It was December 2nd and time was running out! We'd planned our very last trip, trying to cram as much in as possible. It was a lot to see but we knew it would be a great adventure. Thursday night at 10:30, Anne and I made the trek to Termini Station and metroed to Tibertina, where we caught the 12:47 train to Cremona. The ticket machines close sometime before 11:00, and so do the ticket offices, so we were lucky we got to get our tickets at all! At first, we compared the night train to the Hogwarts Express, but by 7:30, we were ready to get off. Anne and I had to change trains in Piacenza and if Anne hadn't been awake, we would've missed our connection because the train was early.
We finally made it to Cremona, which is an adorable little town with narrow streets that radiate from the central Duoma Cathedral. Cremona is famous for its long tradition of making violins, which began with the Amati family, continued with the Guarneri, and reached its height with the Stradivarius family. Today, violin makers continue to make beautiful stringed instruments.
We had fun checking out the Stradivarius Museum and the Stradivarius Gallery in the town hall. After some sightseeing, we had calzones at a little pizzeria near the center park. It was pretty chilly so we decided to take an earlier train to Florence; which turned out to be super cheap! The downside was we had to change like 4 times so we didn't get to Florence til 9:00 (or 21:00).
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At the Stradivarius Gallery
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Florence is beautiful at night; the town was all lit up for Natale. Anne and I grabbed some dinner and enjoyed traditional Florentine almond cookies with sweet wine and then met up with Jill and Jenna at our hostel/ apartment.
Our apartment/ hostel was right off of a piazza that has an open-air market everyday selling leather and scarves, so that was our first stop that morning!
We really did a lot that day, beginning with a visit to the basilica of Santa Croce, the Orsanmichele, and Dante's House. You had to pay to go inside all of them so we just admired them from the outside.
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Santa Croce
Next, we powered through the two famous museums in Florence, the Uffizi and the Academia. The Uffizi is in the Palazzo Vecchio and it's pretty large with two long wings. |
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| View from inside the Uffizi |
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| Palazzo Vecchio |
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The Academia is home to Michelangelo's famous David. The best part about seeing the David was trying to sneak pictures with him- we were pretty successful!
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| Jenna, me, and David |
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rear view
We had lunch at a cute little restaurant and then headed to the Duomo to climb it at sunset and to go to english mass (which was a nice change). On the way there, we found a little place selling beautiful scarves so we stocked up!
It was a crazy climb; once you get up to the frescoed ceiling, you actually have to climb between the layers of the dome and you can see the dome round as you climb it. The view was pretty impressive and the sun was setting-- best way to see Florence! Before dinner, we walked down Ponte Vecchio, which means "old bridge". It is famous for selling jewlry. It's a pretty famous bridge and it's actually in an aria by Puccini:
O mio babbino caro,
mi piace, è bello, bello.
Vo'andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno! | Oh my dear papa,
I love him, he is handsome, handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
To buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio
And throw myself in the Arno! |
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We couldn't buy any jewelry so we bought gelato; diamonds are great but they don't taste good.
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Ponte Vecchio, view from Uffizi
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We had dinner at a little place near the Duomo where a cute old man served us rubbina or bread soup.
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| getting a little goofy: double-chin-chining, our waiter snuck in the pic too! |
The next day we headed for Siena! It was short trip but a lot of fun. We saw the famous Siena Duomo, which is really similar to the Duomo in Orvieto.
We had lunch in the famous Piazza del Campo, the town square, where the Palazzo Pubblico or town Hall is. The city is famous for its medieval architechture. It was pretty cold but the restaurant had heat lamps so we were still able to enjoy the outdoors! The best part was when a strange parade of creatures on stilts (kind of cirque de soleil ish!) circled the piazza.
It was a great weekend; we saw a lot and had a blast saying Ciao to Italia!
