Florence, Day 2

I believe I left off when I said I had gone to bed with big plans. I woke up, packed up, and realised it was raining. Gross. I went to the Station and locked up my bag, then took off to check train times. I could pretty much go anytime of day I wanted, but the trains were filling up fast. I decided to risk it, and come get my ticket when I decided I wanted to go. If I bought one right away, I'd have to stick to that timeline, and no one wants that.

I took off in the direction of Ponte Vecchio. I pretty much ended up way off course and walked a lot further than I needed too, but it was ok. I like walking. Especially in Florence. Especially when you finally get away from the tourism. Florence is small, and therefore every tourist spot collides with other another creating a never ending onslaught of postcard booths, umbrella sellers, beggers, expensive gelato shops and other vendors. This is what I saw in the morning!

They appreciate their bikes here in Italy. I like that.

However, I get this sign, and the one above...

But what does this one mean? I'd like to assume you have to do stunts while you ride here. No normal bike riding in the part of the road.

I ended up along the water, hopefully heading in the right direction. It didn't matter either way. I had cute birds to look at.

And a great view of some bridges.

Then there was this guy.

Guiseppe Garibaldi. Seems I've heard his name before around here. Important people tend to come up now and again.

Castle turret among what looks like a ghetto of sorts.

Wicked mad made rapid of sorts.

 

A large Church with a GREAT statue in the adjoining square.

If you were like, "What is that?" and then someone came up behind you and casually said, "Oh, it's a man wrestling a lion," They'd be right.

Another view of the bridges and Florence

This guy! I took a picture of the name plate, but it didn't come out. So. This one is a mystery.

The sweet bases of the streetlights along the water.

Ducks, swimming merrily along

A sweet shirt I saw on the way to Ponte Vecchio

Getting close to Ponte Vecchio. It was about here, when I saw it, that I remembered actually seeing it in a book that Lisa has on travelling the world. I remember seeing it about a year ago, and thinking, "People live on the bridge. And they have for hundreds of years. And Italy is so damn cool, I want to go." Then I realised as I was standing on the rain drenched cobbled street, "Hey, here I am. In Italy." The day got a little brighter for some reason.

Better view

Almost...

The street connected to the bridge.

Made it! So, people traditionally, and I use this term loosely, put a lock onto this statue as a couple to lock up their love, so to speak. I think. That's how I figured it anyways. Anyways, it was covered in locks, as you can see.

Then I read this: It's not allowed to put locks on the railing.

I assume people ignore this because of the bad grammar.

A shot of Benvenuto Cellini without the locks, the way the law intended.

View from the Ponte Vecchio towards where I just came from.

The Ponte Vecchio has always sold Gold and Silver in its shops. So, all of the shops that line it are jewellery shops. Fun to look!

Heading away from the Bridge I got a view of the other side!

I then headed in the direction of the Science Museum. This is what I really wanted to see today. I had read in my handy book that it was undergoing construction on one floor, but the price should be about half. Anyways, I go in there, and two of the four floors are closed and they are still charging full price.

Ciao, see you in the spring when it's finished. He told me it should be done in April, so I might head back in March. Anwyays, I saw this on the way there, outside of the Uffizi.

A restaurant overlooking the water.

Construction at the Uffizi which is closed Mondays, my last day, incidentally.

Because of the rain, I decided not to head to the Piazza di Michelangelo. It was a long walk, and, well, I was tired. And what's the point of sightseeing if you aren't enjoying yourself? I saw some interesting things, made it to lots of my destinations, and was ready to head home.

 My travel buddies! I picked them up at the train station and also got a ticket for a train ride to Pesaro. There were 3 left! Yes! I would like to mention that it could have cost me 5 euros to go at 4 in the morning, but I took the 40 euro trip around 1:30 instead.

At the train station in Bologna. I switched there from a train with too many people, to a train in which I was 1 of 6. For some reason, we had seat designations all in one booth. Uh, sorry guys, I'm tired, and sick, and I am going to sneak one of the other hundred booths all for my own. Thanks! Have a great trip. Out the window I watched as some snow fell! It was great to watch from the warmth of the train.

Get this! Here comes the train... I want to make a flip book with these three pictures.

And thus ended my trip to Florence, and my entire New Years trip. There was a lot that I wanted to see that I didn't, but I can always go back. I've got lots of time in this life to fill. It was a wonderful way to start my New Year. I am glad I went, especially because I've realized a few things. I really am sick of travelling alone. It has its perks, but I hope that my next trips are with some friends, or to some friends. Also, there is a fine line between planning your trip thouroughly and just going with the flow of things. I mean, for example, if I hadn't've planned to see David in Florence early, I would have ended up in a huge lineup all afternoon. But if I had kept to my plans to head to the Vatican when I was in Rome, everything would have been closed and I wouldn't have had such a relaxing day with Kira and Jenny. Then, if I had kept to all of my plans in Florence, I would have seen everything, yes, but I would have been cold, miserable, sick, and tired. I want to appreciate a lot of these things, not just say that I've been there. This is something that has changed in me. Also, I need to learn to listen to myself. Sometimes, yes, I need to push through the rain, stand in the lineups, deal with a sore throat, and walk the extra blocks in order to see something I really want to see, but, I have learned to measure what it is I want to see right now, and what I figure can wait. So, this trip, I think I learned a bit about appreciation. (Is this starting to feel like Sesame Street, yet?) Anyways, leaving Florence early was okay with me. I appreciated the early trip home, instead.

I got back to Urbino with a beautiful skiff of snow. Urbino is stunning with snow. It lasted all of overnight, and then it was gone. Haven't seen any since. I had a night alone in the house with Alessandra. They had all gone to Livorno, where Guido works and where his mother lives. Ales came home two days early to work.

Guido arrived the next day with the kids. On the morning of the 6th, was Befana! A holiday in which the kids hang stockings overnight and a witch named Befana comes by and fills them with treats if you are good, coal if you are bad.  It was a lot of fun! The kids got some winter gear, like touques and mittens, and some candies. Guido headed back to work that afternoon, and school started the next day.

It is very strange to be writing this now, because it is almost the end of January, and exactly a month ago today was Christmas. This month went by miraculously fast compared to my month before Christmas. Even though I have had things to do, I've been staying in more, since it's chilly and all of my friends here have exams right now, but even then, things are steadily moving by! I can only assume that this is an indicator of what's to come. Time going by too fast!

Valentina has her last exam tomorrow, so she is having a party! I am looking forward to it. Also, I went to another concert at the Caffe del Sole with Giorgia and a couple of her roomates. I had the biggest Heineken I've ever seen in my life and it was a great couple of guys from Argentina playing a flute, guitar, and drums. Very exotic. Also, Graham was there! I met his girlfriend, and she asked how my Italian was coming along. Turns out he hasn't studied AT ALL and she was rather annoyed. I told him where to go to get a good textbook, but it doesn't look like he's that thrilled about trying to learn it. He wants to. He says this often, but he never actually does. Anyways, we had a good chat, and I think he was happy to speak some English.

I have some recapping to do about my adventures in Urbino this month! I hope you have all enjoyed my last few travel posts. Let me know what you think! Ha, it's funny, I now consider anything from outside of Urbino that I post "travel posts", but not anything from within Urbino... Interesting, if anything.

Anyways, I would love to hear about how the New Year started for everyone and what you have planned too keep yourself busy until Springtime errupts!