Ok ok, I know, I'm STILL weeks behind!! A lot has happened too, Rachel visited, I saw the Pope, I went to the Vatican... oh boy, SO much. But, let me back up a few weeks to Florence!
Florence, Firenze in Italian, was wonderful. It's smaller than Rome, but there is still a lot there. I liked the size of it actually, it felt nice and homey... It was really awesome! Probably one of my favorite cities I've been to!
We took a buss to get there, and after checking into the hotel, we went and met up with tour guides to have a look around Florence! Here is where we started:
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| The Rape of the Sabine Women |
<-- I just love this statue. I don't know why, but this is one of the ones that I've learned about and it was incredibly cool to me to be looking at in person!
This is located in the square by the Palazzo Vecchio
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| Palazzo Vecchio Clock Tower |
We also went to the Uffizi Gallery, where I saw the Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Primavera, which I had also studied in my general education class on the Arts, so it was very very cool seeing those in person! (Couldn't take pictures...)
After that we had free time to just hand out and wander around Florence, where I got some pretty good pictures:
This is one of my all time favorite pictures, featuring the Ponte Vecchio (a famous bridge lined on both sides of the streets with shops, mostly expensive jewelery)
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| Ponte Vecchio |
The next day we visited the Duomo, and Michelangelo's David statue!
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| Duomo |
<-- The Inside however, is very plain. It is still beautiful, but it was made less flashy than the outside of the building. The exterior was basically to show off power/wealth to visitors, while the inside was more practical and a place of meeting.
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| I think this is just awesome! |
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| Inside the Duomo |
<-- Here's a cool picture I took of the inside, you can see a very decorative ceiling, but that was the most decorative part. These candles (as usual in churches) are lit in memory of deceased friends/family...
After seeing this, we got the rest of the day to wonder around and shop or see whatever. Florence is known for their leather goods, so I proudly purchased a made in Florence leather jacket, and then just had time to look around the city.
Unfortunately I missed the chocolate festival that was going on that weekend! I don't know how it happened but I heard about it late or something, so we didn't find it! It was a bummer.
<-- This is one of my favorite pictures, I just love the carousel in the middle of the plaza with the giant arch in the background!
The last thing we did on this trip was a wine tasting! It was very fun, basically we were just fed a very delicious meal with wine selected to complement each course! It was very good, and I bought a couple bottles of wine from the winery we were at!
We left Sunday morning and stopped for the wine tasting in Montepulciano, Tuscany. Tuscany is beautiful. I can hardly imagine what it must look like in summer! Here are some pictures from the wine tasting and Tuscany:
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| Giant barrels of fermenting wine. |
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| The barrels are empty, but I thought it still made a cool picture! |
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| The building where we had our meal and wine. |
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| At the tasting, everyone is enjoying conversation and the meal in front of us |
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| The view from where we were, overlooking part of Tuscany. Like I said, I can't even imagine how beautiful this is in summer! |
Well, that pretty much sums up Firenze! It was a really great trip and I am so thankful it was part of my program!
P.S. Seeing the David statue was absolutely fantastic! However, I didn't take a picture because they weren't allowed... but really, the room it's in is designed specifically FOR the statue, so it looks magnificent where it is, with everything else just leading up to it!
I'll work in the next post soon!
Ciao!!
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