Excursion 1: Florence

~CLICK ANY OF THE PICTURES TO SEE THE FULL SIZE VERSION~

Before I talk about Florence, here's a little about my week leading up to the trip (and food). On Thursday night almost everybody in the program went out together to eat a four course Bolognese meal at an osteria.


Antipasti: Affettato Misto (a variety of cured meat slices) and pane (bread)
Primo Piatto: Lasagna Verdi (green lasagna or spinach Lasagna, pictured below)
Secondo Piatto: Maiale Arrosto (Roasted Pig)
Dolce: Tiramisu


Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious. As I was looking at the word Tiramisu on the menu, I realized for the first time that the word has a literal meaning in a Italian. Tirare (pull), mi (me), su (up), literally pull me up or pick me up. I was a little confused as to what this was referring to until I took my first bit of authentic Italian Tiramisu. It was like an espresso in dessert form. Aunt Beth - to answer your question as to whether it's better here or in the United States: definitely here.

On Saturday morning I checked out of Hotel Holiday and ate my last breakfast there. Before I came to Italy, I was really curious to what Italians ate for breakfast. This is a picture of the breakfast that they offered at the hotel. I really miss pancakes, eggs, and cold milk for my cereal, but I really enjoy the blood orange juice, the fresh bread, the variety of good cheeses, and nutella.


So...Florence. Over the weekend, me and 3 other BCSP students - Josh, Brandon, and Lorena - decided to go to Florence. We wanted to see the city before it was flooded with tourists in the spring and summer. Friday night we booked a hostel for only 13 euro a person. On Saturday morning we headed to the train station and took the high speed train (24 euro) which ended up being a 37 minute ride. In retrospect, taking the high speed train was completely unnecessary, but we were really excited to get there as early as possible, so we spent the extra money.

When we got off the train, the city seemed almost exactly like Bologna; however, as we walked toward the centro storico, I started noticing the differences. The most obvious thing was the weather. It was much warmer in Florence than in Bologna and there was sunshine (The sun doesn't show it's face very often in Bologna). The second thing I noticed was that the sidewalks were very narrow. In Bologna there are porticoes, which make the sidewalks 10 to 12 feet wide and protected from the rain/snow. Apparently, this is a very unique feature to Bologna, and I missed it very much as we walked around the city. The first picture below (taken during our walking tour around Bologna) shows how houses were built in Bologna, that is, with the top floors over hanging the lower ones and being supported by wooden beams. The second picture is of me and my classmates walking to school on the first day of classes - but it also happens to show some porticoes (pillars) on the left hand side, which resulted from the top floors becoming too large to be supported by wooden beams.

The last big difference that I noticed was that there were almost no Italians in the centro storico (more on this later). By the time we left we had probably seen more Americans than Italians. The bars and restaurants were filled with American students and tourists. It almost felt like an American city inside of Italy.

Anyway, as we walked down the narrow sidewalks toward the city center, the famous Duomo di Firenze came into sight - and I have to admit, it was very disappointing. This is my first view of il Duomo.

But as we walked toward it, I realized how far away we were. It just kept getting taller and taller, and as I rounded the corner and the entire Duomo was revealed I got goosebumps. It was absolutely breathtaking. I looked around at my friends and noticed that there mouths were open and their eyes were wide, and then I realized that my jaw had also dropped. I closed my mouth and snapped the photo below.

Afterwords, we saw most of the tourist attractions around the city, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures of most of my favorites. You'll just have to take my word for it Il David (Michelangelo's David), Santa Croce (The final resting place of Dante, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Galileo, Marconi, and Fermi among others), and the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) were all stunning. The first picture below is Santa Croce and the second is the view from Ponte Vecchio. Lorena has family in Firenze, has been there before, and knew a lot about art history, so we had our own personal tour guide through the city.

Next we climbed the Duomo's tower. Here are a couple of pictures I took of the view of Florence from it's tallest building.


The last thing we wanted to see was Piazzella Michelangelo. So, we bought some Tuscan wine (sorry mom) and took a bus to the original resting place of il David to sit, drink some good wine, eat some Lion Bars (Twix bars on steroids), and watch the sunset. It was bellissima (very, very beautiful) and my favorite part of the trip. Here are some pictures I took.


Then we walked back to town and ate a full meal at a nice trattoria (restaurants that generally serve high quality and high priced food), and then hung out in the bars until late. We stayed at a hostel (13 euro / person). On Sunday we walked around the outdoor market, saw a few of the smaller attractions that we missed on the first day, and caught the long train back to Bologna (only 5.40 euro!). Overall it had been an exhilarating and expensive trip. Below is me in front of the Duomo right before we left Florence - it almost seems like I'm standing in front of a green screen.


On the long train ride home, I came to realize that I like being in Bologna much better than Firenze (Florence). I can't argue that Firenze is incredibly gorgeous and the weather is much better than Bologna, but these things already seem superficial after being in the city for just two days. What I didn't like about the city was the atmosphere. Most everybody is a tourist, and almost all the Italians are there to cater to tourists. Prices are sky high, and nothing feels authentic. Everybody speaks almost perfect English! I'm really glad that I visited Firenze because of the breathtaking beauty, but all things considered, two days in Firenze was enough for me.

I'll also post some of my other favorite pics from the trip:

The outdoor market where they sell the good Firenze is famous for: seta (silk ties, scarfs, etc) and pelle (leather belts, wallets, purses, jackets, etc.).

Lorena and Josh at a Gelateria.

Brandon in the cloister of Chiesa della Santa Maria Novella.

And finally, a shoe being sold in the centro storico for 120 euro (almost 200 dollars), full adult size, with a storm tropper on it. They also come with Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker, or Princess Leah.

Hope you enjoyed the post. A dopo!!