Florence aka Firenze:
We arrived by bus in very cold weather. Thankfully, we did enough walking that the temperature was not an issue for too much of the trip.
Brunelleschi's dome - the dome that broke all odds by being the largest dome of its time, a task thought impossible at the time. It was amazing to gaze up into the inside of the large space, and feel absolutely miniscule as a tiny person below such a large architectural masterpeice. The controversy still stands as to whether the paintings inside the dome take away from the architecture and geometry of the peice, or if, since they are over 200 years old, they are history that cannot be moved. I personally find the frescos to be very beautiful. I can't believe what great detail went into churches of this magnitude; every inch is touched by human hand, carefully designed and molded to invite the worshiper to feel a connection with God. Even today, I am awestruck at the magnitude of the space.
The Church of San Croce - this building will interest those of you non-architects, because within the walls of this church stands the burial tombs for Galileo and Michealangelo! These are funny facts actually, because Galileo was disowned by the church for his radical ideas of the universe, and Michealangelo desired in his will to be buried in Rome. Still, they are such famous symbols of Florence, that the Florentines brought them back anyway after their deaths. There is also a tomb reserved for Dante, the great playwright, despite the fact that during his life, Dante was exiled from Florence for his support of a political ruler that was not the Pope. He is still buriedwhere he died, away from Florence, despite the Florintines efforts to retreive his body. Wealthy families who donated money to the church is the ancient days, would be buried underneath the ground inside the church too. We walked above them as we viewed the space! Anyway, San Croce is HUGE, and once again, filled with fantastic detail. The church is of the the order of the Catholic church that began using the cross as a significant symbol of worship. Consequently, the entire church is adorned with images of Christ on the cross. I was overwhelmed by the colors, mosaics, frescos, stonework, and so much more to see. It was impossible to absorb all the detail in memory!
Dante's house - the house where the writer, Dante, grew up before he was exiled for his political opinions. We also viewed the church were he first met his muse, a girl whom he never married but used as his inspiration for his work.
Ponte Veccio - A wonderful bridge on which is lined store after store of jewlery. The wonderful part, however, is the view of the bridge from the outside, where you can see the stores hanging off the bridge like little Italian houses (see the picture below).
Statue of David - I thought it appropriate to include only a picture of me with the statue in the background. Why? Because this statue is a fake. The real statue I will not get to see for another two weeks when I return to Florence. The reason for the copy is that the real statue, origionally located in the piazza, was open to distruction by the elements. Consequently, a copy was made and the origional moved to a museum across town.
Dinner and the Hostel - The last bit of information to include is my first stay in a hostel, and the best dinner I've had in Italy. The hostel, costing us only 11 Euro for the night, was better than I had expected, in fact. We had a group of six, and therefore we were able to attain an entire room to ourselves (often hostels are like giant dorms and one simply rents a bed). The place was clean, right in the center of the action, and had a fantastic view. We spent a lot of time taking fun pictures in a small platform with ancient columns holding up a roof over a platform accross from our hostel. During the day, this location holds an interesting tourist market. How amazing is it that all this occurs around columns hundreds of years old? 
The dinner, at a restaurant called Tavernetta Della Signoria, served three course meals for quite decent prices. I ordered the meal combination including a lasagne course, a roast beef with arugula salad course, and a desert of a slice of cheesecake. The food was excellent, and the service was even better. Our waitress was kind and friendly, and even patient when we tried to figure out how to split the bill. We probably stayed in the restaurant for two hours! Italians eat much slower than Americans.Pisa:
Suprisingly, despite all the fantastic culture in Florence, Pisa takes the cake of the trip. The girls staying in the room next to us in the hostel (students from Brazil studying in Paris) gave us sceptical reviews of Pisa, saying that the tower was smaller than expected and that there was very little to do in the town. We, however, found the town to be amazing, and the tower, along with the baptistry and basilica, to exceed our expectations! We arrived on the train and began walking accross town to get to the leaning tower and its counterparts. Perhaps because it was Saturday and nice weather, the city was very alive with markets and vendors and outdoor cafes. There was so much to see! Also, as we walked, churches would appear along the street. On the outside, they appear simple, but when we would step into the space, the power and awe of each ornate building was astounding!
Anyway, finally we arrived at the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, along with the Basilica of Pisa, the Baptistry, and the Cemetary. Leaning Tower of Pisa - First, we were eager to climb the tower, so we paid the 15 Euro and proceeded to walk sideways up the winding stairs to the top. The view from the top was incredible! Mountains to one side, Italian rooftops on others, and then the view of the Basilica and the tourist shops. I could take in the view forever. Its odd to walk around the exterior of the top of the tower, realizing that you are leaning! Once back safely on the ground, we were able to get into the Basilica.
Basilica - This is quite possibly the most beautiful church I have witnessed to far! The detail, once again, is fantastic, and each column is unique. We spent quite a few minutes running our hands up and down each column, feeling the texture.
Cemetary - The cemetary, still in use, is made up of tombs buried once again within the ground on which guests walk underneath a covered loggia. There are tombs from the 1500's, and tombs from 2009. The sculpture is fantastic.
Baptistry - The baptistry is really special - here is why. At first, it seems just a simple, circular building meant for ornate and elaborate baptisimal cermonies. Then, something amazing happened. We had ascended the stairs to be level with the dome, when a woman who worked at the site stepped into the center of the space. She paused, and then we heard one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. She let out a note (ooooo), and the magical musical sound reverberated clearly and melodically through the whole space, encapsulated by the shape of the dome. Then she let out another note (aaaaaa), which overlayed itself over the previous note, still ringing, to form a sort of harmonal choir with each other. A third note, a fourth, the music was ethereal and enchanting; the space was perfectly designed to reflect and echo sound, creating a one person choir. Imagine this same effect occuring when an actual baptism was taking place. The sound of the person lowered, immersed in the water, would echo throughout the entire space, allowing all the veiwers to feel intertwined with the experience. The symbolism is fantastic. A baptism is meant to unite one follower of God with others, as part of a congregation, a church, as well as unite this follower with God. The sound, in this case, further supports the symbolism, uniting all members present in an envelope of sound. Really, it was magnificent. 
Following this experience we walked the tourist street alongside the attractions, and of course, took the cliche pictures holding up the tower. It feels incredible that I am so lucky as to have one of these pictures myself, hehe. Can't help that it is so cliche, I still love it. This pretty much concludes the visit to Florence and Pisa. One more experience happened that I will share, and then you can hopefully look forward to next week, when I will visit Pompeii, Paestum, Naples, the Almafi Coast, and the Isle of Capri!
The story of the train - So, during our time in Pisa, it snowed nearly a foot in Orvieto! Because of this, our train was delayed for 10 minutes. Not a big deal. However, when the train arrived, we went to validate our tickets. We stuck our tickets in, and to our shock, the machine was not stamping the ticket! We ran from machine to machine trying to get a stamp (having an unvalidated ticket results in a 100 euro fine!), but none of the machines would work! Finally we decided the hole punch from the machine would be enough and ran to catch the train before it began to pull away. Close call! That is not the most exciting part however. After finding the warmest car, we rode until we came to Orvieto. Looking out the window at the snowcovered station, we saw the sign for Orvieto and got up to leave. We proceeded to the train doors only to discover that they had not opened. This initiated our first panic. We ran to the next set of doors, hoping to escape the train, only to find that they too remained shut! Down the car we raced, door to door, "we have to get off, we have to get off!" we kept calling! No luck, and to our horror, the train began to move! If the train left, we would arrive in an unknown city after 10 pm, allowing us no hope of finding lodging and causing us to spend even more money if we could find a place to stay as well as paying for a ticket home in the morning. We were instantly in a panic. "We have to get off, we have to get off!" our cries increased. Finally, we spotted a red emergency pulley. "Pull it!" one of us yelled, and that is exactly what happened! The train screeched to a halt, and we stood there in shock. A worker came frantically over to us, we had stopped an entire train! He spoke broken English, but could understand our cries and our panicked faces. We pried a door open and he began to wave his hands furiously, "No, no!" We had opened the door onto the other track! Then he pulled and pulled at the correct exit. The reason it had not opened became apparent, all the doors were frozen shut. He called another worker over and finally the doors came lose and we were free!
Anyway, I am happy to report that we made it safely home, on time, and, after a long and eventful weekend, enojoyed the night safe in our own beds :)
Ciao for now!
Jess
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