2 day recap

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Trip Start Jun 05, 2006 Previous
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  Florence, Italy
Friday, June 23, 2006

OK. Our last day in Vienna was pretty well spent. We went to a local place recommended by our very good friend Frommer. We took the metro, transferring several times, found the address...and much to our chagrine, it appeared to be a pet store. Not very tasty. It was only as we were walking away that I happened to turn and look up, and above the dogbone shop was the sign we were looking for. And that meant a delicious Viennese breakfast, only slightly spoiled by a yellow jacket. Kelly, who is quite scared by them, ran away, and gradually everyone else left me, until it was just me and the yellow jacket--engaged in a deadly showdown. I assumed he just wanted a bit of our yummy plumb crepes. But, as you may not know, Austrian yellow jackets, like most Austrians, are much more partial to goulasch. And so he unsurprisingly made a beeline for it. After a taste though, he found it unsuitable and flew away. I felt mighty big after that exchange, as you might expect.

Anyway, after that, we went to the museum area near the palace, where there are like 8 really good museums

a dirty, groggy me--and the arno

. Jon and I decided to hit up the natural history, but only on the condition that he could have a wheelchair. You see a few nights ago, Jon was feeling around in the dark, and accidentally shinned a chair really hard, and that day his leg was swollen up quite a lot and he didn't want to be walking around on it. So I had the hilarious job of pushing Jon, who was only mildly incapacitated (and to the confusion of some onlookers) would stand up and walk down stairs when there was no lift. And it would also turn out that almost all of the displays were completely in German, and the "information" lady didn't even know what an "audioguide" was. It was still a pretty good museum, though.

-------------------------------------------
So anyway, we took the overnight train to Florence. We were awakened at quarter of six by one of the crew, who surprisingly gave us coffee and a little breakfast. How fantastic. It was only this that got me jump started enough to proceed on the 12 hr. day of tourist-ing that would follow. We first woke up the old Italian lady that runs the pension where we're staying at around 6:30. She wasn't as friendly then for some reason, as we would later find her to be. We're staying in a quaint little place with no AC (well, none of our places have AC) and a nice view of a noisy bar in the alley out front

Crossing the Arno

. And once we deposited our things, we walked about the city, seeing many of the sights before all the other tourists got up and about. It was really gorgeous, and Florence has this small-town feel like Brugge, but with more attractions. Then we decided to head to the opening of the Academia, where Michelangelo's prized "David" stands in his own domed vestibule. I gotta say the statue is just incredible...and almost worth the 9.50 euro entry price, since it's really the only thing worth seeing in that museum. And all the museums are like that, which is why I'm reluctant to go to them, not being a huge art-lover really--I mean, once you've seen one priceless, world-renowned works from antiquity, you've seen them all, right...? Anyway, we went to the Duomo Cathedral, the Baptistry (which was the inspiration for Dante's Inferno), and pretty much everywhere in the city. We even went to the Vivoli Gelaterie, which is supposed to be the best gelatto in Florence. It was reeeally good, but also pricey. And Jon and I got our ears lowered before going out to a great (Frommer's recommended) local eatery. Today, the others went to the Ufici, which has one of the most extensive Renaissance art collections in the world. I didn't go because of entry price, being museumed out, and...well they left at 7. OK, I think that will do for now. Hope it was worth reading all that, and be sure to check out backlogged photos I was finally able to upload.

Cheers,
Matt

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Early morning view of the Arno	entrance to the "Island of the Dead"	flower vendor in the northeast of the city	inside the duomo-the altar
jill in the duomo	jon and jill at the Palazzo Vecchio	Jon and Jill near the Duomo	local leather and bauble market
our group + our new friend Isaac	Pikachu's cousin	sculptures in the street	the arno at sunset
the front of Duomo cathedral

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