The Duomo, The David, Oh My!

Knowing we were taking the first train from Venice to Florence at 8:27 am the next morning, we checked out the night before. Breakfast didn't start until 8 am, but our hotel's owner didn't understand us not taking the time to sit and eat. The concept of "to go" doesn't really exist for Italians. He kept saying "there's a table in the garden," and "sit for just five minutes."

We had learned our lesson re: reserved seats on the train, got there in plenty of time and took our seats. Easy once we knew what we were doing! We arrived in Florence about two hours later and took a cab to our friends apartment just 10 minutes west of the city center. We were lucky enough to have wonderful hosts for four nights (Thursday - Sunday), NK and MP. We headed into the city center with NK, she headed to work, and we set out to explore the city. First up was lunch. We found a bright busy looking place, Pizzeria Centropoveri, shared a pizza, then enjoyed a cappuccino after our meal. There were only two other tables of tourists, the rest of the customers were workers on their lunch break, from house painters (ate the pasta pomodoro special, a beer each and finished their meal with espressos), to business men in nice suits. Anyone who ordered pizza each had their own with four large slices.

Before I continue, I want to talk a bit about coffee in Italy. It's practically a religion. There are "bars" (and here that doesn't mean a place for alcohol, it's more like a cafe), where you stand at a bar, usually beautiful old marble top counter, and order an espresso or cappuccino (note, Italians don't drink cappuccino in the afternoon, only in the morning), which you drink standing. This is usually very inexpensive. There are no Starbucks anywhere - apparently one tried but failed. Large cups of coffee to put in a paper cup and carry out with you....WHAT?! Where are you going that you can't stay for 2 minutes and why not an appropriately sized coffee?





Recharged from our meal we headed to the Duomo which you can't miss from almost any place in the city as all roads lead to the Duomo. We waited in a brief line to get in and no fee. Hooray we thought. Then we got inside and realized a) from the inside it's quite plain except for the dome's fresco and b) the line for the steps to the top of the dome was outside and around the corner, so we had to exit and queue up all over again. From there it takes 463 steps (the number is different on all the searches I did on-line) to reach the top of the dome. Narrow, spiraling, and low-slanted ceilings, it really is a hike up which had many tourists celebrating their ascent with a victory cigarette. The real reward was of course the view. Florence is almost entirely protected as a historic landmark in and around the city center. As such the view is completely unobscured with the exception of the bell tower. Given how hot it was against the white marble we stayed in the shadow, taking in the beauty for about half an hour - also knowing the view would not be had again.





The outside of the duomo is all marble, white, green and red. The white was practically black in some spots and I noticed scaffoldings which I imagined were up to clean/restore it. NK told us later that it was filthy from the exhaust from buses and cars that used to pass right by the duomo. It was very recent, only a few years ago, that they closed it off to traffic and made it a pedestrian area only

After the equally intense descent, we headed north to the Academia, a museum visited by most for an equally breathtaking sight of Michaelangelo's David. While in line for an hour, we were talking to another couple from New York, enjoying similar observations and places of interest. It turned out they were friends of one of our friends and both work in the music education/publishing industry! Such a small world. The Academia had more than just David, with an amazing exhibit on stringed instruments owned by the Medici family, including some Stradivarius pieces. There really aren't any words that describe David with any justice, and of course we are never allowed to take pictures inside museums and many churches, this being no exception, but I did manage to steal a shot from the hip for you without getting yelled at by the security guards.



It was time to meet up with NK, our hostess/tour-guide supreme. While waiting in the city center by the Duomo, Florence's swank downtown, we were delighted with all of the well dressed Florentines. Dressing well as an Italian (and especially a Florentine) is not an option but a necessity. First up, you must have fashion sunglasses. Followed closely by fashion shoes, and of course very smart clothing. While waiting we saw countless well dressed citizens, even more amazingly were those people on bicycles, including women in 4" heels! Absolutely awesome.





NK met us after her meeting at the end of the work day and we took the train, then bus back to her apartment. NK is truly amazing as she is American, spoke no Italian when she took a semester abroad in Florence in college, fell in love and uprooted her life and moved here. She is now fluent and speaks entirely Italian at work. Her charming boyfriend, MP, is a native Florentine, and spoke no English when they met. He came to NYC for three months to learn English, and he speaks nothing but English at work. Tired of thinking in their second languages all day at work, they told us frequently they'll get home and have entire conversations where she'll speak only English and he'll speak only Italian and they'll understand each other perfectly.

I digress. We enjoyed some cheese, prosciutto, and prosecco, got to know each other (amazingly after seven years together, with the ocean between us, the boys had never met each other, nor had we met either's other half). NK threw together a pasta dish like a pro and we enjoyed a lovely meal on their patio. MP offered us a "digestive" after dinner, which is not something that is typical in the US, but that is why we are in Italy! We happily suggested tasting Limoncello and Disoronno (which is, of course, Italian after all).

Exhausted, we all headed to bed a little after midnight...

Location:Florence, Italy