An Italian 4th of July
Florence
07.03.2011 - 07.05.2011
After a 5 hour train ride filled with card games and heart to hearts, 2 other girls, myself, and this great group of guys from San Diego arrived in the picturesque city of Florence. Despite getting off one stop too early and almost losing a member of the group(me actually), we ended up in Piazza Pitti where our hostel was situated. A giant palace made up the square, with some quaint gelato shops and modern art pieces scattered around. A relaxing dinner offset the stress of traveling, followed by some exploring along the Arno river and a night in an Irish pub to kick off the 4th of July celebrations at midnight.
On the actual Independence day, we got up early and set a course to see as much of Florence as we could walk. This locale quickly became my favorite city in Italy, due to the quantity and quality of historical and architectural wonders without the crowded touristy feeling that Venice and Rome both have. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time or group interest to go and see the David(adding it to my future travel checklist), but we did get to see the glorious outside of the Uffizi as well as the Duomo and the inside of St. Maria's Cathedral-where opulence and slightly morbid religiosity combined to create a deeply somber mood that had all of us sitting in silence for a few minutes. Some shopping among the many stalls and wide-windowed stores yielded me a cute brown purse of hopefully "real Italian leather".
A deliciously inexpensive grocery store dinner of smoked salmon, cheese, fresh bread, and prosciutto proceeded an evening of typical July 4th activities, minus the fireworks. It was interesting to see half of the Italian bars becoming offended by the influx of rowdy Americans and the other half embracing the chance commercially by playing American music and providing flags to wave in the air. Overall a very fun night, though I definitely missed the standard hot dogs and hamburgers. The next morning we wandered through the city gardens di Boboli before taking yet another train back down to Rome.
Posted by ksil91 07.14.2011 08:05 Archived in Italy
