A Fine Firenze

This weekend was incredible! After my English exam on Dante’s Inferno, we met everyone at the Termini train station and departed for Florence. In no time at all, we arrived and walked to our hotel that was within view of the Duomo! (for those who do not know, when I was 15, I did a report on the Duomo of Florence for my English class, and have been obsessed with it ever since! It’s definitely my favorite building in the world). We explored a bit and got settled in our hotel room (me, Sarah, and Maggie in a room overlooking the street: pro--view of Duomo. Con- we could hear the bells so loudly it felt as if we were sleeping in the bell tower).

The Duomo in all it's splendor!

We all headed into the Arcadia to do our Art History assignment on Michaelangelo’s David. Holy Cow, I remember it being impressive, but I swear that statue is so life like he was breathing! For our assignment we had to examine the sculpture very carefully, and I was blown away by the details (the veins in his hands, the concentration in his eyebrows, the details of the knuckles on his fingers and toes). After some more wandering around the museum, Kate, Michelle, and I went to a delicious Kebab shop for dinner.

As we were enjoying our delicious dinner, we decided to put our time in the Palazzo to good use for people watching. We took notes of all the unique characters wandering through the area including An extremely irritated man sitting on a bench next to us reading a comic book who then proceeded to yell at us for eating Kebabs: “you Americans- not so intelligent- why kebabs?- you’re in Italy- go eat spaghetti- stupid!”

Friday was filled with museum visits with Paolo. After putting quite the dent in my bank account at the outdoor market and a boot shop (seriously though, these boots were made for me), we met Paolo outside the Duomo. Our class then went to the Bargello museum to see some Donatello and Michelangelo sculptures. After a quick lunch of pizza, we continued our tour with Paolo to see some outdoor sculptures and architecture. After some free time at the hotel, we left for dinner with Paolo. I sat with Derek, Dan, and Andrew and enjoyed red wine and pasta with eggplant. Paolo revealed his secret talent of palm reading: I had the “most feminine and beautiful hands of the night.” Apparently I am stereotypical woman who enjoys being courted. I will have to adjust my diet in the future in order to remain happy (organic?) and I could possibly be a lesbian. It was not exactly what I had been expecting in a palm reading...

Eggplant pasta... yummy

 Saturday, We went to the Medici chapels and saw the sacristy made my Michelangelo. Such beautiful sculptures (my favorites were Night and Lawrence). For lunch Erin, Abby, Missy, Megan B, and I went to a small family owned restaurant and got potato-tomato-ham-cheese dish that was AMAZING! We then began our final session with Pao\lo for the weekend (Praise the Lord!)  at the Uffizi museum to see what seemed like 900 paintings with only two subject matters:  Venus or the Madonna . Finally after we nearly passed out from exhaustion (“or from the overwhelming beauty of the art” according to Paolo), Kate Michelle and I went to dinner at this AWESOME bar. I got tortellini.  Michelle a calzone, and Kate got lasagna, and a spinachy thing. It was so fun! We then enjoyed a nice evening of relaxing in the plaza of our hotel.

Replica of Michelangelo's David

Sunday, after breakfast and checking out of our hotel, Derek, Michelle, Kate and I began the day revisiting the markets (I managed to restrain myself…). We then crossed the Ponte Vechio (after taking a few pictures of the bridge and the love locks of course) and made our way to the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. We walked around and resting in the beautiful gardens which revealed a beautiful scenic outlook over Florence. After we got our fill of being in the hot Tuscan sun, we went inside the Pitti to look at the royal apartments and the modern art museum. The apartments were overwhelmingly luxurious. It was quite the sensory overload of beautiful chandeliers and frescos. The modern art was refreshing after seeing so much Renaissance artwork the past three days.

 agical feel of Florence, but it is nice to be back in Rome- I know my bank statement agrees! 

Ponte Vechio! 

View from the bridge

Scenic view from the Boboli Gardens 

It was such an exhaustingly beautiful weekend. I adored the calm, beautiful, and magical feel of Florence, but it is nice to be back in Rome- I know my bank statement agrees! 

Symbol of Firenze! 

Boots, hat, scarf (plus some Christmas shopping)- A weekend well spent!