If Italian cities were cars, Milan would be a Fiat 500, and Florence: a Ferrari. The city is stunning. Stucco walls and narrow streets accompanied by vendors from all over the world selling leather, shoes, belts, watches, purses, headphones, cameras, art, fine china, silverware, jewelry, etc. Aside from the smell of delicious food, the intoxicating aroma of leather seeps out of every other storefront. If it can be made out of leather, a vendor in Florence has it. Steve and I arrived and were immediately overwhelmed by the difference in style from Milan. The narrow streets and hundreds upon hundreds of people in the streets had us lost for nearly an hour. When we finally DID manage to find our hostel, we discovered it was less than a 5 minute walk from the train station (clearly we're not phenomenal navigators).
In our dorm we met Toine (pronounced Twan), Brad, Patrick, and Brian. Toine was an Australian DJ taking 3 months off work (two of which were fully paid, lucky duck) to explore the world. Brad and Patrick were two brothers from New Hampshire taking the first part of the summer to do exactly what Steve and I are - meet new people and try new things halfway around the world. Brian was a college student from New Mexico backpacking solo across the southern coast, though the opposite direction as us. The six of us hit it off immediately, and together we set out to explore Florence. We ate Panino from little corner shops, and saw Bars, Pubs, and Ristorantes in nearly every other window. Directly outside our hostel window, less that 35 feet away, was the Bacille di San Lorenzo (google it, it's super cool!), and just over the buildings to the left we could see the Duomo - one of, if not the most gorgeous chapel I have ever seen. Our afternoon was highlighted by a hike to the Piazza di Michaelangelo, which gave us a breathtaking view of all of Florence.
The next day the six of us went to see Michaelangelo's David. Though all of the artwork in the galleria was immaculate, the David was something else. I'm not certain if it was being surrounded by all of the art, being in the heart of Florence, or just my general mood on this trip that did it, but seeing that massive marble statue was truly moving. The work is magnificent, and the attention to detail is insane! (You can see every vein running through his hands and arms). From the galleria we said farewell to our new friends and boarded the train to Pisa.
The outskirts, and especially the portion of the city south of the train tracks (where we happened to be staying), reminded me a bit of west or south Chicago. Our hostel was a scene reminiscent of Saw or Hostel (the horror movie). There were 20+ people crammed into a space the size of my apartment in chicago - about 600 sq.ft. The bathroom was filthy, unless of course you wanted to take a shower while you were sitting on the toilet, because you could do that here. The property manager was an absolutely hysterical flustered italian man who reeked of hard liquor every time I encountered him and spoke not a single word of english. Steve, Sylvie - our new friend from NYC - and I quickly escaped the £10 nightmare to explore the city. The farther north we got, the more picturesque and clean the city became. We happened upon the Torre di Pisa suddenly, and its size (or lack thereof) took me by surprise. It's in the middle of the entire city, and I couldn't believe how severe the sinking actually was. That being said, the architecture was gorgeous, and I find it hard to believe that the building is still standing.
I'm sitting at the train station in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy, as I write this entry, undoubtedly the most beautiful place I have been to in my entire life. Unfortunately, youll have to wait until next entry to hear about it. Good news though - I figured out how to upload photos from my phone. Enjoy!
More to come soon, Love you all!
P.S. feel free to email me at lovejac93@gmail.com if you need me for any reason!
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