Easter Break Part 3: Florence

(3/27) We arrived in Florence in the early afternoon. With luggage in tow we walked the few blocks from the train station to our hostel which was right next to the Duomo (cathedral). We got checked in and dropped our stuff off, then set out in search of lunch. We ended up grabbing a pizza at a small restaurant a few blocks away. After lunch we walked through the city to Piazza della Signoria, which is where Palazzo Vecchio is located. It cost money to tour the Palazzo so we just walked around as much of it that we could for free then headed out. From there we walked to the Arno River and then across Ponte Vecchio which is a large bridge with shops on it. Once across we walked down to the next bridge over the river so we could get a view of Ponte Vecchio from afar. After snapping a few photos we walked to Palazzo Pitti, which by that time of day was closed so we couldn't go in or tour the Boboli Gardens. Instead we sat in front of the Palazzo and watched the sunset as did a lot of other people. When the sun had set we walked back to our hostel to clean up and then we went for dinner at a restaurant near the Duomo that Lauren said she remembered from her last visit to Florence. The food was pretty good and after a day of walking around it hit the spot. After dinner we went back to the hostel and I did some online homework. While I was doing homework I decided I should do some laundry. It ended up being the longest load of laundry in my entire life. From starting the wash to the end of drying it was about 4 hours. I finally went to bed around 2am when the laundry had finished.


(3/28) We got up and enjoyed the free breakfast of croissants, cereal, and juice. The first stop of the day was the Duomo since it was so close. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in and once in we climbed over 400 steps (not all at once) to get to the top of the dome. The panoramic view from the top was beautiful and worth the walk. After the Duomo we went to a nearby flea market and browsed the wares, most of which were leather. We left the flea market empty-handed and moved on to the Uffizi Gallery, which holds tons of Renaissance works such as "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. We waited in line for 2 hours to get into the gallery, which left all of us a bit on edge the rest of the day. The art collection was impressive, but I didn't find it to be worth the wait. After the gallery we walked to Santa Croce, which is another large church. By this time we'd done a lot of paid touring so we decided to forego the few euros it would cost to go inside and just sat in the square outside the church for a few minutes. After a short rest we trekked across town to another flea market that is home to a lucky copper statue of a pig. We each took a turn rubbing the pig's nose for good luck and then went back to our hostel cause it had begun to drizzle lightly.

We took naps and then took showers and got cleaned up to go out. I asked the girl working the reception desk at our hostel for a dinner suggestion and she directed us to a place called Kitch for what is known as "appertivo". Appertivo is basically a buffet of appetizers at a bar. The way it works is you pay a flat fee, which gets you your first drink and all you can eat appetizers, then any drinks you get after that are normal price. This place had a pretty good variety of stuff to eat and we all got filled up for just 8 euros each, which isn't too bad considering we got a drink with it as well. We headed out after we'd had our fill of snacks and went to a bar called Mayday. We didn't realize how early it was so we were the only people in there for the first hour, and after that another few parties showed up. It was a cool bar with various types of artwork displayed on the walls and ceiling. After a few drinks we packed it up and went back to the hostel where I proceeded to do another load of laundry which took until 6am to finish. Thankfully I slept while the clothes were washing and drying.

(3/29) Breakfast was the same as the day before, but this time I made sure to grab some extra croissants to take with me for the train ride. After breakfast we packed up our stuff, checked out of the hostel, and walked to the train station. We said our final goodbyes to Florence and hopped on our train. Next stop Venice!!

Florence Photos