Holy cow you guys! I never finished my blogs about Italy! I think where we left off was we were in Rome at the Vatican and we were shocked at the amount of tourists.
Well to sum it all up we had a great last day in Rome, it was hot, it was crowded and we definitely hadn't seen it all. The city in it's entirety would have taken a few weeks to view. We loved getting to walk through the old buildings and touch ancient walls. I think on the last day we walked around the Coliseum and enjoyed the view from the tour bus. Our next stop was Florence.
We boarded a train in the morning and it took us through the countryside as the tracks carried us through fields of sunflowers and vineyards, into tunnels through the hillsides and over bridges will old Tuscan houses perched on the bluffs overlooking the rivers. I never knew how many shades of yellow there were until we reached Tuscany. The farm looking houses in each field were covered with red clay shingles, each one in their particular hue of golden. The sunflowers following the sun as it baked their tall slender cypress trees lining the long driveways to their entryways to their stucco homes. The vineyards were packed in their land, sometimes right up to the houses. The hillsides green and inviting. We were going pretty fast but the impact on our excitement was great! I for one didn't realize that Florence was in the middle of Tuscany. It used to be the capital for only a few short years but little did I know how much we would love this place.
We interrupt this blog for a special news report. Click here to read about a bolder that rolled through an unsuspecting vineyard!
The train pulled into the station in Florence, more in the city and surrounded by small older few story brick buildings and a couple churches. There were quite a few small cafes and restaurants. Motor bikes and pedal bikes were parked outside the station in their respective places. The air was hot. There were a few couples that we saw looking at their iPhones and such to point them in the direction of our next hotel. Living social had set up the entire itinerary and it wasn't just us on this adventure. I think there were 20 of us, unknowingly following each other to each activity and living arrangement. The hotel was across the street from the station. We later found out that a young married couple had taken a taxi with their luggage, around the block. It was like $25. When they got out, still looking at the terminal they realize that he could have told them they didn't need him. :/ This hotel was humid and older. We dropped off our things and went for a walk through the town. It was late afternoon and by the time we got up the hill to a small pond in a park the sun was low in the sky shining it's golden rays on the ducks playing in the middle of the water. We walked through a neighborhood and came to beautiful old buildings with carvings and statues, a Russian orthadox church with spires colorfully stretching to the now purple sky. We found a plaza with a giant gate. On our walk back around the town toward our hotel we found a small alleyway with couples walking and soft lights coming from the corners of the limestone buildings illuminating the brick street. I could see at the end of the block a different colored building. And it was SO tall, stopping the street from going any further it was just there. The closer we got the more we realized how massive it was. Now I hadn't read anything about Florence. I didn't know that this is the place of the David statue, or that it had this ginormous church called the Duomo. Read more about it here. This building is go.r.geous. After finding a cafe at the base of this towering church we walked just a short distance to our hotel and rest for the day that followed.
The next day we took the tour bus around the town learning of it's art heritage. There was one family that owned most of the art in the city. They clearly were extremely wealthy but they used that wealth to secure and protect a lot of art that otherwise would have been destroyed. From the top deck of the double-decker bus we climbed higher and higher until we overlooked the beautiful city and the massive church that we had seen lit up in the night time. It towered over all the other buildings. We then took the bus back down through the town and then up the other side to a hillside town called Fisole. The cypress trees decorated the hillside growing tall and slender to the blue sky. The large houses with all of their stature made you want to move in and never leave this view of the valley, the Duomo in the distance, the golden colors of the houses and apartment building below. We reached the top and got out of the bus. We continued to walk up the narrow streets to discover the charm of this old mid evil city. There was a small fenced in hillside of olive trees. Bluish sage colored smooth leaves quietly blowing in the breeze. No one around, so quite we reached a private drive higher up the hill and decided to stop there, stand on the gray stone wall and take in the view. This was a moment to remember. Olive branches at my feet. Tuscany beauty in the distance. Really didn't realize how much I would fall in love with this charming city that demanded you to relax and breathe in it's history and romance.
After the ride back down from Fisole we took a tour of the Duomo. We climbed the steps of the dome skeleton until we reached the top. On our way up we entered the dome before the last climb to the observation deck. The frescos on the ceiling of the dome were almost within reach. Some places chipping and falling. Still beautiful, telling the story of angels and demons. The view from that dome was just as breath taking as above from Fisole. The river in the distance, the breeze cooling us from the hot congested hike up the inside of the dome. I even got to use my nursing skills as a 60 something year old woman was overheating and clammy. In the cramped small halls of the inside of the dome we did our best to keep her from passing out. Scary for her, fulfilling for me as I haven't been working as a nurse and I felt helpful.
In the morning we walked early to one of the many museums in Florence to visit the David. The detail. The emotion you feel. It is so tall and so well made. Click here for info on the David The toes on one of the foot is all dented up from some idiot who decided to beat on it before it was protected... some people. The line wasn't long and we were in and out in 30 minutes but it was worth it. So beautiful. Now this is something you never forget seeing.
The last day we found out that Pisa was super close and the train ride was really cheap. So we got on a train and after 45 minutes found ourselves standing in the evening sun as it shone on the bright white facade of the leaning bell tower. Unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing. We took the cliche photo of us trying to hold it up, Doug of course wanted to be on the opposite side pretending that him in his mighty strength was actually pushing it over with just a finger. And after 6 photos of this beautiful place... my camera busted. That's right. 1 day before traveling to Venice, my pro-camera jams. Leaving me with only my little point and shoot to capture it's beauty.
Florence. You are in my heart forever.
