A Few Days in Florence...

DAY 1

If Rome was great for its culture and history, Florence is definitely great for its beautiful architecture and artwork. Yesterday was our first full day here. After a quick stop at a supermarket for a breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt (SO refreshing after all the pizza and pasta), we headed into the center of town, stopping at an Internet Cafe on the way to buy tickets for some museums for the next day. 

First stop: Duomo Square. None of us really knew what we were getting ourselves into; on the way we got to have a first look at all of the crazy beautiful buildings in Florence. According to Nick, "This city feels a lot like Austin, versus Rome, which feels like Dallas or Houston." It definitely feels much more relaxed. All of the sudden, we turn a corner and see this:

We go inside the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, and are amazed yet again by another beautiful church. Then, we decided to go up in the "Duomo" (the dome of the cathedral in the background). After about an hour long line and a 463 step climb up a very narrow spiral staircase, we made it to the top. On the inside, there is a huge painting by Giorgio Vasari of "The Last Judgment," and the outside has an INCREDIBLE view of Florence and other areas of Tuscany off in the distance. 

After lunch (more paninis), we walked over to the Basilica di Santa Croce, another church that also contains the burial sites of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and other famous Italians. It was, just like all the others, beautiful, and so interesting because it contained another art museum and the graves of all of those people. 

Then we needed a break, so we walked outside to the Piazza della Signoria, which has all kinds of cool statues, and obviously got more gelato. We were sitting on some stone steps by the statues when Nick made a new friend. This ADORABLE little half-french, half-italian two-year-old girl, Elizabeth, basically climbed onto his lap and kept looking up and smiling at him. It got even better when she turns to Micah, who was sitting next to Nick, gives her the DIRTIEST look, and crosses her arms. She then runs off, grabs her balloon that is attached to her stroller, and tries to wave to Nick to show it to him. He smiles and waves, but that is not enough for her. She decides to push the stroller by herself all the way over to him so he can see the balloon. SERIOUSLY. CUTEST. GIRL. EVER. We chatted in very broken half-english, half-italian with her dad, laughing about her little crush. 

Finally, we ended the day with a trip to Ponte Vecchio, a bridge over the Arno River, to look out over the water and hang out. After a stop for dinner, we went back and finally went to sleep!

DAY 4

Today was more a day of looking at artwork. In the morning, we went to the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's statue, "David". We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the museums today, or I would upload them! After that, we decided to grab lunch and walk around the markets for a bit, where we had some great and really embarrassing moments because we were all SO exhausted to the point of delirium. Then we went to the Galleria Uffizi. Even Mukul and Nick were tired during this one, and they LOVE to take their time in art museums. We did see some pretty cool statues and sculptures, though.

We ended the day with a nap back in the Piazza della Signoria, then went back to Ponte Vecchio as the sun started to set, then got dinner and more gelato (you'd think we'd be sick of it by now!). All in all, it was a "chill day" where we didn't have to do tons of walking and got to see some really cool artwork! However, I think we won't be visiting any other art museums for awhile...nothing could compare and we have seen SO much art. 

Anyways, Florence was amazing,  but I think I like Rome better just for the history! Tomorrow starts a whole new adventure-We're off to Venice!