Jul

7

A Day in Florence

Filed Under Italy, OU in Arezzo | Leave a Comment  | by

Ciao tutti! I hope you all are having wonderful air-conditioned days, wherever you are. Today was a lovely day with a heat that burned immensely. It was good times.

But really it was very fun. I liked Florence a lot when I was there with JTI and it was just as cool this time, especially since I actually knew where we were going almost all the time.

The day started off at 7:30 am at the train station in Arezzo. My host mother made me some breakfast and sent me off with a nice sack lunch (tuna sandwich. Yum!) and we left on the 7:45 am train to Florence.

Train stations are always busy.

It's like the lottery!

Arriving at the train station, we immediately made our way towards the Palazzo Rucellai, where we met up with a professor there who went to grad school with Professor Houston. He was pretty awesome and specialized in Renaissance history, so he had a lot to say about the political situation during the time.

It's a school now!

I don't know what's happening, but they're definitely Greek.

After looking around the Palazzo, we all headed to Santa Croce, though we stopped by some familiar sights on the way there. It didn’t even matter, because it was just as awesome the second time as it was the first. So we saw all this coolness.

The Duomo!

Municipal Building!

 

Church of Santa Croce!

And inside the church were…

The Tomb of Galileo!

And the Tomb of Michelangelo!

Following Santa Croce, we walked to San Lorenzo so that we could eat lunch and walk around the leather market. So we went inside the indoor market and ate, then walked into the chaos of the leather market outside. Some people spent all their money and literally had nothing left. Those who know me know that that did not happen to me.

After spending an hour and a half at the leather market, we met to go over to the Academia, where Michelangelo’s David is located. Once more, I was not able to take pictures, but it is just as impressive the second time as it is the first.

Then we all walked out and down the street, getting gelato at the place run by Sicilians. It was really good and their fruit and nut gelato were the best.

So those of us who were not staying the night walked over to the train station, hopped on the train, and headed home. I’ve had some chicken, green beans, and bread for dinner, and I’m probably just going to chill tonight. Florence was exhausting.

Interesting Stories of the Day:

  • So one of the girls realized when we got to Santa Croce that her purse was missing from her bag. Which has all of her money and credit card. So there was this mess with trying to cancel the card and stuff. Then we found out that the purse was found by the police on the train, so that was good. It’s still up in the air if all her stuff is in it, but at least it didn’t get far.
  • At the Palazzo Rucellai, there was a summer performing arts program going on with students from Santa Barbara in California. So we were treated to the lovely sounds of classical music as we toured the building.

They were very talented.

  • Also, there was the guy at the leather market that I bought something from and we got to talking. He asked what I was doing in Italy, and I told him I was studying Italian. He said that I should get Rosetta Stone because it’s a very good program. I told him that if I was going to get Rosetta Stone, I’d probably get it for Arabic and then he said, “Oh, you’re also studying Arabic? Ahlan.”And I just freaked out! He then pulls his computer out of nowhere and pulls up all the languages he has on Rosetta Stone. He had 27! It was ridiculous. His name was Matteo and he is now my new best friend.
A dopo!

 

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