Florence

Friday, March 2 - Sunday, March 4 2012

What do you think of when you hear Florence?  Home to the finest Italian art?  Delicious Tuscan food and wine?  Leather goods?  If so, that’s pretty much what you’ll hear about over the next several minutes as they were the staple of our visit.  Technically this was a repeat trip for us.  We’d briefly been to Florence once already during our frantic search for Courtney and Marisha when we picked them up on the way out to our Tuscan Villa in October.  We found out the joys of driving around major Italian cities that day… the fact that you often can’t and therefore need to park outside the city center and make your way in and out by foot, taxi or whatever else.  Obviously we eventually resolved our struggles with Florence that day but needless to say we were not about to rent a car on this trip! :)

We flew out after work on Friday evening and were in to Florence and our hotel room before midnight.  The next morning we started off with our checklist of the big 3 things mentioned above – which to do first?  How about leather!  We were pleased to find that our hotel was situated just a block away from the main strip of leather stalls and other merchant shops (mixed in with beautiful old buildings, of course).  And so began the hunt to find all sorts of goods that this region of Italy specializes in—belts, wallets, bracelets, jackets, purses, etc.  We found a few small things we were excited about.  We’ll spare you all the grueling details of us bartering and bringing the street vendors to their knees with our crafty negotiation skills ;) and just tell you that if you’re ever in the Tuscan region and need some quality leather goods, look no further.

Later that morning we had a date with one of, if not the most, famous piece of sculpture ever created – Michelangelo’s David.  The statue (made of marble) is massive—it stands 17 feet tall—way bigger than we expected and quite impressive.  Initially started by other artists in the mid-1400s, David was completed by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504.  The statue was originally placed in a public square outside of the Palazzo Vecchio, but in order to protect it from damage it was moved inside the Accademia Gallery in 1873, which is where we went to see it.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the gallery, but we found a few from Google Images to share with you (thanks Google!).

After David, we had a little different market experience - the Mercato Centrale - which is a large food and produce market (no leather here). :)  Besides looking at all the different foods from the region, our primary focus was to get some tomatoes and basil to go with the stash of buffalo mozzarella we had tucked away in our room (yes, it’s what it sounds like – fresh mozzarella made from the milk of a buffalo – it’s amazing).  Why do we have buffalo mozzarella, you ask?  Well, on Friday’s flight we had a layover in Rome and right in the middle of the terminal there was a buffalo mozzarella seller… seriously?  Ang couldn’t resist the temptation so she went ahead and bought 500 grams of it (yes, that’s over a pound of cheese).  In her defense it was the smallest amount you could buy, but we found out on Saturday exactly how much 500 grams of buffalo mozzarella is.  We’ll let you look up the calorie and fat content of that little experiment and you’ll get a better idea of what we went through that afternoon.  You also might be asking yourself why we finished it all in one sitting?  Well, it was kind of hard to tell how much cheese it actually was because it comes floating in a bag of murky liquid.  Additionally we didn’t really want to leave the rest of it to get all warm in our bag as we walked around the rest of the day.  Once we finally realized how much cheese it was, we admitted our poor prior planning. :)

We should mention that the cheese incident took place in the grand square surrounding Florence’s massive Duomo (duomo = Italian cathedral), Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.  It took over 170 years to build and was officially completed in 1436.  The dome was once the largest in the world but still remains the largest brick dome in the world.  Our overall review is that the façade, while impressive and exquisitely detailed, is a little too busy for our taste… the dome is indeed massive.  We took a quick peek around the inside.  It was surprisingly basic when compared to a lot of Catholic cathedrals we've seen; we liked it.  Buried in the duomo’s crypt, is Filippo Brunelleschi—the famous Italian architect who engineered the duomo’s dome.

 

Outside of the duomo stands the Baptistery which has one of the most amazing ceilings we’ve ever seen – it was entirely covered in gold mosaics which were so perfect that you couldn’t tell they were mosaics at all.  We find mosaics particularly mind-boggling especially when you can only tell the difference between them and a fresco or other painting, at very close inspection.  The Baptistery is indeed very old - completed in 1129. 

 

  

The duomo also had a Campanile (bell tower), which we didn’t hesitate to climb and get a commanding view of Florence below.  414 steps gets you nearly 300 feet high—yes, a beautiful view (and a decent workout).

We spent the rest of the day wandering through the different areas of Florence and discovered how small and walk-able the town really is.  On our way toward the south end of town we passed through the Piazza della Repubblica.  This piazza has the oldest remaining footprint of ancient Roman times – this post (which was, of course, scaffolded up for repairs) marked an important intersection back in Roman times.

A little farther south, Mercato Nuovo (aka Straw Market), was another place to search for merchant goods.  One really interesting thing about this covered market was this cross (more like an asterisk) you can see on the ground.  Apparently in the old days people were dropped 20+ feet from the top of the market onto this cross as punishment for bankruptcy.  Hmmm… maybe people would be more cautious these days if a similar punishment was still in place? :)

Even further south is one of Florence’s highlights, the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  It’s said that if you kiss your loved one on the bridge at sunset you will return to Florence one day.  It’s funny how many cities have little rules like that which determine whether you will return.  Apparently we enjoyed Florence enough to want to return so we succumbed to the social pressures. :)

 

We made it as far south as Piazzale Michelangelo and saw a familiar face on a replica of the David statue looking out over a wonderful view of Florence.  We actually purchased a painting of this exact view from a street vendor earlier that day and can’t wait to hang it in our home someday.

We were making good time so we decided to mark off another site in order to give us more leisure time on Sunday.  The Santa Croce church is home to the burial sites of many famous Florentines.  Most notably: Galileo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Dante.  As weird as it sounds, it’s always interesting to see the tombs of such influential figures of world history. 

Michelangelo

Donatello

Dante

 

Galileo

Dante

After the sun had set, we made our way to the Golden View Restaurant, which was highly recommended by Courtney and Marisha from their trip to Florence.  The “Golden View” was pretty accurate as we had an un-obscured line of site to Ponte Vecchio.  The food was also quite good; Dave had a famous Florentine steak which turned out to be the best steak we’ve had in Europe (don’t get too excited though, there isn’t a whole lot of good steak here in Europe). :)

We ended our evening with a little more culture-- specifically opera (when in Florence, right?).  We actually read really favorable reviews about the show on TripAdvisor, saying that the performers first sing (incredibly well) in Italian, and then a host explains what just happened (in English) between each act.  The description was accurate, but we rediscovered our boredom with opera!  Haha.  It really wasn’t bad; it was just a little painful to sit through 2-3 hours of people dramatically singing a story that would take 5 minutes to tell.  We decided then that while we do enjoy listening to opera, in the future we’ll just get our fix through background music while doing something else. :)

On our walk home - the Duomo, Baptistery and
Campanile lit up at night - so cool!

As you may have read many times before on our blog, we aren’t the world’s biggest fans of art.  BUT, that said, we do appreciate seeing pieces that have a renowned historical significance (we love history, remember?).  So Sunday morning we started off the day with the second most popular art gallery in Florence, the Galleria degli Uffizi.  When compared to the massive size of the Louvre in Paris (the other most famous art gallery we’ve been to), this one is quite tame – it’s just one floor and takes less than 2 hours to see everything.  Yet again, we were mostly uninspired.  The highlight for us in this gallery was “The Birth of Venus”, which is ironically the logo of one of our Expedia, Inc. websites, Venere.com.  We didn’t realize until that day that “Venere” is Italian for “Venus”… all these years in the dark. :)  We have to admit, it was really cool to see the original painting that inspired the brand for one of our travel sites.  Of course, no photos allowed inside the museum, so thanks again Google Images:

Just outside of the Uffizi gallery are the Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio, which add even more artsy class to this art-packed town.  This is also the location of where the original David statue stood for a few hundred years.  It was replaced with a replica (there are two replicas + one original in Florence), which is almost overshadowed by all the other statues hanging out in the square.  The Palazzo Vecchio is a particularly grand (and tall!) structure, which is one of the most recognizable features in the Florence skyline.

While wandering the streets we ran into one of the restaurants we planned to visit for lunch one of the days were in Florence - All'Antico Vinaio.  Again, we were trusting the TripAdvisor reviews on this one and we had a feeling it would be great considering most of the 100+ reviews were in Italian (vs. English), which is usually a good sign that it’s a local favorite.  We’re so glad we came because we had some of the best sandwiches we’ve ever eaten… literally.  Dave is still raving about his.  It was freshly cut salami on freshly baked focaccia bread with some sort of garlic spread; all of the ingredients were local.  So good!  They also had an ‘honor system’ pour-your-own-wine service where you can take a glass and choose from one (or more) of the handful of local bottles they had sitting around.  Just pay once you’re finished!

 

Random side note: fans of The Simpsons will recognize the photos below.  Yes, that’s the Duff Beer!  We saw this on previous trips and happened upon it again here in Florence.  Dave couldn’t resist so we had to try it out – it actually tastes a lot like the standard lager beers over here (surprise, surprise).  We asked the clerk who sold it to us and he said it’s a German company that produces it.  We wonder why it’s not distributed in the U.S.?  After a little research it seems that there is no ‘one and only’ producer of the official Duff Beer (Matt Groening has stated that he will not license the Duff trademark to brew an actual beer, over concern that it would encourage children to drink).  It’s actually been copied (although we’re not sure how that's legal) and this European copy looks really close to the real thing.  Oh well, we’ll just have to get our fill before we return back to the U.S. in a few months. :) 

 

We spent the rest of our time that evening wandering around and enjoying the sites and scenery.  We’ve heard the argument that people either love Rome or love Florence-- and after absolutely loving Rome last May we were a little nervous that Florence would fall short.  Did we love it?  Yes.  But probably not for the exact same reasons that most people do – Florence is famous for its art, and you know how we feel about art – but what we really enjoyed was the small town feel mixed in with friendly people and some fantastic food and wines which we find to be unique to the region of Tuscany.

So, speaking of Rome… ironically we actually traveled to Rome the next morning for a work trip.  Dave was holding a week-long summit for one of his projects and Ang was helping to deliver a training session for another project.  Although we worked in the Venere.com offices during the days, at night we were still able to escape into the city center and enjoy our favorite landmark in Rome – the Pantheon – and fill our gelato needs (that can’t be healthy).

After our busy workweek in Rome, we made an unexpected detour home to Washington.  Ang’s beloved Grandma Jane passed away on February 25^th after 95 years of life (one week shy of 96).  While it was sad to realize we’ve finally lost her, it was a great time to reflect on the good memories and see some of Ang’s family that we rarely get to see.  Most importantly we know that Jane is in heaven with our Lord and we will see her again.  

 

After just a 3-day visit we were back to Geneva and tried to get ourselves back into a normal rhythm after all the travel...