Two by train

11/7/11

This morning we waved good-bye to Roma. We really did enjoy our stay. Our favorite parts were definitely the Collosseum/ruins and the real Italian dinner. Our room was comfy and the staff at the hotel was lovely. We got a picture with our favorite, Tiger, before we left. He is a Roman (born and bred) but his ethnicity is Asian and he speaks English with a British accent. Apparently, he went to college there. He is a very interesting person and very nice. He encouraged us to call if we had any trouble during the rest of our trip.

We waited for a bus for 30 minutes and almost gave up on the idea of not having to drag our luggage 25 minutes across Rome to the train station when a not-entirely full bus showed up. We had even stated walking away so we ran back and jumped aboard, shoving our luggage in before the doors shut. I'm sure it is very comical. At the train station, we met some very friendly Americans. We LOVE meeting American travelers! They we're from New Jersey and picked up in my accent right away :) well shucks y'all. She helped us figure out what train to take and which platform to wait on. The train was super fast! We were going 240+ km/hour...not sure how fast that is in miles per hour but when we went in and out of tunnels it made our ears pop.

We made it to Florence in the rain so decided to take a taxi since we weren't sure where we were headed. It was a good value at the time but we have a sneaky suspicion that he took the long way. Our hotel is in a perfect location. Katie would have loved the handsome Italian man who checked us in ;)

Our room is large and has a pretty window overlooking a courtyard. We walked to the Duomo, the huge dome atop the cathedral of Santa Maria. The cathedral has the third largest nave (center isle) of any church. St. Peter's had the longest and boasted it as well. Along St. Peter's nave, they marked where all other churches naves would end. I forgot to mention that earlier but it is interesting. 

The outside of St. Maria's is neo-gothic,  and covered in pink, green, and white Tuscan marble. Absolutely beautiful but the most impressive part was the Duomo. Created by Brunelleschi, it has large white marble ribs that are filled with bricks layered in a herringbone pattern atop of one another. One row of bricks supports the other and so on like an igloo. Hard to imagine but pictures to follow. It is very large and can be seen from almost anywhere so it is sort of our little landmark that we navigate around.

Our hotel is only minutes from the Uffizi Gallery (famous for the Birth of Venus) and the Accademia Gallery (famous for Michaelangelo's David). We spent all day traveling so we're relaxing for the evening. We found a gelato shop that's even (dare i say?) better than Roma! The chocolate has real chunks of chocolate! So yummy!

Another thing Florence is famous for is it's leather school (Katie stop reading here because all I can say is "honey, we're out numbered!") and everywhere you look is leather. Leather bags, luggage, purses, wallets, belts, coats, and I haven't seen the first shoe (besides my own) that aren't leather. The entire square near our hotel smells of leather. The closer we get to Milan, the more fashionable the people dress. Beautiful clothes and scarves, and yes, leather! I envy their boots!

Well that's all for our first night. Tomorrow, we're stuffing all the sights into one day. Wish us luck!