Firenze

Okay, so I know that I claim that every new city I visit is my favorite- but Florence is my new favorite city!!! First, let me say props to Caitlin, Olenka, Sarah, Lindsay, and I for organizing and executing our first real trip! If I do say so myself it was quite a success! First we took our first train- very fancy, pictured here: We were all a little ragedy and tired leaving on Friday night, but we made it! We arrived around midnight, and not gonna lie, it was a little sketchy around Florence. It took us a while, and a couple of times asking directions to find it. Our friends had shared some horror stories about hostels, so we were a little frightened when we came across a very narrow cement staircase in an alley, but at the top was Hotel Sampoali- super cute, clean, and quite- with our own bathroom!
The next day we started out bright and early 8am- we wanted to beat the crowds and see absolutely everything! Our first stop was the Accademia which houses Michelangelo's David. I don't think I have ever been completely in awe in front of a piece of art before. I like a lot of paintings and sculptures, but usually, I see them in books and then when I see them in a museum I'm like, yeah- that's cool. But David was astonishing. Standing 14 ft high every part of him is perfect. Not only does he look completely real from veins to muscles, he looks like a perfect man. Yes, our group of five ladies def starred at his perfect butt for a good ten minutes. Unfortunately, picture taking of David was not allowed. Oh wait! I lied, that was not our first stop- come on, did you think we would have forgotten about food? Our hostel was right near Piazza San Marco, and more importantly Gran Cafe San Marco! Speaking of art, this shop had some of the most beautiful pastries I have ever seen! Plus, we are getting so good at being Italitan- we paid first then ordered, like good Italians do, and I munched my Apple tart and sipped my cappuccino at the bar- I mean, who sits down at a cafe in the morning, seriously?
After the Accademia, we ventured to the Duomo and Giotto's Tower. Let me back up again. Florence was the center of the Renaissance, you know: DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael etc. This is why it is such an amazingly rich city, although it is very small and nestled within the expanses of Tuscany. The Duomo was a church built in the middle ages. Yet, it was missing its dome- Boticelli added the dome during the Renaissance and it is the third largest in the world. I acutally liked this church much more than the Vatican. It is beautiful still, but because of architecture, carvings, and stained glass. There's not really gold, there's wood instead. I don't know, to me it felt more holy. I lit a candle there for my family and friends! Giotto's tower is a matching building, visible in the picture to the left. The appeal?- 414 steps that lead you to the most magnificent view of the city. Did we do it? C'mon! Of course we did! Seriously, my ass by the end of this semsester- rock solid. The view to say the least was incredible.