Italy: Florence Day One
After taking a quick break in D.C., we're back to Italy this week (and by "we," I mean the blog)!
After three beautiful days in Rome, Mike and I headed to Florence. In keeping with our previous day schedules, we woke up pre-dawn for a walk to the train station. That gave us a few good photo ops around Quirinale before jumping on the train.
The ride to Florence from Rome goes through typical Italian countryside filled with vineyards and farms. It was gorgeous. Some of us got to appreciate it more than others.
Since our train was so early, we had nearly an entire day to explore in Florence. I had booked a ticket to the Uffizi at noon, so we still had tons of time to walk around and grab a seriously delicious panino at 'Ino.
We grabbed our tickets at the Uffizi box office, where the lady told us that they were about to go on strike, so good luck being able to see anything for more than 30 minutes. Since we had things planned the rest of the day, we didn't really have a choice. Luckily, she was wrong and they never went on strike. The collection of Botticelli, Michelangelo, and tons of other masters like Parmigianino were impressive. Equally cool -- the views from the top of the museum over the Arno.
After the Uffizi, we checked out the nearby Duomo, Giotto Tower, and Baptistry. Since our tickets to climb to the top of the Duomo weren't until 6 p.m., we decided to climb the tower first and also check out the interiors of all of the surrounding buildings.
After climbing the Vatican and Giotto's Tower, I felt like I wanted to challenge myself, so I attempted to run (jog) up to the top of the Duomo. I was also desperately trying to catch the sunset. Mike met me several minutes later. #NoRegrets
We managed to catch a little bit of purple sky before it got completely dark and they closed the building.
We had a delicious Florentine meal at a restaurant that totally escapes me right now (apologies!).
All in all, a great first day in Staci's study abroad home!
-Jen
