Frolicking in Florence

Our second stop was Florence (allow me to just start off with a little bit of a rant here: NO ONE IN ITALY CALLS IT FLORENCE. IT'S FIRENZE. FIRENZE!), Italy. 

This, I will admit, seems a bit random. Why Florence? I found myself asking the same question during most of our stay there. But I will say this--if you want to see what Italy is REALLY like, go to Florence, not to Rome. Florence has more Italian people, and it's less crazy. Not such a huge tourist destination--so most people speak little to no English (which is scary and stressful). The town is sleepier, more subdued, for the most part. In Rome, people assume you're not Italian. In Florence, people assume you are. It makes for a very different experience.

It was in Florence that we discovered that American customs are not the norm. Our first night in Florence, we checked into our hostel and then went to find REAL Italian food. We found a little place and sat down. Alan and I both had delightful pizza and we very much enjoyed the atmosphere (Oh, to hear Iggy Azealia in a teeny Italian restaurant was a treat). The two men next to us got their first course as we sat down (a little bit of bread and butter), then their pizza as we puzzled through the menu. As we ate our pizza, they received their dessert (which was a delicious looking vanilla and chocolate pudding cake or something--I didn't recognize many things that Italians eat). As we finished our pizza, they both ordered a small 'cafe' to finish their dinner off. Then they paid and left, merely five minutes before we did. Alan and I had pizza and water (which weirded the waitress out a lot, but not as much as the next part did), and then we went up to pay. The lady told us our price and we paid. She turned away, but Alan stopped her and asked how we could leave a tip. 

Then ensued the funniest and most embarrassing ten minutes of my life, as every Italian in the restaurant walked around asking "Tip? Tip? What's 'tip?' I don't understand." We tried to gesture to the waitress, saying it was 'for her!' But then they just thought we were somehow displeased with her service, and I think we hurt her feelings. We tried synonyms then, but the only word Alan or I could think of was 'gratuity,' which definitely did not help at all. Finally, our waitress pulled out her phone and googled 'tip significado' and as she read through the definition, realization dawned. She got a huge smile on her face and said 'Ohhhhhh! It's for me!' To which we replied that, yes, it was for her. Everyone laughed and looked puzzled still, and then Alan and I realized. Apparently Italian waitresses don't get their pay from tips, meaning that while our gesture was flattering and kind to the waitress, she was utterly confused and amused. Everyone laughed at us as we walked out of the restaurant. 

Florence was definitely an entirely different world than Rome. Much like Rome, the streets are narrow and the buildings tall, the cars and pedestrians like to play tug-of-war for the street area (sometimes even more than in Rome). However, Florence has a much smaller town feel. Everything is more relaxed. The people walk slower, the air is cooler, and the tourists actually observe the rules inside the churches! (On a side note: one thing I thought was interesting is that the Catholic Church does not allow anyone to enter their churches in shorts above the knee or shirts that don't cover the shoulders--they make you put on this modesty sheet and then you walk around shamed because you weren't modest enough to get into the church without a poncho)

The Duomo is really Florence's crowning glory. It's this massive, old medieval church that stands in the middle of a big piazza and is still in use today! They wouldn't let us go into the front part of it, but we got to walk around the huge main area, and even venture downstairs into the excavations they are doing into the catacombs under the church. I've never seen a building bigger than the Duomo; it's the kind of building that demands respect and awe from all those who stand before it, but facilitates the kind of friendly atmosphere that fosters a little street band playing "The Girl From Ipanema," while a few little girls dance together (it was so adorable). In fact, that almost describes the entire atmosphere of Florence. 

We walked down the via Margherita to singing, loud Italian arguing and laughing, and stepped into 'Dante's Church' where we were immediately enveloped in the kind of reverence that I've only found in few other places besides the temple. A little tour guide whispered to her group in Italian and the soft music played in the background. That, for me, was probably the most reverent experience I had gotten a chance to partake in thus far. But Florence is the kind of place filled with contradictions such as this, so that wasn't the end of it.

One thing we really wanted to see was the Piazzale Michelangelo, this big square with a big statue made by Michelangelo that overlooks the entire city of Florence. It's a hefty walk, so we took the bus, and when we got there, it was CLOSED. Our bus had already left, so we decided to just walk back to our hostel, when a few meters down the road we came upon the Santa Maria Church. It was on top of a big hill, so we climbed it and the few steps at the top, took some pictures, and, because it's Florence, decided to venture inside to see what was going on. It blew our minds. This church was huge, and big, and it had murals on the stone walls that dated back to the medieval times, many of which were faded and peeling (A mural of Christ's Crucifixion had all the paint peeled off on His face, which was a little bit unsettling). Down the little hall and a set of stairs, we found a little chapel, separate from the big, main chapel. We sat down to enjoy the cool and quiet, when all of a sudden, everyone stood, and two priests walked in. Then some sort of ceremony started (Mass, I assume, but I'm not Catholic, or Italian, and I don't speak Latin, so I really don't know), and this little old man in the corner started singing. He had such a beautiful voice, and the reverence in the room was incredible and moving. Standing there, listening to him sing, I felt that same reverence I had felt earlier, in Dante's Church. Even though I'm not a Catholic, and I don't speak Latin, I could feel the dedication of the small group of people in that church. I'm almost glad the Piazzale was closed! There's no way that experience could have compared to the one we had in that church together. Also, there was a huge, actual pipe organ that made my bones and heart melt into my socks.

I couldn't bring myself to take very many pictures inside the church. It felt like too beautiful a moment to waste any of it behind the camera lens.

We walked everywhere (as it was a considerably smaller city than Rome), but my favorite walks were 1) across the Piazza de Vechio (a fantastic bridge with shops and cafes and street vendors and a water fountain! Also, we tried some sort of calzone with a weird cheese and weirder meat in it that tasted delightful, but only if I didn't think too hard about it) and 2) to the train station at 7 am the morning we left. On that walk, the streets were cool and quiet, and the people who were awake weren't in much of a hurry, simply walking their dogs or heading down to get a newspaper or cafe to have with breakfast. Every person we met greeted us with a smile and a 'bongiorno' as they passed us. It was lovely.

Florence is definitely a place I'd love to come back to (whereas Rome....I'd hesitate), but it might be because we were a little more travel-savvy here. We understood how to get around, who to ask for help, and how to manage our time better. Also, we weren't so jet-lagged, so that helped.