over the bridge we go.

After hysterically running around for three days trying to see all the sites of Rome, Florence was the perfect change of pace.

A couple big sites made it an interesting city, but left plenty of time to wander the streets and bridges, making it possibly my favorite city in Italy.

Checking off the few major sites started with the Uffizi museum. We got in the seemingly hours-long line but then looked in our guidebook and realized we could get tickets in advance for a certain time at an office across the street. Score!

We wandered around and then skipped the line into the museum. The religious art is impressive, but got repetitive.

Then we climbed the Duomo. At first glance, the cathedral plus its additional museum building look like a pink and green cardboard theater set popping out of the middle of the city. 300 something stairs later we got our Florence view.

The next day we went and saw the David. I went in thinking, “Alright, whatever, we have to go see this famous statue 'cause we’re here.” But it was not over-hyped in the least! It was incredible. You couldn’t take pictures, but this one is from online. Can you see the veins in the forearm?

Every detail was unbelievably to the tee. We were in awe standing looking up at this perfectly smooth, huge, muscular guy, yet with emotion in the face... I can't believe someone back in the day had the skill to make that from a block of marble by hand. And it's not like a painting where you can just paint over if you mess up! His hands did look a little big to me though...

A copy of the David is in the Piazza della Signoria (where it originally stood) with a ton of other awesome statues.

The second night we went to the Piazza Michelangelo. This plaza was a hike to get to but the view of Florence with the sun setting topped being on the Duomo. And no Entrance fee! It was absolutely gorgeous. Another David statue hangs out here. Bronze this time.

Wandering around Florence we kept seeing amazing looking little places to get pizza and pasta. But of course when you are actually hungry they all seem to be hiding. We ended up going to the same place for lunch and dinner ("our place on Corso").

It was so good and cheap. We got two pastas and a calzone because everything on display just looked so good. Needless to say we were stuffed.

To top it off, the lady (who recognized us from our lunchtime visit) then decided to give us free pastries! Did we still go to gelato? Guess.

The best part of our two days in Florence was that our hostel was separated by the Vechio Bridge from all the sites, so every morning and every night we crossed the beautiful, romantic scenery; guy playing slow music on the guitar included.