Firenze part 3

So shame on me, the posts have been very thin, but it is only because i have been traveling this past week and my internet access is at a minimum.

so an update on me right now, we are currently in northern italy, staying in ferrara and doing day trips to surrounding towns. It has been very cold, but otherwise an interesting trip. a couple of us made our own side trip to venice for fat tuesday. Very cool, i'll post about that in a later post.

my family is on their way back to the states after a couple days by themselves. they went to mass on ash wednesday and the pope in passing reached and held hands with my mom. i wasn't present for this incredible experience, so hopefully i will have a guest blogger talk about that and their overall experience in italy...

so florence, shall we?

unlike the mona lisa, going to see david in florence was a more fulfilling experience. with the david, it is clear why this is the selling point of the museum, and is itself worth the price of admission. the rest of the museum is also impressive.

small town feel:
i think my family will agree with me that the small town feel and atmosphere of florence really makes it special. the cobblestone roads with no cars, small side streets and colorful buildings make it welcoming and fun. as my brother matt put it "this is what i imagined when i thought of what italy would be like". He was obviously referring to the comparison of florence to rome, and rightfully so. though rome does has quaint, quiet areas, the popular neighborhoods and tourist areas are much more commercialized and developed to put it simply.

the food in florence was fantastic, as it is in all other areas of italy i have experienced so far. The outdoor markets, mostly of leather products are fun to walk through and use your haggling skills. at night florence basically closes up shop pretty early, but that doesn't mean you can't just walk around and enjoy the sites. the ponte veccio, a bridge with all jewelry stores on it was equally as cool at night, all closed up, as it was during the day, but then again, i wasn't looking to buy any jewelry.

i will post my pictures as soon as i get back to my computer in rome on saturday, and if i can get a link to matt's pictures i will put that up here asap.

i promise starting saturday i will resume my daily posting. Consider this my "spring break"