Gloryfades.org

I awoke on the Tuesday of my departure from Rome really early. I had a train ticket for the 8:05 train to Venice and I was worried that I wouldn’t make it so I got up around seven. My bags were packed so I only needed to get dressed, washed and breakfasted before heading off to the station which was about a ten minute walk from the hostel.

I said goodbye to the concierge, for lack of a better word. I’m sad to say that I never really caught the girl’s name but she was a lovely person the entire time I was there. Really friendly and we always chatted whenever I came home from my day of exploring so we spent a good ten minutes saying goodbye to each other.

I should mention now that I went to Italy without a watch. I have a watch but it’s not a watch that can be worn while travelling. It’s made of metal and kinda heavy and it’s just not conducive for travelling, so I decided not to take it. I figured that I would have my iPod and my cellphone so I would be fine. When I got to London, though, I found that my cellphone doesn’t work at all in Europe. I figured I wouldn’t have reception since it’s not a GSM phone but I didn’t realize that not even the clock on the bloody thing would work. So the entire time I was in Europe I was a bit time-disoriented. 90% of the time I had no clue what time of day it was.

So when I stepped out of the hostel and began making my way towards the train station I was shocked to find that it was 5 minutes to 8! I wasn’t strictly panicing because some of the clocks that line the streets of Rome don’t really work properly so I figured that particular clock was just fast. But then I saw two more clocks that read the same time. I really started to panic. I walked as fast I could possibly go with the fresh burn on my back which had - by that morning - begun to really hurt.

This is what I did to myself on the last day in Rome. Suffice it to say that it hurt. A lot.

Well, I managed to make my way to the train station in record time, even with the massive burn on my shoulders slowing me down but alas, I missed my train by about five minutes. I had to wait until the next train in two hours so I sat around reading for most of the time.

Eventually, I boarded a four hour long train to Venice. The ride was long and boring and I got really hungry by the end but I stuck it out. I didn’t really want to buy anything on the train and I had a couple of apples with me anyway. I figured I’d get something to eat with Gord once we met up. I was worried that he’d be freaking out over me being two hours late. There was nothing I could do about it, though. I hadn’t thought of bringing the phone numbers of the hostels and hotels with me so I was plum out of luck.

I finally got off the train at Venice. I bought a map of the city at the train station because I was convinced I’d get lost looking for my hotel. The hotel’s website didn’t really have great instructions on how to get to it from anywhere so I was nervous. Once I had a map, though, I realized that the place was laughably close to the train station. It was literally five minutes away, on the same island.

I rushed in and the lady at the check-in desk gave me my room number. I was happy to hear that my “friend” as she put it was already in the room. I thanked her and went upstairs but - of course - I wasn’t able to find my room number. She gave us room 212 but it went from 210 to 213. One room only had the word “Private” written on it. I didn’t want to assume that was mine so I went back downstairs to ask and she told me that it was that room. I wasn’t happy about that; I was hot and sweaty and my shoulders hurt like a bitch. I knocked on the door though and was met with a lovely boyfriend.

Seeing Gord after several long days of being alone in a foreign country was like a Godsend. I was so happy for the company and the conversation. We exchanged stories while I showered and then had some Sprüngli chocolate before heading out to see the city before sunset.

So I’ve never been to Venice before. After Florence, Venice is one of my favourite cities in Italy. Perhaps I’m biased because I got to spend two really lovely days there with my boyfriend but I don’t really care The colours in Venice are just … something else. I mean, in everything. The buildings, the water, the sky, the art - it all looks like it was painted with a darker and more vibrant colour than anywhere else.

The thing about Venice is that it’s packed to the tits with tourists. My Rough Guide says that Venice’s population is shrinking each year and tourists outnumber the actual citizens 5 to 1. That’s insane, but I can very well believe it. I have never seen so many bloody tourists in one small city. Enough talk, though. More pictures!!

Did I mention how much I love the architecture in Venice? Everything is just packed right into everything else and right onto the canals. You can’t really go too far before hitting a canal.

This was in the display window of an art gallery specializing in reproductions of famous abstract art. The sculpture is by Salvador Dali, although I can’t remember what it’s called!

San Marco’s Square near sunset. We eventually found ourselves here after wandering around for quite a bit. We took a really shitty map with us - not the one I bought - so we didn’t really have much of a sense of direction. We eventually made our way home, though!

The second photo we took while the woman wasn’t looking. I posed in front of the camera so it wouldn’t look like Gord was taking a picture of some random chick, when in actuality that’s what we were doing! It’s a shame the third picture didn’t turn out better than it did cause it was an amazing photo. That cat was just sitting on the window sill, watching the world pass it by as it sat there. I made Gord take the picture and I tried to call it back when it started to leave, but alas .. it didn’t speak English!

We wrapped our first night in Venice with some cheap pizza at a place called “Pizza & Ice Cream” (we learned that the following day when we went again for pizza!). I can’t explain how nice it was to be with someone you know and speak in English. There were days when I’d go for hours without saying a word because I had no one to talk to. That isn’t to say that when I did meet people I was shy - on the contrary, I tended to talk their ears off!

The next morning we awoke late. We managed to get out of our hotel room once the cleaning ladies began knocking on the door. Breakfast consisted of yummy, yummy Fanta and a panini on a dock that was basically a set of steps leading into the canal. It was really cool to just sit there as the tourists passed by.

The second and third photos are mosaics on the front of San Marco’s. Directly below them stood about fifty people waiting in line to get inside. We crossed that bridge to get to the art musuem. We wanted to see the top three things in Venice - the art museum, San Marco’s and the Palazzo which is the home of the Doge. Since San Marco’s was packed by the time we reached it, we headed for the art museum, the Accademia. When we found it it was nearly empty (well, a lot less packed than San Marco’s) and blissfully air conditioned! The day was hot. Really hot. So being out of the sun was a welcome reprieve. Gord and I spent an hour or so gazing at Venetian paintings and making comments on some of the expressions on the faces of the portraits. It was highly amusing.

Before we found the Accademia gallery, though, we found a free exhibit of old instruments so we went inside. There were signs everywhere for a concert taking place that night and since Gord and I were feeling adventurous, we decided to buy tickets. The concert was held in an actual church. I’ll write more about that when I get there, though

After spending a chilly hour in the Accademia we sauntered back to San Marco’s square. Although it was slightly cooler than earlier in the day it wasn’t much cooler. We decided we would still go into San Marco’s but not until we had a coffee at Caffe Florian which is the oldest cafe in all of Venice. It dates back to 18th century and has served such distinguished customers as Henry James and Lord Byron! I really wanted to have a coffee on the terrace so we found a cozy spot right beneath one of the arches.

The little old lady in the first picture behind me sat there the whole time we were there, which must have been about a half hour. She was clearly by herself and we really felt bad for her cause she sat there with that exact expression on her face the entire time. She held a napkin in her hands and kept shredding the thing. It was really sad The coffee, though, was quite good! The waiter appeared quite briskly wearing an ivory white dress coat and tuxedo pants. The menus had lots of yummy things but it was all over ten euros. I ordered a simple cafe late which cost me seven euros and Gord ordered a chocolate coffee (I can’t remember the name anymore!) which cost ten euros! We marvelled at the complete tea service which cost about fifty euros and wondered who would order something so extravagant. Not too long after we received our coffees a wealthy family sat near us and proceeded to order the very same tea service we were gawking at. We were totally gobsmacked! Not only was it fifty euros but it barely had any sandwiches on it. I suppose if we were really looking for a Venician experience we would have done the tea service too, but I’m poor, so I can’t!

We also met a Japanese couple who sat directly across from us. They were this cute little couple who spoke very little English. Gord thought commented that it must have been doubly hard for a non-English speaking person to travel to a country where English is *not* the first language, though it’s wellknown. I don’t know if that sentence came out right but I hope you understand what it means

After Florian’s we headed off to stand in line at San Marco’s.

The lines were still long. We figured, though, since we were here we may as well brave the lines. Gord took off while I waited in line to put our daypack in storage since we weren’t allowed to take it into the basilica. While I waited there I stood beside an American man who was waiting for his family to reach him as well. I happened to strike up a conversation wtih him which proceeded nicely up until he literally walked oof while I was in mid-sentence. He didn’t even acknowledge that he was done listening. He was just gone. I was completely stunned at his rudeness and a little miffed by the time Gord got back. It didn’t help matters that I was standing with a gaggle of teenage Latinos right behind me. They didn’t have the sense to put their bags in storage and we had to wait while they left the line - when we got to the front - to go put them away.

Once inside, though, I felt a lot better. It was cool inside the basilica and we let the crowds walk past us so we could breathe a little better. It’s hard, sometimes, to be around so many other people. I’m by no means a claustrophobe and I don’t have social anxiety disorder but at times I wanted to yell at a few people to get the hell out of my way. I suppose that’s what it must feel like to live in Venice where the tourism seems to never stop. No wonder the population grows smaller every year!

The basilica was pretty but by no means the best that I have seen. Perhaps I’m a bit of a snob after St. Peter’s. I should be nicer, though, since it’s a great place to see a lot of Byzantine art. Many things located at San Marco’s were pillaged from Constantinople after the fall of the Byzantine empire. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the basilica but we did manage to sneak one:

Yep. I was buying postcards to send home and Gord took out the camera and we snapped this quickly. It was pure genius, really. I love the way it turned out too. This is one of the few pictures where my nose doesn’t look like it’s been burnt to an absolute crisp :X

After San Marco’s we headed over to the “Pizza and Ice Cream” parlour and had ourselves some cheapie slices again. They were soooo damn good, though! I’m never gonna have pizza without feta cheese again. I swear to God, it was the best thing on the face of the earth! After dinner we rushed back to our hotel to get changed for the concert (symphony?). We wanted to go for a gondola ride that night but each place we asked wanted waaaay too much money. We were quoted 100 euros for thirty minutes by one gondolier. We didn’t have that much time, anyway, so we decided to sit down at a cafe with some Prosecco, the sparkling wine Venice is known for. Since I only had a slice of pizza for dinner the wine went straight to my head and I was nice and buzzed as we walked into the church.

The concert was absolutely magnificent. Perhaps it was the Prosecco but I literally began to weep as the first notes began. I have never heard Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” played live before and the experience will never fade from my memory. From the lovely young man who offered us his seats when we sat down at the side of the church, to the prodigy cellist who played the entire concert without a single music sheet in front of him, to the contrabassist (is that what he was, Gord?) who indicated my sunglasses had fallen when I stood to give him and his fellow musicians an ovation. It was absolutely beautiful.

After the concert I was elated and full of energy. I certainly didn’t want to go to bed just yet so as we walked back in the direction of our hotel we looked for a place to have a glass of wine. The streets were nearly completely empty and I welcomed the reprieve from the tourists. I wished that somehow we could have experienced the same thing during the day, but sadly, only at night do the rubes go home :/ Still, walking along the streets and not getting jostled by other people was really nice. We made it to the piazza where our hotel was located but didn’t find a restaurant where we could have a glass of wine. The bar directly below our hotel, though, was open so we snagged the last table at the patio and ordered two pints. I didn’t know if you could order wine at the bar (since everyone was drinking beer around us) but we later found out that you could. A group of American teenagers came through around the time we were ready to go to bed and they bought bottles (yes, bottles) of wine and drank outside in front of the barfront. It was highly amusing.

But yes, we proceeded to get totally smashed. It was great cause up until that point I had barely had a glass of wine and I was dying for a little alcohol. Eventually, we got adventurous and Gord set out for a pack of cigarettes. We smoked Camels and drank Kilkenny until around one in the morning. Or maybe later, I can’t remember! The details are a little fuzzy!

We left the next morning for Milan but not before finding ourselves a gondola! We bought our train tickets and with the last 75 euros we bought ourselves a 30 minute gondola ride.

It was a really interesting experience. We were nice and cozy sitting on this plush chair near the rear of the boat while the gondolier stood behind us. He took us along the smaller canals where there were less boats and we saw some really nice parts of Venice. The streets were nearly empty too. Since it was near midday at that point I knew that he must have taken us away from the normal tourist traps and I wished that I had gotten a chance to see that part of Venice before we left. It was interesting because we soon found ourselves a bit of a spectacle. Some tourists took photos of us as we passed them beneath a bridge. We got a picture of them taking a picture of us

After the gondola ride we went and waited for our train to Milan. I was still exhausted from our late night so when we boarded the train I soon fell asleep. Not until we stopped in a train station where we were horrified to see directly across from us a team of paramedics working on something beneath the wheels of a train. I was reading my book at the time and tried to keep from looking but I couldn’t stop myself. I was literally staring at a train wreck. I assume it was a suicide, but of course I can’t be sure. It’s not like I could ask anyone! After that startling scene I fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until we reached Milan.

My God, this is taking me forever, isn’t it? I apologize. I tried to write up the whole thing today but I’m running short on time and I’ve still got six more days to go through. Maybe I’m just being too longwinded? I can’t really be sorry, though, because this is as much for my sake as it is for your’s. Probably more mine than yours since I want to keep this so I remember it while you’re just reading up on my journey

Anyway! I’ll continue soon. Thanks for reading if you’ve reached this far.

Slowly but surely, my update of my trip continues. This is mainly spurred by Mary who kept poking me last night to finish up my story So I dedicate this to her!

I left of on my second day in Rome. The following day was Monday and my plan was to go visit St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, which I knew would take me all friggin’ day since the line-ups are monsterous in proportion.

I walked along the Tiber River to get to the correct ponte I needed to get to the other side of the city. It was a lot longer than I expected but because I was in the shade I wasn’t too upset by it. I left close to around 10 that morning, having slept in by accident, so it was already boiling by the time I left that morning. I regret not taking any pictures on my way there because the view was something else. Plus, I passed the Jewish ghetto on my way where the largest synagogue in Rome stands. I wanted to go inside but my Rough Guide said that only guided tours are offered and there wasn’t anyone there to offer me a guided tour!

My first glimpse of St. Peter’s Basilica was on the Via della Conciliazione which is this wide boulevard lined with large, sorta blah looking buildings. It was built during Mussolini’s reign and is very characteristic of the rest of his fascist architecture which, in a word, is just blah. Not really that interesting. I’m certain there was a reason for the style, but I can’t remember it at the moment.

In any event, I could see the throngs of people already by the time I was halfway up the via but I wasn’t perturbed by it. After all, I wasn’t going to not explore just because there was 500,000 other people there. Trying to fit all of St. Peter’s into a photo is harrrrrd, though.

My attempt at the front of St. Peter’s.

This one’s my favourite.

Pope … er, I can’t remember. His body was about ten feet away, though, behind a glass partition. He was mummified!

A mourning angel!

One of the angels attached to a basin filled with holy water. It’s Gigantic. Don’t believe me?

That’s what they look like compared to human beings. (I was standing across the nave.)

The dome of St. Peter’s from the courtyard of the Vatican Museums.

After paying my respects in St. Peter’s (and getting jostled by the other half million people who were inside the church) I braved the lines for the Vatican Museum. Stupidly I decided to wait until after going to the museum to have lunch. I got into line around 1pm and I didn’t leave the museum until well after 4. I was famished by the time I left. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying all of the fabulous artwork and rooms!

Laocoon from the side. There was like 30 people standing there looking at the statue.

Cleopatra and her weapon of choice.

Someone crazy decided to stick artificial eyes into this statue. The result is incredibly creepy.

My favourite paint - the School of Athens in the Stanza della Signatura. There’s obviously more to the mural but the thing is huge.

This is just one half of one of the corridors. This is actually the Room of Maps. You can’t really see the maps painted onto the walls but that’s what it the ceilings look like in a good portion of these rooms.

That trip rounded up my third day in Rome. I wasn’t pleased that I didn’t get to see more of Rome that day because of the Vatican but I was so pooped that I couldn’t do much else other than go home and rest.

The following day I decided to go into the Colosseum and explore. I was accosted by some lady looking to get people to join a tour group and I was mightily tempted by the prospect of no lineups. I knew that if I went to Palatine Hill first that I could get into the Colosseum without waiting in line also since I had a ticket already but I didn’t actually know where the entrance to Palatine Hill was so I opted to go with the tour group for a few extra euros.

On my way to the Colosseum I snapped a few pics at the Wedding Cake - the war monument that is entirely covered in marble. It’s humongous.

Woo!

View from the top of the colosseum.

Afterwards I went to Palatine Hill with this rather amusing tour guide. He was quite cute as well so I was a happy little camper. For some strange reason I only took one photo at Palatine Hill (mostly cause it was lots of hills with ruins and not a whole lot else) and didn’t upload it. Sorry! I did get a few photos from Palatine Hill looking down into the Roman forum though!

The Colosseum from the outside!

The Colosseum from the inside!

Me two days before in front of the Triumphal arch (can’t remember the name). The cobblestones in front of it were a bitch to cross, though!

The Roman forum! That white church held a wedding two days before!

Me in the Colosseum. I wore that shirt all day and caught an awful sunburn because of it. Never. Again.

After Palatine Hill I got some lunch (wished I brought a lunch to eat at Palatine Hill!) and then caught a tour of the catacombs (via the Appian Way!) and the Jewish Ghetto.

Michelangelo’s Moses. He gave Moses horns!

The front of Moses. You can’t really tell but Michelangelo struck at Moses’ knee with a carving tool while working on the statue demanding to know why the marble did not speak to him. He was in awe at how life-life he had made the statue.

A memento mori in the Church of St. Peter in Chains where Moses resides.

After the tour, I wandered around Rome until it began to get dark. I was sad that it was my last day in Roma but I was also beyond thrilled about seeing Gord the next day in Venice. I was utterly devestated to find myself with a total burn from walking around all day in the hot sun with no sunscreen but I could only blame myself. I bought aloe vera and hoped for the best. I also bought a train ticket to Venice that night for the eight am train the next morning. It’d be a long ride but I would get there early enough to enjoy most of the day with my boyfriend

On that note, I’m going to stop, again. I’m sorry but I don’t have pictures on my computer of Venice or Milano. Gord took most of the pictures on those days so I need to get them off him.

I hope you’re enjoying this!

I’m going to attempt the impossible and write about all four days in Rome at once. I’ve uploaded the pictures to photobucket already so it may not be as hard as I think it will. Regardless, I may end up splitting this post in half

I arrived in Rome around midday and found my hostel with no real issue. I nearly passed by it, though, because it’s located inside of an apartment building. The only indication that it exists was a small plaque on the side of the building and an intercom. The hotel owner, after checking me in, gave me a map of Rome and highlighted all the main roads and attractions. That map was amazing. I found everything I needed on it and more. I wish more places did that.

Truthfully, this was my favourite hostel. Although I shared a room with this yappy American couple (they woke up me up one night because they were fighting) I really loved the place. The people were really friendly, especially the afternoon girl who I got to know quite well, and the place was quite cozy. Plus, they had a pair of dogs that stayed at the hotel the whole time. They were adorable.

My first order of business, after checking in, was to go do some site-seeing. I made my way down to the Via Corso where I saw this shirt in the window. I wanted to go back and get it for Gord (so he can be my very own Jake Gyllenhaal but of course I didn’t end up doing that *Sigh* Ah well.

Before I hit the Via, though, I managed to stumble upon my first site: the Trevi Fountain!

It was surrounded by tourists and just brimming with noise, exactly like I remembered it the last time. The square is barely big enough to fit both the fountain, the storefronts and the droves of people that were milling around. Directly across from the fountain was also a very baroque church which I forgot to snap a picture of, unfortunately. I bought a gelato and sat down on a bench by the Trevi. It was hot that day and I was wearing my jeans. That was a huge mistake.

After I finished my gelato I took the Via Corso all the way down to the Piazza del Popolo where I found a water fountain to fill up my water supply and admire the two matching churches of Santa Maria:

Unfortunately, I got really lost after that point. I wasn’t really looking at my map and I was content with walking around. Eventually I found my way back again and decided to stop for dinner near my hostel before calling it an early night.

The next day was Sunday. I had hoped to visit the Vatican and St. Peter’s that day but since it was closed on Sundays I had to think of soemthing else. It didn’t even occur to me that I could have gone to mass at St. Peter’s that day but I went to mass elsewhere anyway - the Pantheon!

I decided to find the Pantheon first since it was on my list of things to revisit. When I found it I could hear singing coming from inside. As I pushed past the throng of tourists I saw that most of the church was roped off for Sunday mass. There was an opening in the ropes, though, and I slipped past to sit down. I wasn’t going to take pictures during mass so I figured I might as well have a seat and enjoy it. Of course, I couldn’t understand a word the priest was saying but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s not everyday that you get to go to mass in the Roman Catholic capital of the world!

When mass ended I snuck over to a roped off part of the Pantheon to take a look at the tomb of Raphael (yes, the Raphael) and quickly continued on my way. The day was slightly overcast which made it a bit depressing walking around the city. Not to mention the fact that almost all of the streets were empty (people were either in church or sleeping in!). Still, I managed to snap some pictures as I was walking around, searching for something else that was open.

The view of the piazza from the doors of the Pantheon, after mass.

A doorknocker on a huge palazzo I passed by. It’s Madusa!

They’ll put churches anywhere in this city.

St. Peter’s from across the city. That was how dark it was outside that morning.

After the mass I settled on hauling my cookies across town to Castel Sant’Angelo, which is the Pope’s “secret” hiding spot when danger come’s a’knocking to St. Peter’s. Originally it was a huge burial tomb for the Emperor Hadrian but his ashes were dumped elsewhere and the building became a papal residence.

Me trying to take a picture of myself inside the Castel’s many windows.

An eerie bust inside an alcove in the Castel.

The castel from the ponte. The weather (obviously) cleared up by the time I was outside again.

The Ponte Sant’Angelo from which I took the previous picture from. The statues were designed by Bernini.

I was really happy I went to the Castel that day because when I went to St. Peter’s the next day, I found that the Castel (from the same ponte) was obstructed by a huge canary yellow crane. I was able to get pretty pictures of it the day before

I headed back towards the centre of town to walk around the old Roman ruins. I somehow managed to get lost on the way there (me and my not looking at a map again, I tell ya!) so I decided to climb these insanely long steps to the top of a hill - Capitoline Hill, apparently! I wanted to visit the museums but I needed to go back to my hostel first. I had spilt grease all over my shorts because I’m a clumsy oaf. When I returned the museums were closing in an hour. An hour for two museums isn’t enough; especially the way I visit museums. So I resigned myself to simply walking around the area.

The main street leading up to the Colosseum was closed to cars and public transit that day (being a Sunday) so it was more of a path. I thought it was really neat that it gets closed every Sunday. I took lots of pictures of the area, but I didn’t seem to upload any to photobucket. I might add some later

I think I’m gonna stop here. I’ve got two more days to talk about but this entry is getting crazy long.

I’m taking a little break from the writing of my trip to announce the changing of my layout. You can tell I was heavily inspired by this website. I’m hoping it’s not *too* similar in that people will think I have copied. I did my best to make it my own but if that’s not enough, I’ll totally change it!

I’ve done some big updates to the website as well! The major thing was re-writing my “biography” in the Girl section. It was in dire need of a change so I rewrote it. Hopefully I won’t have to come back in a year’s time and do it all over again! I also weeded out the dead links in my affiliates. I’m always looking for more so if you’re interested drop me a line and I’ll get back to you sometime before 2008

I want to add more things to this personal site, since it is a personal site, but I’m having a hard time thinking of things to add. Oh, I added some photos (that aren’t old broken links to webcam images!) to the girl section. They aren’t anything special but they’re better than the webcam, which is back, btw! I have this shiny new webcam that’s been collecting dust ever since I bought it so I figured it’s time to resurrect the webcam images. Like usual, I’m not going to have a specific day when I’ll update the webcam. It changes when it does.

Finally, I organized my fanlisting collective so you can see all fifty-four (yes, I said fifty-four!) listings on one page if you so wish. It’ll be useful for me when it comes time for me to put some on the chopping block. As much as I love all of the fanlistings I own, some things I’m just not as big a fan as I once was. Ah, how fleeting fandom is *sighs dramatically*

Oh and before I forget, my next step is to update the guestbook, although barely anyone signs that thing anymore. Only the spam artists who want to sell me partypoker.com or whatever the hell it is seem to love my guestbook. At least they’re nice and leave sweet messages along with their spam!

Writing out my journey is gonna get tough, I can already tell. I seem to write way more than I need to but I can’t help it at all, it seems.

My second day in Florence I went down to the Duomo as the doors were opening. I was second in line waiting to go inside so the cathedral was entirely empty as I went inside. I took a few photos before the crowds began to amass and then sat down with my journal. Writing in the Duomo was something else entirely. Like I said before, I don’t think I’ll ever want to travel in a tour group ever again because the experience is just so stunted. You’re pushed from point A to point B by some man or woman who rattles off facts in your ear that you can easily just get from a guide book and then pushed onwards. You don’t get to experience a place on your own terms. I sat on a bench in the Duomo for a good thirty minutes or so, just writing down my activities of the day before, while people watching. I especially enjoyed watching people light tea candles in the center of the nave. There was barely a candle left to be lit by the time I was ready to leave.

I went down beneath the Duomo and took a look at what was left of the previous church that existed in the Duomo’s place. There were quite a few reliquaries left behind and I snapped a few pictures of them, although the lighting wasn’t that great.

Dante Alighieri outside the entrance to Hell

The Duomo’s interior dome

Me beneath the Duomo in an alcove

I went to the Baptistery in the afternoon following lunch. I had never been inside of it before and the outside did not prepare me for what was on the inside. Comprised of one room, the Baptistery’s ceiling is entirely made of gold mosaic.

That picture is only a portion of the ceiling. As you can imagine, it’s hard to get the whole thing into the picture. The whole place shone beneath the golden roof. It was quite beautiful.

I passed by another church later that afternoon as I was walking around the streets. It was San Lorenzo, a church dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici, the ‘padre patri’ of Florence - the patron father. It was immense and quite ornate although I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside of it. Inside I found the tomb of Donatello. It was quite eerie to be so near to a great artist, though long dead.

By the time I was done at San Lorenzo I was totally knackered. I went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening reading.

The next morning I set off for the Bargello Museum where I saw way too many bronze statues. The work of Giambologna was being showcased, specifically. The man was a master of the bronze table statue. In the more quieter parts of the museum I took a few photos.

A child’s suit of armour.

From there I went to the Piazza della Signoria where I took some of my favourite pictures:

Don’t get your panties in a knot, it’s only a replica

David slaying the Goliath

After I hung around the piazza for sometime I headed over to Santa Croce to pay my respects to some of the most famous Italians in the world: Dante Alighieri (only a cenotaph; he was exiled and buried in Ravenna), Michelangelo Buonarroti, Nicholas Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei. Some of the tombs were extremely intricate and magnificent in honour of the reputation of the body:

Michelangelo’s tomb

The basilica was gorgeous itself but heavily scaffolded (what else is new :/).

As I walked out of the basilica I decided that today being my last day in Florence I would finally go over to the “other side” - across the Ponte Vecchio. I wasn’t sure what I would do on the other side, but I wasn’t too worried. I knew something would inspire me.

“Something” came in the form of a garden - the gardens of the Palazzo Pitti. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous and I felt like a little princess running through the beautiful paths. Alright, I didn’t run but I did walk around quite a bit.

Isn’t it beautiful?

The main path

My sexy ass!

Bright green pond. I wanted to dunk right into it.

Bacchus!!

I only regret not bringing water with me when I went to the gardens. I was dying of thirst by the time I climbed up to the summit but I stuck it through. I stayed for about an hour, lounging in the mid-afternoon sun. It was absolute heaven, I tell you. Reprieve came, though, when I found a water fountain on the way down to the exit. I must have drank about two litres of water from it and it was gooooood water. I tell you, Italy had some good water fountains. They weren’t great but Florence and Rome had particularly good fountains.

That night I decided - since this was my last night in Florence - to go out and have a fancy-schmancy dinnner at a ristorante. I found one close to my hotel and ordered the standard two courses. Both I took as suggestions from the waiter. The first was an artichoke pasta which was absolutely delicious but the second was … well, spinach and calimari. I tried my hardest to choke it down but I couldn’t. I ended up leaving quite embarassed over my faux pas and took the long way around to find some gelato to drown my wounded pride in. Along the way I happened to run into Mr. Sleazeball that took a fancy to me the first day I arrived in Florence and nearly ran the other way as we made eye contact. It wasn’t a good night but I was slightly happier when I got my gelato.

Thus ended my time in Florence. I passed through the city twice more on my way to other places but I wasn’t able to stick around and see any of the sights again. The next morning after my ill-fated dinner I hopped onto a train bound for Roma.