Continuing with the spring break blogs...
So we took a train from Venice to Florence on Sunday and this one was much less awkward than the train to Venice. There were normal seats and I sat next to one of the guys traveling with us, Brian. I slept the entire time so I guess I missed out on the views of the countryside BUT at one of the train stops I did spot something that you absolutely cannot find in America anymore:
Do you see it?? It's a Blockbuster! Chances are it was out of business but I'm just going to pretend that it wasn't and that I found something really rare. So once we got to Florence we only had about a 5 minute walk to the apartment we were renting. This apartment turned out to be adorable and it had a terrace with one heck of a view:
Casual. That's the Duomo, a huge cathedral that we will talk about more in a bit. We were starving when we got there so we went looking around for some food. We stumbled upon one of the most popular places for students studying abroad in Florence. It was a bar that had a happy hour special: you pay for a glass of wine or a beer (price depends on what you pick, mine was 3 euro) and then you get free food. I would describe it as Italian tapas. So much bruschetta! We were probably really embarrassing Americans because we literally ate so much free food. It might have been one of the coolest places I have been in Europe (I'm easily influenced by free food, so what?).
After our free food happy hour, we walked around Florence for a bit. Florence is pretty small so we got to see a lot of it in a small amount of time. We got closer views of the Duomo and also went to a courtyard that was basically full of statues of naked men:
So much nudity. I guess this is a replica of the famous David statue and unfortunately we did not have enough time to go inside the museum and see the real thing. Maybe next time, Florence. Since the sun was setting, we made our way over to the river to get some nice views:
Unfortunately my camera did not catch the colors of the sky. Way to go, camera. But it was a really pretty sight! After we walked around for a bit I made it back and got pictures when it was just a little bit darker and even prettier:
Such a pretty city! For dinner that night we went to a restaurant that provides unlimited wine for students. It really wasn't unlimited but it was free so we were all happy campers. This meal was decent, the best part was our adorable waitress who gave us more wine than she was supposed to and also snuck us shots of some alcohol that I've never had before. She was a gem. After dinner we headed back to the apartment and hung out for a bit. Apparently in Florence there is this thing called "secret pastries" which is basically for drunk Americans who want to eat pastries. You have to find the bakeries that participate and you walk up and knock on the door and they will sell you the pastries that are just making fresh for the next morning. It's all on the down-low though and they pocket all of the money they get from the drunkies. We decided to go out and look for this magical place but we got a bit lost. Bo, Angie, and I got tired and decided to head back while the rest of the group continued looking. Just our luck, they ended up finding them. Classic.
Monday morning we got ready and headed to the Duomo. We bought tickets to climb the stairs to the top of the tower, which was pretty high, but definitely worth the view:
How quaint. After we climbed to the top we were pretty hungry so we ventured out for food. We ended up finding a place that is basically a panini bar and it was downright magical. Focaccia bread, artichoke spread, turkey, tomatoes, olive oil...ugh I'm drooling. It was so good. Then naturally we got gelato. Unfortunately, I did not get gelato Sunday and I destroyed the chances at achieving my goal. I don't want to talk about it. This time I chose lemon gelato and it tasted just like Italian ice so it was perfect. Then we headed to the Duomo again to actually go inside of the cathedral. It's a pretty fancy looking cathedral:
To be honest, the outside is the most impressive part of the cathedral. The inside was not notable. It was quite upsetting because after seeing this exterior I was expecting an insane interior but you can't win them all so oh well. After the Duomo we went shopping because apparently Florence has great shopping. I ended up buying a wallet because I wanted something Italian leather and it was pretty nice so now I can brag about my Italian leather wallet. We also went into the stores like Gucci, Prada, Fendi, etc just for fun but really it just made me sad that I have no money. Such pretty things.
After we went shopping we headed up a hill to get a different view of the sunset. I guess it's kind of popular because there were a bunch of people up there to see the sunset. Can't complain:
Gorgeous. Monday night we decided to go domestic and make dinner ourselves. We bought all of the ingredients and split up jobs and made a family dinner. My job was cutting things. Let me tell you, I'm a good cutter. I cut onions and garlic for Angie and Saleh who were making real things (the pasta sauces) but let's not forget the little people who really make these things happen, ok?! My other job was making the caprese salad...which is basically only cutting tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. I'm a pro at cutting up things, let me tell you. The meal turned out really good and everyone was content. Proud of us. This was just the beginning of the home-cooked meals though, they just got better. After dinner I passed out. It was a long day.
Tuesday we checked out of our apartment and headed back to the train station to catch our train to Rome. Overall, I loved Florence. It was a great size and it was beautiful but I don't think I could study abroad there because it was just too small. For a less well-known city, I was really impressed by it. Also the name is pretty bad ass...Firenze (all Harry Potter fans should love this name).
I should probably return to studying seeing as I have a final tomorrow and a bunch of papers due. School is really getting in the way of my study abroad experience...ugh.
Next stop: Roma. Stay tuned.
Angela
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