I'm Only a Tourist on the Weekends

Oh wow. If I thought staying in Firenze for the weekend would be more relaxing than heading on a trip, I was wrong, wrong, wrong! Luckily, I wasn’t staying around my neighbourhood (in a manner of speaking) to sit on my ass for three days. It started bright and early Friday morning when my friend Amanda and I decided to head to the Market Centrale to admire the local food (the market is deserving of its own entry, and so, I will say no more of it for now). From there, we wandered around aimlessly until we somehow ended up across the river in the Pitti Palace.

Amanda and I.

The Pitti Palace was the last residence of the Medici family in Florence. I say ‘last’, but what I really mean is impossibly large and absurdly extravagant. Since they couldn’t get anymore over the top than they already were, it was their last residence. The self-actualization of living situations. The outside of it is impressive, though it pales in comparison to what lies within. I wish I could show you all what it looked like, but the moment I took my camera out the docent when three rooms away chastised me, so I have no proof. But imagine this: no ceiling lower than twenty feet, each room its own vibrant colour resplendent in gilded curtains, every wall covered in ornately framed, priceless works of art, each ceiling adorned with goliath frescoes mythologizing the bible, the pagan gods, the Medici themselves. Everything in that palace is a testament to absolute beauty, and it has a bathroom larger than my living room back home to boot.

The palace has mostly been renovated as an art gallery, but most of the rooms have the description of their original purpose. With that, I could see the people in their elegant garb drifting from one decadent room to the next.

Needless to say, I was quite impressed.




This is the passageway the Medici built to pass over the Ponte Vecchio. The Ponte Vecchio is the main river across the Arno, and was built by the Romans. It was the only bridge in Florence not destroyed by the Germans in World War II, allegedly because Hilter thought it was too beautiful. The bridge is host to a flock of jewelry peddlers and souvenir shops, but during the Renaissance, it was a meat market. For some reason, Cosimo de’Medici did not appreciate having this beneath his passageway, and so, he evicted the butchers and put the jewelers there where they have been ever since.

Anyway, that was Friday. Saturday, my friend and roommate Kara and I decided to head across the river yet again for a look at the Boboli Gardens (the grounds of the Pitti Palace, and, if possible, even more stunning than the palace itself) and the San Minato church. Though my camera battery died about five minutes into our venture, Kara’s preserved, so I stole all her pictures from facebook for you!

Here is the church.












This is the lover level of the church, approximated to Hell and it was SUPER CREEPY.






The view of Florence from outside the church.









These following pictures are the Boboli Gardens.




A rather large man on a rather large turtle.


This has nothing to do with anything really, but I bought some oranges from the market that were grown in Italy and they were the best oranges I ever had, and I don't even like oranges that much. I will probably starve to death when I go home.










Okay, so I was unreasonably excited to find a cat here (she followed me out to the path) but then like, two minutes I saw these two older ladies walk out from one of the garden paths into the bushes with more cats following them. There was a plastic tarp in the bushes arranged like a shelter and cat toys on the ground. I think I found nomadic cat people/

The back of the palace itself.

Stolen Egyptian obelisk.

So that was Friday and Saturday! Sunday, we celebrated Valentine's day by cooking a bunch of delicious things, and exploding an egg in the microwave and blowing a fuse. It was then I learned that my landlord is kind of a jerk, but nevertheless, it was a good weekend, even though I couldn't spend Valentine's Day with everyone back home and eat heart-shaped chocolate ganache cakes. Mmmm, chocolate... I still want brownies in the worst way.

Irrelevant cravings aside, ciao for now!