Firenze!

We left bright and early for our big weekend away in Florence. Our train left at 9:30ish.  It was a fast train which means that we got there in under 2 hours and had our own little table.  It was nice to ride in such comfort without having to pay through the nose like in Cinque Terre.  We got there just before 11 and went straight to the hotel (Hotel California :) to drop off our stuff before heading out to our first museum – the Bargello gallery.  That was the first sign that this was going to be a boom-boom-boom fast, action-packed trip.

The Bargello is the best museum in the world for Renaissance sculpture.  The first room we went into had no less than 6 Michelangelo’s.  Cool right?  We spent a couple of hours wandering around taking tons of notes, this was a working weekend after all.  We worked well into the afternoon and I’m still not adjusted to the late lunch Italians are fond of.  Afterward, we went looking for lunch only to find it was raining out.  So we ducked into the first little place we found with 5 euro pizza and a bathroom.  We ordered ourselves a nice big lunch and talked our way through the afternoon.  By that time, we could check into our hotel.

We had little rooms with little, tiny twin beds.  But none of us cared because we were ready for a nap.  The thing about European hotels is that in order to get the lights on in your room, you have to put the key card in this little slot next to the door.  It took everyone a while to figure that out, but some people got creative and took the opportunity to wait till their roommate got in the shower the pull the card and leave them stranded in the dark.  I, however, kept it classy and restrained myself from doing this.  

That afternoon/evening we got a walking tour of Florence led by our crazy Art History prof Paolo.  Let's just say he's not one to keep his personal opinions under wraps and gives us some of the most frank (and sometimes a little crude) advice for life.  Example: to Elaine (or director)  "and is he your legal husband?"  "yes, at least I think so (laughs)"  "eew, I'm sorry for you.  I don't advise husbands, only lovers."  Not add a the most stereotypical accent to your voice, read that and envision a man dressed in an I LOVE ME shirt.  that was my weekend.  

Florence is a real good walking city.  Entire streets are blocked off from cars so you can just wander around without fear of getting hit.  The streets are really narrow and just stop randomly so it's easy to get lost, but that's part of the fun right?

That night was our group dinner in the hotel.  On the way down we all agreed that it’s real nice to get fed.  Bread and pasta and potatoes and meat….yummmmy!  Plus we got gelato for desert.  After dinner we went up on the terrace of the hotel and sat around this big table playing Never Have I Ever and drinking boxed wine.  My new, but persistent, cough made me turn in earlier than the rest, but even though the beds are infant sizes, they were super comfy.

In the morning we were split up into two smaller groups and the end-of-the-alphabet-ers went to the Accademia in the morning.  We went in a wandered around the intro room for a little bit before turning down this hallway to see, drum roll please, the David!  He was standing at the end in this little dome with all these windows.  And the heavens opened up and the angels sang a joyous hallelujah! 

A bunch of the other girls and I stood in the around him gawking for seriously 45 minutes.  We did have an assignment to do people, don’t think we’re creepers.  Actually we being a little creepy, he’s really pretty ;)

The rest of the museum was filled with Early Renaissance art.  Not my fave and after seeing 200 crucified Jesuses spewing blood, I was ready to leave.  But this place would not let you leave.  It was a labyrinth of epic proportions to get out of there.  Winding through tiny little rooms and hallway and, of course, the gift shop.  

Afterwards, the people that were left went to wander around the leather markets and do some other shopping.  I was on a mission for some certain Christmas presents (I'll give you a clue, Mom and Dad, they're not purple or a triangle), but shopping in Florence was a lot different than at home.  First of all, all of the market vendor people will haggle you and try every trick in the book to get you to look at their stuff.  They also overprice things a lot and then you’re expected the barter with them.  Even after how many years of garage sailing with the grandparents, I don’t have the gift of price negotiation so this whole experience was a little uncomfortable for me.  But Mark on our trip managed to get a 480euro leather jacket down to 95, but he didn't buy it, he just wanted to see how low the guy would go.  

After some time shopping we decided to get lunch and sat in front of a church eating sandwiches and swatting at the disgusting pigeons that walked really close to us.  I HATE BIRDS.  They’re dirty and molted and gross and they fly at you.  Not ok.  I actually, hate to admit it, screamed and cowered when one particularly icky one flew by my face in the piazza by the duomo.  Now I'm that girl that's afraid of birds.  Let the mocking begin.

Later we went to the Uffizzi gallery aka the holy grail of Renaissance painting.  We saw everything from Boticelli’s Spring and the Birth of Venus to the Long Necked Madonna.  This museum visit, however, was not so enjoyable.  We were all exhausted and the museum was hot and crowded and we couldn’t hear Paolo. 

Paolo’s a pretty entertaining guy, but even with all of his side comments and interesting wardrobe choices, we were getting super annoyed.  There were some other weird people who decided to join our group and take up all the good listening spots.  Plus they creepily would look over our shoulders at our notes and generally be a pain in the butt. 

After the Uffizzi, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at Paolo’s favorite restaurant.  He told us it was a 15 minute walk from our hotel, but 35 minutes later, we still weren’t there.  Plus when we got there, they didn’t have enough room for us because our reservation was made for 20, not 36, people.  I got this really good spicy pizza with hot sauce and peppers and spicy sausage.  We slowly made our way back to the hotel, taking a pit stop to ride the carousel, and by then it was past midnight and we all crashed. 

The next morning we went on a short tour of the Medici Chapels and then were let loose in the city for 4 hours before our train left.  And what did we do?  Shopping!  More and more shopping!  I ended up getting a black purse to replace the one I currently have that's held together by a twist tie.  We were on a mission to get boots for a few girls, so that’s what we did with the afternoon. 

We started to head to the train station a good hour before we had to be there, but it still took us longer than expected to get to the train station.  But Sienna did get some good lookin’ boots along the way.  Even after a long train ride back, it still takes us longer than I’d like to get back to our apartment.  By that time I was getting sleepy, but then the roommates were on skype and talking to them was more important than the shower I was in desperate need of taking.  They caught me up on all the happenings of Johnnie-Tommie Homecoming and I’m not gonna lie, having the Johnnies loose makes it easier to be away.  Then after a skype session with the parents, I showered quick, tried to clean my feet, and when to bed.  Thank the Lord baby Jesus that Elaine cancelled class for the next morning because I don't think we would have made it our the door in time.