Florence

(Sorry, I'm bad at this blogging thing and haven't really been on top of things, so sorry this is late)

Well Florence was probably my favorite stop of this whole trip. I absolutely loved the city! We stopped in Pisa first, and that was really cool. We got to the leaning tower around sunset and got to go up it. That was definitely a lot of fun, and a great stop before heading on into Florence. On the way into town we met these other American students who are studying in Florence. They had been out for the day and were taking the train back into town. They showed us how to get to our hostel, which was good because I don't know if we could have found it on our own haha. But the city itself is just beautiful. It's not very big, and it feels like a very genuine Italian city. I felt like Rome was very commercialized and built up for tourists, plus it's a big busy city. I loved Florence because it was smaller and it was just a neat city. There was a restaurant that advertised having the World's Best Pizza. We decided to stop and try it, and I disagree with the sign. Although it was good, I don't know if I'd say it was the world's best. But still very good.

We saw the Baptistry, the church of San Lorenzo, Santa Spirita, and all the major things we were supposed to see. One of my favorites was going up in the cupola, the dome built by Brunelleschi. After one of my classes at Clemson last semester, I felt obligated to go up in the dome since we spent about 1/3 of the semester studying this dome alone haha. It was awesome though. We had to walk the entire way...400something stairs, up then back down too. But it was worth it...beautiful views and a great place to be.

While walking through the streets we decided to stop at this little place and get some gelatto. The lady makes her own right there in the store, and you could tell! It was hot outside for the first time, plus we were close to the Mediterranean, so I had craving for a pina colada. Granted that's more of a Caribbean drink, but hey, it's close enough. And my pineapple and coconut gelatto was better than any pina colada I've ever had! Oh it was so good! I had a goal to eat gelatto every day from then out while we were in Italy, but I never found anything as good as that little store. Incredible gelatto.

Well Florence was my favorite city, and I wish we had more time to spend there. I loved it there...especially crossing the river to the Piazza de Michelangelo...incredible view of the city. You can see the Tuscan hills all around the city and it is just beautiful. If you ever have a chance to go to Europe, you have to stop in Florence for a day or two. I absolutely loved this city. I felt like I was really in Italy, surrounded by Italians, truly experiencing Italy for what it really is. I absolutely loved it!