Au Revoir Paris, Buon Giorno Florence!

France provides a very strange sort of triage for taking pictures. Sure, that building is beautiful, anywhere else it'd be worth taking a picture, but in Paris? Is it even top 20%? If no, I'm saving my phone's hard drive for something else.

On my last day in Paris I saw the Cathedral Notre Dame on the island where Paris was founded by the Parisii celts years before the Roman Empire came in and took over. The Romans changed the name to something suitably Roman (Lutetia) and then to Paris in because people never really stopped calling it that. I guess it was just supposed to be Paris.

Notre Dame was big and impressive but not beautiful, not spectacular. For that I went to the Church of the Madeleine right near the Place De La Concorde. Absolutely gorgeous Napoleonic-era Church in the Neo-Classical style (so much so it looks like a Roman Temple from the outside). I had some Steak-frite at a local brasserie and then went to bed for an early flight to Florence.

I took a Euro discount airline called Vueling (apparently pronounced 'welling'). And discount it was. I actually expected to have a checked bag fee but that never actually happened. The interior of the plane was pretty ratty to be honest though it did look like the replaced those weird headrest mats planes have. Anyways, it got us there, and the price was acceptable if not exactly bargain basement. It was better than 10 hours on a train anyway.

My hotel in Florence is a shoe box about 15 minutes walk from everywhere. It's air-conditioned, clean, and the plumbing works so I'm happy with it. I'm going to need that air-conditioning too, especially with massive heat out there right now. I learned the hard way to bring water with me while I was standing outside in the heat waiting to take a look at Michelangelo's David. They said the line for non-reserved tickets was 90 minutes, but I was inside by the 45 minute mark. I could've jumped the queue by joining a tour for 30 Euro but instead I waited and paid 8.

What is there to say about David that hasn't already been said? The work of a true master, a monumental creation that's a monument to human artistry. It is better viewed in person, if only to really gauge its immense size.

I'm now huddled in my hotel room to escape the heat/plan for later on. I'm not sure where I'm going yet but the plan is to use Florence as a jumping off point for Tuscany/Northern Italy. I better figure it out.

Oh and I needn't have worried about my bad Italian. Nearly everybody around here at least speaks some English.

Comments

Florida in the Key of West

Yesterday was not a pleasant day. 10 hours of driving only to end up at the Best Western in Jacksonville, just so I could stand around waiting for my laundry to finish because the hotel in Key West that I'm staying in for 4 nights had no laundry mentioned on their website. So it's 10:30 at night and I'm sweating on the second floor between the world's loudest dryer and the local ice machine for an hour. And that's following 30 minutes of washing. I even had to hang dry some stuff because even after an hour it still wasn't dry yet. It's times like that that make me question whether or not this trip was even a good idea. It usually happens in the waking moments before sleep when I'm lying in my rented bed in the middle of a town where I know no one. Why am I here? Am I learning anything? Is this just a giant waste of time and money? And then there's times like the Wendy's. I got in too late in Jacksonville and the hotel was far enough ...

A long time coming but I'm finally here

So I made it to New York. That's the long story made short. Here's the story at longer length: I got out of the house and on the road about an hour later than I expected to, but judging by all the maps I was looking at I would still be able to make it within a reasonable amount of time. The thing about trips though is you always forget something. I knew that once it was too late I would realize I forgot something that I absolutely needed. That's just the way it goes. I was dreading the border most of all, it would have really sucked to have to go through a hassle just cause some border guard is having a bad day. As I was approaching the Queenston/Lewiston crossing I picked a spot with two cars in front of me. The first car got the point. As in please park over there sir so we can ransack your car . The second car also got the point, and now I'm thinking is this the designated point guy for the day?! Am I gonna cavity-searched cause it was his turn to search everybody? ...

Walkin' in Memphis, and boy are my feet tired!

The trip through Tennessee, incidentally, was beautiful. Hilly, with roundabouts and full forests. Fun to drive. I tried to take some pictures with my phone, but they all came out pretty assy. I arrived at Memphis at around 4:20 which I later discovered was 3:20. Ah time zones. Looking for a place to eat I headed south down the road to what I hoped would be a nicer area since my hotel room gives me a beautiful view of the freeway. Walking through Memphis I got the impression that this is a city that's either on the verge of a fall or the verge of a comeback. At first I thought it was the former, though now I'm leaning towards the latter. There's a lot of nice things around, decent restaurants, nice views, ok shopping... but for every location with activity there seems at least one other that's boarded up with big For Lease notices stickered to the window. The other thing I noticed as I was walking was that nobody else was. Nobody. The city was dead to walking traffic. P...

Interstate Journal

Search This Blog