09/03/2010 Florence Day 2

Because Florence was all about money and we allocated too many days for going around Florence without entry to museums which required payment, we decided to go to two museums.

But before that, we went walking around a bit because the weather in the morning was great and there was sun. Traveling during winter or early summer is a race in which you gotta try to see all that you wanna see when there’s sunlight. Keep the indoor activities to late afternoons when there’s less sun.

In any case, we headed towards the Piazzale Michaelangelo early in the morning. On the way, we passed by the Porta alla Croce (which looks really uninteresting).

Porta alla Croce at Piazza Beccaria

We reached the River Arno really soon. Just in case you didn’t read my previous post. River Arno is the main river that passes through Florence. Our destination was just across the river.

River Arno

River Arno

Crossing the river via a bridge (Ponte S. Niccolo), we arrived soon at the foot of the hill on which the Piazzale Michaelangelo is located.

Climbing up to Piazzale Michaelangelo

Reaching the Piazzale, we were greeted by a magnificent panoramic view of Florence. We spent quite some time taking pictures, dawdling around, enjoying the view.

View of Florence from Piazzale

Awesome view with Ponte Vecchio in sight

Yours truly

The scenery is too good not to take pics

Strong winds

Unfortunately, the winds were really strong and it started raining soon after that. We snapped a few more pictures and then the rain became really heavy. So, we headed for shelter.

Awesome view of the outskirts of Florence where there’s plenty of greenery

Small church we took shelter in

Jesus

When the rain turned lighter, we headed towards the back of Piazzale Michaelangelo where San Miniato al Monte (a church) was located. We entered, as usual, and took a few pictures…… as usual.

San Miniato al Monte

Closer

A special room inside

When we were done walking around the church (while some of us rested), we decided to head to a museum (because there was nothing else to do outdoors and the weather wasn’t that nice). We crossed River Arno again via Ponte alle Grazie, from which Ponte Vecchio can be seen (on the side w/o restoration, yay!)

River Arno again

Ponte Alle Grazie

Ponte Vecchio at the back

The Galleria Degli Uffizi was just beside the River Arno between the bridge we just crossed and the Ponte Vecchio. In between there was an interesting statue so we took a few silly photos there.

Random statue

Unfortunately the Galleria Degli Uffizi had an extremely long queue and there were absolutely no reduced rates for students or young people so we decided to give it a pass. We felt that another museum was more interesting and if we had to pay to enter, we might as well just enter a museum which is worth the money and spend more time there.

So, we went to the Galleria dell’Academia where David by Michaelangelo is located. The entry cost me 6.50 euros.

Unfortunately, within the Galleria, photo taking was forbidden so I took some photos in secrecy and I shall not post them online. If you read my previous posts, you’ll realize that we actually thought the Vitruvian Man was in this museum but in fact it was in the Galleria dell’Academia in Venice. Bad mistake on our part. But anyway, if we went, it would’ve been another 6.50 euros. And to be honest, I didn’t even know about it until I read The Da Vinci Code a few years ago.

Anyway, once the hotel visit was done, we went to buy some leather goods. I bought two wallets for my parents (which I later found out could’ve been bought for 12 euros each) at a highly bargained price of 13.30 euros each.

Once we had that done, it was dinner time. We decided to enter a random pizzeria on the way home. I spent 4.50 euros on a tranch of pizza, then exchanged a few small portions with my friends. The pizza was quite awesome, just a little pricier than usual.

PIZZAAAAAA

I <3 pizzas

But, good pizza is good pizza. It was worth the money. That night, as usual, we played some cards in the room and then went to sleep.

08/03/2010 Florence Day 1

Florence map

This day was our first day in Florence, aka Firenze in Italian. Coming over from Venice, Florence seemed a lot more modern to us. It was beautiful too, just in a different way.

Florence is basically a city of museums which all charge you for entry. It was a major turn off but we’re already here, so we just have to bear with it. The historic centre of Florence was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982 and according to Ma Jie (and verified by us), the city is famous for leather goods and a rather mediocre looking Ponte Vecchio passing over the River Arno.

Anyway that day we woke up around 10 and left the hotel at around 11. Very late.

Better hotel opposite ours

We decided to proceed first to the tourist information centre to get some information and on the way we passed by the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. The day was sunny and windy. Great day for photos in piazzas.

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata

After staying briefly at the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata where the National Archaeological Museum was located, we headed to the tourist information centre (nothing interesting here) and went next to the Piazza San Lorenzo.

On way to Piazza San Lorenzo

Similar to Milan, my general perception of Florence after walking thus far is that Florence is a historical city which looks cleaner than Paris. Is Paris really that dirty? Or am I slightly prejudiced?

Anyway, we reached our destination rather soon. Piazza San Lorenzo is where the Basilica of San Lorenzo was located. On the streets beside the basilica are MANY MANY MANY street stalls selling leather goods. Here, we learned the term ‘Vera Pelle’ which meant Genuine Leather in Italian.

Nice statue in Piazza San Lorenzo

The prices of most of the leather goods were not on display and you’ll see lots of tourists bargaining with the sellers, trying to push prices down from seemingly low enough numbers.

  Shop selling leather goods (mostly belts)

After taking a few glances at a few stalls, we decided to enter the Basilica, only to find that they charge a price to enter. As the exterior of the basilica didn’t look very interesting, we opted not to spend that money (save for Rome! save for Rome!). Instead, we just took a few pictures outside.

Entrance to the Basilica di San Lorenzo

Side shot of the Basilica di San Lorenzo

I believe this is a view from one side of the Basilica

Next off, we made our way to the Piazza del Duomo, which is one of the main tourist attractions in the city.

On the way to Piazza del Duomo

The Piazza del Duomo is located in the centre of Florence and here stands three magnificent edifices – Battisteri di San Giovanni, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Campanile di Giotto.

Piazza del Duomo with Battisteri di San Giovanni in front

  Behind Battisteri is Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

Beside it was the Campanile di Giotto

Entrance to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was free of charge, except for a certain part which required payment. We went in to ‘look see look see’ (Sharon K., 2009).

Inside the Basilica

Looking up the Dome

Interesting statue

Exit Basilica from side

When we were done with the Basilica, we started randomly walking in a certain direction, our next destination being the Piazza della Signoria.

On our way, we passed by the Piazza San Firenze which wasn’t as beautiful a piazza compared to the Piazza del Duomo. However, there were three interesting buildings that you can see from this piazza, namely the Badia, the Bargello and the Complesso di San Firenze.

Walking randomly in a certain direction

Piazza San Firenze (Badia, Bargello, Complesso di San Firenze from left to right)

Strolling a little more, we finally reached the Piazza della Signoria. Here, you can see some really nice sculptures, including a replica of Michaelangelo’s famous David.

At  Piazza della Signoria (Fountain of Neptune)

Equestrian statue of Cosimo I

A little tired of walking, we decided to sit down somewhere for a rest. Not wanting to waste time simply idling, we decided to take some photos of ourselves posing.

Unfortunately, I’m not much of a poser and everyone looked cool, except for me, who was hiding my hands in my pockets, making the area at my stomach bulge as though I had a super big belly. Fail.

I is failed poser

Wide view of the Piazza

After taking some more pictures of the piazza, we decides to head towards the famous Ponte Vecchio. Actually, all 5 of us were wondering why this bridge is so highly acclaimed. It’s not exactly beautiful, and there isn’t anything special about it except for the fact that it has two rows of shops on it.

Anyway, on the way there we passed by a market selling leather goods and also some people who were filming either a movie or a documentary involving artists painting on the ground.

Market selling leather goods

Some statue of wild boar beside market

Filming of some people drawing on the ground

Dude busy asking pedestrians to not walk into scene

Xiao Xiao tried to take a photo of himself with some guy who apparently is a movie star but he wasn’t really successful.

While heading towards the bridge, we had a quick stop at the Piazza della Republica. In the picture below, the entrance behind me brings you to a road in Florence beside which various luxury brands are located. E.g. Bvlgari, Burberry, D&G. At the end of the road is a huge Salvatore Ferragamo shop with a museum dedicated to Ferragamo on the first floor.

Piazza della Republica

Leaving the Piazza della Republica, we soon reached the Ponte Vecchio. Sadly, part of it was under restoration. Nevertheless, PICTURE TIME!

View from Ponte Vecchio

On Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio wasn’t really exciting. It was just OK to me, nothing spectacular. The Ponte dell Constituzione in Venice was far more beautiful. Then again, I was in Florence, so I just had to accept the fact that it is already the awesom-est bridge there.

We crossed River Arno via the bridge, walked a bit along the other side and reached the bridge next to it, called the Ponte Santa Trinita. On this bridge we tooked some pictures of the Ponte Vecchio. Notice in the picture below that the part of the bridge behind my head was under repair.

Ponte Vecchio from bridge beside it

Back on the side we initially were on, we reached the road I talked about earlier (the one with luxury brands). It is called the Via de’ Tornabuoni. The entrance to this road from where we were is called the Piazza Santa Trinita and this is where the Palazzo Spini Feroni is. The Palazzo Spini Feroni is home to the largest Salvatore Ferragamo shop I’ve seen in Italy. I guess Salvatore Ferragamo to Florence is what Louis Vuitton is to Paris.

Palazzo Spini Feroni (Salvatore Ferragamo shop and museum upstairs)

  Piazza Santa Trinita

Via de’ Tornabuoni

We walked along the Via de’ Tornabuoni and ogled at the nice branded products which we couldn’t afford and arrived at the entrance to the Piazza della Republica.

Exit to Piazza della Republica

At this point in time, we were all rather tired and decided to return to the hotel. We slowly walked back and reached the hotel at about 6.30 in the evening.

Aik Hong then consulted the lady manager of the hotel regarding nice places to dine. She introduced us a restaurant near the hotel which we visited. I ordered the dish below which cost me 8.00 euros with a 1.50 euros cover charge. The best dish night that night, in my opinion, was Ma Jie’s lasagne which cost her 7.00 euros with the same cover charge.

Dinner that night

Ma Jie’s lasagne

Anyway, this marks the end of our first day in Florence. Maybe Venice was just too beautiful, or maybe Florence was just unexciting, but I retired to bed that night yearning for the orgasmic sceneries presented to us in Venice.