By now, we’re done roaming Rome, so it’s off to Florence, home of Michelangelo, Lenonardo, and a whole bunch of people named Medici. Honestly, you can’t walk ten feet (that’s 3.048 meters to non-Americans) in Firenze without gazing at or walking on or running into or sitting on Something di Medici. Anyway, we took our first train betwixt the two cities, which provided some nice scenic views.
Next to Rome, Florence was the most touristy place we’ve been so far. This was immediately obvious when we got off the train and heard the English of a thousand ugly American tourists. To their credit, this is definitely a place worth visiting—everything’s so florentinian, ya know? Can’t blame ‘em.

After check-in, we walked to the Cappella di Medici, which was the Medici’s self-aggrandizing family tomb/chruch/sculpture garden, designed by Michaelangelo in his little off-time from the Vatican. Consequently, some of the sculptures are unfinished, yet have that even-this-chinsy-stuff-is-better-than-a-Raphael vibe so common in Michelangelo’s work.

Then, to the Duomo with its marvelous facade and exterior covered in geometric green and white marble. According to Rick Steves, the Florentinians were so confident in their great thinkers that they built the cathedral with a giant hole in the ceiling. The confidence part comes in here: they didn’t know how to build a dome that big, which may have been why Brunelleschi took a core sample from the Pantheon in Rome. Clearly, they figured it out.

The interior of the Duomo, however, is a bit lacking in the decoration department (somebody call Pottery Barn!). Sure, it’s big, but there pretty much nothing on the walls or ceiling. Kinda disappointing. I guess once you’ve seen a couple Tituli, everything else is just plain bland.