Spring Break: beautiful Firenze

Day 4
Monday, March 8th

We left Rome around 8:30am for Florence. After a 2 1/2 train ride north, we finally arrived, to sunny skies, and to our surprise whipping winds! I hadn't thought that traveling a few hours north would really makes a difference. We settled into our beautiful hostel- Hostel Sampaoli, after wandering up and down the street several times before finding it! Apparently, in Italy the house or business number follows the street name, and we Americans thought that the number was a zip or postal code. Nice room, our own bathroom again, and no bunk beds. Two bathrooms down the hall, so lots of shower space for five girls!

After dropping off our bags, we set out in search of Marios, a well-known restaurant in Florence recommended by someone in our hostel. We waited for almost 30 minutes, and I'm so happy we did! I had the best lunch: white wine, pasta, salad (crisp, fresh lettuce which I've missed tremendously!). The atmosphere in Marios reminded me of Mac and Mancos: family-owned, always people waiting to sit and no waiter or waitress writes anything down.



We set out to find cannoli at a bakery the owner of Marios recommended, but came across the leather market and spent over an hour wandering from tent to tent.


I bought my second scarf of the trip and a unique leather bracelet. We found the bakery and ordered cannoli. Mine was very good, similar to my favorite chocolate chip cannoli from Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End.


Next, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. We climbed 463 steps to the top to see a 360-degree view of the city! Absolutely breaktaking!

We also could walked around the inside of the dome. The paintings depict the Last Judgment.

Still full from our big lunch and cannoli, we headed back to the hostel to warm up and relax for a few hours! We met up with the four girls from our program who were also in Florence, and went to Slowly. I was able to get in touch with Giacomo, one of my friends from our developmental soccer days. He's studying in Florence for the semester, and he recommended we meet up him at Slowly. It was great to see him!

cJones

We had drinks and hung out for a few hours, before calling it a semi-early night.


Day 5
Tuesday, March 9th

Our last day in Florence, but we made the most of it, that's for sure.
Colleen, Meghan and I were up and out before 8:30am. Giacomo recommended we venture across the Ponte Vecchio (bridge), and climb up to see the Piazza Michaelangelo.






After a short walk and more steps, we reached the Piazza Michaelangelo. From the top we were able to see more incredible views of the entire city!




We met up with Tara and Caroline around 11am to stand in line to visit the Uffizi Gallery, home of the Birth of Venus painting and several other works of art. We waited for over an hour to get into the museum, and spent almost another hour wandering around taking it all in.



Giacomo didn't have class until later that afternoon, so we met up with him for lunch at a small sandwich/panini shop. I got the best panini of my life: prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, eggplant and pesto. It was incredible, to say the least.
mKav photo

He walked us to one of his favorite gelato places before heading to class. This time, I got new combination, stracciatella and mango.



We also visited the Accademia Gallery another museum to see Michaelangelo's famous David sculpture. Standing in the middle of one of the gallery's major halls, he towers over visitors. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take pictures of one of the world's most famous sculptures, so you'll have to google this one to see a photo!

My visit to Florence wouldn't have been complete without seeing one of my BU roommates, Katrina, who is also studying in Florence this spring. It was good to see her, and hear how her semester is going. Turns out, she and Giacomo go to the same university in Florence, and have a class together! What a small world!

It was another early night for the five of us, as we'd planned to leave Florence at 4:40am via train to travel to Venice Wednesday. Check back tomorrow for details about our twelve hours in Venice!