Loved Florence at first site! As soon as we got to our hotel, Albergo Firenze (How original) we went out to see the city…our hotel was a perfect location we were right in the center of the city! We walked around and ended up on the ponte vecchio…no better place to end up haha. It was so cool and the view was beautiful (as it is in most places in Italy), especially during sunset…when I told mom we were there she says “they call my name when I go there! Karina Karina come in!” ….oy. We then met up with our friend Amy who is studying in Florence for dinner. She took us to a restaurant Gatto e Volpe (cat and fox?) The free bread with balsamic before our meal was the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. I was so full from the day so didn’t want to eat too heavy…decided to get the infamous Italian ribbolita I have been hearing about forever… and shared a buffalo mozz. Salad with laura, it was all delish. My friend Taylor won best dish though with his pesto gnocchi, it was so so so good…the restaurant all in all was amazing. That night we went with contiki to a discoteca called space electronica….most sketch place I have ever been to in my life...hands down. After the club our friend who studies there took us to a secret bakery ….at 2 am.. you knock on the closed door in a little alleyway…hand them a few euro..and they come out with freshly baked croissants …. How flippin cool ?!?
(and no mom it didn’t involved drugs, as you have already asked, it was just a reg. cool bakery)
Day 2 in Florence. Breakfast at the hotel same old stuff..then off to a gold and leather demonstration with contiki… it was basically a sales pitch…only thing I got out of it was that you can really tell the leather is real when you light it on fire..leather won’t catcher on fire as the fake ones will…pretty cool I guess…we bounced from the tour after that…saw the outside of santa croce but were eager to get to the duomo!! Went inside the bottom and then climbed the 436 something steps to the top! O man o man. It was for sure worth every single one of them! The view was absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. I can’t even put it into words. Gorgeous…breath taking. Walk down—not as much fun. Then had to scurry to get lunch before the Uffizi. Flynn and I split a slice of veggie pizza and spinach ricotta Panini.. J Laura Flynn and I met up with the group for the Uffizi as the others went off to do their own thing. Saw the Primavera, Birth of Venus, and much more famous works of art. It was not at all as large as the Louvre but still great. So much famous artwork in one place…I appreciate it so much more now after my art history class. Afterwards we stopped for gelato at Grom then met up with the rest of the crew to go see good old David. HE’S HUGE! Got a text from mom saying “don’t forget he was made thousands of years ago..out of rock”….thanks mom for the update. ;) Nothin much else in that museum besides David himself…I don’t know if anyone would really go there if it wasn’t for him. After the David we trekked up north to the Syracuse school in Florence. Met up with all the girls we have been missing!!! It was so good to see them…and their school well it’s definitely not Faraday (school in London) it’s like a museum there…with a nice courtyard and everything. So jealous. But most of them have to walk about 45 min to school every morn no fun. I guess there are pros and cons of both programs…
That night we decided to take it easy after our sketch club night….went to dinner with contiki…they were serving pasta with meat sauce so I got a special request of pesto sauce instead which was perfect. We then went for a drink or two at a bar called Biggalo right near the hotel… ran into Zach Goldstein (from home) who is studying in Florence…too funny, what a small world!
Next day I wanted to spend more time in Florence but the tour had arranged for us to go to Chianti for the day and I didn’t want to miss out on that. Took the bus and saw the view from Piazza Michaelangelo!! Stopped in Sam Gimignano for lunch, got amazing pizza and world famous gelato..like seriously they are somehow world famous…http://www.gelateriadipiazza.com/….anyways it was a cute little town with a great view of course..and had fun little shops with crazy pasta, boars meat, and pretty cooking utensils and dishes. Then off to the wine country and tasting! Took a tour of the vineyard then sat down to wine, cheese, bread, oil, and balsamic. We sat down at one table that had salami and ham too but got kicked out and told that was for a different group haha. Back on the bus to Florence…hit so much traffic getting into the city L… met up with the one and only Caitlin Walker when we got back!!! Miss her so much. She took us to the Lorenzo Market…yaaay so fun…I was a typical tourist and bought an Italia shirt…and I got a cute little leather bag! I needed it. Alex got a nice leather jacket! We attempted to bargain but weren’t too successful. I then called Ombretta to try and meet up with her in the little time I had…she said she was already in her pjs…it was 7 pm…haha o well I tried..Went back to the hotel to change then dinner at Aqua al Due…oh my god. If you are in Florence you must go! We got salads and wine and their famous famous famous balsamic Florentine steak. Omg. It was just amazing. They have a famous blueberry one too but we were all too scared to try it. Just sooo good. We then went back to the bar near the hotel with a bunch of people from Syracuse for the night.
Next morning time to leave Florence… waahh..not enough time here…Florence is probably my favorite city I have seen so far. From the architecture to the colors to the food I love it all … I didn’t get to see and do everything so I must go back soon…I just couldn’t get enough of it. Gorgeous.
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