Florence and Venice

We were only in Florence for about a day and a half, but we did the major tourist attractions. We saw the duomo (the big church) and the baptistry. Both were really awesome on the outside especially. The baptistry was beautiful inside as well, the ceiling is all gold with pictures of the last judgement. Very impressive! We also, of course, went to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David and then head to the Uffizi galery to see the greatest collection of Italian Reinessance art. It was very cool, and Ed was especially impressed with the sculpture of David. What a masterpiece! We also went to San Marco church and monestary where we saw frescos from Fra Angelico which was very neat. I have some illegal pictures from this place, which is cool! I didn't know pictures were not allowed until a lady had to come up to me and tell me to stop taking them. Oops! BTW, you cannot take pictures anywhere in this town unless you are outside it seems.


We did some great shopping in Florence. There is a great outdoor market that we had a blast at. It was fun bargaining deals with people and buying some great leather goods and soccer jerseys.
We also had the best gelato EVER in Florence at this place called "Grom." If you ever go to Florence, you MUST get gelato here! He uses all natural, organic ingredients, and you could just see the difference (and most importantly, TASTE the difference) between this place and others. Absolutely amazing!


We had the best meal as well here at Osteria del Porcellino. We had this great pasta, tortillini filled with cheese baked with pears and walnuts. EXCELLENT! Then a great veal with orange peel. Soooooo good! Great meal, great wine, and great service. He even gave us some lemoncello on the house after our meal.

One great thing about our trip to Venice was that it was pouring rain when we arrived by train. It was so wet everywhere. We stood in the rain to get tickets for the boat ride to our hotel. By the time we had the tickets, the rain had stopped, and by the time we got to our hotel, the sky was blue and it had practically dried up everywhere. We didn't see a drop of rain on the rest of our trip. It was perfect. Our prayers were definitely answered on that one. I was so worried and praying like crazy when I saw the rain pouring down! So it was a wonderful thing when the rain completely stopped as soon as we arrived!

We spent the first evening just walking around. There is no way to NOT get lost in Venice. That is the thing to do there and you must expect it to happen EVERY time you try to go anywhere. It is just the way it is, and it is kind of fun too. Just wandering around that city is fun; there are so many little alleys and bridges. Following a map is virtually impossible. We went to a couple museums while there. First, we went to the Correr Museum, which has some Venetian art and history. We basically only went there because the ticket also covers the Doge's Palace, where the ticket line was long. So we only spent a short time in the Correr, then headed over to the Doge's Palace and bypassed the line! This was a cool place to visit. The neatest part was crossing over the Bridge of Sighs and touring the old prison.

We also had some great gelato in Venice! It's called La Boutique Gelato. Very very good! Almost as good as Florence. We also had a really great (and REALLY expensive) meal on our last night. We ordered flounder, so the server took a whole flounder right out of the case in the front of the restaurant and put it on a plate in front of us to see if we approved. Then took it to the back and cooked it up Venetian style. AWESOME! It had this wonderful sauce with tomatoes, potatoes, and olives. It was wonderful.

We finished out last night off by grabbing a couple of drinks to go (it's weird that you can just walk around the streets with a beer in hand there) and went out near San Marco square to watch a huge fireworks show. The next day (the day we were leaving) was the Feast and Regatta of the Redeemer, so to celebrate, there was this huge display of fireworks the night before. It started at 11:30 p.m. and lasted for a good 45 min. or so. It was so great! There were so many people there, and the show was magnificent. The fireworks seemed so close and just lit up the sky! It was a fantastic way to end our trip!