Beauty & Fashion Food & Dining Staycations & Vacations The GOppets

#GOlobe30tting Day 26 Florence, Italy

Day 26 – Florence, Italy

July 16, 2016 | Via dell’Agnolo, 55, 50122, Florence, Italy | +39 347 224 4950
1 night total ₱10,754
Host: Giulia Salis
2 hour high-speed train ride from Venice to Florence: 8k php/4 pax

Thankful for a full breakfast in Venice that is included in our hotel accommodation! Normally we just grab & eat whatever we can on our way to the train or bus or wherever our next destination may be. Today we got to have a leisurely full breakfast with the birds outdoors before leaving for Florence. So grazie mille my dear Ate for setting this up for us. <3

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A leisurely sit-down breakfast is a welcome change from our fast-paced European adventure.

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Pastries & coffee makes for a happy morning. <3

Oh how I long for lazy days lol. Paguwi mga 1 week ako hindi aalis ng kama! 😛 2 weeks akong hindi lalabas ng bahay. I’m officially hibernating, please do not disturb. 😛

Touchdown Florence! Another thing to be grateful for, our 2 angels courtesy of my Kuya. He asked his brother in law to ask his brother in law (yes, 6 degress of separation hehe) to pick us up from the airport & take us around the 2 days that we’re staying in the city. Plus his daughter, who happens to work as a tourist guide, took a day off to show us around. What a perfectly perfect situation we got ourselves in! #superblessup

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My kuya‘s brother in law’s brother in law John, lol. 6 degrees of separation! ;)) Outside our apartment waiting for our host to let us in. Knock knock!

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My kuya‘s daughter who is a tourist guide in Florence. How apt! <3

2 days of pizza & pasta got Kap & the kids craving for rice. @_@ Well, if you can’t beat them, might as well join them. Chinese food it is at SUSHIKO for our lunch in Florence. I know when to concede, sigh.

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Sushiko is actually a fast-food Japanese resto with a chinese buffet, lol.

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In fairness, may ihaw-ihaw din! 😛

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We-fie with my niece Cheen.

After lunch, John & Cheen took us for some gelato, and also to meet the rest of the fambam at their home on the hill.

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Gelato is always a welcome dessert. <3 Especially with the hot Italian weather.

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Thank you so much for your warm hospitality! <3 With love from the GOppets. Iba talaga ang pamilyang Pinoy.

Going to Pisa is a must when in Tuscany. It takes an hour drive to get there. The heat was unbearable, the airconditoned private vehicle was very handy.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt. The tower’s tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure’s weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistery. The height of the tower is 55.86 metres (183.27 feet) from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres (185.93 feet) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m (8 ft 0.06 in). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from the centre.

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The GOppets trying to push it back into place! ;))

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It’s always more fun when you have friends as guides.

Why is it that just about every nook & cranny in the whole of Europe & London is picturesque??? So. Not. Fair!! Bakit ang ganda-ganda ng bansa nila huhuhu.

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One on the ‘Florence boxes to tick’ list is Michelangelo’s David, housed in the Galleria dell’Accademia. There is a copy standing in Palazzo della Signoria (above), but the boy himself is a walk away. Pressed for time, we didn’t get to go to the original David anymore. But this one spoke to us just fine, teehee!

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David was commissioned in 1501 by the Cathedral Works Committee (Opera Del Duomo). At the age of 26, Michelangelo was given a leftover block of marble that came from the mountains of Carrara, one which had previously been worked on by various other artists. The piece was intended as a monumental work, a testimony to the city’s republican pride, not one for close confinement, but was moved to the Accademia in 1873 (from outside the Palazzo Vecchio, where a replica now stands ) to protect it from the ravages of time and the weather. Viewed as a gallery piece, David looks odd; his upper body and head are both out of proportion, and out of keeping with the Renaissance obsession with the perfect harmony of form and proportion. However, it’s argued that this is yet more evidence of Michelangelo’s bravura – not only is David an incredible feat of technical skill, the scale is deliberate, as from the original viewpoint of the viewer the upper body would have been much farther away.

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A few steps down the lane & you’ll see a captivating view of the beautiful city.

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You just can’t help but break into a huge smile & fall in love with the awesome scenery.

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The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in English “Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers“) is the main church of Florence, Italy. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.

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The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy’s largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. The cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence. SO BEAUTIFUL!! <3

For dinner, I really put my foot down & insisted on an authentic Italian dinner which my niece-cum-godchild happily took us to. Pizza & Pasta at YELLOW BAR, burp.

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Nothing beats homemade pasta like this yummy Pasta Fresca. <3

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Cousin bonding. <3

Tomorrow, the outlets! What I’ve been waiting for the whole time we set foot in Italy, teehee. Let’s see if The Mall is my match when it comes to outlet shopping, shall we? 😉

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2 Comments

  • Reply Magilas

    Your Florence leg is my kind of vacation, leisurely and with family as guides! Most days, I do a full-day travel itinerary, but you do appreciate places and its culture more when not hurried and harried through tourist must-see places. I’m sure it is marvelous and grand, but the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers looks a bit like stage props, siguro dahil sa kulay. Naku, malapit na end of the Euro trip, will miss your travelogue for sure (nag-request ba ng susunod agad?!).

    August 29, 2016 at 6:42 am
    • Reply Jane Go

      Hahaha kailangan namin maghulog araw-araw sa piggy bank muna Gilda. Masyadong madugo itong euro trip. Project Japan sa 2018 1 month uli suyurin ang buong bansa, so triple-kayod si Kap my Kap. 🙂

      August 29, 2016 at 8:10 am

    Leave a Reply to Magilas Cancel Reply