firenze and the catholic dormitory
so lucy and i are on a forced bed break because every hostel in florence insists on gender separating the sleeping quaters and, infruriatingly, the owners seem to notice no paradox in the fact that all the bathrooms are shared... this predicament is more of a problem for us than usual because, since leaving parma, we have stripped our luggage down to one-backpack mode until we get back there on the way to milan and our flight to paris. thankfully the quarrel over which room our only pack was to reside in was a short one because my bunk is upstairs (incidentally the greatest physically possible distance from lucy's in this hostel) which means the bag stays down with her. we would have stayed in a double at the hostel down the road except they only had vacancy for one night and we were planning to stay 2 or 3. considering that this place, though clean, isn't all that flash hot we are keeping it to two nights and 3 days of heavy sightseeing in florence and then skiddadling off to the tuscan countryside for the weekend.
firenze has been great and is a "proverbial chocolate cake of culture" (this description is apparently good enough for lonely planet...). one has to surmount one's fear of large crowds and brave the ultra-touristy main streets to get to the sights, but they are worth it. in particular the basilica of st lorenzo is a renaissance feast and the 2.5euro entrance fee includes a free tour, which was great for someone with a less-than-encyclopaedic knowledge of art history. i think, however, that i can now spot a donatello if i see one. the line to see the big fella (david) was so long that i had to take a happy snap, and against all lonely planet warnings we are going to save the 3euro booking fee and get up early for a door-opener start. odds are every other chump will be there still but it's worth a shot. i think we will miss the medici uffizi (gallery of the family that built florence and comissioned michelangelo, donatello etc etc etc) but will tour the gardens instead tomorrow... i'm not too fussed because it means more walking through the backstreets on the south side of the river, which i like the most and have found myself taking lots of street photos that will most probably turn out shithouse.
the duomo of santa maria definitely gets a mention - it's just so ridiculously immense. can't quite imagine how st peters in rome will feel, let alone how they built and then painted these things. guess thats why i'm going there! will definitely need to see the pyramids sometime, not sure if there'll be time this trip but all this city touring has instilled a desire to see some more "great creations of man". although i'm sure nothing can top machu picchu; a great creation of man on top of a great creation of non-man.
mosquito's and people turning on lights kept me up last night, so i think its time for a nap before searching out a local trattoria; all of which sell veritable feasts for a sure bargain.
firenze has been great and is a "proverbial chocolate cake of culture" (this description is apparently good enough for lonely planet...). one has to surmount one's fear of large crowds and brave the ultra-touristy main streets to get to the sights, but they are worth it. in particular the basilica of st lorenzo is a renaissance feast and the 2.5euro entrance fee includes a free tour, which was great for someone with a less-than-encyclopaedic knowledge of art history. i think, however, that i can now spot a donatello if i see one. the line to see the big fella (david) was so long that i had to take a happy snap, and against all lonely planet warnings we are going to save the 3euro booking fee and get up early for a door-opener start. odds are every other chump will be there still but it's worth a shot. i think we will miss the medici uffizi (gallery of the family that built florence and comissioned michelangelo, donatello etc etc etc) but will tour the gardens instead tomorrow... i'm not too fussed because it means more walking through the backstreets on the south side of the river, which i like the most and have found myself taking lots of street photos that will most probably turn out shithouse.
the duomo of santa maria definitely gets a mention - it's just so ridiculously immense. can't quite imagine how st peters in rome will feel, let alone how they built and then painted these things. guess thats why i'm going there! will definitely need to see the pyramids sometime, not sure if there'll be time this trip but all this city touring has instilled a desire to see some more "great creations of man". although i'm sure nothing can top machu picchu; a great creation of man on top of a great creation of non-man.
mosquito's and people turning on lights kept me up last night, so i think its time for a nap before searching out a local trattoria; all of which sell veritable feasts for a sure bargain.
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