Florence!

Well I made it out of Rome and into Florence today. Note to self, take a more direct train next time. The one I jumped on stopped at nearly every station, whoops.

My last night in Rome I went down into the Trestevere neighborhood. I found some great gelato of pistacchio, coconut, and hazelnut. A nutty combination. I planned on walking from there to a Piazza up north and grabbed a pizza on the way. This one had tomatoes, potatoes, artichoke hearts and cheese, or at least thats what I think it all was. I really just point to the one I want and find out later what it is. I ended up actually walking all the way to the Spanish steps, enjoying the night atmosphere of people milling about, artists selling their wares, and a few musicians in the piazzas. I was going to jump on the subway back to Termini where I'm staying, but found out that the subway closes around 9, pretty early I thought. I ended up walking the rest of the way back, I'm sure there was a bus headed that way but I'm no good with the language and didn't want to head in the other direction when it's only a half hour walk away.

I arrived in Florence today about noon. The hostel I'm staying in is a 20 minute bus ride out of town so I checked my bag and headed for the city. First up, I planned on getting reservations for the two hot spots in town: Accademia (statue of David by Michealangelo) and Uffizi. It turns out you can reserve the tickets at other museums in town for a small fee, then walk up to the doors during your 15 minute window and stroll in. Not everyone knows this and there was a really long line down and around the block. My reservation for Uffizi is tomorrow but I went to the Accademia today.

The statue of David is definitely larger than life. Way bigger than I expected, he stands over 15 feet high. But not only that, the detail is amazing. The veins in the hands and feet can clearly be seen and the definition of the muscles is great. You forget you're staring at stone. I also toured through some museums with old frescoes and then tried to orient myself with the city. Everything I'm interested in is within walking distance so its a small place. But for some reason I kept on getting turned around today, which really hasn't happened in the other places so I'll just blame it on the layout of the city.

The hostel I'm staying out is a renovated 17th century place with many rooms, but not too full. We're pretty much out of the city and up on a hill and the surroundings are great. Well I'm getting hungry, off to find some chow, Ciao!

Pantheon and the Roman Forum

I met up with Rick and his family last night and had a great time catching up with them. It's a little strange to meet up with friends from Granger all the way over here in Rome. Rick, Tasha (his sis), and I all went out to dinner near the hotel and had a great time. Rick had to leave for Madrid this morning, poor guy, and I had to set out to find out where to stay for the next two nights. If you haven't caught on yet, I really don't have anything reserved for this trip more than a few days in advance. I lucked out though and found a spot for the night and when I came back to check in they had someone cancel and so I reserved it for another.

I wandered through many of the piazzas (town squares) today and saw the Pantheon and the Roman Forum. The Pantheon was all that I hoped. It is such an amazing dome structure and over 2000 years old. The Roman Forum was spectacular as well. This was the "main street" of Rome back in the days of the empire. Over the years it was gutted for the stone and marble but there are many ruins that still stand. It really is just great to stroll through and gawk at the columns and imagine the buildings that were once there and people with togas walking around.

I plan to go to the Holy See tomorrow and will get up early to make sure I don't have to wait in line. Saturday I plan to grab a train to Florence and it should be great. I added pictures to the Rome link so just click on the pic below in the last blog. Ciao.

The great city of Rome

I had to say goodbye to the wonderful Manucci famiglia this morning and set off for Rome to meet up with Rick. It was so nice to stay at the Manucci's family and spend time with them. I must say I had my best nights sleep so far on this trip at their house. The meals they made me were great and they fed me many different types of cheeses and treats. It's so fun to try new things in new places.

Waiting at the train station I ran into another American solo traveler. It was so nice to talk with someone having the same difficulties with the language and finding out how to work the train system. I found my train to Rome and was lucky enough to have my own compartment to myself for the 4 hour train ride. I used the time to plan what to do in Rome and where to stay.

I headed for the colloseum after I found my room and it is amazing. I imagined what it must have been like in the glory days of Rome with 50,000 people in the stadium. It is so impressive what Roman engineers could achieve back then and made me wonder where we would be today if Rome hadn't fallen. Well I'm supposed to meet up with Rick now and better get off. Enjoy the pics of the colloseum.

Roma