seekingmygreaterperhaps

FIRENZE! Home of great Italian leather markets, famous pieces of art, awesome pasta and the land of tourists. But it’s beautiful, so the destination is worthwhile.

The famous- Ponte Vecchio.

I arrived in Florence on a night train from Ljubljana- that’s a whole different story. I was weary and barely awake, but was excited to be in Italy- the land of one of my favorite cuisines. My first glimpes out the train window were of the foggy mist climbing around the mountains- and it was exsquisite.

Arriving at my hostel at 7am, when the room wasn’t available until 2pm put me in a pickle. I really would’ve killed for a nap, but that wasn’t happening, so I made the most of it and set into Florence. Walking around the Duomo, I found myself at the Uffizi Gallery, one of the most famous for Italian Renaissance art in the world. It was then that I decided to wait in line for almost 2 hours with 3 cheery South African women. The waiting was the worst. But I’m glad I made some friends to pass the time with. (We eventually bit the bullet and paid to skip the line, where we then went to get gelato before entering the museum.) The museum was sprawling and impressive. However, I should have gone when I was in a better state of mind, because I would look at the art and be like- whoa cool, and then move on. I attribute this mostly to being sleep deprived.

The most famous piece in the museum- The Birth of Venus by Boticelli. Yep, been there, selfie-ed with that.

After walking around like a zombie until I could finally take a nap, I met a few girls in my hostel. A lot of foreign American students who are studying abroad have their Easter/ spring break right now, so the hostel was full of them. The first group I met was alright, but not exactly my “type” of people. Lucky for me, I met another girl named Page who turned into an awesome companion in Florence. Her roommate Andrea would later join us, and overall enhance my Florence experience tremendously. (In case they ever read this, I wanted to give them a shoutout… here is to hoping!) That night me and Page purchased some Italian wine from the grocery store and held our own sort of party. I cooked my first real person meal while abroad and felt very domestic.

With these two women at my side, we conquered the Galleria dell’ Academia, which is home to the famous sculpture– The David by Michelangelo.

If the Mona Lisa was smaller than I expected, David is definitely wayyyy bigger than I expected. When I was later looking at him, I was debating on if 4 or 5 people stood on each other’s heads, which one would he equivalate to. The level of detail on this thing is impressive too. My favorite part was the veins. If you stare at his hands or his neck, you can see the veins underneath his skin. (or carved that way, but still)

Next we all ate lunch at this huge marketplace- which was crazy on a Sunday afternoon. It took us 45 minutes to find a table to sit on, and then another half hour to actually aquire food, but well worth it. I dined on some sort of bean soup and croquettes.

My best friend Halle studied abroad in Florence for a semester last spring. She wrote me a series of letters, and one of them was “open when you get to Florence. Ciao bella!” Inside this letter was a series of very explicit instructions on how to get to where she lived, and more importantly, her favorite gelato place (and a 5 euro bill to cover said gelato). She offered a suggestion of the best flavors, which I obediantly followed and was not disappointed.

After this, we made a very successful outing to the infamous leather market, where there is more genuine leather than I have ever seen in my life. I decided to “treat my self” and purchased 2 lovely purses. One of them is… larger, so I am testing it out to see if I will need to mail it home or if I can keep it. I bought it as my first “big girl purse” to take to class when I start graduate school in the fall. Not that I need to defend my purchases, but there I go. I also bought a super cute teal purse that’s smaller because I liked it.

We ended our advenure in Florence by watching the sunset from the top of the Piazza Michelangelo while drinking Limoncello. Basically, it was perfect. I am super glad I found friends to carry on with, and had great weather, and had an awesome time in Florence. Thanks for the recommendations Halle.

Oh and the reason Charlie’s Angels are mentioned? In one leather shop, the salesman was trying to enrapture all 3 of us, and he dubbed us the Charlie’s Angels of Florence.