Hello! This brings us to the middle of the 10 day adventure, and now that I am writing everything after the fact, I am just amazed by how much we did and saw every single day! First, here are some leftover pictures from day 4!
We were able to see the church where the famous composer Vivaldi worked!
Cafe Florian is a famous (and apparently ridiculously expensive) cafe in Venice, so we took a picture outside of it and kept moving!
This is a picture of the entry of the Museo Correo, which was full of cool sculptures, old books, and a lot of other awesome stuff! And, we were able to get in free with our ticket stubs from the Doge's Palace!
I already know this post is going to be full of pictures, so click "read more" to see the rest!
This window to a clothing store made me laugh.
Next we stopped in a musical instrumental museum with all of these awesome old instruments!
I think this old, epic viola would make my viola jealous!
Love locks!
On day 5 of the 10 day adventure, we woke up very very early, leaving our apartment/hostel by 7:30 am to be at the Callerie Del L'Accademia by 8:15 am. We were the first ones there! Although it didn't look very large on the outside, the building was huge and it we could have easily gotten lost inside. There was definitely a lot of religion and nudity in all of the works, two common themes we observed in Italian art that we would find in Florence as well.
Afterwords we were hungry and had some time to spare, so we stopped by this famous fish market that also had lots of fresh produce!
Elle and I bought some fresh apricots to share, and Kelley and Elle bought some other produce, and then we had a fun fruit picnic along the canal! Definitely a highlight!
This was a mysterious tower very near to our apartment/hostel, and we weren't quite sure of what it was, but I thought it was pretty anyway!
Before we knew it, it was time to leave Venice to catch our train to Florence! We hopped on the waterbus down the Grand Canal to go to the train station.
So, funny story. While the gondolas are one of the things Venice is very famous for, there were so many in the water by one area of the Grand Canal that one of the gondolas bumped into another and the gondolier (the person "driving" the gondola) fell into the water. Here is a picture of him climbing back into the boat.
However, he lost his paddle, and also lost his cool. It was very humorous. He doesn't look very happy.
And before we knew it, we were at the train station. We grabbed pizza slices and were on our way!
The train ride was absolutely delightful, but even more delightful was the mere 3 minute walk from the train station to our Florence hotel! It was awesome!
After a little bit of exploring, we tested out this restaurant the hotel owner recommended, and it was fabulous! The only awkward moment was when we first sat down and the waiter came over, he stood there looking at us for a few moments, and we didn't know what to say or what to do since there were no menus. However, then he explained he only knew a little English, and that they do a multi-course dinner and then explained the choices to us. So, it all worked out, but note to self, before I visit another country I am going to learn as much of the language as possible! My first course was yummy homemade cheese and spinach ravioli!
Upon some exploring, we discovered the outdoor statue garden with replicas of famous statues!
I kind of thought the lion was laughing at all of the tourists!
Naked statues... we meet again.
A replica of David (we saw the real one on Day 6)
We happened upon one of Florence's famous gelato places, and to be honest I don't remember what it was called, I just know it started with a V and it was delicious! And I mean happened upon since we forgot to write down the address, so it was a lucky find!
Chocolate and strawberry!
We were able to catch the sunset over the "Bridge of Gold" or Ponte Vecchio since there are lots of jewelry shops.
View from across the river
More love locks! I should probably cut myself off at this point...
A distant view of the Duomo.
We were pretty high up, so we got a nice view of the whole city, along with the beautiful Tuscan landscapes and red roofs! These pictures are from the Piazza Michelangelo.
Next, we went a little higher up to see this church that was built in 1018. No big deal, just almost 1,000 years old! And still looking good if you ask me! :)
There was also a cemetery, but the gates were locked so we couldn't see who was inside.
A close up view of the Duomo on our way back to our hostel. What a day!
Anyways, I hope you are having a delightful summer! Can't believe it is already almost August! As always, thank you for reading!
Oh dear the gondolier was not having a good day. Either way, it's hilarious. The look on the woman's face in his boat is pretty priceless.
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