If you were born somewhere between the mid 70’s to the mid 80’s, then you were probably raised watching Saturday morning cartoons like I was. There was nothing better than jumping out of bed, grabbing a bowl of cereal, and then plopping yourself in front of the television still in your PJ’s, excited with anticipation because the greatest cartoon was about to come on. Those four green turtles that knew martial arts. You knew their name then, we all know their name now, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael.
What do these four fictional cartoon characters have to do with Italy? Or to be more precise, Florence, Italy? All four characters are named after the greatest Italian renaissance artists who ever lived. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buronarroti Simoni, Danato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, Leonardo da Vinci and Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. All four Master artists were either born, lived, worked and/or died in Florence. Some still remain in Florence to this day. All left their mark and will be remembered in this city till the end of time.
This was why I wanted to go to Florence. This was why one crazy night while at work I plotted and hatched a scheme to surprise my wife with a once in a lifetime trip to Florence Italy in March 2022. You see, my wife has always been a lover of art and the classics and has always dreamt of seeing some of the greatest works of art in the entire world. From Michalangelo’s masterful sculpture of David to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, these are just some examples of the works that Florence is home to.
The plan was that it would only be a week-long trip, fly from San Francisco to Paris and then hop on a small plane and arrive in Florence. However, crazy things happened and I ended up in the Emergency Room and had to burn a week of vacation due to the injury and our trip had to be canceled, or so we thought.
What ended up happening was I was able to rebook the airline tickets for a later date and because it was much further in the year I actually had enough vacation time for two weeks. We spent one week in Florence and one week in Rome, which I’ll be writing about our time in Rome at a later date.
Upon a very hard and bumpy landing at Amerigo Vespucci Airport in Florence we gathered our luggage and headed to the exit. Once out of the airport we turned left and made our way to the train which was only a few hundred feet away. I knew to do this because of the research I had done. I found multiple videos showing that in order to take the train to the city center, head left immediately out the door. Purchase a train ticket at the machine, wait for the train and once on the train, most importantly DO NOT FORGET TO VALIDATE YOUR TICKET. It is a substantial fine if you do not validate your ticket once you are onboard the train.
A few train stops, and we would be in the city center of Florence. We had the pleasure of being surrounded by a group of young men and women who were obviously headed to the city center as well for their Friday night out on the town. It was pleasant to see them cheerful and vibrant since, by this time, we had been up for almost 24 hours and it lifted our spirits. At the last stop on the line, Santa Maria Novella, everyone disembarked the train. We struggled a bit with all of our luggage, but we were happy to see that we were not the only ones with the same issue as there were several others on the train from our flight who were struggling as well.
If you have ever traveled to a foreign country, and even sometimes to a different city other than your own, then you can understand what it’s like when you are smack dab in the center of awesomeness. Your head tilts upwards, your ears perk open to all the new sounds, and your nose starts smelling fragrances that you have never smelled before. Your senses are heightened, you start looking around for something, anything that will give you a sense of security, something to tell you that you are in the right place and that you are heading in the right direction.
We found security just a hundred feet in front of us. There it was. Just as we turned the corner we could barely see the magnificent dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Flore over the rooftops. Also known as the Florence Duomo. Duomo means cathedral in Italian. Almost every major city in Italy has its own cathedral, but when talking to other travelers and you say Duomo, everyone automatically thinks of Florence Duomo.
As we walked down ancient cobblestone streets we finally found our apartment that we had rented for the week. Up four flights of stairs we finally met our host who graciously showed us the ins and outs of the apartment and wished us a happy adventure. We threw our luggage on the floor and ourselves on the bed. We were exhausted.
The night was not to be wasted however. By the time we got showered and a new change of clothes it was already dark outside. We descended the stairs outside our apartment, swung open the huge wooden doors and the nightlife that is Florence smacked us right in the face. The streets were full of people having a good time. Some were tourists just like us and others were locals like the young men and women on the train looking for fun in the big city on Friday night.
We didn’t know the geography or the terrain very well but we followed the crowd, the noise and, most of all, the smell. Our first priority was food. We needed to get some food in us quickly. All we had was some airline food and a few snacks that we had purchased in San Francisco before we boarded the plane. As we turned the corner we were back at the Duomo. All lit up in lights, we were awestruck by the beauty and size of this structure. Every inch is covered in green and white marble with a splash of pink marble here and there. The huge doors were carved with ornate details. We walked the front facade and turned the corner and walked along the Duomo’s southern side. We walked and walked not being able to fathom the enormity of the building. Every so often we saw a place for a photo opportunity so we would stop, pose for a photo and then keep on moving. Eventually we came to the end and hadn’t seen any place we wanted to stop and eat. Partly because we were too busy gasping at what was in front of us and the fact that we were half asleep.
Rounding the back end of the Duomo we saw a few restaurants with tables outside. There was some coolness to the air on this side of the Duomo. I don’t know if it was because that side stayed in the shade all day or if it was the path of least resistance for the air to flow but it was definitely colder and breezy. We found a nice little restaurant aptly named Duomo Café. We took our seats, ordered a meal and were serenaded by someone with a guitar and amplifier who was playing beautiful music while everyone sat, ate, drank their wine and chatted.
This was a lovely way to end our day and a perfect beginning of our vacation in Italy. Arriving back at our apartment we were tempted to stop and get gelato along the way but we were just too tuckered out and wanted to get some sleep.
Very nice. Never got to stay in Italy just pasted thru on train going to Swiztland from Spain.