Florence Day Three

Today was the day I had to conquer Florence. My day. It was great. First off we slept in. Got ready in no rush, ate a slow breakfast, and headed off to the Pitti Palace. It was once again a trek to get there because Susie and I seem to think we know how to get around in Florence and time after time we do not get to where we think we are getting. So we ended up getting lost and somehow taking a break on the steps of Santa Croce. It was a beautiful cathedral with a beautiful amount of shade with places to sit. It was a little bit of heaven in the middle of a hot Florence afternoon. While being lost and hot we finally figured where exactly we were and on our way out of the square we came across an artist painting the most gorgeous watercolors of the city, and it just so happened it was one of the men Susie had seen three years before when she was here. She didn’t buy any art three years ago because of the money thing and we just happened upon him again! They were really great and almost everyone in our group bought one! One more great souvenier knocked off our list! Well we finally made it to the Pitti palace and it was humongous! We were super excited and it turned out to be really great. We went through the royal apartments and the modern art exhibit. I saw a Caravaggio, Lots of Rubens, Boticellis, lippis, and ghirlandaios. I don’t know if you know anything about renaissance artists but that was quite the who’s who line up. I saw them within inches. I could have touched them if I didn’t mind the angry guard yelling in Italian and the loud alarm. We saw some great furniture as well, Rococo sofas, and empire chairs. It was really amazing. Eachroom more elaborate than the next. The gardens that we peeked at through the windows were beautiful as well…next time for sure! Just a little info about the Pitti Palace, ti was one of the many Palaces of the Medici Family. The size is massive and it houses some of the greatest Renaissance art and a lot of it is original to the palace. I also got to see Majolica Tiles. They were beautiful in their signature colors Yellow and Blue! We then stopped for a much needed caffeine I.V. for those of us who need Coca Cola Light on an hourly basis. Not naming names…..SUSIE! Well after that we went back to the apartment to unload some stuff and get equipped to climb the doumo. That’s right the doumo. Brunelleschi’s Dome. It was 463 steps up to the top…463 steps in a three foot wide space that was tight, twisted and turny… motion sickness can happen when you are walking on land..I can honestly atext to that. It was so worth it though. I must say. It was gorgeous. The climb is like every time you climb the steps of old main hill. It super sucks on the way up. But once you make it to the top the view could go on for miles. You can see Tuscany for miles and the green hills just keep rolling. It is so fabulous against the red tile roofs and orange and yellow Stucco houses. Breathtaking. The great thing about the Dome is that it was the first of its kind to be oblong in shape not perfectly round. It is a doem inside of a dome which allowed it to have the support it needed to reach as high as it did. This little factor also meant that we the many tourists of Italy could climb and wiggle our little way up to the top to see not only down to the floor of the cathedral but out.
To finish off the evening we took to the streets and shopped till we dropped. Amanda and Julia and Susie were great shopping buddies and we had a ton of fun looking in all the great shops….shoes are something that will never cease to make me happy. I think it is in my genetic make up. Too cool. The shoes here are so cool and so are the purses. I think I might need to purchase a purple leather purse….florentine leather is so supple and sweet.
Back at the crappy hotel we gathered up our dirty laundry and headed out to the Laundromat. Susie and I were ravishing so right next to the Laundromat were….Kebabs. I have been looking forward to these little babies since landing in Europe. It was divine. Let me just say it was super delicious. I love ht eyogurt sauce. We ate our nutritious kebab and drank our abnormally large waterbottles while sitting on the floor of the most dingy place I have ever done laundry. It was great. A definite treat of something to remember. It only took about an hour and then we headed over to the hotel we were supposed to stay at in order to use the internet. I Love walking around in the middle of the night. It sounds ridiculously unsafe but not in Florence. Even our tour guide said she would feel 100% comfortable letting her 100 year old mom walk around at night alone…its that safe and friendly of a city. Everyone goes out all night…its not uncommon to see little kids at like 12:30 at night playing in a park.
Well that is it. This was my day and I must say I am so tired I could cry. Tomorrow we go to Venice, or as the Italian would say Venezia. Bouna Sera!