K E L L Y L U K E R: Weekend in Firenze

Two weekends ago, I went to Florence with my friends early Saturday morning. Florence is a quick hour bus ride from Siena that runs pretty much every hour – very convenient. We arrived around 10 am Saturday. After lots of walking, stopping to take pictures, going the wrong way, we finally found our hostel for the night and started our day around 11:30. Of course, once we find the leather market, we are probably there for a good hour or so. I think we went back a total of three times throughout the day.

Il Duomo

Brenna, Ashley, and I all climbed the 437 steps up a spiral, dark, very small staircase to the cupola of the duomo – the dome on top. What an INCREDIBLE view of Florence. We spent a good while up there just enjoying the view; after all, we were pretty tired from the climb. The sun came out and cleared up just for us when we got up there. Definitely worth those 8 euro – I strongly advise if you are ever in Florence, that you climb to the top of the duomo. It is so worth it. It is one of the most beautiful views.

View from the top of Il Duomo

Inside the Duomo

We met up with everyone after we climbed all those stairs down (very dizzying, going in that spiral), we made our way to L’Academia to see the famous David by Michelangelo. Lucky us, since we visited during non-tourist season, the price was only 6.50 Euro.

Don’t worry, there were plenty of other magnificent paintings to view through the museum. But let me tell you, the David DOES IN FACT live up to all the hype. It is completely incredible. Not only was it beautiful and so extremely accurate and proportional, but also it was HUGE. I’m talking a GIANT – his HAND was the size of my torso AT LEAST!! Beyond incredible.

The David - a picture just doesn't do it justice

We filled the rest of the day walking around some more of course, and like I said, we were at the leather market 3 different times… we made it back to our hostel to rest our feet around 7. And boy, were my feet aching. We didn’t get to dinner until 10 because we all just wanted to lie down.

We had the intention to go dancing after dinner… but half of us were falling asleep. I’ve learned that if you spend a whole day walking around, you aren’t going to make it late into the night. BUT, I was DETERMINED to find at least ONE of the secret bakeries.

Secret bakeries???? What is this?! Well, for one, if you ask anyone, they definitely won’t tell you where it is, let alone that one even exists. BUT THEY DO. BECAUSE I FOUND ONE! So these secret bakeries start baking all there delicious baked goods late in the night – think Krispy Kreme when the HOT sign is on at midnight. You’ll eventually end up down a smaller side street/alley, then another…. Smelling the deliciousness… and come to a small crowd of young people around a door with a piece of paper taped to it that simply says “BE QUIET PLEASE”. Oh my goodness, it smells so amazing. Unfortunately, they won’t open their doors until after 2 am…. And our poor feet and bodies and we still had a full day the next day… we couldn’t wait past 1 for one of the delicious pastries. BUT I STILL FOUND IT! Don’t worry, I will complete this mission on my next trip to Florence, don’t you worry.

Actually, we were very lucky to make it back to the hostel before 2, because unbeknownst to us our hostel had a 2am curfew. Barely made it and didn’t even realize until the next morning we could have been stuck on the streets….

BY THE WAY – don’t wear heels in Florence UNLESS they are the really fat/thick heels. You will regret it. Seriously. Cobblestones + tiny heels + nighttime walking = BAD

You know you walked a lot when you sleep 8 hours and your feet still hurt.

LIONS IN FLORENCE

The human statues just love throwing diamonds <>

We met up at the Uffizi with the rest of the group from our school and two of our program directors, Antonella and GianCarlos at 11:30 Sunday morning. We toured the Uffizi, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I love looking at art (you would hope so, since that IS what I am studying…). Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus were splendid of course.

Antonella, our art history teacher, narrated to us the entire museum tour (in Italian – what’s new) about various paintings and the history and facts and what not. Those of us in her class had to give a short little biography about a couple artists (in Italian… this should be a given guys…) who were featured in the museum. The funny part is that our group size tripled by the end of the trip; tons of other museum guests started listening and following Antonella’s narration. Some of us were even shoved aside so these random people could listen to Antonella – HELLO, shes MY teacher… You would think they would realize this by the way she is speaking simple and slow Italian to us, “PICC-OLA, PICC-OLA, PICC-OLA”. I do admit, Antonella has a very beautiful and soothing voice, especially in Italian. And she literally knows everything about everything. And she teaches yoga to us. She’s awesome.

On our short 1-hour lunch break, I headed over to a suggested sandwich shop and bought the most delicious sandwich, which I saved for later because I wouldn’t be eating until after 830 for dinner. I also visited the pizzeria that the Jersey Shore cast worked out – surprisingly very delicious. I had my own personal pizza, freshly cooked in their brick fire oven. Awesome.

At the Opera "Tosca"

We finished our afternoon/evening in Florence with a trip to the Opera to see Tosca. I had seen this opera at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, Virginia and loved it, but it was so much better here in Italy. Not just because I was in Italy watching this Italian opera with real Italian singers, but the set was AMAZING – the most legit I’ve seen next to Broadway. It was absolutely wonderful. Of course I didn’t fall asleep, an opera lover here, but I can’t speak for the majority of my group.

Overall, Florence is beautiful and lots of fun. Each place I visit, I grower a stronger and stronger appreciation for Siena and I am so happy to live in Siena, but I will DEFINITELY be back to Florence later this semester. After all, I have to return to that secret bakery and actually get something to eat. Actually, I will find ALL THREE BAKERIES. Don’t worry, I’ll take pictures of the pastries. And not wear heels.