Because our thighs and calves clearly weren't complaining enough, we kicked off our last day in Florence with a climb up the Palazzo Vecchio's bell tower. The Palazzo, a town hall-turned-Medici palace (one of many), is testament to the ruling family's fear of rebellion: It's filled with trapdoors, prison cells, and other relics of a Game of Thrones-esque time. The top of the bell tower offered beautiful views of the city, and we were lucky to make it to the top by 10 AM to hear a chorus of church bells go off throughout the city on a sunny Sunday morning.
We visited the Piazza of Santa Croce and the Duomo's museum, the latter of which offered an interactive exhibit of some of the earliest examples of written choir books in existence. Ryan stood in the little room for at least 15 minutes (with books the size of my torso), flipping through digital screens and humming along to the boxy notes and nonexistent key signatures.
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If Rome is known for its churches, Milan for its banks, and Venice for its canals, Florence would be best known for its art. The Accademia and Uffizi galleries, both located in Florence, are the metaphorical Louvres of Italy; their selections of Michelangelo, Donatello, Da Vinci, and works by other masters are among the best in the world.
In 2014, Ryan and I "did" the Louvre together: We walked in, found the wing with the Mona Lisa, took photos from the back of a claustrophobically crowded room of a block of canvas much smaller than you'd expect, given its name and reputation. After about a dozen photos each, we nodded to each other, left that wing of the Louvre, took one selfie with a painting of a particularly sassy-looking Jesus, and ended up at the Apple Store beneath the museum because free WiFi.
That was us "doing" the Louvre.
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We woke up at dawn and took my first high-speed train to Florence, averaging 246 km/hr (about 150 mi/hr) straight from Rome to Florence's Santa Maria Novela station. Fun fact: This was our first European train experience (either separately or together, unless you count a quick jaunt from St. Albans just 35 minutes south into London in 2014. I was giddy to find out these trains have trolley carts with newspapers and little snack bags, Hogwarts Express style. (Ryan said I shouldn't shout that comparison too loudly.) For only $25 each, we were delivered--fed, watered, and caffeinated--to northern Florence in only an hour and a half.
Lastly, I should add that Ryan wrote all the notes for these Florence posts, so I'm going off his recollections. He literally wrote:
- Frecciarossa train
- Termini to Santa Maria Novela
- 91 minutes
- So fancy
So...I think I'm supposed to add here that it was a "so fancy" train experience. We had little wooden tables to work off and everything.
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