Florence, Day 1
The first three hours of our day was spent on a bus from Assisi to Florence. We stopped at a rest stop that is 1,000 times better than any rest stop on the PA turnpike. Italians really know how to build their rest stops.
We arrived in Florence and I actually felt really well-rested. Our first stop in the city was the Piazza di Michelangelo, which is a square on the hillside that overlooks the city – it was beautiful. It was still overcast in the morning, but it was actually really bright so my pictures didn’t turn out super good. But we did manage to get some pictures!
We dropped off our luggage at the hostel and set off for the day ahead of us. Florence is a much prettier and cleaner city than Rome, and it has a LOT of street vendors and kiosk-type setups all across the street. People are constantly trying to get you to buy things, saying “you dropped something!” to get you to look back, complimenting you, and promoting their products. One thing that has surprised me about both Rome and Florence is how pushy and forward the vendors are – they really like to get up into your face.
We walked to the city center then dispersed for three hours of free time! Em, Emily, Beth, and I headed for the Mercado Central, a three-story (I think?) building that can best be described as a food court of sorts, only way more European. We ordered sandwiches with names we couldn’t pronounce, and we somehow found seating in the crowded space.
After lunch, we wandered around a bit and went into any store that we saw that struck our eye. We stumbled upon the most adorable ceramic/china/type store with beautiful hand-painted beauties. All four of us felt so compelled to buy things…that’s how lovely this place was.
We kept walking and found some other cute little shops. We found a stationary-type store that had adorable post cards, wax stamp molds, calendars, and puzzles. We also found an amazing used book store, where most of the books were in Italian. But it was fun to look through nonetheless. There’s something really special about a used book store – each one tells its own story, and to be in one in a foreign country was very quaint. Look at this adorable picture I got of Beth sitting in the little corner nook of this store:
After walking around and having even more stuff in our hands, makes sense to go on a three hour walking tour of Florence, right?? Yep! We met up with a lovely tour guide named Helena who was born and raised in Florence. She first took us to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David.
My, oh my…talk about surreal. Seeing this sculpture was AMAZING.
My first reaction was that the sculpture as a whole was a lot larger than I thought. I assumed he would be “to scale,” but that’s not the case. The artistry was just incredible, and I honestly don’t think I have words for it. I took some time to just look at it and take it in, but I also took time to snap some pics from literally every angle, because there wasn’t one inch of the statue we couldn’t see – the display alone was so grand. Some pictures (putting them all in as larger sizes):
Right??? The entire trip to Academia was worth it just to see this masterpiece in person. I already know the story of David, but it was also pretty awesome to hear the tour guide tell our group the story of David and his battle with Goliath. Some people were hearing that for the first time, and others were hearing it again, only with a new perspective. Pretty cool when you think about it.
We left Academia and walked throughout literally the entire city. Like the other places we’ve been to on the trip, each building, monument, or statue had a purpose and was carefully constructed, making it all so picturesque and full of beauty and history. Here are some pictures from the rest of the walk, including pictures of the Duomo… the church in the city center that took years and years to build (last three pictures).
After the tour was over, we headed to our Florentine pizzeria dinner! We each had our own margherita pizza, which was more perfection in pizza form. For dessert, I had the best tiramisu I have ever eaten in my entire life. Dinner finished up and we all headed back to the hostel and checked into our rooms. This place is very strange – the shower doesn’t have walls (the bathroom just has a shower head in the wall…), the beds are just a tad stiff (okay a lot stiff), and overall it’s just very strange, but I’m thankful to be in a room.
After getting a little settled, Em and I decided we desperately needed some coffee, but we didn’t want to walk far, so we went across the street to a very strange Florentine Irish bar…it’s just as strange as it sounds. We just went because we figured it’d have coffee and it was open. The atmosphere was “Irish,” but they were playing 2000s punk rock music, and there was soccer playing on the TV. Regardless of all of the cultural confusion, the coffee was good and the company was better. Em, Beth, and I sat and talked about the trip, had some good laughs, ordered a cheeseburger and fries to share (oops), and then retreated back to the hostel to settle in for the night.
Tomorrow, we have the day to ourselves in Florence! How will we spend this free day? You’ll just have to wait and see(; Until then!
Peace + love,
Carrie