Ted and Whitney: Florence and Lucca

This weekend we traveled to Florence. It was my first time on a high speed train. That was a crazy experience. You look out the window and see you are moving 200 mph, but if you close your eyes you don’t even feel like you are moving. We got to Florence late Friday night, and decided to stroll around the city. In the Lonely Planet Guide it lists the top 5 gelato places in Florence. We visited one of them. IT WAS HEAVEN. Ted was even drooling. Then we realized that the place, called Grom, is a chain, and there is one RIGHT, I mean 1/10^th of a block from our apartment. Oh no I taste trouble, and it is so freaking good!!!! {UPDATE: in a week we have now been there 3 times.}

We got up early Saturday morning and headed out. We had tickets to two museums, The Ufizi, and Acedemia. While museums are amazing, the age of the paintings is fascinating. When you think that someone’s hand from 1300 touched that frame, painted that portrait it’s quite breathtaking. Then they all start to look alike, and it gets rather boring. I must admit, I’m no art historian or art buff, so unless the piece of art is famous, I’m a little underwhelmed. However, Acedemia was a little different, it houses Michelangelo’s David. This was stunning. IT WAS HUGE, really amazing. We have no pictures because you are not allowed to take any and you can’t even sneak them, the guards are all over you!

We visited Florences cathedral. It is beautiful. Not quite as beautiful, in my opinion as the one in Milan. That is until you climb the 434 steps to the very top of the dome. From there you have a 360 degree view of Florence.

Let me take this time to tell you a little about our Florence day. It was raining, I mean RAINING, POURING. We were soaked to the bone for a good part of the day. When we got to the very top of the dome and stepped out onto the platform, it started pouring, I mean really coming down.

After that, we were soaked to the bone, we decided to take the train a little early to Lucca and have dinner at our hotel. The original plan was to stay in Florence, have dinner, then take the hour thirty-minute train to Lucca. But we decided it would be nice to be dry and already at our destination for dinner so we could just relax. When we got there we rushed upstairs and showered, and put on dry clothes and headed down for dinner. It was the BEST decision we could have made.

A little side note the hotel where we stayed in Lucca was an aristocratic country mansion, residence of Lucca duke Castruccio Castracani in the late 13^th and early 14^th century. The little dining room seated maybe 15 total and was the best meal so far in Italy.

The next day we headed into Lucca. A fortress wall surrounds the town and you can rent bikes and ride along the top of it. Which is exactly what we did. The little town feels so secluded and old. Right on the outside of the wall is the western world, with McDonalds, and big buildings, and gas stations ect. But the little town inside the wall remains stuck in a time warp.

It was a great weekend. We were exhausted by the time we returned to our apartment.