Firenze

This weekend marked our trip to Florence. Overall it was relaxing and artistically satisfying.

     Florence this weekend was jolly good fun. We had a much more relaxed itinerary than we did in Rome - in fact, the only things we actually had set times for were the Uffizi and the Accademia, both of which were splendid (although photography is prohibited there... sorry, guys!). We just got back from watching the World Cup Finals.... No comment. It's nice to know that at least people here love soccer enough to keep watching the games adamantly even though their country is not in the running. 

     So essentially with our first day in Florence we arrived, checked into our hostel (Plus Florence - it was very nice), and toured the city along with the Uffizi Gallery. I wish my mom would have been there with me to tell me about all of the artwork I saw. However I did remember a lot of the art from those art history videos on the Renaissance that she made me watch before I left. Better than nothing?

Florence from Piazza Michelangelo. 

Our hostel was about a 20 minute walk to the right of the Duomo...

Ponte Vecchio

     Our second day in Firenze was equally as relaxed, with only the Accademia scheduled for the day. The Accademia was great, however we spent most of the day just walking around and enjoying the city without much of an itinerary... and for good reason; the high was 97 degrees both days. In the Accademia, I particularly enjoyed their Instrument Museum, which had a collection of Renaissance-period violins, cellos, pianos, and mystery instruments.

Eating Well, Snapping Pictures Often

"Ciao!!"

     This morning I checked the weather in Paris for practical reasons for the first time in my life. I am so excited.I am also excited to see that it is a full 20 degrees cooler in Paris than it is here (where we'll be in the high 90s all week). Wooo 70s!

     It's going to be difficult to make a language swap back over to French from Italian. Hopefully some solid review this week before our trip will spark my memory, although I hear that a larger percentage of people in France speak English than in Italy. We'll see!

     Oh one last thing! I am happy to report that my beloved old roomie Regan is going to be joining us in France when we go! She is staying in our hotel with us and splitting the cost of living for a few nights. We are so excited to have her with us!

That's all for now! Ciaoo!