Filthy Florence and Fiumicino

In our guidebook, we're told that you don't really see Florence if you never leave the city center. We can see why we were encouraged to do so. The tiny slice of Florence we encountered was dirty, busy, and unfriendly. However, it's hard to judge the city just on that, since we saw the equivalent of Salt Lake's Rio Grande station - Gateway Mall - Temple Square. If you only saw that, you would probably think that Salt Lake was covered in garbage and homeless people. Parts of downtown are, but the rest of the city is clean and beautiful.

One nice thing that section of Salt Lake has over this section of Florence - bigger sidewalks. Everywhere we went we were in danger of being rundown by a car, bus, scooter, or group of tourists. It was more than a bit hectic until we found our hotel and met up with Mike and Emily again. Our hotel was nice, especially considering the surrounding neighborhood, and we unpacked and settled for just a moment. Then Emily and Mike took us through the crowded market streets. It was reminiscient of Tijuana or New York's Chinatown. Aggressive vendors approaching you from their booths and offering incredible deals. I bought a sorely needed belt - my pants were sagging after days of wear - and Emily browsed for a purse. There was one she was almost sold on, and the vendor began holding a lighter to it, to show how it didn't burn. She left a black mark on the "leather." We said no, but she desperately tried to convince us that it was not there. Then she began rubbing handcream on it, to show us how it washes out. It was still there. Then she told us it was just the way it looked in the sunlight. Then she brought the price down 50%. Then she tried getting mad at us for not taking her amazing offer. But we were adamantly walking away from her the entire time. Finally she learned that we were not buying.

We really weren't in the mood to deal with the scene, so we got out of the market area and headed towards th Duomo. We saw Ghiberti's bronze doors on the Baptistery of St. John, and we were able to get right in to the Duomo itself. But inside was pretty bare, supposedly due to a flood years ago. We visited the Duomo museum, which had a couple of pretty amazing pieces. One was a Pieta by Michaelangelo, with Nicodemus holding Jesus's body. The face of Nicodemus is thought to be a self portrait of Michaelangelo.

The other statue was Mary Magdalene by Donatello. This one kind of freaked us out, since there was just a sort of liveliness to it that you felt that she was going to look over to you at any second.

Emily and Emily patiently waited outside, and deftly fended off creepy men, as Mike and I climbed all 463 steps to the top of the Cupola of the Duomo. The stone staircases went around and around and around and we had to stop a couple times to stop our heads from spinning. When we finally reached the top, we were blown away. I would have gladly climbed another 463 for that view. The whole city of Florence stretched out to the Tuscan hillsides all around us. All of the tourists, ourselves included, were scurrying from side to side, snapping photos with the bittersweet knowledge that none of them would ever capture such a feeling.

Then, back down the 463 to meet up with the girls. The sun had set and now the air had gone from stuffy and hot to inescapably cold. So, back to our hotel for some warmer clothes and then back out again in search of a restaurant. The first one we tried was all booked, but the second one welcomed us right in. We sat at a table near the back and ordered the specials of the day - Gorgonzola Gnocchi and Straccheti (beef in garlic and olive oil). It was so much fun being back with Emily and Mike again. We worried less and enjoyed the vacation more when we were with them. We stuffed ourselved full of Tuscan cuisine, and then went back to our rooms. That night we got to talk with Madeleine over the webcam. I think we've traced it back to that exact point where we felt that we were ready to be home. We miss her so much.

So, our last full day in Italy started off with one of the greatest sights we've visited: The David. It's a little hard to explain why it is so fascinating, but we'll try. While we've been looking at other statues, we have been saying to each other "Look at this. This looks great. What can possibly be so much better about the David?" Well, for some reason, the David is so beautiful, so perfect, and so full of life, that it makes every other statue look like... well... statues. It is probably somewhere between 2-3 times life size, but its size is not impressive in a massive Statue of Liberty type of way, but more in an appropriately awe-inspiring way. It's almost like it's just the right size for the larger-than-life legend surrounding it.

Also in the same museum, we saw some old and beautiful instruments, including a Stradivarius violin and a Cristofori piano. We checked out of the hotel and said goodbye to Emily and Mike again, this time for good. They were planning on adding even more sites into their vacation, including the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so hopefully at this time they're sleeping happily in some tiny city along the Italian Riviera. We had some time for shopping before leaving town. We avoided the markets this time, and stuck to storefronts. We found a beautiful little Easter dress for Madeleine, and a funky, stylish purse for Emily. Now, we missed our chance to do one silly thing (see the zoo in Rome), but now we had a chance to do another: eat Chinese food in Italy. We had been wondering how the Italian take on Chinese food was, and how it differed from America's. While there were no fundamental differences, it definitely tasted as though the food was higher quality. We can't be sure, but it seems as though Italy's food quality standards are stricter than America's. Even when we had a quick McDonald's breakfast while changing trains, we noticed a difference in how good the food tasted. Nowhere, though, was it more obvious than it was at the Chinese restaurant. Emily had the Sweet & Sour Pork, and I had the Lemon Chicken, and we filled ourselves until we couldn't eat another bite.

The train to Rome felt like it took forever, but it was probably our own homesickness that was making it seem so. In Rome we had to transfer to trains to get us out towards the airport and Fiumicino. The airport is very confusing for those who aren't familiar, and we walked in circles for nearly an hour before we finally found a taxi to take us to our hotel. We're pretty sure he ripped us off too (his meter was never on), but we've just gotten so weary of having to argue with rude Italians that we paid the 25 Euro and hurried into our hotel.

Our hotel is nothing special, but we do have a view out over the Tyrrhenian Sea. After getting our bags ready for the flight, we went and dipped our toes in the water. It's the first time either of us have ever seen the Mediterranean. Then we got pizzas and a gyro from a friendly shop on the waterfront. Other than a couple of mildly upsetting encounters with our hotel management, everything is has been pleasant and relaxing. Now we're off to sleep before our flight tomorrow. We can't wait to be back with all of you tomorrow night! Arrivederci!!!