Firenze II

Enter the gardens...where by the way, we somehow attained VIP status. People were ever-so jealous when we got to skip the security line celebrity-style. It's too bad we didn't get a picture of that moment.


A lady asked us to take a picture of her between these to stats, and she was very adamant about making sure we got the entire statues, including their heads, in the shot. Upon returning the favor, however, she forgot the heads in our picture.


A moment of relaxation.


Then we saw this guy, and it was down hill from there.



And then we settle down and walk more streets in Firenze. This is by far one of my favorite photos from Italy. It speaks so much.


You'll never taste pizza like this anywhere else in the world...


...or Italian gelato...

(not frowning because of the gelato. something weird going on in the streets)


And the fruit...


Taking a much-needed break at the hostel.

Firenze

Florence is the home of the ever-famous David, the Pitti palace, and the Boboli Gardens. The River Arno runs through the city, and the city is surprisingly pretty cool altogether. That wasn't my first opinion of the city. The walk from the train station to our hostel upon our arrival reminded me of Mexico somewhat. Not that I don't love my native country, but I just wanted to see something different. Our first evening did just that.

Hostel sweetness.


At the park, mapping out and preparing for Florence.


The most amazing tiramisu...


...at our favorite Italian ristorante (this go around anyway), Zio Gigi...


View from our hostel rooftop.


La iglesia.


Streets of Florence.


As the sun rose.






More Florence to come.

Venice

This is what we saw when we came out of the train station in Venice. We arrived in the evening, and it was just beautiful. It's really better than what you see in the movies. We didn't have trouble finding our hostel even though we were a bit confused that they considered some of the one-person alleyways streets. After dropping off our luggage at our feels-like-home hostel, we meandered through a few canals here and there looking for what would be our first Italian pizza.

The view upon our arrival.


What was crazy about Venice is that most places closed by 10 or 10:30 PM. I know you're wondering what in the world we'd want to do at that time anyway. Well, like some Latin countries, we'd heard that people are just out eating and hanging out with their families pretty late. Not so in Venice. So after our delish pizza, we headed back to the hostel to get a little rest before our early morning.

Our hostel.


Jeri & I are both pretty much Type A's and didn't want to waste a single moment sleeping when we could be out experiencing Italy, so we were out gallivanting by 6 almost every morning. Venice sunrises are beautiful.







Rialto Bridge



St. Mark's Square




At the park.


Wandering through Venice.



Up next: Florence