Firenze 4evr

First of all, I think Florence and I got on the wrong foot. The night before we left, Rosanna and I were out. Tough night. We got to the train station at about past noon, went to the ticket machine only to find out that the only available tickets are Business Class on the next train leaving for Florence. Like we had any choice. So we bought the tickets anyway and hopped on the train. By then, the concept of buying ahead of time online was beyond us.
The timing of our trip to Europe I guess wasn't the best either. End of July to Early August was the peak of summer. And you know how the heat and walking doesn't go so well together. Plus all the tourists are travelling like us. When we got to Florence, it was about 40 deg C in temperature. It's not like that's something new for a girl like me living in a tropical country where we get all year round sun, but here, we can dodge the heat and sun, the Philippines is well equipped for that by means of cheap taxi and air conditioning almost everywhere. Why am I even complaining?

I've heard so much good things about Florence prior to this trip. But it's different when you actually see what everyone's raving about. Of course I know the city exists and studied my History of Architecture subjects explaining how this place is where Renaissance was born and so on. When we got to the Piazza where the famous Duomo or Cathedral is, my jaw dropped. My photos doesn't really give the place justice, I tell you (I think I should also improve my photography skills). I was this close to licking it just to prove that it is real. So I forgot that I was so tired and that it was too hot, I was just fixated on the fact that I am standing in a place of history and beauty. I felt very lucky to be there. To be seeing this masterpiece of four different artists coherently co-exisitng with each other like pieces to a puzzle. Although we were not able to climb the tower to see the rest of Florence, we were able to hear mass in the cathedral.

The next day we rode a bus going back to this Piazza and walked towards another, this time to visit a museum, the Uffizi Gallery (I suggest booking tickets online again ahead of time), one of the most famous museums in Florence and the whole of Italy. The collection inside was amazing and overwhelming which ranges from the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. We had to cut the museum visit short because of a train we were chasing to Pisa. The decision to go to Pisa was made after the dilemma of: "since we are going to be in Tuscany for only 2 days and a night, should we go to Pisa still or just explore Florence?" We decided to see the leaning tower anyway.

Shades - RayBan, Top - Asos, Necklace -Bleach Catastrophe, Shorts - Forever 21 photos by me and Rosanna
Train ride was about an hour long, we got the cheapest train ticket possible. It wasn't hard to find the place of the tower. It is in a huge compound with only the visible 3 main white structures contrasting with the green field of grass: the baptistery, the cathedral and the tower. I didn't expect too much from the leaning tower, maybe that's why I was a little speechless when I saw it. It was really leaning! Well duh. But the angle of the recline of the tower was really obvious, 3.99 degrees according to Wikipedia. After some photos taken then we headed back to Florence to catch our train going back to Milan. Thankfully, we were able to catch our train by running, like a scene in the Amazing Race and yes, I was carrying a back pack with me.
If I get the chance to go back to Italy, I'm giving Florence another trip. Maybe stay for 4 days. So I can also go to the famous outlet stores too. During this trip I realized that everywhere you go to, you have to decide whether you want to see less but immerse more or the other way around, immerse less but see more. I guess similarly close to quality over quantity.