Fun in Firenze

Yesterday, I took a long day trip to Florence, Italy! I left Rome at about 6:00am on a four hour train ride, I only slept about an hour on the train. The countryside of Tuscany was beautiful!

When I got to Florence, I bought myself a map and pocket guidebook which turned out to be great! Then, I headed over to the Duomo, the main cathedral in Florence. On my way there, a parade was blocking the street.

They ended up marching to the Duomo and performing a series of flags routines. It was fun to see, but the Duomo was the main attraction for sure! The building is massive! 300 feet tall and 300 feet long!

Inside, the first person I met in Florence was a tour guide for the church who was from Puerto Rico. He was my age and we quickly figured out he goes to ISU also! Small world...or not...I think Cyclones are just EVERYWHERE!

Anyways, after he gave me a tour of the Duomo, he offered to give me a tour of the city. We did a nice long walking tour of the city, from the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio and then up to Piazzale Michelangiolo then down to Santa Croce before heading back to his neighborhood!

Map of Florence city center. My route for the day: Arrived at the Train Station (24 on the map), went to the Duomo (1), across Ponte Vecchio (12), Lunch on Via San Miniato (near Via Belvedere), up the hill to Piazzale Michelangiolo (20), across Ponte Alle Grazie to Santa Croce (17), back up to Via Guelfa (north of 4 and 2), then back to the Train Station (24)

On the way back from Florence, I met an Israeli on the train who was traveling around Italy for a few weeks, he was great to talk with. We got into Rome around 11:30pm, long day! Overall, the day was great! It was nice to get out of Rome and see something new for a day and it was nice to have a day to myself.

Ciao for now,
Kyle