Florence

Ciao!

This weekend I traveled to the charming Tuscan city of Florence.  The entire group caught a train from Rome early Friday morning.  It was a much shorter train ride than the one to Venice (1.5 hours versus almost 4).  Once there we walked to our hotel to drop our bags off before heading to the Uffizi Gallery.

The Uffizi was once an office building for the powerful Medici family, who effectively started the Renaissance.  The gallery contained many impressive works of art, including busts of all of the Roman emperors, Leonardo DaVinci's first painting, and Botticelli's Birth of Venus (which I have discussed in several of my classics courses).  The museum was spectacular, even for someone who has never studied art.

After the Uffizi we were given time to eat lunch and relax.  I opted for a gelato lunch (rum raisin and blackberry-yum!) before exploring the leather market in Florence.  I was mesmerized by the maze of stalls containing leather purses, wallets, and belts of every style and color imaginable.  There were also stalls containing stunning silk scarves in a myriad of patterns.  The smell of leather was everywhere, putting the finishing touches on the market atmosphere.

When I had seen my fill of leather, Lindsey and I went back to our hotel to move our bags into our room and freshen up.  I say hotel, but really the place we were staying was a converted castle, complete with a tower.  It was very rustic, with uniquely shaped and furnished rooms and giant tassels on the room keys that had to be left at the desk when you went out.  We didn't have time to explore the hotel, however, as we needed to meet the group to go to the Accademia Gallery.

The Accademia is better known as the home of Michelangelo's David.  Although we saw other works of art there, including some other Michelangelo pieces, the majority of our time was spent looking at David.  He was huge, and beautiful, and looked almost alive, especially his eyes.  His pupils are heart-shaped instead of round, which makes his eyes appear to exhibit many different emotions depending on what you think you see, which makes them look more life-like.  David is remarkably well-preserved, and I hope he will remain that way for many generations to come.  I understand why he is such an important work of art; he really is very impressive.

After the Accademia we were given free time to explore and shop.  I opted to explore while shopping, and returned to the leather market to do so.  I also found the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence, and the Duomo and Campanile, both of which visitors can climb to get a spectacular view of the city.  I climbed neither on Friday, and instead returned to the hotel to climb the tower there.  I was breathless at the view of the city.  I could see the Duomo, the Campanile, the clock tower near the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, and basically all of Florence from the comfort of my hotel.  It was absolutely mesmerizing.  It was cooler than normal for July, and there was a steady breeze, so it felt like I was higher up than I really was.  Florence is such a charming little city, with so much history and art.  I fell in love with Florence on top of that tower.

That night we had a group dinner.  I got to eat wild boar, which is a Tuscan specialty, and ate so much food because it all tasted heavenly.  Afterwards I went to an Irish pub near the Duomo with some friends to finish the long, but exciting day.

Saturday began with a tour of two churches in Florence.  The first, Santa Maria Novella, is home to the first painting by Michelangelo that he did when he was seven years old.  The painting is part of a fantastic mural behind the altar.  The second church, Santa Croce, contains the tombs of many famous people, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Nicholas Machiavelli.  It was quietly serene, but slightly creepy, as we were walking on people's tombs.  We finished the morning with gelato near Santa Croce.  I enjoyed my amaretto and coconut gelato, which I have decided are two of my favorite flavors.

Saturday afternoon was all free time.  I went with a group of people a sandwich shop that is supposed to have the best sandwiches in Florence.  I didn't get one, but they were huge-about the size of a person's face-and were full of fresh ingredients.  All of my friends thoroughly enjoyed their sandwiches, so I guess the reputation is well-deserved.  We then went and bought tickets to climb the bell tower (the Campanile).  I really wanted to climb the Cupola of the dome, but the line was too long and I already had plans to go to Pisa afterward.  I don't regret climbing the Campanile; it was an amazing view of Florence and I got a nice workout climbing the 414 steps (even though I only counted 412).  I took a ton of pictures from the top, including a picture of the tower on our hotel that I was able to pick out even from that high up.  In the distance we could see a line of storms heading toward Florence, and several times I saw lightning strike in the distance.

Once our feet were back on solid ground (and our legs stopped shaking from the stairs), Lindsey and I headed to the train station to catch a train to Pisa, which is about 50 minutes away from Florence.  We  bought our tickets with no problem, but had a hard time finding the train since it was in a side terminal.  When we finally found it we weren't sure how to properly validate our ticket.  We were all worked up because the train was supposed to leave soon when we finally got the tickets validated and found seats.  We were on board in plenty of time, and I managed to catch a 50 minute nap while on board.

Lindsey and I erroneously thought that the tower would be right near the train station.  Fortunately Pisa is a tiny little town and we found the Leaning Tower of Pisa with no problem.  We took pictures, including a Gator Chomp pose, and several bad attempts at "holding up" the tower.  By then it was dinner time so we got pizza in Pisa before catching a train back to Florence.  As it turns out, we were lucky we left when we did.  Less than an hour after our train left the trains went on strike and another group of students from our study abroad group was stranded in Pisa.  Luckily they were able to get internet access to contact other members of the group, who found out there were buses from the airport in Pisa to the Florence train station.  The stranded students made it back to Florence that night in one piece and with a great story to tell their friends and family back home.

That night I went up to the tower of the hotel and sat talking with a group of people on the trip.  Florence is even more beautiful at night, with the moon shining over the red tile roofs of the city.  It was so peaceful up there that I almost didn't want to leave to go to sleep.

The next morning we said goodbye to Florence and boarded a charter bus to Chianti.  We toured the Castello di Verrazzano winery.  The castle is the birthplace of Giovanni da Verrazzono, who explored the bay of New York and is the namesake for the Verrazzono Narrows Bridge.  After the tour we got a lesson in wine tasting before eating yet another large and delicious meal.  I particularly enjoyed dessert because I got to try another Tuscan delicacy: vino santo.  Vino santo is basically biscotti dipped in a sweet wine.  After lunch we spent a few minutes looking out at the Tuscan countryside.  We were high on a mountain, so we had a great view of the vineyards below us and the surrounding land.  It was another breathtaking view, and I could have spent forever looking out over the peaceful hills, but we had to get back on the bus to return to the train station.

We caught our train home and although I loved Florence, I was glad to be returning to Rome.  I enjoyed the beauty and renaissance history of Florence, but I know much more about the history of Rome.  Rome has become my home for the time being, and I'm starting to get more familiar with it.  I'm looking forward to visiting the Vatican and St. Peter's tomorrow, as well as all of the almost daily excursions in my Ancient Rome class.


-Allison

The David

 If you look closely you can see his heart pupils.

The Ponte Vecchio

The Duomo and the Campanile, as seen from the tower of the hotel.

On top of the Campanile

The tower of the hotel, as seen from the top of the Campanile.

Doing the Gator Chomp in Pisa

Castello di Verrazzano