Florence the Fair

Florence was a bit of a surprise, although I'm still not sure why. I felt at home in the city immediately, resenting the other tourists and the fact that the areas where the locals hung out were all closed. I was there right before Ferrogosto, just as all Italians go on holidays (and I mean all) - had I been there in any other week of the year, I most likely would have been able to find somewhere to couchsurf, hang out with the locals in non-touristy places, and probably would have stayed for longer than the 24 hours I did. So while I loved the city, my experience there convinced me not to go to Venice - I'll go next time, instead. And there will be a next time!

For sheer beauty, the Ponte S. Trinita over the Arno:



And as I had just been reading Dante's "Inferno", I had to stop by Dante's house, too:



I couldn't post about an Italian city without at least one picture of a statue, and since I didn't go and see the real David, here's Neptune in the Piazza della Signorio instead (this is the same Piazza that the copy of the David is in, where the real one was originally).



The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge") is very definitely a tourist trap, but nevertheless, the little (mostly jewellery) shops that line it are nice eye-candy:



And for what I thought was a wonderful glimpse of the spirit of Florence, the following picture:



The signs on the sides read "Oggi Sposi" ("married today") with the date, "Marco & Sonia" and "Just Married". They also had a sheet up for people to sign to wish them well. It could have been that they were using their wedding as a marketing opportunity, hoping that people would return the following day and buy things, but I like to think that it was a little less cynical than that!