt my train ticket and was looking forward to a chance to rest my feet. You can tell you had walk to far when you knees, ankles, and feet feel swollen. The was the end of my day in Florence, but not of the excitment for the weekend.
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This is the small bathroom
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this is the sink/toilet/shower
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The Baptistry in front of the Duomo
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The front of the Duomo in morning
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The Rose Window in the Duomo
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Baptistry doors "Gates of Paradise"
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Close-up of the one of the panels
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The cupulla of the Duomo
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The Neptune Fountain
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The spot where Savanorola was burned alive
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Donatello's "Perseo" holding up Medusa's head
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Ponte Vecchio
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Queue for the Uffizi
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View of the Duomo from the Uffizi
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View of Ponte Vecchio from teh Uffizi
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Neptune Fountain Again
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Picture of David i wasn't supposed to take
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Inside the nave of the Duomo
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Arch in the Repubblica Square
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Rub this pig for good luck
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Quiet Florentine street
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View from Piazza Michelangelo
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Another View from P.M.
Posted
Jun 17, 2005
by tracstr2
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