Florence, Italy

I will be in Denver 1 week from today. Crazy.

It's been an amazing summer, and though it's been a lot of work and there have been some tough situations, I'm the least ready to leave that I've ever been...and that's a good feeling.

I just returned from my weekend-off in Florence. I went with a counselor here, Rachel, a girl I've connected with the most out of everyone. 

Like everyone said it would be, Florence was of course wonderful. 

Not my favorite place in Italy - that is either Venice or Cinqueterre - but great. 

Here it is in pictures:

The Arno River - splits the city in half and has beautiful bridges over it like this one - the Ponte Vecchio

The famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. I could, and did, look at it for hours. The things on it that look like houses are shops now.

Ponte Vecchio at night

Our first night was one of my favorites - we aimlessly walked around just trying to get a feel for the city. We ended up in one of the main squares, Piazza Republicca, and got a front row table at a decently priced restaurant, to eat pizza, drink wine, and people watch. 

The Duomo. Every major city in Italy has one, but this one is so big, and one of the most famous due to it being the location of the beginning of the Renaissance.
 

This man playing the accordion was a common sight and sound, making the experience so dream-like!

 We laid in piazzas every night, just taking it all in.

There was a piazza called Piazza Michelangelo that was at the top of a hill and you could see all of Florence from up there! (Kinda looks like DC right?!)

 The top of a department store in a piazza where we rested and got coffees twice. 

We saw the real David, it was amazingly detailed, much more impressive than the Mona Lisa in Paris. And then we saw many fake Davids, people dressed up like him in the streets!

Paris and Florence both have beaches on their rivers - the mayor brings in sand for the people of the city and makes a portion of the river a beach. I think they should do that in DC!

 I bought a common dress on the street - one that everyone was wearing. I hoped that it would make me look less American (though it probably made me look more American because it was a Euro-tourist dress) but alas, the next store I went into and said "Grazie! Arrivederci!" the man still said "You're welcome, goodbye." Sigh. 

Thank you Florence for a great weekend!!