No photo!

We must have had too much fun on our second day in Florence, because I and I didn’t wake up until around noon. Since the rest of our roommates were still sleeping, we decided to go out for a quick walk.

Well, our quick walk turned into a very LONG walk. We wandered through the Piazza della Republica, along the Arno River, through the Ponte Vecchio, and then we just started wandering. The weather was so GORGEOUS outside. I was only wearing a light long sleeved shirt and my spring jacket. When we walked in the sun, I was honestly a little warm. Marla ended up taking her jacket off. Yeah, 55 degree weather in January- be VERY jealous. It was funny to see some of the locals wearing heavier coats, hats, gloves, etc. when we kind of wanted to go back and put skirts and flip-flops on.

Wandering around, we ended up getting VERY lost. Having no idea where we were, we just kept taking turns that we hoped would take us back to the familiar center of the city. With really no basis for our decisions for navigation, we were quite impressed with ourselves when we turned a corner and the Duomo came into sight.
We headed back to our apartment and ate a little brunch (Rice Krispies with raspberries, and a delicious blood orange). Then we all headed to the Bar Vittoria for coffee with the cutest little old man ever, whose is name Giovanni (maybe i already told you that?)- we think it suits him. Haha.) I had a cup of espresso coffee and we split a delicious pastry, panna di pescatore, that Giovanni recommended. The cake-ish part of it was like a light, crumbly biscotti with white raisins inside, topped with honey drizzle and almond slices. It was SOOOOOO good!

Then we headed out to do some sight-seeing. We went to the Museo della Academia, aka the home of Michaelangelo’s David. The first room was filled with paintings dating from the 1400s. Everything about them was amazing: the detail, the colors, the texture, incredible. It was hard to imagine how much time went into each piece, how much each piece had endured over hundreds of years, and how they must have looked when they were new. Most of the paintings were oil paint on wood, which is hard to fathom that they have lasted so long.



The next room was filled with statues by Michaelangelo, the centerpiece being the David. By request of my mom, I set out to get a particular picture. I set my camera on the museum setting (no flash, no sounds) and aimed a shot at the David. In the middle of taking a picture, a museum worker told me that pictures were not allowed. Oops. I mean, click. Lol. After that, I had to be a little shadier with the picture-taking, and therefore, was not able to get Mom’s picture- better luck next time I guess. Haha. But with some skillfully placed sneak-attacks, I was able to get several good pictures of the David as well as many of the other pieces throughout the rest of the museum. After getting yelled at (not literally, she just told me sternly, "No photo.") the rest of the museum was like a game- how many pictures can i take without getting caught. Haha!


(The grumpy lady with short hair at the bottom of this picture is telling me "No foto" as I'm snapping the picture. Haha!)

Now, an ode to the David. O M G. It is AMAZING! First of all the statue is much larger than I thought. Second, the detail is INCREDIBLE. It is so hard to imagine that someone could start off with a big misshapen chunk of marble and end up with a perfect human form, detailed down to the veins in his hands. Again, it is crazy to think of how well this piece is preserved after so many years.


(A shady picture from behind a pillar- SNEAK ATTACK!)

After seeing the rest of the museum, we set off to see the Piazza del San Marco (and church?). Unfortunately, the museum/church was closed, which wasn’t surprising as we had gotten such a late start. We went to a small pizzaria on the piazza and everyone got pizza(nothing confusing about that sentence at all, huh?)

We headed back to the apartment for showers after a long day of walking, stopping to do a bit of shopping on the way. I myself did not buy anything, because I will have to be in a very focused mindset before I allow myself to shop in Florence. Haha.

Later on, we met up with Ari and her friends at a club called Space Discoteca. It was a crazy dance club! We all had a blast dancing and just having fun. We all danced with some really cute Italian guys, but after one told me his name was Luigi, I just couldn't take him seriously anymore. I just kept thinking about Mario Bros.! LOL!

We headed for home after several hours, absolutely exhausted. We had the most random encounter with a group of guys from New Zealand. They flagged us down to ask us for some "local advice on directions". I don't know how they figured we were locals, but needless to say, we were entirely unhelpful with directions. We had a good time talking to them though (that is until one of them bashed on the Patriots....grr..), as we didn't make it home for another 45 minutes or so (we were only a block away from our apartment at this point. lol.

Overall, day 2 in Firenze was pretty awesome!
Ciao!

P.S.-just a heads up, pictures and posts will all be delayed because internet is not the most convenient thing in italy, but stay tuned anyway! :)