Milan to Florence and a little bit of Rome

Christian had a sales meeting in Italy this month for La Sportiva. Since the company he works for was paying for his flight out, I decided to buy my own ticket and go out with him so I could see Italy too. We left a week and a half before his meetings and tried to do as much as possible. Italy needs much more than two weeks of travel to see it all but I think we were able to hit some of the highlights and it has encouraged us to try and find a way to travel back there again some day to see the rest.

In this post I will attempt to cover the exciting things we did the first three days.

Day 1
Flight into Milan to see the Duomo including climbing to the top and then I had a heart stopping moment in the train station before taking a train ride to Florence where we saw Santa Maria Novella and climbed the bell tower.

Day 2
Visit to the Uffizzi, Plazzo Pitti, Boboli Gardens, Plazzo Vecchio including hiking to the top of the tower,  Duomo including the hike to the top, and finally a last minute rush to Dell Academia, which turned out to be a good idea considering our start on day 3.

Day 3
Accidentally slept in till 11am and rushed to see the museo dell opera (finally found the real gates of paradise), the Duomo Baptistry, and the San Lorenzo church. We made it to the train station with plenty of time to grab gelato before riding in comfort to Rome. Rome we managed to see the Spanish steps, got lost on the way to Trevi fountain and accidentally ended up seeing the Parliament building and Plazzo colonna (which was cool), and then found Trevi fountain where we used coins to buy cannoli instead of throwing them into the fountain.

Here we go!!

The flight wasn't too bad. Not nearly as long as our flight to Thailand. We felt really exhausted when we arrived but it was morning in Italy so we refused to sleep and set off to explore Milan.

Christian looking at the train station, which was really cool.

We went straight to the Duomo

I touched the shiny leg that everyone else touches

It was beautiful inside with some pretty amazing stained glass.

We climbed the stairs (the lift cost an extra 3 euros) to the top of the Duomo for some pretty amazing views of the architecture. 

cool gargoyle

Christian being amazed

View of the galleria arch

Christian looking fancy in the fancy mall

According to the Rick Steves episode on Milan if you stomp on the balls of the bull and pivot around on your heel its supposed to be good luck. I don't know if I believe that but it seemed fun. Plus there were these two adorable little old ladies whispering about the tradition and giggling so I had to perform.

We purchased several of our train tickets online before we left including a 1st class fancy ticket from Milan to Florence so we could travel in style. We had the computer printout but we were not sure if we needed to stop by the ticket desk with our print out or if we could just board. We had already failed to punch our ticket on the train from the airport into Milan and didn't want to fail again. We got to the train station 45 minutes before boarding but the line at the ticket desk was rather long. We waited in the line for 40 minutes and decided last minute to just chance getting on the train and hope our printout was all we needed. We ran to the train and got on the train just as it was about to leave. We showed our printout to the train guy and sure enough it was all they needed. I'm so glad we left the ticket line! When we were seated with the train moving I was so frazzled.

Christian thought the whole thing was rather amusing.

We arrived safely in Florence felling a little more refreshed than we had in Milan. We purchased Firenze cards, which Christian initially thought was ridiculous but later agreed was a great idea. The Firenze card is a pass to all the museums in Florence with an added jump to the front of the line benefit. It enabled us to see so many things in a short amount of time and we never waited in a line. Our first stop was the Santa Maria Novella which had some really gorgeous frescos.

It had some great stained glass and cool spiral pillars.

 

We roamed the streets looking for our hotel which was just a couple blocks from the red-domed Duomo. Great location for Florence!

After dropping off our backpacks in our room we hurried to the Duomo bell tower and raced up the 414 steps to get a good view of the city.

View of Florence from the bell tower

Our ridiculous pictures inside the bell tower stairway

It was a long first day so after a fabulous dinner and gelato we fell into bed just as the sun was going down and fell asleep. A little later, Christian jumped out of bed ready to go see more stuff and was shocked to find that it was only midnight. He felt like he'd slept through an entire night. I assured him it was still time to sleep and he went back to bed.

Day 2 started really early partly because we just couldn't stay asleep any longer, and partly because we were so excited! We headed to the Uffizi by way of the Florence boar where I made Christian rub the boar snout (another good luck custom). 

The Uffizi had a huge line of people waiting to get in but we walked past all those sad tourists and flashed our Firenze cards at the door getting in right away. No pictures were allowed in the Uffizi. Too bad for you guys cause it was really cool. This picture was taken on the Uffizi patio.

Lunch time

Palazzo Pitti pictures were also not allowed, but this cool lion was just outside the museum.

Hanging out in the courtyard outside Palazzo Pitti

skipping and dancing across the courtyard

We took a relaxing stroll through the Boboli Gardens.

Walking up through the gardens with Palazzo Pitti behind me

You can spot that red dome from anywhere

Palazzo Vecchio

Including the view from the top of the tower

devouring gelato while gazing at the Duomo

After gelato we checked the time and were trying to decide if we should rush to see the David at the Dell Academia or save it for Day 3. We decided to chance it and considering we didn't have to wait in line it ended up working perfectly. The David was breathtaking! Sorry no pictures allowed.

Day 3 we decided to sleep in just a bit and didn't set an alarm. We accidentally slept till 11 and had to rush to check out of our room by noon. We decided it had been a really good idea to see the David the day before. It meant we still had enough time to stop by the Baptistry which had been closed every other time we tried to visit. When we arrived it was really difficult to figure out how to enter. The ticket office wasn't at the door to the Baptistry instead it was in an odd hard to find corner of the plaza. It turned out to be good though because in trying to find the ticket office we ended up going into the museo dell opera where we finally found the real Gates of Paradise. We had seen a replica at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco over the Christmas holiday and another replica on the Baptistry itself. It was nice to finally see the original doors.

The font inside the Baptistry

The ceiling automatically draws the eye upward the moment you walk through the doors.

The oculus 

The floor tiles

We made one more stop before heading to the Florence train station... 

...well two if you include the gelateria.

San Lorenzo church didn't allow pictures. It was cool to see one of the oldest Christian churches in Florence (393AD) and the resting place of Donatello. We took a picture in the courtyard outside.

Quite possibly the best gelato I had in all of Italy was in Florence. One gelateria had mascarpone flavored gelato. I searched all over Italy but couldn't find this flavor again. I guess I will have to learn to make it myself.

A comfy train ride and a couple hours later and we arrived in Rome.

It was getting pretty late but we ventured out to visit two famous locations. The Spanish steps and Trevi fountain.

Trevi fountain was much bigger than I expected. It was amazing!

A lot of people throw coins into the fountain because they say in ensures you a return trip to Rome one day. We took our coins and threw them at the patisserie attendants and got cannolis back instead. They were so delicious that I have decided we will return to Rome again someday just to have more of them!

Christian with low blood sugar before his cannoli

Stay tuned for...
Day 4 where we follow the crowds through the Vatican museum, climb to the top of St. Peters Basilica, and walk through the Pantheon.
Day 5 our visit to the Victoria Emmanuel Monument, the Forum, the Colosseum, and the Palatine museum.
Day 6 where it rained a bit, we ventured into a crypt, enjoyed a fabulous lunch at a deli shop and walked along the Appia Antica.