Florence day 1

The photo is the roof of the dome of duomo.
Go to the start of my trip here.

13th July 2012 ?29.60

Sarah woke us at 9. Although waking a couple of times I was in a very deep sleep and didn't want to get up haha. However, beautiful Florence awaited me ..... although the beds at this hostel are SO comfy. We got dressed and headed for Galleria dell'Accademia.

The paintings I enjoyed:
Deposizione della Croce
Resurrezione di Cristo
Disputa sull'Immacolata Concezione
Luigi Pampoloni - Boy with dog
La Rocca - David

We were a tad annoyed as we didn't have proof we were an EU citizen so had to pay ?11 rather than ?6.50. But worth it for David. It is massive and BEAUTIFUL. I've no idea how someone could produce that out of marble. Each direction you looked at it, the light hit a different muscle, each carved perfectly. It was sad to leave it behind but I will never forget. We sat in the heat in the gallery for a bit. Then bought some postcards outside (a lot cheaper there) (?1.20). We then dropped some stuff off at the hostel, I changed my shoes and headed for lunch. We had liked this palace near the station but it was very expensive to sit in. Instead we found a little deli that had 3 seats inside. I enjoyed a box with mozzarella and tomato salad and tomato chicken (?4) SO YUM. We then decided to head and see the market. This was WONDERFUL. So many beautiful leather bags, wallets, books and other gorgeous things. I was sad I couldn't buy M a leather notebook or J a new wallet.

It was really rather hot. We walked to the Piazza del Duomo, which is breathtakingly large and beautiful from the outside. Other than the beautiful roof of the dome, the Milan Duomo is a lot more beautiful on the inside. We got a small ice cream (?2) en route home (white chocolate .... so good) and some ice cold water (?0.95). We headed back to hostel for some much needed rest. It's funny, how quickly somewhere becomes home. It takes just one trip back to your hostel from somewhere unknown for it to feel very homely and safe. We had a little nap then we all checked our MBChB's for our exam result breakdowns. Funny.

At around 8 we headed out and got a take out (?2.60 for a rice dish) that we sate and ate in the square near our hostel. 'Twas delicious and the price made it all the better. We walked to "The Lion's Mountain", a bar recommended in the guidebook. When we got there it was rather dead but in a square of lively bars and restaurants. We instead sat in "Eby's Bar", another bar that had been recommended and had a pitcher of sangria (?4 each) and sat outside observing the world. Whilst we sat there we saw, sadly, a woman get her bag snatched and a group of men leave their tales and run after the man. They succeeded in getting it back, although it reminded us ALWAYS to be conscious of our bags (although I tend always to try to be careful) and not carry anything unnecessary. We sat until 10:30 ish and headed back through the lively for night crowds of Florence.