Florence & Pisa

I left Venice on Sunday and went to Florence. There were lots of people out for an evening stroll when I first walked around the city and there was lots of stuff for sale on the streets, much more than in any other city. The city had a cool feel, there was live music, tons of people strolling and shopping, the old bridge, lots of statues. I also noticed a large number of American students who all stood out as very American. They were all fresh of the plane and had come to Florence to study for the spring semester. The next day, which was a warm and clear day (finally!), I saw the main plazas, the oldest church in Florence, Mercato Centrale – a big food market, the Chiesa Santa Croce (Holy Cross Church), the burials of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo (who died in 1642 but was not buried here until 1737 when the Catholic Church decided to give him a proper burial). I crossed the river on the old bridge, climbed up the hill on the other side of the river, which was a really nice neighborhood with huge houses.

I tried to pack a lot into the next day, so I woke up at 6:30, took my pack to the train station and went to the Galleria della Accademia. I got there before it opened so I walked around the neighborhood for a bit and went back as soon as it opened. A tour group of 30 people came in soon after. So I saw lots of Renaissance art, a room with hundreds of molds of busts and statues, Michelangelo’s Slaves and one of the most famous statues in the world, Michelangelo’s David. It is an impressive, towering statue. The statue seemed to be about 12 feet tall and was standing in the middle of a huge dome. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but you know what it looks like. There was a computer nearby where you could play around with a digital model of the statue. There was a laptop computer and some instruments next to David’s feet doing an experiment on the air and how it reacts with the statue. I forgot what they were testing exactly, but it is a well-studied statue.

I then took a train to Pisa, which is about an hour from Florence. It was a nice sunny warm day, and the weather got even nicer closer to the coast. I saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then walked right back to the train station to catch a train to Rome. The tower started to lean even before it was finished being built. Pisa spent decades bringing in architects to try to fix the tower, but they never could get it straight so they decided to just finish it anyways. In the 1990s it started to lean too much so it was closed and righted somewhat. Today the top hangs 15 feet out over the base and the observation deck on top is open again. It’s a funny looking building and it was surreal to see it up close because I’ve seen so many pictures of it that it was hard to believe that I was actually standing next to it. When I got to Rome I went to my hostel, which was only blocks from the train station, showered and then walked around. I was walking down the street when I noticed a large dimly lit building down a wide cobblestone street. It was the Coliseum, another surreal sight. I also saw the Piazza Venezia, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain while walking around. So that day I was in Florence, Pisa and Rome, where I saw the statue of David, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Roman Coliseum, all in a single day. Not bad.