More pictures/FIRENZE

SO we're finally in Florence... and it's AMAZING. But before we got here, we made a pit stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. It took a lot longer to get there from Rome than I had thought it would [4 hours] so we were speed walking straight from the train station to see the tower... and it was HOT. It was right around 3 in the afternoon and we had our backpacks on... ugh. But I think the exhaustion was worth it, and we took the usual tourist pictures where we tried to make it look like we were holding the tower up. These probably didn't turn out as well as they could have, but oh well. THen, practically dying from heat exhaustion, we went in frantic search of cheap water, and found our usual 1.5 liter bottles for about 1.5 euros. We've probably had about 1 a day for each of us since we've been in Europe - at least.

Our hostel here in Florence is great... lots and lots of young people... which means a pool [with lights that change color], 2 bars [one on the roof and one one in the basement], and very friendly roommates. Our beds and sheets are clean and our shower is extremely nice. We're supposed to have a/c, but our room's is broken. Because of this, we left the windows open at night and were eaten alive by mosquitos.

Last night Jenna and I went out to dinner and she had the pasta with baby clams, and I had rizzoto with seafood. THe seafood ended up being mussels, a huge jumbo shrimp, baby clams, and little octopus with tentacles. It was all AMAZING. We shared a liter of the house red wine, and had tiramisu and this apple thing for dessert. *Kim, this is probably when we could have had a waiter take us out on the town... except when I say waiter, I mean guy in the kitchen staring at us the whole time through this little sliver of a window. We had shots of some sort of hard alcohol placed in front of us, and they didn't charge us for half of the wine. He kept motioning us to come back into the kitchen, but we definitely avoided that one. HA. It was a lot of fun though.
Today we had a busy day. We got up early to avoid the line and went and saw the sculpture of Michaelangelo's David. It was breathtaking. I'm pretty sure I just stared at him from every angle I could find. It was amazing how detailed and perfect he was. His hands, arms and head are technically out of proportion, but only because he was created believing that he would be placed up high and seen from a different perspective, in which he would seem in proportion. However, this is the reason he is so amazing...

After David, it was off to the Duomo to see the church and the bronze doors [jenna had been looking for these everywhere. it turns out bronze doors are common in Italy... but we finally found the right ones!] Then a walk down to see the Piazza de Signorio. The Piazza was great, and is where the copy of David is on display, the Perseus beheading Medusa statue and the Neptune fountain, among others. Jenna and I got great pictures with a man posing as a statue. ha. We then wandered the streets of Florence and stumbled upon more souvenier stands than I could handle... **Mom, I bought a purse. Now I won't have to keep taking yours... it's a beautiful purse. I am in love with it... don't even ask how much it cost me. We also looked at what we might be buying for friends/family.

SOmewhere in the madness we ate lunch and decided to buy the rest of our meals in Florence at markets. CHEAP.

Now we're just resting and lounging at the hostel. We're planning on seeing more sights tomorrow, walking the bridges at sunset, and just ennjoying the atmosphere here.

EVERYTHING IS SO CLOSE TO EVERYTHING!!! Firenze is the perfect city for backpackers... no cars needed. I feel like I'm missing something, but so much has been going on that it's hard to get it all down.