Florence, Part I

On my flight from Paris to Florence, I had some very romantic notions in my head. I was going to rent a scooter, and speed through Tuscany inhaling delicious scents of pesto, olive oil and eggplant. Ha! My first reality check came when I hopped into a cab from the airport to the hostel and watched my life flash before my eyes.
Now, I realize that just beause something works for me, does not make it the best or right way to do something. But, what I saw in that short drive was unbelievable.  Apparently the unofficial rules of the road go a bit like this: speed limit signs should always be half of the actual traveling speed, vehicles in front of you which fail to double the posted speed will subsequently be "encouraged" off the road until a makeshift passing lane has been made, at which point we will pass - into the flow of oncoming and CLOSE traffic - and swerve just in time to be honked and yelled at, similarly, stop signs are for suggestion only as are any lane markings, and one way signs are simply an indicator that if you enter you had better be very confident in your reverse driving abilities. Ultimately it seems the main goal is to come as close as possible to hitting something only to swerve once the other pedestrian or driver has sufficiently lost control of their bodily functions.
In short, no freaking way was I boarding a motorized bicycle!! Illusion number one- dashed.
So now I check into my hostel, Ostello Gallo D'Oro, and was pleasantly surprised. The facilities were clean, mostly quiet (in terms of street noise), and the beds were comfortable.  While I was there I ended up making friends with a few Australians and a Brazilian, and the age spread was more diverse than other hostels I had stayed in.  I set in for bed and signed on to research my game plan for the following day.

For starters, this hostel makes fresh breakfast sandwiches every morning, and has delicious espresso available any time which is priceless. I ate, and walked straight into the heart of Florence only to be slack-jawed, standing in front of the Duomo.

This, along with several other sights I've seen is absolutely nothing like you see in the photos. To see it in person is breathtaking. The colors are much more vibrant and remind me of holiday ribbon candies, and the size of these things are unbelievable! Not to mention the mindblowing architectural feat that IS the Duomo. It blows the mind. Well, mine at least.

Any way, I explored Florence, took in the Duomo and the masterpieces of art that are scattered throughout the piazzas, the Ponte Vecchio, and the night performers. The next day I was dead set on getting into Uffizzi if I had to wait hours. Which, spoiler alert - I did.