Florence and Torino.

From Rome, we took a train northbound to city number two...Florence.  And there was so much to love about Florence!  The city is incredible, and it felt like two days just wasn't enough time.  Hopefully we'll go back because I would love to see the Tuscan countryside.  I can just imagine standing on the balcony of a quaint Italian villa, overlooking the rolling hills of a winery...someday!

We had originally planned to arrive in Florence on Sunday afternoon and then see most of the sites on Monday.  What we didn't realize (after already booking our Airbnbs...oops) was that all the museums are closed on Mondays!  We ended up on a very tight timeline of catching an early morning train from Rome and getting to Florence just in time for back-to-back museum visits.  Sunday afternoon ended up being our only chance to see Michelangelo's David, and we weren't about to miss him for a scheduling snafu!

We went to the Accademia Gallery first, which is where the David is on display.  The museum itself was unexpectedly small.  It's only two small hallways.  But David, on the other hand, is massive!!  I guess I had always assumed him to be life size, so it was a surprise to see how large in scale the sculpture really is. 

As I'm thinking about it, the irony of his size makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?  I can imagine that Michelangelo purposefully sculpted David to be a giant, the size of Goliath.  At the hands of Michelangelo, David's outward appearance finally matched his inward strength and bravery.  In the Bible story, David is metaphorically larger than life...so why not sculpt him that way?  Pretty neat stuff!

Auggie was such a good traveler the entire time.  Sunday was the only day it rained during the whole trip, and even when he was stuck under his rain cover aaaaall day, he still smiled!  Oh how we love this kid!

After the Accademia Gallery, we went to the Ufizzi Gallery.  The Ufizzi Gallery is known for its Renaissance  paintings, but there are some sculptures there as well.  The most famous pieces of art there are probably Boticelli's Birth of Venus and the Greek sculpture known as the Gaddi Torso.  The Gaddi Torso dates back to the Hellenistic Period and was probably sculpted sometime around the second century BCE.  Most original Greek sculptures have been destroyed, so to see one of the most famous originals was very cool!

The next morning, Don and I woke up early for our exploratory run.  We ran along the river past all of the buildings, then made our way up the hillside to the Piazzale Michelangelo.  The Piazzale Michelangelo is a lookout point with beautiful views of the city.  

That day we explored the city, which we did by listening to one of Rick Steves' famous walking tours.  It was so informative, and we loved it!

The tour started at the Duomo, the large cathedral in the center of the city.  Also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, it was an important building block for the birth of the Renaissance.  It is particularly famous for its dome.  Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, it is one of the largest domes in the world, and is still the largest masonry dome ever built.  It's even more significant because at the time, a dome of this scale hadn't been built since the Roman Pantheon in ancient times.  It continues to be one of the greatest symbols of the Renaissance, and it represented an important departure from the lack of innovation during the Dark Ages. 

The city of Florence is known as the birthplace of the Renaissance.  In fact, the art community has widely recognized one particular piece to be the first artwork of the Renaissance:  Lorenzo Ghiberti's bronze doors to the cathedral baptistery known as the Gates of Paradise.  I don't think I'll ever forget the experience of standing, quite literally, at the epicenter of the Renaissance...this is where the western "rebirth" began!

We took a break for lunch at a local hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop called Fratellini's, which has been around since 1875.  At the time, we didn't realize how famous it was.  We just stopped there because there was a huge line and we figured that meant something good.  The sandwiches ended up being incredible, and they were even good enough to make it onto Dan's very, very short list of "best foods he's ever eaten".

After lunch, we continued with the rest of our Rick Steves' tour.  He took us all around the city to see another beautiful cathedral off the beaten path, the Palazzo Vecchio, and the Ponte Vecchio. 

The Palazzo Vecchio is the city hall of Florence, but it was also the residence of Cosimo de Medici (of the famous Medici family) for a time.  The Medici family is known for their patronage of the arts and for their support of the Renaissance.  As we walked through Florence, we could recognize their influence all around.  I mean, who just takes over city hall and decides to live there?

The Ponte Vecchio, or the Vecchio Bridge, was one of my favorite spots in the city.  It is the oldest bridge in Florence and is so unique because of the built in shops that run all along the bridge.  In the beginning, all different types of merchants sold their things there, but in 1593, Ferdinand the I made a decree that only goldsmiths and jewelers could sell there.  It has been that way ever since, and the bridge is still lined with only high end jewelry and watch shops.

Another interesting fact about the bridge:  Apparently, when the Nazis left the city of Florence, they blew up ever single bridge except the Ponte Vecchio.   The commanding officer decided that the bridge was too culturally significant to destroy (Hitler had previously taken a liking to the bridge and suggested it could be preserved if need be) and so he left it standing in the middle of all the destruction around it.

We had a lot of fun shopping at the local leather market.  Florence is known for its leather and steaks.

On Monday evening, we went back to the lookout point during sunset, and the views were perfect.  We could see Brunelleschi's dome in the background!

{Aaaaaaaalll the sunset pics}

In the evening, we went to dinner at a restaurant that served local, humanely raised beef.  We ordered the "Bistecca alla Fiorentina", which is the dish that Florence is the most famous for.  It was amazing!

From Florence, we took another train up to city number three...Torino.  We visited Torino because that is the area where Don's great grandparents are from.  We spent our first evening exploring the city center, but then headed out to the countryside the next day on a family history search.

In the morning, Don and I woke up early again to get our run in.  We ran along the river just in time to watch the sunrise.  Torino is not far from the base of the Alps, and we could see the beginning of the rolling hills in the distance.  

From the river, we ran to the Mercato Centrale, which is the largest open-air market in Europe!  It's mostly food...fresh fruits and vegetables, local bread and cheese....very fun to explore!  We bought a loaf of bread and a big block of parmesan, and felt very European as we ate it for breakfast that morning.

That day we took a taxi about forty five minutes away to Pavone Canavese, the small town where Don's great grandma was from.  Both of Don's great grandparents emigrated from Northern Italy, although they came from two different towns.

Don's great grandma, Caterina Garda, was born in Pavone Canavese and was baptized in the town's local church.  We were really hoping to find the church and have a chance to go inside.  And we did! We not only found the church, but the doors were open too!  We spent some time looking around and admiring the place where Don's family had once lived.  It was a really neat experience for everybody.

{The church in Pavone Canavese}

Pavone Canavese was quite small, but even so, we spent the rest of the day walking around just to take it in.  Everything was so simple and picturesque.  My favorite were the views of the mountains from above the red-tiled roofs. 

There is actually an old hillside castle in the middle of the town that is now a hotel.  It's called the Hotel Castello di Pavone, and it looked like a pretty awesome place to stay.

After our day trip to Pavone Canavese, we finally boarded the last train to our final destination...on to Paris!  Auggie only had one breakdown during the entire six hour train ride.  But apart from that, he really enjoyed looking out the window and making faces at all the other passengers.  

{Our little border crossing baby}