Survey

Get More Blogs

Calendar

January 2009
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Sep
	1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Travel Bloggers

Ali
Katie

Florence, Italy

Hands shaking, teeth chattering, mood weary, I arrived at The David Inn hostel in downtown Florence from the great Certaldo with the love of Italy still in tact. Unfortunately, Florence was my last stop while there and it meant one stop away from home; that was something weighing on my mind as I arrived. It should be stated I was severely tempted (while overseas) to sell my car, house, future first born . . . whatever, to make it up to northern Italy but it was not meant to be (at least not yet!!)

Back to Florence then. Hmmm . . . I’ll try not to be influenced by what others who’ve been there have said about it, particularly because no person can have the same experience while in any city, especially ones unknown to them.

A couple things right off: yes, the streets are overcrowded with tourists all cramming in together taking the same picture of the Duomo (the cathedral). Yes, litter covered these overcrowded streets with the tourists all cramming in together taking the same picture of the Duomo. And yes, there were gypsies panhandling money and ignoring the litter that covered the overcrowded streets with tourists, well, you get the point.

But here’s the thing about Florence: within these crowded streets, and tourists with extra cameras and gypsies begging for money, there are so many things that catch your eye – statues planted throughout the interspersed buildings, shops with numerous displays of their proud country’s soccer jerseys, painters painting the same things you just saw as you passed by – and so you can overlook the obstacles getting in your way of viewing a rather nice city.

Go to the Uffizi Museum, wander the streets until you find yourself intermingling with ancient hand-carved statues, or perhaps cross The Arno River Bridge and indulge in some cliché photographs overlooking the river’s edge, but no matter what, you’ll find yourself in Signoria Square on more than one occasion. Ignore the Gucci bag “salesmen” and maybe skive off into an Italian ice cream shop for a gelato treat. It’s not the only way to experience this constantly changing city, but in my opinion, it’s the easiest. If you catch yourself looking around, you might be disappointed at the city’s lack of care. Stare straight ahead and march forward. Looking down only depressed me. I maintained a traveler’s eye and viewed Florence with a craned neck . . .

By far, Florence wasn’t my favorite city in Italy; however, the eccentricities of it remain enlightening enough to suggest taking a day trip if you’re in the other nearby towns of Tuscany.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.