14: Spring Break Part 2 - ROME

While this is technically still the same trip, I think Rome definitely deserves its own blog post... It actually probably deserves two...  You might want to take a break before I get to my tour of Ancient Rome.

Castelo Sant'Angelo

I arrived in Rome on the Saturday before Easter.  After checking in at our hostel, I tried to get in contact with my friend Dan, who had arrived that morning in the city from his travels in Berlin and Athens.  The last I heard from him was from the Vatican Museum, where he had managed to get a tour.  As I found out later, his phone was out of credits but, in the absence of any contact, I decided to try and find the Trevi Fountain.  My efforts proved futile and creepy Italian men were starting to notice my being alone with a travel book when finally Dan called me from a payphone.  I met him in St. Peter's Square (which I tried to ignore in an effort to make the next day's adventures as fantastic as they could be) and we set off to find a restaurant for dinner and ate some delicious lasagna.  By that time it was starting to get dark, so we decided to do Rick Steves' Night Walk Across Rome: Campo de' Fiori to the Spanish Steps.  On our way to Campo de' Fiori, we passed the Castelo Sant'Angelo and the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, which I had to take a picture of in honor of my father, Victor Emmanuel Jr.  This began my rabid photo-taking of anything related to Italy's kings named Vittorio Emanuele II in honor of Papa Bernson.

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II

Statue of Giordano Bruno at Campo de' Fiori

We eventually found our way to Campo de' Fiori (and by "eventually" I mean we got rather lost before stumbling upon it by accident), where this crazy band were playing and we experienced our first avid street vendors (which, unfortunately, mildly plagued the rest of our time in Rome).  It had started to drizzle a little bit but it was nothing we couldn't handle.  The rain merely gave the pages of my tour book a little more character.  From there we continued to the Four Rivers Fountain, which was fantastic.  I'm going to nerd out a little and just include what Rick Steves said about this fountain right here in this blog.  Perhaps from this execerpt you can tell why I follow and love this man so much:

Four Rivers Fountain

"The Four Rivers Fountain in the center is the most famous fountain by the man who remade Rome in Baroque style, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  Four burly river gods (representing the four continents that were known in 1650) support an Egyptian obelisk that once stood on the ancient Appian Way.  The water of the world gushes everywhere.  The Nile has his head covered, since the head-waters were unknown then.  The Ganges holds an oar.  The Danube turns to admire the obelisk, which Bernini had moved here... And the Rio de la Plata from Uruguay tumbles backward in shock, wondering how he ever made the top four.  Bernini enlives the fountain with horses plunging through the rocks and exotic flora and fauna from these newly discovered lands...  The Plata river god is gazing upward at the church of St. Agnes, worked on by Bernini's former-student-turned-rival, Francesco Borromini.  Borromini's concave facade helps reveal the dome and epitomizes the curved symmetry of Baroque.  Tour guides say that Bernini designed his river god to look horrified at Borromini's work.  Or maybe he's shielding his eyes from St. Agnes' nakedness, as she was stripped before being martyred.  But either explanation is unlikely, since the fountain was completed two years before Borromini even started work on the church."

St. Agnes behind the Fountain

Oh Rick, you are so delightfully clever and informative.

The Pantheon at night

Chocolate and Cinnamon.  Mmm.

After oogling the beautiful Four Rivers Fountain, Dan and I wound through several hard-to-distinguish streets and suddenly found ourselves face-to-face with the Pantheon, which we discovered was now the St. Maria and the Martyrs Church with great confusion.  The inside was closed at night, but we managed to get inside the next day (more on that later).  After a few more Egyptian obelisks we found the recommended Giolitti's and got the best gelato of my life.

Still devouring our ice cream, we walked through the Piazza Colonna, down Via del Corso a little ways, and finally found the Trevi Fountain.  It was absolutely breath-taking at night, and just as packed as it was the next day during the afternoon.  Unfortunately my camera wasn't too thrilled about taking pictures of the fountain so late, but hopefully you can get an idea of the sight.  Dan even washed his gelato-covered hands there.  And that, my friends, is true American class.

The Trevi Fountain at night

Spanish Steps at night

After the Trevi Fountain, we found the Spanish Steps on the Piazza de Spagna.  Somehow we managed to stumble upon them from the top, so we had to weave our way down and dodge the excessive amounts of rose vendors before seeing them in their flower-covered entirety.  I could definitely tell why they were such a romantic spot.  Dan and I then went in search of what Rick Steves refered to as the largest and most lavish McDonalds in Europe but finally gave up and returned to our hostel, where we passed out in preparation for Easter the next day.

Crazy elated in St. Peter's Square.

While Dan had already seen the Vatican, he still wanted to accompany me early that Easter morning.  The metro was jam-packed and the streets between our stop and St. Peter's Square were crazy busy.  Somehow we managed to get in line, get through security, and land in St. Peter's Square by 10 AM.  Mass started at 10:30 AM and, somehow, I can convinced myself that the Mass was inside St. Peter's Basilica and was prepared for a mere sighting of the Pope beforehand.  Then I realized that there was an altar set up on the steps and cardinals and bishops sitting with other clergy to the side.  The Pope drove in on his Popemoble and walked up the steps and seated himself on a little red throne.  Then I realized that I had somehow managed to arrive in the midst of the Vatican on Easter and witness the Pope's Easter Mass.

The Pope arrives!

The altar on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica

Obviously I was beyond elated.  The weather had been rather cloudy and gross but as soon as the Mass started, the sun came pouring in and it became absolutely beautiful.  We technically weren't officially attending, as we had to stand the entire time and didn't receive the Eucharist, but I watched both with my naked eye and with the help huge jumbo screens the Pope preside over Easter Mass.  He always spoke in Latin, opened the Mass, and then an Italian woman read the First Reading.  An American clergyman read the Second Reading was in English and the Gospel in perfect Latin.  Later, for the "Let Us Pray" portion (Sorry, St. Mary's... I can't remember that particular part's name!), readers spoke in Italian, English, Swahili, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese (pride!).  There are not words to express how amazing it felt being there.  I recorded huge sections of the proceedings and probably annoyed a few people around me by the constant presence of my extended arm and video camera.  At the end of the Mass, the Pope retired into the Basilica.  The crowd began to disperse, and, still completely elated, Dan and I fought through the crowd, took pictures with the Swiss Guard in the background, and then tried to figure out what we were going to do with the rest of the day. 

After a quick but delicious lunch, we decided to do Rick Steves' Dolce Vita Stroll, which started at the Piazza del Popolo, where I found another lion friend.

Lion friend at the Piazza del Popolo

The Mausoleum of Augustus

We passed by the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus (you know, that kinda famous Roman emperor) before revisiting the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain during the day.  I couldn't decide whether either of these sights were more beautiful at night or during the day.  We ended up at the end of Via del Curso at the Victor Emmanuel Monument, a huge and gaudy building built to reassure a newly united Italy.  The statue of Italy's first king, the aforementioned Victor Emmanuel, is so huge that his mustache is five feet long.  Dan and I climbed up the steps and took the elevator to the top, from which you can enjoy an amazing panoramic view of Rome.

Trevi Fountain, daylight.

Statue of King Victor Emmanuel II and his 5-foot mustache

We were a little worried that the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill would be closed the next day (like everything else), so we left the monument and walked down the Via Dei Fori Imperiali, made sure it was going to be open for the next day, and then admired the bronze statues of Roman emperors and then walked over to the Pantheon again.

We have a copy of this statue at Brown!

Inside the Pantheon was absolutely beautiful, with the graves of Victor Emanuel II and Umberto I (Italy's first two kings) and Raphael (not the ninja turtle).  Earlier that day at the Spanish Steps, a rose seller had given me a free rose "because you are so beautiful!" and then tried to bully Dan into buying me another one.  There was a rose laying on Raphael's grave, so I added mine there.

Raphael's grave

By that time we were both getting a little hungry, so we decided to look for dinner in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood.  While I loved Rome as a whole, Trastevere was definitely my favorite area.  It was so unlike the rest of Rome, a modern city, and more like that idealized vision everyone has of Italy.  There were vines all over the buildings and churches.

Santa Maria

We actually visited the first church dedicated to Mary, Santa Maria, which was absolutely beautiful inside, with really neat mosaics and a fantastic ceiling.  Some strange concert was going on inside though, so we didn't stay inside too long.










We tried to visit Villa Farnesina, which has a whole bunch of Raphael's art, but it was sadly closed.  Instead we climbed up to Giancolo Hill, admired the view, and then returned back downhill and found Dar Poeta Pizzeria, whose menu declares its pizza to be "neither thin or crispy nor thick and softy."  This pizza definitely rivaled the pizza in Florence.  After consuming another entire pizza each, Dan and I also got Nutella calzones, which Dan had to bully me into finishing.  After dinner, we returned to our hostel, took a disco nap, and then returned to Trastevere to experience a little bit of Rome's night scene.  After visiting a few little pubs and visiting a bar with Michael Jackson, Biggie, and Tupac framed on its walls, Dan and I returned to our hostel, excited for our tour of Ancient Rome the next day.

You better think twice before messing with this lady's Nutella calzone.

Ignoring the rain at the Colosseum

Monday began with a little cold and drizzly, but even in shorts I managed to absolutely love the Colosseum.  It is truly amazing that a structure like that has managed to exist like that for so long.  Dan and I decided to pay for a guided tour, so we were able to bypass the line and, with the help of the fantastic RomaPass, got into the Colosseum and Palatine Hill/Roman Forum for free.  Our tour guide was a very sweet Italian woman who pronounced words like "holes" in such a wonderful way.  She told us that the reconstruction of marble steps in the Colosseum were entirely wrong, as senators and other important people would have sat around the emperor and certainly would never have sat on such uncomfortable stone seats.  Little things like that are the reason why I love guided tours.  We also made friends with two Australians, who graciously allowed me to stand under their umbrella when it began to pour.  After the tour and wandering through an exhibit on Emperor Nero, I ran back to our hostel, put on some proper pants and grabbed my umbrella, and returned in time for the second leg of the tour on Palatine Hill.

There our tourguide was absolutely amazing.  He spoke perfect British English but referred to Italians as "we," so I'm guessing he has some sort of English parent.  He was full of fantastic little tidbits and factoids.  Here are some of my favorites:

An example of why our tour guide loved Palatine Hill when it rained.

1. We get the words "palace" from Palatine Hill, where many affluent royal Romans had their residences.
2. Palatine Hill is also where the mythical twins Remus and Romulus decided to start their settlement, though, of course, Romulus was forced to kill his brother in order that his settlement might survive and thrive and become Rome.
3. The Romans were such great fans of a purple marble named porpora that they mined it into extinction.  There are three baths made of this marble in the Vatican Museum and their combined worth it over one billion dollars.
4. The reason that Roman statues don't have any hair on their bodies is because the Romans washed  by rubbing themselves with sand and olive oil and scrapping it off, which eventually prevented hair growth.  I always wondered about this, as modern Italians aren't exactly lacking in body hair.
5. Rome's population literally doubles during the Easter week.  This year even more people have flocked to Rome at this time to celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
5. The Roman metro has been in the works for about 50 years now, but it is so difficult to expand because every time they go about digging underneath the city they find a new site or new artifacts and have to stop to excavate.  As our tour guide said, "It's taken so long because we Italians don't know what to do and end up just drinking a lot of wine instead of making any decisions."

After our tour was sadly over, we headed down to the Roman Forum, which was amazing.  We saw the Arch of Constantine (kind of an important guy)...

... the Basilica Aemilia (of which only one third exists from the original.  During the Middle Ages, scholars lost the knowledge to make such vast domes until they figured it out again right before the Renaissance.  Insane)...

... the Arch of Septimius Severus (though I was instantly distracted with thoughts of Severus Snape and Harry Potter)...

... The Temple of Saturn (the Forum's oldest temple and the ancient state treasury of Rome)...

... The Temple of Julius Caesar (where a pile of flowers decorates the spot where his body was burned following his assassination)...

... and the House of the Vestal Virgins, which was my favorite ruin.  The statues of famous Vestal Virgins lined a courtyard with two brick pools.  On the ruins of the brick walls were these overgrown vines and roses.  It was just a beautiful little area.  I'll quote Rick Steves one more time (I swear this is the last time I will mention him) about the Vestal Virgins: "Chosen from noble families before they reached the age of 10, the six Vestal Virgins served a 30-year term.  Honored and revered by the Romans, they Vestals even had their own box opposite the emperor in the Colosseum.  As the name implies, a Vestal took a vow of chastity.  If she served her term faithfully--abstaining for 30 years--she was given a huge dowry, and allowed to marry.  But if they found any Virgin who wasn't, she was strapped to a funeral car, paraded through the streets of the Forum, taken to a crypt, given a loaf of bread and a lamp...and buried alive.  Many woman suffered the latter fate."

House of the Vestal Virgins

Constantine

After exploring the Roman Forum, we left buzzed on Roman history and visited the Capitoline Museum, which we also got into for free and where the original She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus statue is housed as well as parts of the giant bronze statue of Constantine that was housed in the Basilica Aemilia.  They also have one of his giant feet, but I technically wasn't allowed to take this picture so...

If they hadn't let me take a picture of this statue, I would have done some damage.

After checking my guide book, I realized that I hadn't hit a necessary spot for any classic film or Audrey Hepburn lover: the Bocca della Veritá.  I made Dan stand in a very long line but after we finally got to the Bocca and I stuck my hand into the fateful mouth, the picture was blurry.  Arg!  Oh well.  Just another reason why I need to return to Rome :)

Plus I'm missing my Gregory Peck!  Need a retake!

Yeah, I only ate one of these.

We returned to Trastevere for dinner yet again, though we stopped in a few tourist shops so that Dan could buy a miniature Colosseum and I could buy a miniature of the She-Wolf (which proudly sits on the small stool near my bed at present).  We ate more delicious food at a restaurant with the worst service in the world, then ran through the rain to drink delicious coffee and then get onto a bus back to our hostel.  We stopped in a café, where Dan impressed the waiter by consuming three whole desserts.  Full and a little sugar-high, we returned to the hostel and tried to go to sleep early, though several drunk American girls stationed themselves in our bathroom, unaware of how loudly they were talking about things they did not want anyone else to hear.

And you better think twice before messing with this man's pastries.

That morning Dan caught an early flight and, after checking out, I made my way to the Vatican to see if I could convince the guard to let me into the shop and buy a rosary.  Of course that didn't work out too well, so I ended up getting coffee and a chocolate croissant and then heading to the airport.  After a full day of traveling and a lay over in Madrid, I ended up running into Amy at the Lisbon train station and was never happier to arrive at my apartment as I was that night.

What a fantastic trip.  Even with the poor weather, the lack of the Vatican official tour, and the creepy Italian men, it was still the experience of a lifetime.  I will definitely be returning to Italy someday.

However, I think I'm all traveled out for now.  If I do travel, it will definitely be within Portugal.  I will be quite happy to avoid airports for a little while.  I was looking over this blog and I realized that there was very little about Portugal and much  more about all my travels... and this needs to be remedied.  At least you can look forward to a very Coimbra-centric blog post in a few weeks with the arrival of the infamous and ridiculous week-long party that is the Quiema das Fitas celebration.  I promise you that that week will either be very memorable in one way or another.  As my cousin, who will be returning to Coimbra for the festivities, told me: "Vai ser uma aventura."

13: Spring Break Part 1 - FLORENCE

Before I talk about my particular adventures in Italy, I first want to say that I have again failed to be a normal girl in my preference for romance languages.  French doesn't do it for me, and Italian just sounds silly.  Throughout my total of six days in Italy, every time I heard the Italian language, all I could think about was this:

Even Spanish isn't having the effect it used to... and I can't seem to tell the difference between it and Catalan... Maybe Romanian will impress?  Otherwise its just Portuguese.  I might be biased.

So it is safe to say that I easily resisted the charms of the Italian males, though whether they have very much "charm" is also something to be decided.  Here are my favorite pick-up lines that I heard while walking around Florence and Rome (in order).

1. Hey baby girl.  Wanna have my babies?
2. I want to know you.
3. OH MY GODDDD (though, of course, the "God" sounded more like "Got" with the accent)
4. Bella!/Ciao bella! (standard)
5. Hiiiiiiiii!
6. Hey baby!

Italian men were particularly adamant about showing their affection in Florence, where I was traveling with a few other girls.  Thankfully meeting up with Dan drastically reduced the amount of cat-calling.

I arrived in Florence via Bologna last Wednesday.  My friends had all left the weekend before to start their vacations earlier, but I decided to stay behind and maybe catch any classes that we would have on Monday and Tuesday.  Of course, all of these classes were canceled and I ended up doing quite a lot of reading.  One day I even went into seven different Chinese discount shops.  I also made a video a lá Paris, Je T'aime's "Arrondissement," which I will be posting sometime this week.  Safe to say that I was very happy to get to Florence and meet up with my friend Ora for some good human contact.

I arrived in the city rather late, so I didn't get much of a feel for Florence until the next morning.  Unfortunately Ora still had class during that week so she wasn't able to show me around much.  But that was completely fine, as her roommate from last semester, Melissa, was visiting her at the same time.  We were instant travel buddies and, with the help of the ever-helpful Rick Steves, we managed to see quite a lot on Thursday.

First view of the Duomo... nice.

After eating delicious sandwiches, Melissa and I headed into the historical area of Florence.  As we walked from Ora's apartment to the Duomo, the city suddenly turned into that mental image of what Italy should look like: golden houses, tiny winding streets, and suddenly: the most ornate church exterior I've ever seen.  Though it is known as the Duomo, its technically named Santa Maria del Fiore and was built sometime in the 1870s.  It was absolutely beautiful, with green and pink marble, statues, paintings... so beautiful.  Unfortunately I was wearing shorts so we couldn't go into the church that day.  We tried to walk in and were promptly kicked out by a very strict Italian security guard.  We checked out the Baptistery, where copies of Ghiberti's famous bronze doors replace the originals (which are now in the Duomo's museum).  The copies were still amazing though.  It's insane to think that they are basically two-dimensional.

The front of the Duomo

The side of the Duomo

Ghiberti's bronze doors

They weren't very wealthy...

After ogling the bronze doors, Melissa and I made it up to the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.  I had had enough time away from the excessive amounts of palaces in Sintra and I was ready to see the interior of one belonging to one of the richest and most famous families in European history... and the palace was fantastic.  It was later owned by the Riccardi family (hence the name), who definitely were not strangers to wealth, and the interior showed it.  The Chapel of the Magi, which is instantly recognizable to anyone with even the smallest amount of art history knowledge (like me), was fantastic.  Inside there was also a ballroom with the most gorgeous painted ceiling I've ever seen and mirrors lining the walls, all of which were decorated with paintings.  Melissa and I definitely took advantage of the paintings and took, perhaps, the classiest Myspace photos known to man.

It would be weird to have this in my future house, right?

After the palace, we wandered a few backstreets and found the Casa di Dante, which was disappointing.  The tiny museum was expensive and crowded with excessive information about almost everything but Dante himself.  Oh well.  At least I can tell Mr. Healy, my high school World Lit teacher, that I went to the house where Dante maybe? probably? lived.

Actual Dante portrait though.

With a bit of a information-headache, Melissa and I continued our walk through Florence, passed the Orsan-Michele, and arrived in the Piazza Signoria, where the Palazzo Vecchio stands in front of the Uffizi Gallery.  We didn't go into either of these buildings: the palace because Rick Steves told us it wasn't worth it, and the Uffizi, which was far too close to being closed at that point to stand in the ridiculously long line.  We did pop into the Palazzo Vecchio's front courtyard and the outdoor statue exhibit, which houses the original Rape of the Sabines by Giovanni Bologna.  Very cool.

View of the Arno River from Ponte Vecchio

We then walked over to Ponte Vecchio, which was crazy crowded and full of GOLD!  We crossed to the other side of the river, had a coffee and received a free pastry, and then walked to the Piazzale Michelangelo.  From this square you can see all of Florence.  Definitely one of the most magnificent views I've ever seen in my life.  Photos seriously don't do it justice.  Looking over Florence like this might have been my favorite part of the entire trip.

Me and my travel buddy Melissa at Piazzale Michelangelo

After the Piazzale Michelangelo it was time to return to Ora, get dinner, and head out on the town.  All I will say about that night is that it involved too much tequila and I now owe Ora quite a few favors.

Lion Friend #1 of Italy.  

The next day, Ora borrowed a few of her friend's museum passes and we beelined for the Bargello, which was amazing.  The sculpture in that museum, which used to be a prison and police station way back when, was incredible.  Since we never made it to the Uffizi, this was definitely my favorite museum.  There, I made my first lion friend of my trip.  The amount of pictures I have with stone lions is starting to get a little strange.




After the Bargello, we went to an "American Diner" owned by a British guy named Valentino in the heart of historyical Florence... but it worked.  Best BLT I've ever had.  And then... things started getting a little strange.

First, there was San Lorenzo market.  I was pretty excited to go to there and find a nice leather handbag despite the fact that I always seem to be targeted in flee markets and other outdoor markets all over the world.  Apparently I look very gullible and scared, which somehow translates into possible profits for very adamant vendors who speak very little English.  I was purusing one little shop and found the perfect bag, though I was a little confused as to why the strap was so small.  A young Italian man came over to help me and seemed very confused as to why I wanted a larger strap on the bag.  After I explained about shoulder straps, he said to be very seriously, "But that's a man's handbag."  I almost laughed in his face and quickly exited the shop.  Oh, Italy.

However my buzz from this ridiculous moment soon disappeared.  I was still looking for a bag when a very friendly middle-aged Italian man came over and ushered me and Ora into his shop.  He was very adamant about the selection and quality of his bags, but after a little bit of haggling I decided I wasn't particularly interested.  Unfortunately he took this as a sign for further haggling and continued to lower the price until he suddenly blew up in a fit of self-important pity.  He started lecturing us on all the work that he does, all the designing and leather working and how all the other shops are copying his designs with lesser value.  He accused us of making him drive down his prices until he would basically make no profit and started pin-pointing Ora's bag, which she had bought in the beginning of the semester, as work far lesser than his.  Of course Ora wasn't going to let him talk that way about one of her purchases, and I just tried to slowly back away before he tried to show me another handbag.  After all his declarations of designing and quality, I thought it might be a bit rude to simply tell him I didn't like his bags enough to buy one.  We finally escaped and thought that our bout with crazy people was over and done with for the day.

And then Accademia happened.

The Galleria dell'Accademia is where The David (you know, just a little famous) lives, so of course we had to go.  Armed with the museum passes (which gave us free tickets), we went in and tried to get free admission.  At the Bargello, the ticket person had barely looked at the passes and given us tickets, but at the Accademia, the woman behind the studied the passes and proclaimed, "These are not you!"  Ora angrily insisted that they were ours, but the woman didn't believe us at all.  She even rejected Ora's, which actually was her pass.  Melissa and I tried to insist as well, but I am not actually Korean and Melissa did not have red hair, so our lies were pretty pitiful.   The woman behind the counter began screaming about how we were committing a crime, how we were stealing someone's identity (though we hadn't stolen a thing... we had been given their identities very freely), and suddenly yelled, "I'm calling the police!"

Of course we began freaking out, pleading with her to just let us pay for the ticket.  But she stomped out of the ticket booth and pulled aside a security guard, who looked at our cards and said thoughtfully, "Well these aren't you."  Yes, we had established that, Mr. Security Guard.  After quite a lot of arguing and yelling, the security guard finally convinced the ticket woman to just sell us tickets.  She practically threw them at us and we retreated into the museum.  We sat down, heads still whirling from our almost-arrest, when suddenly Ora leaned forward and said, "Oh look.  There's the David."  I don't know what it is about the statue that makes it so amazing, but I truly stood in front of it for ten minutes, mesmerized.  Something about the facial expression on that statue is just mind-blowing.  You think you know a work of art until you are standing right in front of it...  I wish I could have taken a picture but, of course, they want to sell lots of prints and postcards so that wasn't allowed.  The rest of the museum was just okay, though they had a pretty neat exhibit of gilded paintings.  The David was worth the drama and ticket price though.

I ate this entire pizza.  I'm not ashamed.

We walked back to the Duomo after that and began our food tour: First, we got some delicious gelato from Grom, and then headed back to Ora's apartment.  That night we trekked to Florence's best pizzeria and ate the delicious pizza in a rather sketchy park in a slight drizzle... and yet the pizza was still amazing.

Secret croissant

We returned to the apartment, napped, and then headed out again late that night to find a "secret bakery."  There are apparently several of these in Florence.  Our specific secret bakery is, by day, some sort of import/export business that bakes pastries at night and then ships them during the day.  The workers who have to bake all of these pastries so late at night are apparently very distraught by the unfair hand they were dealt (baking pastries for a living... rough), so they sell pastries at night through their backdoor.  At 3 AM, we got in a line in front of a close door, which a worker in a chef's jacket occasionally opened, took orders, and then handed out nondescript white bags full of croissants.  We had to pay in cash (no trace!), received our croissants, and then ate them as we returned to the apartment.  They did very well to distract us from the multitude of creepy Italian men.  What they did not realize is that a chocolate-filled croissant (or in my case, two such croissants) is far and away more desirable than their company.

Me with il Porcellino, who bares a striking resemblance to my dog.

Me and my buddy Machiavelli

The next morning was my last morning in Florence, so we got up super early and tried to go to the Uffizi but were conquered by a three-hour-long line.  Instead, we took pictures of the statues of iconic Italians outside the museum, got the best hot chocolate in Florence at Rivoire, and finally made it inside the Duomo, which was beautiful and very cold.  We also walked over to the Mercato Nuovo, where I finally found my leather bag and received lots of luck from il Porcellino, the iconic boar statue in Florence.  After a sandwich run, it was time for me to board a train for Rome... But first, a few more photos:

Locks from Lovers on the Ponte Vecchio

Inside the Duomo... so beautiful

I was a little obsessed with my new bag...

And thus marks the end of this particular post.  Far more fun times to come in the next one!  Roma!