Fun in Firenze

Thursday, October 7th
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Waking up Thursday morning was quite the feat; after scaling mountains for two and a half hours and a night of fun with friends, our 8AM wake-up call was jolting. Although we were all still exhausted, the travelers in us managed to pull ourselves out of bed and get dressed before grabbing a quick breakfast of cappuccinos and croissants at a café across the street. Afterwards, the four of us started making our way towards the river, of course being distracted by markets and shopping along the way. Before we even had sight of water, we all had managed to buy a few leather bracelets (a specialty in Florence) and a few gorgeous patterned scarves (I regret not buying more looking back). Using Carolyn as our GPS (we didn’t have a map… no idea how she does it!) we meandered through the streets of Florence, finding many charming piazzas and plazas, one full of a cathedral, statues, and marble busts, another full of leather vendors. Around 10 o’clock we reached the river, and after a few photos, made our away across into the more traditional areas of Florence. Our destination was the Piazza de Michelangelo; little did we know it involved hundreds of stairs to climb. After our mountain scaling the day before, our calves and thighs were already permanently aching, so we figured what the heck. Thank goodness we made the trek, because the views from the top were absolutely phenomenal. The expanse of Florence laid directly in front of us, from the Ponte Vecchio to the Duomo and from the Santa Cruce cathedral to the Italian country side. We took many pictures (and asked a few strangers to take some as well) before heading back down the stairs to search for the “Rose Gardens.” Long story short, no such thing. Well, we sure didn’t see any roses anywhere at least. In any event, it was a nice stroll and we got to see some more panoramic views of Florence.

 By this point it was about 11:30 and our Italian stomachs were grumbling, so we decided to head back over the river to grab some lunch at a restaurant we had spotted the night before. Instead of going back the way we came, however, we decided to cross via the Ponte Vecchio. So gorgeous (and so many tempting jewelry stores)! After a delicious lunch (arguably the best meal we had in Italy… homemade gnocchi with a tomato and buffalo mozzarella sauce and margherita pizza with pesto on top).....

 .....we decided to try and find Vivoli, the amazing gelato place from the night before. After about only one wrong turn, we successfully found it (our food intuition is incredible). Apparently, word had gotten out because in a matter of 5 minutes we saw three girls from our building, and two others on our program who go to Wake! Now imagine how good that gelato must have been…
After we finished gorging ourselves, we decided to move on to our next love: shopping. One of the girls from Wake told us about an amazing market near the Academia, so we set out looking. After a few run-arounds, we found what looked like endless rows of tents, full of leather, jewelry, scarves, and souvenirs. Carolyn bought a few things for her mom and sisters, while our friend Maggie found a beautiful coral necklace. The highlight of my market experience was when one of the vendors asked me if I was British! (Before I answered him, obviously). By this point it was about 3 o’clock and we had plans to meet up with Brittany at the Duomo around 3:30. But first, we stopped at a small café for coffee to refuel (and Ashley’s second gelato of the day!).
We met Brittany inside the Cathedral where we were given a free tour by a NYU student. He pointed out several interesting details, including how the dome was built inside of the cathedral and then pulled up from inside (no idea how they did that in the 1400’s!).

The tour was just long enough to point out all the important facts while still holding our attention after a long day. Afterwards, Brittany showed us where they have their classes, in addition to their favorite department store “Coin,” before heading back towards the train station. From there, we met up with Pam at a café right across the street from our B&B where we all enjoyed our first Italian cannolis! Ah-mazing.

Before we knew it, 5:30 had arrived and we all said our good-byes to Brittany and Pam before collecting our bags from across the street. We made the 5-minute trek to the train station before boarding the (really nice) train to Rome. Less than two hours later, we had arrived in ROMA! Just as convenient as our B&B in Florence, our accommodation here was only 3-minutes (if that) from the Termini station. Upon our arrival, the man who owned the B&B (Luigi!) greeted us with a complimentary bottle of wine and a thorough briefing of what to see in the city, including what number buses to take. His guidance and suggestions definitely came in handy over the next 48 hours.
By this point, we were all starving (can you believe it!?) so we headed to the restaurant literally steps from our doorway for another delicious Italian meal, including an incredible flatbread with olive oil, salt, and rosemary. After our late dinner, all our sweet tooths all kicked in so we started the search for gelato. Unfortunately, we only found ice cream (but of course didn’t turn it down!). By the time we got back it was past 10 and we were all beyond the point of exhaustion. As soon as our friend Katie arrived from the airport, we were all out for the count. Another full day of sight-seeing tomorrow!
    xo LC