Italian Travelogue Part 2: Florence

Florence is my favorite city in Italy. I had the very good fortune of spending a semester there during college back in the day, so arriving in the train station was a bit of a homecoming.
Rome is nice, but it is also huge and sprawly. Florence is compact, and seems more refined. Its history is not the millennia of Rome's, but is more a history of culture. Rome is columns and Pantheons and colisseums. Florence is Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Galileo and the Medici's. It also contains arguably my favorite building in the world, the Santa Maria Del Fiore, or the Duomo.
The Duomo is massive and stupidly ornate. It sits in a relatively small piazza, so it is difficult to take in the entire structure from one viewpoint. You are walking along the city's narrow, winding streets, round a corner, and there it is: Domination, massive, and beautiful. The accompanying campanile, or bell tower, is open for the first time that I've been there. 431 steps of angina-inducing fun followed by a breathtaking view of the entire city.
We spend 4 days in Florence. Same pattern as Rome: 1. Sightsee 2. Nap 3. Dinner 4. Coma. We see the Pitti Palace and the Boboli (named after the pizza crust) Gardens. We visit the Harding villa outside of town. Still can't believe I got to live there for 3 months. We see the Uffizi and the Bargello and walk the Ponte Vecchio.
We go to the Accedemia to see Michelangelo's David. Like the Sistine Chapel, this is a masterpiece that requires a lot of time to sit and stare. Unlike the crowded Vatican, however, you are able to do that here.
Friday we take a road trip (on a train) to see the Tuscan equivalent of Pigeon Forge or Branson: Pisa. This is not because we saw the Medici Family Jamboree. Pisa is Italy's tourist trap. Take train. Get on bus. Cross town. Take picture of crazy leaning tower. Pay stupid amount of money to do so. Buy tacky souvenir. Go home. The cool thing was that you can go to the top of the tower now, since it was reopened back in 2001.
I must again mention the food. The glorious glorious food. Brant's Florence guidebook could do no wrong in recommending restaurants. If you go, you must eat at Mario's for lunch. They are only open from 12 to 3. We went the first day and ended up eating lunch there all four days. Cheap food. The day's menu written in pencil and taped to the wall. Community seating. By day 2 Mario knows you by name.
Trattoria Za-Za, conveniently located next door to Mario's, provided me with the Best Entree Ever. Thinking about it reduces me to a Homeresque drool. It was a huge steak, cooked perfectly, covered in this crunk cognac and peppercorn sauce. If I were a restaurant critic I would say that "every bite was like being punched in the mouth by ecstasy."
I'm actually drooling on the keyboard. What a mess.