Firenze

Wake up call this morning was 5 am. It was kind of hard getting everyone up at first, but we were all out by 5:40. I thought the walk from the hotel to the train station would be harder with the backpacks on, but since it was dawn, everything was empty, it was cool, and the walk did not seem that bad.

I ended up overstressing about how packed the train stations would be. We got there a little before 6 (when everything opens) and there were only two groups in front of us. Additionally, we painlessly booked train tickets on the earliest train to Florence. The train ride was pretty uneventful. Most of us slept for the majority of the trip.

We got into Florence at 9:30. I could not find the street of our hostel on the map, so I eventually went into the tourism office to ask for help. Turns out that the hostel was not on my Rick Steves map of Florence, so I just shelled out the one euro for one there. I thought it would have been wasted on me, but it helped us get to the hostel, Piazzale Michaelangelo and the Greek restaurant we had dinner at, so it was worth it in the end.

Anyway, we got to the hostel, but no one would open the door. We waited for a while and tried the bell a few times. Eventually, we just called the people. First try, I think I got a wrong number, but the person who answered put me on hold for an eternity until we could confirm this. Second time was more successful. We get upstairs and pay the price and then find out that we are not staying in that particular hostel because they had no room, but the brand new hostel that was opened the floor below. It was pretty much the same thing and everything, so it wasn't much of a big deal really. Anyway, this place we were staying at was like brand new. As in, they opened last week. As in we were the second group of tourists to stay there. As in, we were alone for most of the night because it was just that new. The people running it were very nice, though and we got free Internet. All was right in the world.

Anyway, we got our stuff in the room, did the whole bathroom thing, let Andrew get his Internet fix, and then started on the Alea tour of Florence. Florence is usually teaming with market booths selling leather, touristy items, jerseys, etc. This made Mia happy, of course. We first explored the markets surrounding the Mercato Centrale. Didn't actually go into the main market itself, though.

We weaved through the crowds of people to St. Lorenzo's basillica and the Cappelle Medice. Oppa always takes us to the Medici Chapel, so we had to go out of tradition (only museum we paid for in Florence even though I would have loved to have gone to the Uffizi, had time money and patience permitted it). It was the same as usual, except the main part of the chapel was undergoing a lot of renovations so it was pretty loud in there. We also got to look at the family's epic relic collection.

We walked past San Lorenzo's church and over towards the Duomo. Florence was packed Tuesday, by the way. Like, way more packed than how I remembered it when I was studying there. I think I eventually concluded that I probably never got this tourist crowd because we had class until the afternoon and it was the morning. Anyway, this was all leading up to say that the piazza of the Duomo was packed. I was going to take everyone inside, but there was a huge line to go in, so we nicked that idea and moved on.

I detoured from the original itinerary for a bit, to get everyone to see the Chiesa di Dante, where Dante met Beatrice and where she is buried. This street eventually led us to a sight that I had waited two years to see: Perche No. It was crowded when we got there and everyone was hungry, so we put that on hold for the moment.

Instead, we rounded the corner and went to the other place in Florence I was very much looking forward to: I Fratellini. Their cheap sandwiches and overall awesomeness were the same and I also got to have my siblings try to lovely unsalted bread of Tuscany.

After eating sandwiches and feeding pigeons, we went back to Perche No, which was not as crowded by this time. We enjoyed our gelato (Fragola/Pesca). It was definitely a moment. I was going to suggest going after dinner, but then I noticed that the only day of the week that they closed early was on Tuesdays (the day we were there), so I had to find some creative way to get my fill of Florentine gelato. While we were eating, a gypsy woman came up to each of us for money. When Andrew pulled out his wallet to get some change, she pointed to the cash and asked for him to give that to him. Obviously he didn't, but that was pretty weird.

So, when I was in Florence two years ago, the black market vendors crowded the streets of Florence during the day and night, selling fake sunglasses, purses, etc. So when I saw Gianni try to buy some very cheesy looking glasses back in Amsterdam, I told him to wait until Florence because they were EVERYWHERE, the glasses were better quality, and they were cheaper. Well, fast forward two years. We get to Florence and these people are nowhere to be seen. Gianni eventually spots a few after we get our gelato.

He eventually finds someone and finds glasses that he wants. As he is making his purchase, the police approach. The guy selling him the glasses was freaking out while Gianni was fumbling around for 10 euro. It was kind of funny.

Anyway, we went onward with our tour. I took the three of them to the Boar Market, which also sells a lot of touristy goods. Additionally, though, there is a bronze boar where you get good luck if you put money in his mouth and rub his snout. Only Mia and I participated in it, but it was a great way to get rid of some of my Croatian change. I also pointed out an Internet Train. Internet Train is a chain of Internet cafes in Florence and was where we would always go online. At some point, I slipped up and said that we should look for an Internet Train, instead of a cafe, and Gianni and Andrew would not drop that the entire trip. So, I proudly smiled at them once I proved the existence of the Internet Train. I went out of my way to make sure they saw every other Internet Train we passed by (we ended up seeing two others).

We made our way from the Boar Market to the Piazza della Signoria, where I showed them the fake statue of David and told them about how there was a huge burning of art pieces at some point in time, showing them where the Florentine people memorialized it. Gianni and Andrew didn't really care, though, so they spent the time asking me dumb questions.

From there, we crossed through the Uffizi area, looking at the people in the crazy-long line. I showed them the street where Chris used to live and took them to the place that I used to live. One reason was because I incorrectly thought they would be interested in that. The other reason was because it was on the way to the next stop on the tour. The next stop was the outside of the Santa Croce church, where Machiavelli, Gallileo, and Michaelangelo are all buried. They also have an epic memorial to Dante which often gets mistaken as his burial site. We did not go in. They didn't want to spend money to see the church.

We walked for a while, so that I could take them on a walk along the Arno River and towards the Ponte Vecchio. Along the way, we passed the history of science museum, which I pointed out to them. We crossed over the Ponte Vecchio and then made our way to the outside of the Pitti Palace. We kind of hung out in front of that area because everyone was getting kind of tired and it was an ideal time for the reapplication of sunscreen. I also did this because we were going to make the climb to Piazzale Michaelangelo and I wanted everyone to rest so they wouldn't whine. After finding a bathroom for Mia, we started making our way to the climb.

It was sunny at that time and the climb was kind of steep so it seemed to go on forever. We did eventually make it to the top to see the great panoramic view of Florence. We also saw the bronze replica of the statue of David. The only place that had seating in the whole piazza that was also in the shade was right under the statue, so we set up camp there. This actually was a lot of fun because we ended up annoying a lot of tourists who wanted good pictures of the statue. We posted behind other people and laughed as people bent into creative and weird shapes to get a good shot of this statue.

After a while, we made our way back down. Got free Red Bull along the way and sent out postcards. I walked everyone by Le Mossacce and drooled a little and then took everyone to Perche No again. Thsi tiem I got Fragola and Frutta di Bosco. Sooooo good.

Andrew was complaining that he was tired, so after getting our gelato, we went back to the hostel for a short break. Ended up being a couple of hours, but I got one blog post in and Gianni and Mia napped, so all was good in the world.

After a while, we decided to go out and find something to eat. We eventually decided on this Greek restaurant near Santa Croce. Great idea, the gyros were soooo good.

We ate and then I took everyone on a night tour of Florence. We went to the Piazza Della Signoria and kind of hung out there watching the street performers. The first group were these two people who would sing crazy songs and do crazy dances. They were pretty hilarious, but I am not sure if that was intentional. Next people we saw were these two people who sang a lot of Simon and Garfunkel songs.

After a while, we made our way to the side of the Arno for a view of the Ponte Vecchio at night. Eventually, we decided to head back, stopping by this peace tree along the way. Halfway to the duomo, we also saw the first set of street performers doing their act somewhere else to a new crowd. We got back eventually and then went to bed. Had an early train to catch the next day.