Florence, San Gimignano

Florence seemed like a much more people-friendly city (whatever that means). The woman who owned the hostel we stayed in said that more Italians live in Florence than some of the other big Italian cities. She was suuuper nice. We got there and she offered us a coffee, gave us a map and showed us all the places she enjoys eating dinner and more importantly, gelato! She was very helpful, somewhat like a mom. She would check in with us at night and make sure we didn't need anything. She even packed us a breakfast to go the morning we left for Rome. 

Florence also has a very large Duomo like Milan. I thought it was even more magnificent than the one in Milan. We only just stepped inside that one. The inside definitely did not do the outside justice. We also saw a ton of statues, including David. We walked to the Ponte Vecchio, a neat looking bridge. Supposedly it was the only one to survive WWII. For lunch we went to a sandwich place that ended up being more of  a stand built into the side of a building. They made the sandwiches right in front of you and you could get a glass of wine to go with it for a couple euros. That afternoon we got gelato at one of the places recommended by the hostel owner and it was definitely one of the best gelato places we went to. I got some sort of cookie flavor there and it was amazing. We also went up to San Michelangelo Piazza. This required climbing a lot of stairs, but the view was worth it. It was thundering as we were climbing the stairs and it started raining at the top so we didn't stay long. For those of you who may not know, Florence is the leather capital of Italy. There was a whole section of streets near our hostel lined with stands selling purses and belts and jackets. Sara ended up buying an awesome jacket. Can't wait for her to show it off at home.

The next day we took a train to San Gimignano, a small medieval town on a hill. To get there we had to take a train to Poggibonsi train station and then bus from there. On the train we met a guy from Delaware. San Gimignano was my other favorite place. It was a little more touristy than I was expecting and thus, more than I would have liked but it was so cute and old. It had a great footpath surrounding the city walls that provided an awesome view all the way around. I think I read that 14 of the 72 original towers are still standing. Here we also visited one of my favorite gelato places. I got mixed berry and strawberry and it was sooooo good on such a warm day. The berry kinds are not like ice cream. They more remind me of a smoothie-how there is real fruit in it and it is more icy, but still creamy. Gelato for the most part is just like ice cream but a little creamier and it doesn't get hard if it's a good kind. I don't have much to say about San Gimignano, just that it was a very romantic little town.