Florence

I landed in Rome at about 8AM after my 4AM flight from Israel. I booked my flight 4 days ago, and I had my first 2 nights in a hostel booked as well as a 3 day tour booked at the end of the vacation. With my 12kg backpack a travel book, and a mostly blank piece of paper called my itinerary I arrived in Italy for 12 days of adventures! Fast forward to about 1PM when I arrived in Florence after having bought my Eurorail pass. I started walking around somewhat on my way to the hostel. I passed by the Duomo which is the ginormous cathedral in the center of the city. I waited in line to go inside only to find out that I had to take my backpack back to my hostel and then I could go inside. Once I checked into the hostel I began exploring. I went back to the Duomo and walked around the outside, the inside and then climbed up 484 steps to the top of the dome that offere an amazing panoramic view of the city. Once I walked up a circular staircase and got dizzy for a while we did a half loop in side the cathedral at the base of the dome. I got a great birds eye view overlooking all the people who looked like ants on the floor of the cathedral. I also got a much closer look of the painted dome. I'm not going to comment on the painitngs for fear of getting myself in trouble but the paintings were of the style of man getting eaten by dragon, and man getting a torch shoved up his ass, etc. Aside from the graphic nature of the paintings they were well done. I continued up until we reached the observation point at the very top. The view was incredible and aside from the tower right next odor which was slightly shorter this was by far the tallest structure for as far as the eye could see.

A view from the Duomo. The turquoise dome on the left is the synagogue.

As I continued my wandering around I was stuck in a jam of traffic because the police had blocked off traffic. People were taking pictures so I took some as well. It just so happened that the picture that I took was of the Italian President's car as well as the original statue of David just as they were closing the gates. Later in the day I managed to snap a few more pics of his car as he was passing by a different part of the city with his entourage.

I spent the day wandering and exploring the city. In Florence there were lots of very fancy shops in a very nice area of the city. I crossed the famous bridge which is lined with shops and jewlery stores. On the other sode of the river after a descent hike uphill I got to a replica statue of the David but even better - another fantastic view of the entire city. I then continued my wantdering around in search of the big and famous synagogue. It was surprisngly difficult to find despite the fact that it was huge. I planned to take the tour tomorrow but I had the time now to figure out where it was and explore the city. I took my picture and headed back to the hostel. I had some awesome pizza and gelato and called it enough for day 1.

The famous bridge

A view of Florence from the lookout point with the David. That huge massive thing in the center is the Duomo. I climed the domed part.