You
are so incredibly lucky that Chelsea
sleeps on the train and consequently I have time to update my journal so
frequently! The poor little girl is so tuckered out from walking around the
beauty that is Italia (and likely her little bug).
After
an interesting adventure at the Indian embassy (I guess I only spent about two
hours at the embassy, which isn’t too bad) we were off to Firenze.
I even have my passport – I need to bring it in in a week and they only keep it
overnight to paste the baby in. Awesome. Anyway, Firenze.
We
clambered onto a very full train to find that even though we selected seats we
weren’t actually sitting next to one another, however the wonderful Italian
people were happy to change around so we were kinda sitting next to each other.
Finding the hostel was an adventure and a half. Well, more like half an
adventure – we found the street easily enough…..the numbering went 2, 4, 6, 10,
8, 12. Our hostel was number 8, but this place looked empty. We tried knocking
on the door and calling the phone, but got nothing. However, a lovely man from
the shop at number 2 helped us find the correct number 8, which was after 14.
Of course.
The
place was cute and the staff were fantastic. Not only did we discover that
there was wireless, but they feed you breakfast (even offered us eggs and
bacon!) and even clean up after you. The owner was lovely in a semi-creepy kind
of way, but everyone was so eager to make us feel at home. The only downside
was that the mattresses were absolutely bloody terrible.
Anyway,
I walked Chels into the city centre to gaze upon the splendour that is the
Duomo. It rose above us as we turned the corner and made her utter a ‘whoah’
before having to sit down before she was sick. I had forgotten how huge the
Duomo is: it looms over you spectacularly as you walk around and attempt to
take it all in; eyes and photos. The now pastel colours on the outside beam at
you softly as you move through the patterns and sculptural work on the outside.
We arrived too late to walk through, but thought we’d do it the next morning.
The
remainder of the afternoon we just wandered the streets of Firenze
breathing in the atmosphere and thinking of what a wonderful world we live in.
You know, that warm fuzzy contented feeling that annoys the crap out of
everybody else. We walked across the bridge Ponte Vecchio and its expensive
jewellery stores and watched the sun set over the Fiume.
We also watched a smaller soccer match where one of the players was
considerably older than the rest, and wore an appropriately labelled ‘maestro’
top. They, I mean, he was cute to watch.
After
dinner we sat on the steps of a church on Piazza Santa Croce and watch the
square come alive with locals emerging from the dissipating tourists. It was
just lovely.
This
morning we went to the Uffizi gallery, though we did have to wait for an hour
and a half in line (though apparently you can wait up to 5 hours in high high
season). We spoke to a Scottish woman who has been all over the world and we
shared stories whilst we waited, which was nice.
We
were only in the Uffizi gallery for an hour (this didn’t bother me because I
haven already seen everything). It was nice to see Boticelli’s Venus again, but
most of the paintings are Mary and Jesus and quite frankly I have seen enough
of that to last me out the remainder of my years.
We
then hopped across back to the Duomo and went inside briefly before heading
across to the Galleria Academia, where David lives. He is still just
breathtaking. Despite having seen him before, having looked at his replica in
Piazza Signoria and being such a recognised sculpture, he still takes my breath
away. His hands are just amazing – the nails, the tendons, the veins….I just
think he’s great. Maybe not his hair. I imagine it’s hard to sculpt hair into marble.
So
now we are on the train to Venice
and Chels is still sleeping. Although she has been sick she can thankfully
stomach gelati (now THAT’S a shame) and we’ll probably have to find some for
her after we check into the hostel. That’s an even bigger shame. I HATE gelati.
Especially Italian gelati. Pout for me….
Ciao!
XX
Firenze photos
