Florence – Getting Acquainted With the City

I share a room with two other women, one of which sleeps with no pants on and likes to rustle plastic bags around (a lot) at 6am and the other I can only describe as a ferocious sleeper; she doesn’t move for minutes (hours?) on end, but when she does, it is a torrent of movement, flopping over, practically catching air on the turn, then spending the next several seconds violently “getting settled.” Not quite on par with the Vicenza-over-groomer-roommate, but seriously: am I ever going to meet any normal people on this trip??

Of our trio, I am the last to get up and out the door. Thankfully, this hostel has only a brief lock-out period of four hours. I should be able to tour around the city and come up with a plan in that time. This may require some divine intervention because for some reason, I just have no idea what to do with myself in Florence. Obviously I want to see the David, but there is so much available to see here, and I know so little about it all, I’m overwhelmed at the options. But I’m sure something will come together; it always does.

So with at least four hours on my hands, I decide to do a little educated wandering and try to get a feel for the city. I head out and quickly find myself in Piazza della Signorina – one of the city’s main squares. Directly in front of me, I see a copy of David, but it’s surrounded by a scaffolding – must be in the middle of restoration (which is okay by me, I don’t want to spoil my viewing of the real David anyway). On my right is what I can only describe as an outdoor museum. There is a large covered area, a few steps above the level of the main piazza that houses several sculptures. I quickly note the lack of graffiti and observe the sign asking patrons to treat this loggia with the same respect they would any other portion of the Uffizi Museum. Hmmm, I guess there are limits to Italian defamation of public property. I find I really enjoy the sculptures, but wish I had some sort of audio guide to tell me more about what I’m seeing (as I have absolutely NO idea). Unfortunately Rick isn’t much help, other than confirming where I am and that the bronze statue in the front is holding Madusa’s decapitated head.

I head out from there in the general direction of the Accedemia (where the David is kept), but also in search of cappuccino. I find both in a reasonable amount of time, but note that the line to see David is quite long. Rick tells me there are two other places to make reservations (and thus, skip the nasty line), so I head off in search of both of those. The first is around the corner – closed on Sundays. Boo. I seek out the second option, but it too is closed (on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sundays of the month….which I guess this is). The Accedemia is closed tomorrow, so it looks like I’m staying until at least Tuesday and I’ll have to see about making a reservation tomorrow. I consult the map and look for the Uffizi Museum (the other big attraction here). Turns out it is RIGHT where I just was near the outdoor statue center (which, in retrospect makes complete sense with the sign I read). It’s seems too inefficient to simply walk back to where I just came from, so I cop a squat and study the map and my book for other options in the general area.

One of Rick’s recommendations involves a bus ride to a piazza outside of town with a view of the entire city. Since I’m all about resting my feet these days, I decide this is definitely what I’m doing. It takes a few minutes of some serious concentration to figure out what buses I need to take to get to my destination, but I eventually figure it out. I hop on the first bus and make my first connection with no problem (I just love it when travel works out how I plan). I’m not exactly sure where my stop is from this second bus, but I’m hoping it will somehow make itself known to me. Sound ridiculous, I know, but that probably would’ve happened, had I not preemptively gotten off the bus when some other guy sitting near me did. My destination is called Piazzale Michelangelo and when I do finally get there, a gi-normus bronze copy of David is standing in the center. Makes sense, eh? But as I said, I got stop anxiety and jumped ship early. Thus, I had to walk about 20 minutes to my destination instead. So much for resting my feet.

But the walk is enjoyable with my ipod to keep me company and the view is only getting better and better as I approach the piazzale, so in the end, I’m not too bitter about it. When I do finally arrive, I see that Rick wasn’t kidding – it’s incredible to see the whole city from here. The duomo is visible, as well as the bell tower and the famous Ponte Veccio (Old Bridge). Gorgeous! Beautiful! Wish you were here!!

While I’m enjoying the view, I notice a young man about my age reading a Lonely Planet – in English! So I stop to take in the view not too far away and think: I should talk to him, I could make a friend. But what should I say? I’ll just stand here for a minute, maybe he’ll talk to me. Hmm, he’s still just reading his book. Okay, I’ll have to say something. I guess I could say something about the guide book, since technically I have that one too. Umm…hmm…okay. How about, Have you seen the David yet? Nah, that’s stupid. How about…oh no! He’s getting up to leave. Uh, er, ahhhh…! And, he’s gone.

Well, that went well.

Unfortunately the bus connections going back into town don’t go quite as smoothly as I’d hoped and I have to do a fair bit of walking. I make a pit stop at the Uffizi and make a reservation for Tuesday morning. There – I finally accomplished something – that feels good. I’m pretty low energy at this point, so I head back to San Spirito (near the hostel) because it requires no thought and I can easily navigate my way home from there. I return to the trattoria from lunch the day before, only today it is quite busy. I grab a seat inside and wait for someone to come get my order. But I wait forever, and no one comes, so I gather that the waiter service is for only outside seating. Fine. I go up to the bar to order, but she wants me to pay first, then I can get my order. Fine. I finally get this all figured out and get my stupid panini. I eat it in about .2 seconds and instantly feel better. In fact, I feel so much better that I decide to treat myself to dessert. I had seen this yummy looking tart-ish thing with slices of apple on top when I was choosing my panini and now it was calling my name.

So I approach the woman at the cash register and attempt to tell her what I want. But she doesn’t understand me at all so she gets the attention of the woman at the bar. I try to describe to her in English, but she just looks at me like I’m an idiot. I try to kind of point over there, but the bar is full and I’m not able to maintain eye contact and make my way over there to point. The two women speak back and forth to each other in Italian (probably about what an idiot I am) meanwhile, I have no idea what is going on, they have no idea what I want, and soon I am too frustrated (and feeling too much like a dunce) to see this through to the end. I tell them to forget it and march out. What a failure that was.

I stomp back toward the hostel feeling completely upset at my inability to communicate and get a bit down on myself. But then I remember I have Nutella in my room and that perks me up a little. I polish off the jar and take a nap, that ought to fix it, right?