Day 15: Day trip to Firenze

Anyone traveling in Europe will quickly discover the beauty of train rides. Trains go pretty much anywhere and are fairly inexpensive. After learning this fun fact, my friends and I decided to take a day trip to Florence, Italy. We took an early train from Rome and came back late that same day (so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel or anything). And even though it was a quick trip, we were able to see a lot of the city and experience a lot of the famous attractions that Florence has to offer.

The number one thing out our “To Do List” was to climb to the top of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as the Duomo. This church is the main church in Florence and one of Italy’s largest churches with the largest brick dome ever constructed. It was beautiful inside and out and was unlike any church I have ever seen before. The design of the outside was so different and colorful and was nothing like any other church in Italy. Climbing the Duomo was definitely an experience, and after the bruise on my head that lasted a week I can say it was quite an journey to the top. The stairways were so steep and narrow that barely one person could get through them, but the climb was worth the claustrophobic breakdowns and head injury. Once we were at the top we could see the entire city and marvel over the sights. It was a beautiful day to just look out over the city and soak everything in.

After the Duomo we enjoyed walking the city and walking through all of the markets. Florence is known for its Italian leather so we spent over an hour bargaining over bags and wallets, which turned out to be quite worth it. We also walked to Piazza Michelangelo which over looked the entire city and also had a couple of gelato stands, which we couldn’t pass up 😉 At the end of the day we were exhausted and in much need of a meal, so on our way back to the train station we stopped at a restaurant and all ordered the most amazing pesto we have ever had. (We were running late so we had to scarf it down, but it was so amazing that we probably wouldn’t have eaten it any other way even if we had all the time in the world.) We headed back to the train and ventured back to Roma with our leather souvenirs and another hot, beautiful day in Italy behind us.