Florence, Italy | Day one

We're back in the UK after a really amazing trip to Italy.

When people ask us how it was we just say 'really great'

because if we went into detail it would take us a few hours to really

tell you how great our trip really was.

So i'll write it out for you guys here

and hope that it doesn't get too long.

We left Tuesday night and flew into Pisa Airport.

From Pisa Airport we just hopped on our pre booked bus

and headed off to the city of Florence.

You can get a bus or a train to Florence from Pisa

but I would 100% say get the bus.

Cheaper and quicker and the station

 is right outside the airport.

The Train station is a 20 minute walk

or a 5 minute Taxi ride.

It cost us about 8 Euro to get from

the train station to the airport.

So that's just money you won't need to spend

if you simply get the bus to Florence.

Moving on..

We stayed in a Hostel called Emerald Fields.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a hostel in Florence.

It's not anything super special but it has beds, nice hot showers, clean bathrooms,

a kitchen for you to use and the location couldn't be better.

It's a 3 minute walk from the S.M. Novella station

and about a 5 minute walk from the Duomo.

Not to shabby!!

That first night after we got in and got settled

we headed out to find some Pizza and snacks.

We got a little glimpse of the top of the Duomo

but headed back before we could see too much.

We wanted to see it for the first time in all it's glory

glowing in the sunlight.

So the next day we were out on the town quite early.

I think we stepped foot outside at around 9:30.

We walked straight towards the Duomo.

It was really strange because while I had no clue

as to where we were going Tom seemed to know the city

backwards and forwards.

He led us straight towards the Duomo and it was just breathtaking.

It's SO big and just gorgeous on the outside!!

I was a little surprised by the inside of the Cathedral.

Isn't this Italian, where's all the gold accents and bright colors???

It was pretty tame on the inside except for the Dome.

The dome was what I expected the rest of the Cathedral to look like.

But all in all it was a gorgeous place!!

One of my favorite Cathedrals by far.

On Wednesday I'll share our climbing to the top of the Dome story.

That was an adventure.

We decided to keep it simple on Wednesday and just

walk around the city and see the sights.

No museums, no tours, just walking.

We came across Ponte Veccio first.

Such a cool bridge with shops lining the span of the bridge.

The shops all seemed to be Jewelry shops that were way out

of our price range but it was still pretty cool.

We kept walking on and found the Boboli Gardens.

We weren't aware that you had to pay to enter the gardens

but after we got in we realized why.

It was stunning in there, with views of the tuscan hills

and an amazing view of the Duomo from afar.

Plus the gardens themselves were wonderful.

After the gardens, excuse me, after hiking in the gardens

we decided we were close enough to walk to, excuse me, 

hike to Piazza Michelangelo where there is an amazing spot to 

look out over the city.

So we hike up to the Piazza and it's so breathtaking that

I don't realize my legs are literally shaking from all of the hiking we had done.

We sat down and I pointed my toes and stretched my leg out and 

the amount of involuntary leg shaking was shocking.

We had been on our feet for about 8 hours and

I couldn't really handle it, neither could Tom

so that's when we packed it in for the day.

It was about 5 in the afternoon but we felt like it was closer to 11pm.

We took naps and rested our legs before adventuring out again for our dinner.

Dinner was delicious, we both had pasta while sitting in the 

Piazza Della Signoria which is the square that houses the replica statue of David.

So that was really neat.

Let me just tell you now...The prices for a meal in Florence

are actually pretty cheap considering what it could be.

I think we payed 8 or 9 Euro per plate which

is a pretty common number for dinner.

However...the price for a single can of coke

was SHOCKING!!!!!!!

This wasn't just a one time thing either.

We had a few meals where our two cokes

equalled 12-13 Euro.

Whhhaaaattt?????

That's crazy!!

I ain't down with that!!

At lunch we'd get a can of coke for 2 euro

and at dinner we'd get the SAME can of coke and

they charge us 6 euro...for a can of coke.

I can't, I just won't!!

Anyways...

That's the first day!

I'll just do a photo dump so

you can see the iphone pics along

with the fancy camera pics above!! :)

Tomorrow I'll post about Cinque Terre.

Which is by far one of my favorite places in the whole world!!

:)

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