We took the train to Florence Thursday afternoon and got there pretty smoothly (we only almost missed our second train :) ), then wandered around in search of our hostel. For awhile we couldn't find any street signs and were getting so frustrated! We had no clue what road we were on or anything, and we knew the hostel was just a couple blocks from the train station but we didn't see any road signs! Finally we realized that they were all carved into the stone on the buildings at the street corners. Haha... once we had that figured out it went much more smoothly! :)
When we found the "street" our hostel was on we realized it was actually just an alley, and we got pretty nervous. It was our first hostel experience and we were expecting the worst. Well we've found that low expectations, when traveling anyways, are really the way to go, because most often you'll be pleasantly surprised. Our hostel was clean enough and we felt safe; plus, we got free breakfast, free dinner on weeknights, a free walking tour, and they had snacks and drinks for much much cheaper than they were out and about in Florence. All that for 20 euro per night per person!! Our room was a four person mixed room with a private bathroom; we slept in twin bunkbeds (I got top, Brad got bottom, haha!) and our roommates were two other American guys, who thankfully weren't scary or creepy (although it was very very weird to be sleeping in the same room as total strangers, especially ones of the opposite sex!).
After we dropped our things off at the hostel we met up with Matt and Becca, some friends of our's from college who happened to be on vacation as well. They had been in Florence for a couple days already so they picked out a place for dinner and we had a wonderful time visiting with them and then walking around Florence after dinner.
Saturday morning we got up early to beat the line for the Statue of David, and we were happy to get in after only waiting for 5 minutes or so. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the original, but they wouldn't have done it justice if I had. It is just so perfect. Every muscle, every proportion. It was also so cool to see "the prisoners," a couple rows of statues started but never finished by Michelangelo. We took it all in, but there wasn't really much to see in the gallery besides those statues. We went back to our hostel for breakfast and then went out on the free walking tour through the city. It was such a great tour because we learned so much that we wouldn't have known just walking around by ourselves. It lasted a couple hours, and afterwards we walked around some more on our own. We grabbed sandwiches from a little shop and had a picnic on the stairs of the Duomo, which was really fun to people watch! And then we made our way through the streets where the daily market of leather goods, textiles, etc are set up. We went on back to the hostel to plan out our next day and all, then grabbed a free and pretty tasty dinner while we were there. It was so nice to only have to buy one cheap meal all day long!!
Saturday morning we hopped on a bus down to Siena, one of the larger Tuscan hilltowns. We hung out and did some sight-seeing around there until 2, at which time we met our tour guides for a tour of some other hilltowns, specifically ones in the Chianti region, which is known for its wine so the fields are full of pretty vineyards. We went first to the tiny town of Vagliagli to take pictures from its 360 degree views. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately, because it was so bright outside I couldn't see really see how the pictures were coming out- turns out they were all a little overexposed. :( Oh well, I'll just have to rely on my memory for those views! From there we stopped in Radda, a town of about 1500 people and took a tour of the little town. I loved it!! It was a perfect little town completely unspoiled by tourism. After that we drove on down to an even smaller town - one with a population of only 14!! It too, though, was straight from a novel set back in the medieval times. Aaah we loved it! From there we went up to a vineyard for a winery tour. It was interesting to learn how the wine is made and all, but obviously Brad and I are not and will likely never be wine connoisseurs! We got back to Sienna after 7, and by the time we were able to get on the next bus and get back to Florence it was after 10. Long day! But we got to see so much so it was well worth it.
Sunday morning we decided we'd head back up near Asolo and see Verona, one of the cool smaller cities in the Veneto region (the same region as Asolo and Venice). We had a good time exploring it without feeling like we had to rush from sight to sight; it was much more relaxed traveling for sure!
Our weekend was great and our week is flying by!! We fly out to Paris tomorrow evening!!!
Hope you all are doing well; you're in our thoughts and prayers!
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| Florence |
beautiful pictures
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