Today we hopped on the Eurostar train up to Florence, and apparently in Italy, seat assignments DO matter. People are very defensive when they think you have taken their seat, which has not been my experience before in Europe. Oh well.
After some early morning craziness trying to find the bus stop to actually get to the train station (the signs lied!!), we made it to the train and eventually to Florence, where we were met by our guide, who thought he might make our day more fun by holding the sign with our name on it upsidedown.
This guy obviously knows his Renaissance art, architecture and Florentine history. Our day was pretty much like this: walk quickly through tiny streets, stop for a second while our guide explained what we were looking out, retaining only the famous name he might have thrown out, move on quickly to the next point of interest, rinse, repeat. It was like the quick-and-dirty version of Florence, which is not a bad thing if you really only have a day to do it all, but its exhausting! Pretty sure that if there was a thief on our train on the way home he could have scored big with us, because all four of us passed out cold.
In all, we saw 3 big ol' churches, two mueseums, and so many paintings and sculptures that it makes my head swim just trying to remember them all. Botticelli and all those old artist types must be rolling in their graves when they find out that the average tourist spends like a minute looking at one of their masterpieces. Don't get me wrong, everything we saw was pretty amazing and beautiful, but that is a LOT to absorb in one day.
Some highlights:
- The huge market with all its hanging sausages and produce and cheeses and wines and pasta hanging in bags. So pretty with all the yummy smelling food. I could eat my way through there pretty easily, just point, pay, smile and say grazie!
- Pizza and wine for lunch! At this point I was not tired of pizza yet.
- Seeing Michelangelo's David and actually understanding why its so important! That guy has really big hands, completely out of proportion with his...you know.
- The leather school, where monks have made leather products for a reallly long time, and we got to see one of them at work embossing gold leaf onto a leather-covered box type thing.
- Walking through the narrow twisty streets at night, watching all the people, seeing everything lit up and decorated for Christmas, looking at all the medieval architecture.
- Nutella on fresh hot waffles!! Who knew it could be so good?
- Sitting down on the bench in the Uffizi Gallery (where all those paintings are, including Botticelli's) after walking through the whole thing.
SO, it was totally worth it, but I am really glad that KK is doing her study abroad there this summer, because I would really have liked a little more time to shop and wander on my own. So my plan is to meet her there before her program ends and we go on our big adventure!
The Hoeys are on a family vacation to Rome!!
Our apartment is fabulous. The guy who met us there that owns it was a little overly enthusiastic in pointing out places on the map he gave us. We now know where 2 wine shops, 3 grocery stores, all the churches, a pastry place, 3 restaurants, and the Colosseum are. Apparently that's all that matters. Everything else, meh, not so much. :)
We have a kitchen that is stocked with milk, juice, coffee, pastries, and everything else a kitchen needs. The shower is a little intimidating - it has 2 different heads, and then jacuzzi jets going down the side, should be interesting in the morning! Took a few minutes to figure out how to flush the toilet, forgot about the big button camoflaged in the wall. We have a dining room too, and a bookcase stocked with every Rick Steves' Rome version that has been printed. And there is a Christmas tree!! Its such a cute place, I love it. Its up on the fourth floor, and I'm the only one in the family who will walk up all the stairs at the end of the day.
Today we had tickets to ride one of those Hop-On Hop-Off neon green double-decker tourist buses, so there's no mistaking that anyone seen on this bus is a tourist. As soon as we board, Dad promptly nodded off. KK and I went up to the top level, and even though we could see everything, we froze so we went back down to the bottom, and were lulled to sleep by the elevatorish music playing in the background. How bad is that? Passing out while actively being a tourist on our first day in a place we were so excited to finally be in. Oh well.
Photo: Eskimo KK freezing on the top level of uber-conspicuous tourist bus 
We got off at the Colosseum and since I had the guidebook, I ended up being the tour guide for the family.
Photo: KK's schtick this trip is to hug the columns...one down, 999 to go! 
The Colosseum was pretty incredible. So incredibly old, and yet still standing. I mean, not many groups of people can say that they've built something that has lasted anywhere near that long. The Greeks. The Egyptians. The Inca. The Celts in Britain. And that's about it. Makes you wonder, 2,000 years from now, will there be any evidence of our civilization? Will there even be a viable planet for people to live on? Or will it all be lost and people will be living on Mars.
So back to the Colosseum. 
Nice place, what with all the brutal gladiator fights, getting killed by big scary aminals and other gladiators, who were all slaves by the way, pretty much fighting for their lives. Yeah, nice. And free entertainment too - it was the emperors' method of mob control. Keep the people happy by letting them watch other people get killed in bloody sporting matches and they won't revolt against you. Really nice. Good people those emperors, really compassionate.
A lot of the marble was pulled off the facade of the Colosseum to be used in the Renaissance by popes and the rich people for their summer homes and big massive churces and necessary things like that. I guess not much changed in those 1500 years of civilization.
Photo: Dad, the tired tourist, fell asleep standing up at the Colosseum 
We wandered around for the rest of the day, enjoying the sunshine and just basically getting to know the city. Stopped at the Castel St. Angelo, which is only a few blocks away from our apartment. If that name doesn't ring a bell, go back and read Angels and Demons. Tomorrow we're actually going on a walking tour that comes straight out of that book, nerd alert! We all totally re-read the book before the trip. Dinner ended up being soup from a pouch (Mom thought ahead and brought soup mix, what genius) and whatever was stocked in the fridge for us, pastries probably. So sleepy!
Photo: Seesters in front of the Castel St. Angelo
