Florence and Venice, Italy

Normally we would do a separate post for each city we visited, however, Florence was planned as a "stay-cation" (a span of downtime to recoup, yes recoup, from travelling) and we tried to do as little as possible.

We arrived by train, as usual, and headed to our hotel to drop of our bags.  The hotel was nice, off the beaten track, and had some great staff.  We freshened up, grabbed a quick bite at a local kebab shop, and started to wander around the city.

Our first site was the Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge covered in jewelry shops.  Some quick facts: the bridge was the only bridge in Florence not destroyed by allied bombers in WWII.  The bridge was originally filled with meat shops until the city rezoned it and required it to only house jewelry stores.



We wandered on over to the main church "Duomo".  Upon enterring the Piazza del Duomo "Duomo Plaza" my first reaction was "I climbed that!". What I was referring to was the Campanile tower that was recreated in the xbox game "Assassin's Creed" (yes I am nerdy like that, so what).  But I digress.  The Duomo is among one of the more impressive cathedrals that we have seen in our travels and we stood in awe at its size and beauty.





We walked around the side of the church and were immediatly caught off guard by this lady singing in an amazing Opera style voice.  We stayed for 3 songs and were compelled to tip her some euro change.



We entered the Cathedral and walked around a bit.  Unfortunately security was overly vigilant so we weren't able to snap any photos of the inside.

We wandered a bit longer around the city and headed back home, grabbing some chinese for dinner along the way.

The next day, after forcing ourselves to get up and ready, we had breakfast and headed out into the city.  We stopped at a straw market to pet the bronze pig and drop a coin in its mouth.  This tradition is suppose to ensure a safe return back to Florence in the future.  





The rest of the day was spent doing more wandering, enjoying the character of the buildings, monuments, and statues throughout the city.  

We made a reservation at a restaraunt called Accademia for our anniversary dinner (not easy to do when you speak no Italian).  We arrived all spiffed up (a difficult feat when you're living out of a backpack) and ordered the fixed price menu (42€ each).  The meal was pricey but great!  We started off with a glass of prosecco (a sweet wine) that is probably designed to relax you for the feast to come.  The first course was a mushroom strudel with creme sauce served with a glass of white wine, delicious!  Next up was a whole wheat lasagna with lamb sauce served with a glass of red wine.  Again, delicious.  Already feeling full and buzzed from the wine we braced for the 3rd course, a tender cut of meat in a brown sauce with glazed shallots.  Again, served with another glass of red wine and soooo delicious.  The final course was dessert, a grouping of 3 yummy cookies served with a glass of dessert wine.  I had trouble downing it all but I managed.  We left filled to the gills and walked home to turn in for the night.

Our last day in Florence was spent planning our next leg of the trip, blogging, and meeting up with our old college friend Lauren for a drink and a climb to the top of the city.




It was raining pretty hard so we didn't hang around too long.

We left the next morning for Venice at 8am (way too early to be up and moving).  We got into Venice and took a boat ride to a stop close to our B&B.  We checked in and grabbed some pizza at a hole in the wall place before taking a walk through the city.

























Venice is a very unique city and has a very romantic feel.  The only downside is that it is littered with tourist shops and people trying to sell you junk.  It seems like a labrynth of tourist traps.  But I suppose we were prepared for it and made the most of the city and its character.  


We had pizza and wine for dinner at a place near our B&B and crashed for the night.  

The next morning we had breakfast at our B&B.  It consisted of coffee, juice, and manufactured rolls (bleh!).  We came to the conclusion that Italians just don't care much for breakfast (maybe because they eat such big dinners??) We continued our tour of the city, stopping in the San Marco Cathedral.






The square was flooded from the rain the previous night and the city had set up walkways for the tourists.

Afterwards we went to the center of the plaza where I was attacked by pigeons!  I suppose I was asking for it by holding bread in my hand.  Amy refused to come near them and I got a good laugh watching her scramble as I tossed bread at her feet.



We walked out to a point for lunch (leftover pizza, so healthy) and spent some time sunbathing along the waters edge.







When I started to overheat we went to the Guggenheim Museum where Amy convinced the staff we were students, saving us 10€ on the tickets.  We spent a good deal of time in the museum (I think Amy got more out of it then me).





We rounded out our day with dinner at the same restaraunt (it was the most reasonably priced and filled with customers, a good indicator of its quality).  We checked out the next morning and headed for Switzerland.

A quick note about our experience in Italy.  Although we visited some very wonderful places and met some very nice people we found the cities to be dirty and the locals rude.  Italy has been our least favorite country thus far :(.