Firenze and Fotos!

Florence, or Firenze as it is in Italia, was a fabulous trip. I'm very very glad that it was our first trip - we really did have alot of fun. Our adventure started on Friday morning with catching the bus, then the Metra to Termini, the train station. I figured that once we got into Florence our group would split up and do differnt things, I didn't expect it to be with in the first half hour of our journey though. On the bus half of our group got off at one stop and the other half got off at another stop - both thinking they were going the faster way. We ended up making it there in about the same time and found each other once we got to the station.



Not so great picture from the train, but it really was beautiful outside. I was really worried about a 4 hour train ride, but it ended up not being that bad. With 12 people you could shuffle around a bit and talk to different people and sometimes read. I need to make sure and buckle down some more on the next train ride and get more homework done!


One we got into Santa Maria Novella (the station in Florence) we made our way to our hostel. Which was just an adorable place. It's run by an older couple and they are just the nicest people you will ever find. It felt like walking into a sterotypical grandma's house.




Sam, Natalie, Chelsia and I decided that we wanted to walk around and shop and just wander. We ended up finding some of the famous leather markets. Vendors everywhere selling leather goods, or scarfs or trinkets. It was really fun.




It started to rain though so we started popping in and out of shops to try and avoid the rain. After we were done shopping we headed back to the hostel and got ready for dinner. By now it was raining pretty hard so we wanted to find a close resturant, however many of them required reservations, and we were trying to eat at 7 - most Italians don't eat till later. We ended up finding a resturant but the service wasn't that great. The thing is though, in Italy the waiters and waitresses don't work for tips, it's included in the meal price, so they can get by with doing the bare minimum and it doesn't affect how much you make...

After dinner we met back up with the group and headed over to an Irish Pub - it was a bit crowded so we left.




Sam, Natalie, Cheslia, Me, Ross behind us and Andrew in front :)


Then one of the guys, Ross, wanted to go see a friend of his studying abroad in Florence so we went to her apartment and chatted for a while. By the time we left we were exhausted so we crashed when we got back to the hostel.

Saturday morning we finally got moving and walked over to Duomo. It's the 3rd longest church in the world (St. Peter's in the Vatican is 2nd and there is a church in Africa that is first...). The outside was very very beautiful but I honestly wasn't that impressed with the inside. There is some great art in the dome but they wouldn't let us under it, darn.


The art in the dome - it's a depiction of Revelation.


Part of the group in front of the Duomo! Natalie, Andrew, Sam, Me, Chelsia, Joline all standing and Matt and Bob lower on the ground (I feel like I'm writing out names for a yearbook....)


The Duomo


More Duomo...

After the Duomo we went over to the Academia, where Michaelangelo's David is! Chelsia and I wandered through the museum and looked at the art and some very old musical instruments first. When we turned the corner and saw him though, I had to stop in my tracks. He is soooo massive. Walking around him you just felt like an ant. What was really phenomenal to me was his hands - the veins had such detail. It was really incredible. I also found out that Michaelangelo never had anyone pose for him - he could do it all in his head. Incredible huh?


Illegal pictures...you can't take pictures in the museums...


I don't know if you can tell on his hand, but each vein just pops out!

After David we grabbed lunch at this "mexicanish" place. It was good though - I had a burrito. I can only have pasta so many times a day mom...

We then wandered until we found the Uffizi, a very famous art museum. Inside is the Birth of Venus and other beautiful works. Even though you could see all of that fabulous art, my favorite part was looking out the window to a perfect view of Ponte Vechio - literally "old bridge." It's the oldest bridge in Florence - it wasn't destroyed during the war like many of the others. It really was a site to see.



If anyone knows the name of this painting let me know, I can't remember it...


My illegal shot of the Birth of Venus


Ponte Vecchio

Keep in mind that this whoooolllleee time it's been raining cats and dogs. We then head over to a Chocolate festival we heard about. It was crazy all the shapes and colors and different types of chocolate that was there. Samples too :)


sooo much chocolate!


Pigs for Julie!!! :)

Once we were done (cold, wet and exhausted) we headed back to the hostel where all 4 of us ended up passing out for a little over an hour. Once we woke up from our well needed naps we headed out for dinner. This time we found a place about 4 doors down from the hostel that was very nice.

After dinner we met up with our group and headed out for the night. By this time it had stopped raining so we were really grateful for that. We made our way to a bar/discotecha which was not and American bar (there alot of bars around that cater to Americans and many American students go there). Lots of Italians - a little older than us I would say. Young professionals if you will. We stayed there for about an hour an a half and then decided to go to a different discotecha (the one we were in you could smoke inside so we all needed some fresh air). This new discotecha was definatly an American one, but that's okay - it was alot of fun. They had two different levels of the discotecha and there were lots and lots of people there. Lots of dancing and laughing - many of us were horse the next morning from yelling over the music to one another. But wellll worth it. We didn't crawl into bed until 5am - Italians party late!!

Some random Italians decided to pop into the picture...

Sunday morning Bob, Joline, Chelsia and I went to the markets and wandered around some more. Bob and I made our way to a large fort - but they wouldn't let us in because they are doing rennovations. That seems to be happening alot - I asked about it and someone told me that because this time of the year is typically slower for tourisim, many places do rennovations now - so they are ready for the influx of tourists in the spring and summer. Smart planning these Italians...

The train ride back was nothing special - another four hours back. A metra ride and then a bus ride to our neighborhood and back in time for dinner at Mensa (the cafeteria).


Mountains!!!

To finish it off I thought I would put up some pictures from our Papal Audience. Enjoy :)


Vatican Square when we arrived around 8ish


Lots of people! There's the pope!


il papa with the swiss guards - they didn't move the whole time...


Deep in thought. He was listening to a musical group that was there to perform for him :)

Miss you all! Let me here your comments!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Amelia