Firenze

10/18/2009

This morning after a wild night, we woke up around 9:30. This was pretty early considering how late we were out, but we wanted to jam pack as much of Florence as we could into our stay. Claire did not have a good morning. She woke up to find that she had lost her phone the previous night, her advertised indestructible camera’s screen was cracked, and she spilled her make up on the bathroom floor. I was very impressed of how she talked herself through all of the woes and still had a very good attitude throughout the day. I would have been bummed out for much longer than she was.

This morning was the owner of my first hangover in Europe. The liquor drinks last night are what did it. I should have stuck to the magical wine of Italy. The hostel offers a 5 euro all you can eat breakfast buffet and what they had out looked pretty solid so I took full advantage of that and stuffed my face. If it wasn’t for that mighty breakfast, I could have had a pretty ruff morning. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, beans, mushrooms, croissants, WATER, orange juice, coffee, cereal, meat and cheeses, and toasts and jelly. I got seconds on all of it and it was worth the 5 euro.

We were standing around in the lobby of the hostel after breakfast and I saw a guy wearing a CU intermural championship t-shirt. I spotted this t-shirt a mile away because they are so coveted and Spencer wears his very proudly. So I walked up to him and we got to talking. He said that he was from Greeley, which naturally lead to us playing the “who do you know” game. Turns out he knows my friend Alan and was actually traveling with Alan’s roommate Scott, who I have had a couple of classes with in the business school. I was so happy to see him. This was probably the biggest small world moment I have ever experienced in my life. Kyle was the guy I ran into first and he and Scott were also traveling with Johnny and Ben. Claire, Katherine, and I got to talking to them and we decided that we all would spend the day walking around the city with them. It was also their first day in Florence and just walking around is a great way to get a feel for the city. We got a recommended route from the front desk and were on our way.

The boys also had had a wild night the night before and so one of our first stops was at a recommended gelateria. I had a delicious cone of mint and cookies and cream. We continued walking and they told us about how they had run into some polish kids in their travels. The one thing that they learned from these polish kids was how to “make a foto”. Making a foto consists of finding a good setting to make a very ridiculous picture, whether it is jumping or incorporating statues into goofy pictures. You get the idea. We attempted to make a lot of fotos throughout the day. I will have to say that it is not as easy as you would think and takes some coordination. One amazing foto opportunity that we did come across was the following situation. The boys bought Italian flag boxers with an image of the male genital from a statue on the front of them. They put the boxers on over their pants and posed in front of the replica of the statue of David that is in front of the Uffizi. It was hysterical and drew quite a crowd.

I saw a roasted chestnut vendor on our walk and bought some so that everyone could try them out. The consensus was that they tasted like chicken and looked like brain. We also passed a street artist who was extremely creative with her watercolors of poppy flowers. I didn’t buy anything, but the pictures are still on my mind. I can always go back. It was an extremely entertaining and enjoyable afternoon with the boys. I am so glad that our paths crossed. Florence is a fantastic walking city with much to look at, see and do. We headed back to the hostel around 4 ish I think to chill out for a while.

We had heard that the best time to go see the real statue of David was right before the museum closed at 6 ish, with the museum closing at 7. We knocked on the boys door to see if they wanted to come along. They had made a delicious smelling pasta dinner with camping equipment in their room. I was pretty impressed with it. They had all they gear needed for camping because that is exactly what they did at some of their stops by hanging up their hammocks. A true badass backpacking across Europe situation. The statue of David is in the Academia building, which we passed on our walk, and it did have a huge line outside of it. You would never think such a famous piece of art would be in this building. It is very unsuspecting. It cost 10 euro to go in to see him, but I would say it was worth it. He is huge. Im talking at least 12 feet tall. It is pretty amazing how realistic Michelangelo was with his muscles, veins, and ribs. Unfortunately he is a little disproportion in his hands, big toe, and lower region, which is misleading and a bummer for him. The museum was also putting on display a Mapplethorpe exhibit showing all of these very interesting looking photos. Some were interesting and held my attention and some were just a little too bizarre to look at, but I am glad that they were up as a little something extra the museum had to offer.

After the museum we stopped by a grocery store to buy some wine and snacks. We found a great spot by the Duomo to enjoy our wine and treats and the great view of the beautiful cathedral. We hung out there for a while and eventually realized that we were sitting on the steps of a hospital. Im not sure how politically correct that is, but oh well. It explains the ambulances that were on both sides of the steps and we were lucky that no trauma cases come in. Since the boys had already eaten and we had not, we separated after our wine and Claire, Katherine, and I went in search for dinner. We ended up at a cute little Italian (duh) restaurant off a side street near the Duomo. The three of us all split minestrone soup, gnocchi pomodori, and grilled vegetables. It was ok, not the best Italian meal I have had, but it did come with free flat pizza bread and a carafe of wine, so that shot it up a few notches in my dining experience book.

We headed back to the hostel, said hey to the guys, and then went back up to our room. Claire and I were up for a night of drinking wine and playing cards and Katherine had a lot of stuff to catch up on. Scott knocked on our door and he came along with Claire and I. Claire taught us a card game that she had learned while she has been in Italy. It put a little more complicated twist on rummy and was very fun to play. The three of us had a very good time playing cards and drinking wine, toasting to chill people, and having good conversation. Scott and I explained for hours how incredible of a place Colorado is to live and that we highly suggest that Claire consider it when contemplating her next life move. Before we knew it, it was 3 in the morning and they were turning the lights out on us. I had a great day!