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!