Touring Florence with My Parents
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2008
1
16
24
Trip End
Dec 22, 2008
Florence,
Tuscany,
Italy
Saturday, October 11, 2008
1) Climb the Duomo:
top of duomo
It takes 450 steps to climb to the top of the duomo. It is a pretty narrow stair case and there is only room for one person which poses a problem when you run into someone who wants to go the opposite direction. Part way to the top you walk iinside the church up by the top of the duomo. This is really cool because you get to walk right next to the beautiful frescos that are at the top of the dome. At the end you climb a couple steep staircases to get outside to the top. From the top you can see the famous red roofs and many of the landmarks of Florence. My dad was a little scared but we were proud of him for making it to the outside on the top and staying up there for a while. The way down is a lot easier although it is another 450 steps and our legs were a little tired by the end.2) Shopping:
parents
My parents were really nice and bought me my birthday present, a pair of leather boots! All of the Florentine Italian women wear them and I could not pass up the opportunity to buy some more Italian leather. It took us a while to find the right pair but in the end I found a really cute pair that is dark brown with heals and has a cute buckle and scrunch in the back. My mom bought a purse from the same guy who sold me mine. He is a very good salesman and is very nice. The other guy at the store convinced my dad to buy this beautiful leather jacket. It is two toned (dark brown with a light brown collar). I was happy for my dad because the guys make it in their own factory and it is something he can have for a long time! Afterwards I took my parents to see the huge food market and we bought wine and food to make for dinner.3) Pizza lunch: we found a pizza place for lunch because my parents hadn't had Italian pizza yet. It was very good.
4) Pitti Palace: We crossed the ponte vecchio and got to see all of the gold shops that are open during the day time. The Pitti Palace is the old palace of the Medici family and has the famous boboli gardens. We only had time to tour the palace but it was beautiful. Some of the rooms displayed some very old art. The rest of the rooms were on display how they would have been. They were gorgeous and I was amazed by how much gold they used in every room! It reminded me of the palace of Versailles but probably because that is the only other palace I have been too. My favorite room was the queens bedroom. It is a beautiful color of blue and has an amazing canopy over the bed.
5) Duomo Church Service: We went to the five o'clock saturday enlgish service in the Duomo. It was really cool to go to a service the same day that we climbed to the top. The service was nice and had a lot of similiarties to the Episcopal service we are used to. We were dissapointed though because we could not take communion since we were not Catholic. Nevertheless it was pretty amazing to attend a church service in the Duomo.
6) Italian meal:
italian dinner
My roomates were gone Saturday so I had my parents over to the apartment to cook them an Italian meal. My mom helped and we cooked some pasta, we made our own sauce, and some eggplant. It was an enjoyable meal and I was happy to show my parents my new cooking skills.7) Santa Croce: After dinner we took a walk and saw the Santa Croce (the most famous church in Florence- where Michealangelo is buried) at night. We reminisced on coming to the same square with our tour guide marco and going into a leather store.
8) Buona Note: We went to bed after that because we had to get up early again to go to Cinque Terre!
* I posted all of the photos on Facebook- I know many of you don't have facebook but you can view all of the photos with this public link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072674&l=e2618&id=35805139
