The Travel Medley

Okay, my blogging of Florence is coming to an end, but here are some extra bits and pieces.

I know I already wrote about Michelangelo’s David (and how absolutely #flawless he is), but there’s also a fake replica David! And he deserves some love too.

Fake David is hanging out in Real David’s original location. In the 1500s, some rioters threw furniture out the window and broke Real David’s left arm off. So he doesn’t get to play outside any more. (Also, the statue in the background is covered up by a fig leaf?? These two statues are literally right next to each other. In the same field of vision. That seems silly.)

Since Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance, there’s lots of famous Renaissance art here. But if you duck into a back alley, you can see that there are also plenty of modern artists, adding fresh art to the city walls in the form of spray painted robot-alien guys.

I love street art. And robot-alien guys.

I made Michael pose with me too. We’re standing by a dog-looking animal with a TV heart for a head. Because we love each other, duh. And if that’s not a symbol of love, I don’t know what is.

Near this street art, we also found some Italian flag chairs. Which is a super fun idea. 🇮🇹 (Even though I secretly wanted to switch the order of the chairs and see if anybody noticed.)

Can we also talk about how cute Italy is with its bikes?! So many cute bicycles outside of local businesses and it just kills me. I think I could have an entire Instagram account dedicated to adorable bikes of Europe. Seriously though, stop. It’s too much.

Sometimes, I needed a snack to distract me from adorable flower bikes. Gelato was invented in Florence, so we continued to liberally sample all of the gelaterias in the city. (WAIT. I just had a way better idea. I’ll have an entire Instagram account dedicated to gelato. Omg yes.)

If you eat too much gelato (is there such a thing??) and need to walk it off, another major site here is the “Old Bridge” or Ponte Vecchio. All along this bridge are little gold and jewelry shops. Just hangin’ out. On the bridge. Propped up by some stilts.

It’s pretty fun. But, just so you know, if you take a picture while you’re standing ON the Ponte Vecchio, it’s really not that cool. Because you are literally standing on the exact structure that is the entire point of the view.

But our families probably like to see pictures of our faces, so I’m including this anyway. Hiiiiiiii. We have faces.

Here’s another one of Michael along the bank of the Arno River. (Michael has a whole torso! And an arm too. Photographic proof.)

I tried to go paddle boarding on this river, but got rejected. Italy has a thing called “off season,” which is a concept that (as an Austinite) I’ve never heard of.

But even though Florence wouldn’t let me go paddle boarding, we are still BFFs. Because this beautifully crafted message is mounted in a glass box on the wall by the Real David in the Accademia Gallery.

First of all, it’s hilarious that this is a real sign and that they have to post it. Second, I just can’t handle selfie sticks. They are NOT my thing. So I love this sign. I literally want to print out 100 copies and post them everywhere I go.

I also love Florence because we found Nutella in their street vending machines.

Yes, spaghetti, batteries, toothpaste, cookies, and pregnancy tests also make an appearance. But it makes sense, because these vending machines are Europe’s version of a 24/7 convenience store. #JustEuropeThings

Okay, I know I’ve mentioned this, but the doors here are also endlessly entertaining to me. I like to imagine that a towering giant lives at #8 and a regular sized person lives at #6.

But really, who decided that two doors right next to each other were going to be vastly different sizes?? And why? Someone explain this to me.

Another thing that is slightly different here is the insane number of mopeds. They are everywhere. So they make entire streets dedicated to moped parking.

Isn’t that crazy?? I counted, and there were 84 mopeds parked on this block alone! And there were plenty of other moped parking streets like this nearby. Also completely full.

Oh and speaking of excessive…

Just in case you ever need to shoot NINE things at one time, Florence has you covered. Like what even is this thing???

We’re just going to back away… slowly…

Byeee Florence! 😁

​