experience: FLORENCE

I didn’t think anything in Italy could rival Venice. THEN I showed up in Florence! If I had to choose on European city that fits me as a human the most perfectly, I think it would be Florence. [Or maybe I just love it so much that I am letting myself believe that… haha] Florence provides the most perfect blend of Italian charm—the energy of a city, the organics of the countryside, and a rich history rooted in the arts. The city sets itself apart from all others even in its color palette—whereas Paris is dominated by creamy colors, Florence is made up of deep browns, rich tans, and dark mustards. The warm tones fit in ridiculously well with the huge amount of greenery that exists in Florence, especially around the Adono River (like the Seine, but more wild and organic!) I guess I’d have to say that Florence is the most earthy of all the cities I’ve visited, and I just can’t even tell you how much

I loved existing there for the few days I did.

ramblings on our florence adventures:

-- showed up at the train station and had to lug our ridiculous amounts of luggage across the city in the SCATHING ITALIAN HEAT [we were literally swimming in our sweat by the time we finally found the hostel…]

--showered and met up with friends, all who are studying in spain this summer

--ate dinner… MORE ITALIAN PIZZA [if you can imagine…]

--oooh, and then GELATO [obviously…]

--so exciting to be paying for things in florence, where everything is literally HALF the price of stuff in paris [and cheaper than venice!]

--found an internet café, where we spent the night working on our final papers for our french history class [even though our time in paris was over, our studies WERE NOT! booooooo…]

--slept in, rolled out of bed, grabbed a map from the lobby of our hostel, and went exploring!

--spent time in the piazza de signoria, a huge city square filled with sculptures and art… imitated some of the statues and had strangers photograph us

--visited the duomo, which has a façade unlike anything I’ve seen before [it’s a bizarre blend of pink and green tones with ornate detailing and design…]

--seeing michaelangelo’s david! THE david! *HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP/SUMMER/MY LIFE* we stood in line for a good hour and a half [in the same scathing italian heat I mentioned before], then finally entered the museum, paid for our ticket [my one splurge in florence…] and headed to the exhibit. it was SUCH a great experience that i think I’m going to make a whole post about it later… ooooh, SOOOOO GOOD.

--spent more time wandering through places like piazza pitti and piazza santa croce.. every piazza has something new to offer! [piazza = public square, fyi]

--explored the local art galleries [surprise!], found one of the BEST photography galleries I’ve visited [a really impressive collector of photography books, which i just adore…] they had a number of my favorite american photographers, many who I studied in class during my spring semester, and I was certainly in heaven for a little bit. a lotta bit, actually. =]

--saw some street artists chalking BEATIFUL renditions of paintings onto the sidewalk

--more gelato, obviously

--walked up to the michaelangelo piazza, which is located on an incredible hill on the outskirts of the city... it provides a BREATHTAKING VIEW of florence. we could see the river, the duomo, the mountains, the EVERYTHING.

--saw a bride and her photographer … what a lucky duck to be getting married in a city so charming as florence!

--found a funky part of town where the streets are steep and windy, enjoyed a pleasant stroll

--were treated to dinner by one of kiet’s friends [and a fellow yalie] and a bunch of international fashion design students (from austria, belgium, america, china, switzerland, and brazil, respectively)… the restaurant, called moyo’s, was SO GREAT because all of the food was free… for real. they only charge for drinks. since I don’t drink, i simply bought an orange juice and proceeded to FEAST on a buffet of great food for an hour or two. they served sushi, which made me quite happy… i’ve been craving sushi hardcore for a week or two…

--wandered back to piazza della signoria, where i sat and listened to a beautiful flutist. listening to street performers is easily one of my favorite things to do while traveling. how ridiculously awesome is it that a person can just start making noises and suddenly hundreds of people are surrounding him to abandon all plans for the night and just enjoy the moment? it does my heart good. =]

--sat on the banks of the adono river to watch the sun set, laid in the grass till dark, watched the stars for a bit, then wandered back over the ponte vecchio bridge toward our hostel [one of the best bridges in the world! covered in gelato shops and jewlery stores, which sounds tacky but totally isn't...]

--tried working on our papers more, which were due the next day, but TOTALLY FAILED and fell asleep…

--woke up, laughed at how much work we were going to have to do on the train to rome, rushed to the train station, and bid the firenze goodbye!

i will someday go back to florence and spend daaaays there. it stole a piece of my heart, one that i happilly gave up! that sound so dramatic... but it's so true.

good stuff.

=]