Sunday, November 6, 2011

Day Seventeen: Firenze

Today we explore Florence. We-now includes Jan! After our buffet breakfast we headed out via bus to explore this great city. We went fist to the Museum that is home to some of the greatest example of Renaissance sculpture. It’s incredible what people can do with stone, and bronze, and marble. It’s amazing that I’m so close to all this history, like someone famous touched this stuff. 








After that we grabbed some sandwiches and headed over to the Piazza Vecchia. We had lunch under the statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa. 
It was awesome, again all the history here. After lunch we got some tickets to go into the Museum Dei Uffici, which is home to some of the finest paintings. We traveled around the city grabbing gelato and other novelties.  Well after our city seeing was over we began our course in art history. It was not disappointing to say the least. We had dinner at Mozz, a Mozzarella bar. Dad was disappointed, I was not!  Sorry I’m so tired and I feel like I’m just rambling, I’ll let the pictures speak for me from now on
The fake David

The real fountain

This creep

The Medici Bridge

Locks of Love

Duomo

Duomo

Baptismal





Street Art

Duomo




Sunday, July 31, 2011

Day Sixteen: Rome to Florence

Up “early” again. After saying our goodbye’s to our gracious host family we hit the road and traveled speedily to Florence. No stops were made. 




We got there at like 1 and met Jan, who had been there since 7. After throwing our bags in the rooms we headed out for lunch. We had a pretty good pizza in a nice place, recommended by trip adviser! And after that we traveled to one of the oldest churches in Florence, I believe it was Medici owned or paid for.  There were no pictures allowed but as you guessed for my amazing fans I pulled some strings and got a few…


…Great right? Anyway after this we traveled down the market and got back to our car, which we had parked in a garage because Florence offers absolutely no parking space ever. After we had gotten the car we came back home to freshen up before going out again. After driving around Florence we came up to the most beautiful spot in Florence, which is called Piazza Michelangelo, were you can see the entire city, while buying knock-off handbags and sunglasses. 















It’s spectacular. We of course we were “famished” and so we had to go grab some dinner, which took longer than usual because nowhere seemed to satisfy our tourist tastes. Well after a while we found somewhere and ate some pasta and yeah that’s Florence for you. I like the city alright, but Rome was better. At least Jan’s here, so there’s some diversity to the family now haha and someone else below 40 and above 11. He’s a cool guy. Until tomorrow.

Day 15: Everything Else in Rome

Ok so the title here is a little deceiving. There is no way that you could ever see everything in Rome in four days. It’s impossible , not even a lifetime could get it done. Well today was stared out at Castle San Angelo, like from angles and demons, and although we didn’t get to see the crypts and secret lairs we did get to go to the very top for an amazing view of Rome. 
This is the Castle!

We're in front of it! (different day I know but still you needed it for reference!)

Inside with Granita!

Donatello's Michael 

Serious face in front of the Italians!

Vatican for the Castle on the side

The very famous angel statue on top

More of beautiful Roma

The Angel bridge

The coldest spot in the castle window looking at the Vatican

More inside the castle

Mother now, happy faces in front of the Italians
After some pointless wandering around the grounds of the castle it was yet again time to find lunch. But we went somewhere really good! I got something that was supposed to be Roman in origin, Beef rolls basically, with vegetables. Personally I think it was our best meal in Rome. But my parents differ from me here. After lunch we wandered some more to hit some more sights that we hadn’t seen yet. It was a lot of wandering and looking here are some photos of our travel through the city. Oh I forgot to mention I got a jacket but we were ripped off because we only speak English and very poor Italian. Fun fact: Ryan will be taking Italian in college.  
We arrived a little late to the market

But they were still selling crap

A perfectly normal Roman church
After this we toured around a few more churches and hidden gems of Rome and headed on back home. From here we went out to eat away from the city to a very good restaurant where we had various pastas.  Today was the last day in Rome and it feels as if we’ve only been here for one. Time goes by way to fast, especially in Europe. I’m missing the slow, easy feel of Pesaro. Florence, however, is calling us. A call that has to be answered tomorrow!