Florence

We got to Florence around 10 the next morning and got lost in the city for awhile while we were trying to find our hotel. It took a bit to get a map and as we were wandering around we came across the Duomo (Bruneleschi’s Dome) – it was incredible. It was huge and very detailed – unlike any building we have seen thus far. We eventually found our hotel, the Hotel Giada, a two star hotel that was as cheap as hostels. The hotel was great – the best place we have stayed thus far. It had air conditioning (a first) and a fan, and two queen sized beds (also a first). We have slept really well here.

We first went to the market and bought some bread, mozerella, basel, tomatoes, and pesto, and had lunch. It was really good. Plus, our hotel had a top floor with a great view of parts of the city so we ate up there. We next went to a bike shop and rented some bikes for 24 hours (cheaper, more efficient, and more fun than buses or walking) and biked on some of the outskirts of the city. We then decided to do Rick Steves walking tour of Florence. Before we left home we downloaded a lot of Rick Steves audio tours which are tours that you can listen to on your ipod that tell you where to go, what to see, and the backstory of whatever you are looking at (we strongly recommend it). It was an interesting tour – it got us oriented and allowed us to see the famous baptismal doors (Ghiberti - pictured here)


, inside the Duomo (pictured)

, the Uffizi, Panto Vecchio Square, and the Acadamy. I remembered a lot about the Renaissance from my classes so tons of these sites were more enjoyable – probably the coolest was the baptismal doors.



That evening we rode our bikes out to the best lookout point for Florence. It was a fairly rigorous bike ride up hill but we made it and it was worth it! The view was beautiful – the city of Florence is really picturesque.


We got lost of pictures and then headed down some backroads through some stone streets and backyards and later found a place to grab a dinner.