Florence, Italy

The train ride from Monaco to Florence had many stops and connections. My friend Jake and I decided to stick around in each city for an hour or so to stretch our legs, and in doing so we got a pretty good look at Italy!

Ventimiglia

The first stop after Monaco was Ventimiglia. Apparently, the city is in Italy, not France, evidenced by the illegible signs everywhere and the warm smell of pizza rising from the restaurant in the train station. Walking straight out of the train station, you come across a beautiful little park, and then a bridge crossing a river:

Jake and I got our first taste of Italian Gelato:

Genova

The next stop was at Genova. I was hungry and it was raining, so I stuck around in the train station and ate a sandwich while Jake walked around and explored what he could of the city. Sorry, no pictures.

Pisa

Jake and I weren’t even planning on stopping in Pisa, but once we were told we’d have to go there, we couldn’t resist taking an extra hour to walk around the town. One of the first things I saw was this dedication:

Italians are big on graffiti, apparently. There are curse words and blessings all over (Pisa, Florence, Rome).

Of course, we made a stop at the leaning tower. Oddly, not everyone knew how to give us directions to it. (???)

Florence

Finally, we arrived at Florence. What a beautiful city:From what I’ve read, Florence gets polluted with tourists and travellers to the point of being unbearable during the Summer, so I guess I was pretty lucky to come during the Springtime. The truth is that the lines to get in everywhere were pretty long, but not the hell they were supposed to be. It did have the trappings of a tourist town, though – people walking around trying to sell you flowers, hats and sunglasses everywhere, harassing you until you’re practically yelling at them to leave. That said, I wouldn’t let it bother me. Read on.

-Florence has a wicked market:
On this trip, I’ve learned that I’m pretty crazy about little flea markets and the like. This one was really cheap, though. Competition at its finest. It’s right next to the Duomo, which is also phenomenal:

The Duomo is the most impressive structure that I’ve never heard about. It’s one of the most impressive buildings I’ve seen period anyway! It’s one of the world’s largest cathedrals, and its exterior is adorned in white, green and red marble. They began working on it in the 90s (that is, the 1290s) and its absolutely phenomenal. Jake and I spent a solid hour walking around it and just looking around. It’s decorated with paintings and stained glass designed by Donatello (one of the ninja turtles).

Inside, everyone’s looking upwards for some reason:

Here’s why:
This cupola is extremely famous and beautiful. It costs extra to go up near it, but I didn’t bother.

Perhaps most interestingly, (but only perhaps) Jake and I got to see Michelangelo's David:

We didn’t want to imitate the statue beside it, though:

Oh, and for the ladies, here’s a close-up:
Jokes aside, the detail on this thing is amazing. Look at the veins on his hands, for instance:
Okay, I kind of lied. This isn’t the original David. But people are really obsessed with the David around here. (It reminds me of the Manneqin Pis in Brussels.) For example, we walk to the top of a park on a mountain, and we get another fake David, this one made of Bronze:

It seems like all of the souvenirs, keychains and calendars they sell in Florence are based on David. It makes me wonder what it’s like to grow up in a tourist town like Florence. What do the locals think of tourists? What do they think about their tourist attractions?

Florence (having a river crossing it, like every other European city) has a whole bunch of bridges connecting its two halves. The most famous of these is the 14th century Ponte Vecchio:

It’s an odd bridge in that it’s lined with shops. Even odder because they’re all jewellery shops:This is due to a royal decree, apparently. An odd thing to want, I think.

One of the last things I did in Florence was go to visit a synagogue. This is one of the first Jewish things I’ve done on this trip, after the Passover Seder. 

This synagogue is sort of still in use, with services held on Saturdays and used for weddings. People come from all over the world to have their weddings here. I was told that it’s not Ashkenazi or Sephardi synagogue but an Italian one. I’ve never heard of this, but they differ in many things, including that they write some of their prayers in Italian wording but Hebrew letters. They also use a pipe organ during their services, though they traditionally have a non-Jew playing it.

During the war, the synagogue was used as a garage. The torah books were hidden from the Nazis in order to protect them, and they weren’t harmed! Ironically, 90 of them were destroyed during one of the horrible floods in the 60s, so only 13 are left.

Italisms

-I do not understand a bit of Italian. I mean, I didn’t expect to, but in a way I did. I understand a fair bit of Spanish, apparently, but Italian's completely above me. I really thought my French and my little Spanish would be useful, but it isn’t. For the record.

-Food:

Left: chocolate filled pastry thing. Right: rice ball (arancini), filled with mozzarella, tomatoes and beef. 

-Only in a place like Italy can you find yourself standing in wine:

-Cute little bus:
Sorry for the crappy view, but I didn’t see another one when I was there, so this is the only shot of one that I have.

-David’s junk:

-Another strange statue

-Ugly car:

All in all, in a single day we managed to be in 6 cities: Nice, Monaco, Ventimiglia, Genova, Pisa and Florence. Afterward such a wonderful introduction to Italy, I got to enjoy much of Florence’s art and food. I’m extremely impressed with Italy, so far.