Italy Day 4
Monday arrived and, over our jet lag, the gals and I set out once again to see the sights in Firenze. I promise, this is the last post about Firenze.
We headed to Il Duomo.
This structure is a marvel of the architecture for its time. Because of Brunelleschi's structural design, it was built completely free of scaffolding. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.
The inside of the dome is painted with a gorgeous mural.
Kerri and I each lit candles with prayers.
We thought, why not go to the top?
Then we saw the line.
So, in an unprecedented move never before pulled off by a group of four travelers, we all agreed to not do it, and decided to do something else.
We kept a-walkin'. I loved this old guy:
We stopped by this bronze boar fountain... supposedly if you put a coin in his mouth and it stays, you will return to Firenze. It almost never works, but we tried anyway.
We stopped by this cafè Jennifer and I used to go to every morning for cappuccini on our way to work, Caffe Mailoli. Many years ago I had a Romeo there, and he would pour my cappuccino so there would be heart designs in the foam. That's pretty corny. I was 20.
Unfortunately, it's now closed for renovations. :-(
While Kerri stopped in a shop to get some Firenze t-shirts, the rest of us stood outside and stretched. We did this a lot.
We also stopped by the Pitti Palace, another site where College Me spent hours and hours listening to my CD player, watching flocks of birds fly around, and hanging out with Jennifer and our friend Laura.
Next we went to the Boboli Gardens, which is behind the Pitti Palace and essentially was the Medici family's backyard. Nice views for a backyard.
What the heck. Group photo!
That one was taken by this sweet old couple, who walked away from us holding hands. It always gives me hope to see old people holding hands.
At the back of the Gardens is a maze-like hedge field; one way faces the city and the other side faces the country.
I love my friends.
We decided this statue is all, "Yeeeahhhhh, Boyeeeee!!!" (Flava-Flav style)
There's also a cool grotto in the Gardens, with a very decrepit mural covering it.
After that adventure, I had one more thing I had to do in Firenze: go to the Ponte Santa Trinita, a bridge where I used to do the same things I did at the Pitti Palace: listen to my Discman and hang out. One of my favorite places in the world.
From there, we made our way to the train station to head to Venice!
While there, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich stand. Some of you may know me as a picky eater. I tells ya, even the train station food blew me away. I am a big fan of the Attila sandwich, which is a panino with salami and provolone. And that's it. YUM.
On the train, I sewed my first button! (with Jennifer's help, and her sewing kit.)
I'm going so domestic. Jennifer spent the trip catching up on American pop trash.
Then Shannon caught her up on the latest trends in American hip-hop.
When you spend the day walking nonstop with full backpacks, it's easy to get all tuckered out.
But we arrived in no time and tried to figure out where we were going.
Jennifer's tendrils have a stellar GPS.
We hopped on a boat bus type of thing and went about halfway down Venezia.
Like Firenze our first night, it was beautiful and eerie.
(this was deemed by the group to be a "totally jenna collage." I'm flattered!)
Venezia is odd. An almost exclusively tourist city, the peeps here don't appreciate live or loud music, and I assume approximately 60% of the visitors are on their honeymoon, so after sundown the streets are nearly empty and completely, stiflingly quiet. We whispered the whole time.
We successfully found our hotel, the Albergo San Samuele, which was just adorable.
The foyer:
The moment we set down our backpacks, we were starving and needed food fast. Shannon's handy travel guide listed a place nearby, so we set out wandering the lovely streets again.
The sign below this window translates to "bread for the poor."
Le piazze were all empty.
It's hard to describe Venezia. It's exactly the way you've seen in books and movies. But when you are there, walking in the narrow streets and hearing the constant lap of water all around you, enclosed by tall, colorful, very old buildings that are sinking into the Adriatic Sea, you feel sort of locked in time, in the romance of the city, and you become forgetful of all the banal details of your regular life. You just want a cappuccino, and everything will be fine.
We found our restaurant, Vino Vino, and it's hard to find words to describe it other than "perfect." Quaint, delicious, and... well, in freakin' VENICE.
Shannon really liked the vino, vino.
It was some of the best wine we had on the trip.
Ooh! And Jennifer and I split this amazing gelato dessert with espresso poured on it. Divine.
We walked off the dinner by roaming around some more. I couldn't resist taking this photo of a hotel I would TOTALLY book just based on the name.
We saw this in a piazza. We thought it was a catwalk, so we did some "America's Next Top" modeling. Turns out it's a platform for when the piazza floods, which I would guess happens a lot.
And then we reached the end of the world.
This place seriously is sinking.
Next time: Venezia By Day.
Ooh! Until then - check out my new recaps on TVGasm. I get to cover "The Hills" this season, which is a both exciting and daunting task. My first post went up today and, according to every reader, I am neither funny nor clever nor a good writer. Whatev's! You decide: Click Here.
love,
*jenna*
We headed to Il Duomo.
This structure is a marvel of the architecture for its time. Because of Brunelleschi's structural design, it was built completely free of scaffolding. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.
The inside of the dome is painted with a gorgeous mural.
Kerri and I each lit candles with prayers.
We thought, why not go to the top?
Then we saw the line.
So, in an unprecedented move never before pulled off by a group of four travelers, we all agreed to not do it, and decided to do something else.
We kept a-walkin'. I loved this old guy:
We stopped by this bronze boar fountain... supposedly if you put a coin in his mouth and it stays, you will return to Firenze. It almost never works, but we tried anyway.
We stopped by this cafè Jennifer and I used to go to every morning for cappuccini on our way to work, Caffe Mailoli. Many years ago I had a Romeo there, and he would pour my cappuccino so there would be heart designs in the foam. That's pretty corny. I was 20.
Unfortunately, it's now closed for renovations. :-(
While Kerri stopped in a shop to get some Firenze t-shirts, the rest of us stood outside and stretched. We did this a lot.
We also stopped by the Pitti Palace, another site where College Me spent hours and hours listening to my CD player, watching flocks of birds fly around, and hanging out with Jennifer and our friend Laura.
Next we went to the Boboli Gardens, which is behind the Pitti Palace and essentially was the Medici family's backyard. Nice views for a backyard.
What the heck. Group photo!
That one was taken by this sweet old couple, who walked away from us holding hands. It always gives me hope to see old people holding hands.
At the back of the Gardens is a maze-like hedge field; one way faces the city and the other side faces the country.
I love my friends.
We decided this statue is all, "Yeeeahhhhh, Boyeeeee!!!" (Flava-Flav style)
There's also a cool grotto in the Gardens, with a very decrepit mural covering it.
After that adventure, I had one more thing I had to do in Firenze: go to the Ponte Santa Trinita, a bridge where I used to do the same things I did at the Pitti Palace: listen to my Discman and hang out. One of my favorite places in the world.
From there, we made our way to the train station to head to Venice!
While there, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich stand. Some of you may know me as a picky eater. I tells ya, even the train station food blew me away. I am a big fan of the Attila sandwich, which is a panino with salami and provolone. And that's it. YUM.
On the train, I sewed my first button! (with Jennifer's help, and her sewing kit.)
I'm going so domestic. Jennifer spent the trip catching up on American pop trash.
Then Shannon caught her up on the latest trends in American hip-hop.
When you spend the day walking nonstop with full backpacks, it's easy to get all tuckered out.
But we arrived in no time and tried to figure out where we were going.
Jennifer's tendrils have a stellar GPS.
We hopped on a boat bus type of thing and went about halfway down Venezia.
Like Firenze our first night, it was beautiful and eerie.
(this was deemed by the group to be a "totally jenna collage." I'm flattered!)
Venezia is odd. An almost exclusively tourist city, the peeps here don't appreciate live or loud music, and I assume approximately 60% of the visitors are on their honeymoon, so after sundown the streets are nearly empty and completely, stiflingly quiet. We whispered the whole time.
We successfully found our hotel, the Albergo San Samuele, which was just adorable.
The foyer:
The moment we set down our backpacks, we were starving and needed food fast. Shannon's handy travel guide listed a place nearby, so we set out wandering the lovely streets again.
The sign below this window translates to "bread for the poor."
Le piazze were all empty.
It's hard to describe Venezia. It's exactly the way you've seen in books and movies. But when you are there, walking in the narrow streets and hearing the constant lap of water all around you, enclosed by tall, colorful, very old buildings that are sinking into the Adriatic Sea, you feel sort of locked in time, in the romance of the city, and you become forgetful of all the banal details of your regular life. You just want a cappuccino, and everything will be fine.
We found our restaurant, Vino Vino, and it's hard to find words to describe it other than "perfect." Quaint, delicious, and... well, in freakin' VENICE.
Shannon really liked the vino, vino.
It was some of the best wine we had on the trip.
Ooh! And Jennifer and I split this amazing gelato dessert with espresso poured on it. Divine.
We walked off the dinner by roaming around some more. I couldn't resist taking this photo of a hotel I would TOTALLY book just based on the name.
We saw this in a piazza. We thought it was a catwalk, so we did some "America's Next Top" modeling. Turns out it's a platform for when the piazza floods, which I would guess happens a lot.
And then we reached the end of the world.
This place seriously is sinking.
Next time: Venezia By Day.
Ooh! Until then - check out my new recaps on TVGasm. I get to cover "The Hills" this season, which is a both exciting and daunting task. My first post went up today and, according to every reader, I am neither funny nor clever nor a good writer. Whatev's! You decide: Click Here.
love,
*jenna*
posted by jenna at 7:38 PM
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