Days 7-9
A Weekend in Florence
Part 1: This is what happened
This weekend I traveled with a few of my friends to the
lovely city of Firenze (us 'Mericans call it Florence). It was a 45 minute bus
ride to Pesaro* then a 2ish hour train ride to Faenza then another hourish to
Firenze, with a two hour layover between trains. Let me tell you it's not so
cookie cutter go in one direction.
We arrive in Firenze confused and directionally challenged.
We found an english speaking man and he helped us navigate to our hotel. Thank
goodness, other wise we would have been totally lost.
We stayed at a very cute hotel. The room was adequate for
the group I was with. There was one bathroom, which in girl culture meant we
all had to be as quick as we could putting on makeup and getting ready so
someone else could do the same.
After freshening up and settling down, we were finally ready
to explore Firenze in the late afternoon. The hotel was on the very edge of the
city so we started walking through streets. We had no idea where we were headed
and just explored random alleyways. On the main streets, the clothing shops
were designer and expensive, but we were able to find this adorable boutique
that sold hip and stylish clothes at a normal price. Since we were starving,
the group pledged that we would come back to this place.**
Later that night the group decided to head into town. We met
some other Americans, one of them was named Nigel*** and some really cool
Italians. Italians are so stylish. But what I don’t understand is that they
wear pants and long sleeved shirts in toasty weather. The other day one of the
interpreters was wearing jeans, a sweater, and a scarf in 70 degree weather.
What…? I don’t understand why they aren’t dying of heat. Maybe that’s why they
are so skinny: they sweat off their weight and more.
We ended the night with kabobs and a restful sleep.
The next morning we woke up to eat breakfast. For the first
time in Italy I was actually impressed by the breakfast food. They had orange
juice, yogurt, cereal, plenty of bread (as usual), and coffee (also as usual).
Saturday morning we headed out to see some sights. Our first
stop was the Duomo****. The moment I
saw it, my jaw dropped. It was huge. And impressive. We found the ticket
line, but after we waited for about 20 minutes, the person at the front would
not let two of my friends in. Some of us were wearing dresses, and that was
fine, but the other two were wearing shorts, and in the Catholic church I guess
we would go to hell if we stepped inside without longer articles of clothing.
So we headed to another ticket place and were able to find activities that
pantsless people could do.
Our first order of business was to climb the Bell Tower.
This building was over 300 steps, narrow, and sweaty. But the view was of the
entire city and the Duomo.
There were more English speaking people in Firenze than I
thought. I went up to a man, showed him my camera, and said, “poso?” It
translates to “may I?” I meant to ask him to take a picture, but it didn't
matter because he didn't understand. I quickly switched over to English and
asked him to take a group photo. Most of the waiters and storeowners knew a
decent amount of English, which was also helpful getting around the city.
The group headed over to another church and then ate pizza
for lunch. After that, we headed to the famous Firenze bridge and had a mini
photo shoot. We got gelato and headed back to our hotel. It was hot and
everyone was exhausted. The moment I laid down, back to the bed, I folded my
hands across my chest and passed out. I didn’t even take off my shoes. The
classic dad nap.
Then we walked around and kinda shopped. It was more like
looking into shops, but not being happy about the prices. I had my heart set on
finding that cute boutique from the prior day to spend my money at. After
searching and searching for this store we finally found it! I bought a teal
maxi skirt and I will rock it.
Before calling it a day the group headed to the Hard Rock
Café. We craved something American. The waiters were really chill and we had a
casual time before heading back home.
Sunday woke up and had another great breakfast. The group
tried going to see David, but the line took forever and we had to catch the
train. Instead we got Subway and stopped by a church on our way to the train
station.
*That was one of the oddest cultural moments I have
encountered. The bus to Pesaro was a double decker. Luckily my group came early
enough to get a seat. There was a group of friends who sat around us and some
of them arrived late to the bus. Instead of not getting on, people sat on each
other's laps or in the aisle. I guess it's not that crazy, but at 8am I was like wow,
no one better sit on this girl's lap.
**This store was hard to find again. We walked up and down
streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful clothes in the shop,
literally it took all day.
***Who the hell names their kid Nigel???
****Also called the Basilica
di Santa Maria del Fiore, or in English, "Basilica of Saint
Mary of the Flower"
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