Saturday started with a trip to the train station to get tickets for Pisa. We had some issues getting the ticket but managed to figure it out. We stopped by the McDonalds in the train station for a cheap, but delicious, lunch before we got on the train. I love the train rides through the country to see how it compares to America.
We bought a ticket for 8euro that would allow us into the two museums, the Camposanto, and the Baptistery. The cathedral is free, and the tower is another ticket which I decided to save for when dad and I can climb it together. Our first stop was the Camposanto which is a large square doughnut shaped loggia filled with tombs both inlaid in the floor and on the walls. The best part of this was that we were the only people in there! We managed to get some cute group photos with no tourists in the background which is almost impossible. Next we went to the baptistery which was beautiful. One of my favorite features in the churches and baptisteries we been to are the pulpits. They are so intricately carved and frescoed. The columns on the one in Pisa was held up by lion statues which was very unique. I love the mosaics, and the great view from the second level. We were also the only people in the baptistery at the time. When we left we saw that there were a bunch of police, EMT, and old nuns outside the cathedral. Turns out there was a mass of some sort and we were not allowed in :)( Instead we went to take ‘tower pictures’ Mine turned out ok but I’ll post one that dad takes when we go. As opposed to the baptistery, there were many people outside taking tower pictures…ohh tourists.
We tackled both museums which were very interesting. The first one had some color renditions of the frescoes that used to be in the Camposanto and the next one had the actual, huge frescoes. I loved how the two museums worked together to provide as much information as possible with the help of visuals that were easy to link together.
We left Pisa at about 5 pm to be back in Florence in time to get cleaned up and go to get Mexican food!! The restaurant did not disappoint. I have been craving non-stinky cheese and my chicken burrito had just that, lots of creamy, Mexican cheese with spicy chicken, beans, and rice. The peach margarita I had with dinner was the cherry on top of the great, long awaited meal. That night we went back to the hostel and had a STL Budweiser and played cards with my roommates.
Sunday was dedicated to more museums and churches. We went to the Accademia museum and saw the real David in all his glory as well as some unfinished pieces by Michelangelo (I cannot wait to read about him working on David). Next Jena and I went to the Medici palace, a trip inspired by my book because Michelangelo was invited by Lorenzo Medici to live in the palace. Only a quarter of the palace is open to visitors, but it was definitely worth the 4euro. Next we went to Ponte Vecchio, the bridge with all the jewelry shops which I of course enjoyed. We grabbed a quick lunch, went back to the hostel to get our bags, went back to the chocolate festival, and headed to Santa Maria Novella. The church was beautiful, I especially like the ceiling (not sure where this infatuation with ceilings came from, but side note, the ceiling in our room in the hostel had no corners haha). The frescoes and mosaics in all the churches are mind-blowing as well. They’re so large, and tell so many stories that it’s hard to imagine doing anything like that.
The train trip home to Orvieto was semi-stressful because some of us had troubles getting our tickets validated and when we tried to get off the train some of the doors were frozen shut! Turns out other groups had worse issues. Josh ended up a the next stop and Cammie resorted to pulling the emergence stop after the train started to pull out of the Orvieto stop before they got off!
That night I skyped mom and dad and then crashed. Traveling is amazing but exhausting! We will go back to Florence in a couple weeks and go to the Uffizi Museum with Marco.
Ciao for now! Katy
Pictures will come later. The uploader is being slow :/
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