So what’s the best way to cap off an amazing weekend on the Italian coast? Studying for finals, of course! Honestly, I loved my Strategic Intelligence class, but I spent a very large portion of my time in Verona reading for it. However, on Tuesday night before my history exam, I had an epiphany: I’m only going to be in VERONA, ITALY for two and half more days, and instead of being holed up in the Residence, I should enjoy it. So I did. Granted, it was hard to convince people to do things with me, but I spent the last days before finals in or around the main area of the town– thank god it got me out of the Residence, which, while nice, could be kind of a depressing place. I guess what I’m saying is in 5 years, what am I going to remember more – being holed up studying in the Residence or sitting in an Italian café eating pizza on a summer night in Verona? I choose the latter. But aaaaanyway.
Piazza Erbe, the main square... I miss it.
A restaurant that I studied outside of... cool.
So with finals over, our time in Verona had come to an end. It was hard to believe that four weeks had passed so quickly… but before we even had time to think about it, we were on a bus on our way to our next destination. Our first stop was Florence, which is about a four-hour bus ride from Verona. As it turns out, our hotel was in a really good location, right next to the train station, which is just a stone’s throw from the major street market, the Duomo, and a few other old and cool buildings. We could even see part of the Duomo from our balcony… incredible. After we got settled in and unpacked, Martin took us on a short walking tour of the area surrounding the train station, just kind of showing us how to get to all of the major parts of Florence that were close by… on his bum leg and all. After that, a group of us decided that we had to go to the Academia museum, which most famously houses Michelangelo’s David – it wasn’t going to be on any of our tours, and about 7 or 8 of us didn’t want to miss it before it was too late. The entry fee was a little bit steep, but believe you me, it was worth it. The sheer magnitude of the David is incredible… Jackie and I walked in together to the room where he stands, and both of our jaws dropped. No pictures I’ve ever seen do it justice, and even in the gift shop afterwards looking at the postcards, nothing can capture it quite like seeing it in person. The detail involved is almost inconceivable… I now understand why Mikey (what our Italian history teacher called him) is considered a master. Apologies for not having pictures, but they didn’t allow them any pictures in the museum. Plus, if you care that much, just google it. Duh. Also, unrelated, but sorry for my excessive use of adjective in descriptions… Apparently the only descriptive words I know are “amazing,” “awesome,” and “so cool.” I’ll break out a thesaurus soon, I swear.
The view from our hotel in Florence.
Il duomo.
That night, we went out to eat at a little place on the other side of the train station that I found on the interwebz, and it turns out I made a good choice. There were about 18 of us, and we took up the entire front room of the restaurant. It was a family owned place (I believe it is called Trattoria Il Due G, if you’re visiting Florence anytime soon), and the food was amazing. I got artichoke stuffed lamb, and it was really really good… and surprisingly reasonably priced. Our waiter even pointed out his mom in the back who was making desserts, and I think that his dad and uncle were around too… a really cool, authentic experience that we all pretty much loved. And then bedtime.
One of our two tables in the restaurant... clearly we chose the right study abroad, at least in terms of food.
The next two days after that were a complete whirlwind. The first place we walked to was the Uffizi palace, which was built in the late 1500s by Vasari (there’s no shame in having to look him up) for the Medici family, the biggest family of rulers from the Renaissance era of Florence. Thanks Italian Renaissance and Reformation! We got to see an overwhelming amount of famous artwork, including Michelangelo’s only known painting, a bunch of Da Vincis (Annunciation, etc) and Giambalogna’s ‘Rape of the Sabine Women,’ a really cool sculpture that you should look up if you’ve never heard of it. According to Tony, our Renaissance professor, it’s more of a “tame rape,” as opposed to the later, more “active rape” statues. Because apparently some rapes are tamer than others? Silly me, I always thought rape was generally an active process… Shows what I know.
Yeah she's getting raped, but it's pretty tame, so it's ok.
A really cool street artist, recreating Michelangelo's only known painting. I'm impressed with him... but then again, I'm easily impressed.
Other than that, I think we just walked around Florence, got lunch, poked around some more, and then went back for a short nap. The whole city is pretty walkable, which was incredibly nice… we learned that with Rome, that’s not nearly as much of an option. Pretty much everything was within a 30 minute walk from the hotel, so if you got tired at all, it wasn’t too hard to go back for a nap. That afternoon, there were four of us that wanted to go to the Catholic service (in English) at the Duomo, which Martin told us would be at 6 o clock… so we show up at 6 o clock all dressed up, only to find that that tricksey Martin had misinformed us – Mass was at 5. As we walked back to hotel, sad and dejected, we came across a flier informing us of a very good happy hour deal at a bar not far from the hotel. Clearly divine intervention. So, being good Irish Catholics, we took advantage of it. A good time was had by all.
Ponte Vecchio... It's a really old bridge, and it was important a long time ago. That's about all you need to know.
The next day we had a walking tour with the same guide that had led us through the Uffizi palace the night before. Our group definitely got the better guide, I think. Plus, we were all more interested in the history and the tour than the other group was… they tended to always look pretty disengaged. Call me a nerd, but if I’m getting a personalized tour of a city as cool as Florence, I’m going to take advantage of it. Duh. There were a lot of really cool stories, many of which I had never heard before – like that Florence floods completely every once in a while. What? Since when? Apparently since forever, and it’s really destructive and happened in the 1970’s. Clearly it’s not THAT significant if it happened before 1989, but still pretty interesting (and sad).
A cool street in Florence. Neat.
I really, really wish I could remember the story to this tower... I'm pretty sure it's the oldest tower in Florence. Also, there was a story about some lady who had to marry some guy who she didn't want to marry so she was seeing this other guy but then she got sick and they buried her alive but she got out so she somehow got unburied and people thought she was a ghost but then her lover realized she wasn't so everything worked out in the end? Yeah, we'll go with that.
The rest of the day was similar… touring, shopping, gorging ourselves on food, etc. We went to a restaurant that someone had found out about, and I believe I got a pesto dish of some sort. I’m predictable, if nothing else.
The next morning, time for Rome! And a new blog… so prepare yourself. I know I’m behind, and have been back in the states for a while now, so sorry I’m so far behind… but hopefully in my down time I’ll be able to finish this out!
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