Firenze!

BenaNotte! (its almost midnight here, 6pm for you all)

Sorry about missing the last three days, its been a bit hectic here at the Servi! So last time I blogged was monday at the casa I believe. So, tuesday was a bit boring just classes and what not. I love this trip but boy can the classes get a bit monotanous, we are in the same classroom from 8-3:30 with one lunch break and its all I can do to stay focused and not wander off! Anywho, tuesday a large group of fourteen of us went out to dinner at Restorantino Florentino (i think!) and I tried duck for the first time. Eh, not my fav and certainly not worth the eleven euro. So after I got espresso, and that made up for it. I also took out some money for our first excursion of the trip to Florence (I ended up not needing it at all but Id rather be safe than sorry). After that I packed and finished homework. Wednesday morning we only had one class (whoo hoo!) from 8:30 to 11:30 and then we broke for lunch and met back up at 12:15 to catch the bus from Sansepolcro to Arezzo to meet our train reservations. The bus ride was quite winedy so I fell asleep to avoid carsickness. After catching flies for an hour, Cathy woke me up by scaring the crud out of me and I was thoroughly embarassed that she saw me sleeping in a very ungraceful fashion (curled in a ball mouth wide open). After the bus we suited up and went to the trainstation. Cathy and Greg gave us the low down on the train system and tips/tricks to avoid catastrophe. We popped on the next train to Florence (firenze for you Italian speakers out there) and we were off! The train was wonderful and we slid the windows down, felt the breeze and caught some magnificent scenery on the way. Nikki, Spencer, Kiran, and I bopped to our ipods till we arrived about an hour later. So we arrived in Florence and got ready to go out there. Greg and Cathy put the fear of god in us so we all had our game faces on to dodge pickpocketers and gypsys. For me I locked all my large bag compartments and kept all the valuables to close to me in my purse. I also figured out a way to wear my purse under my backpack and then strap my backpack around my waist so that theifs would first have to unstrap me before getting my purse. I also carried all my big valuables in my handy dandy money belt (talk about uncomfortable) and an extra stash and my bag lock keys in a purse within my bra (thank you mom!). We than set out for the hour long walk to our hotel in Florence. I carefully took mental pictures of our route (which came in handy today) and we finally arrived at the hotel as hot, sweaty, and very unfriendly campers. After freshining up we walked downtown to see the piazza (think town square). BTW, ashley p. if you are reading this when we got to the Piazza Cathy and I belted out some Light in the Piazza just for you ;) I believe my exact words were, WERE ON VACATION!

In the piazza in downtown Florence there is a church called the Duomo. Its this super extravagent church that has a huge bell town and rounded ceiling. Ill include a pictureWe also passed the Uvitzie which is an art museum I went to today. After being shown the piazza we were released to do as we pleased so what did we do? Check out historical buildings you ask? WHY NO! we went shopping of course. I picked up some gifts for you lucky few ;) and got myself a t-shirt, leather bracelet, and a pashmina. We also stumbled into an H&M and I allowed myself a skirt since its been so unusually warm here and my poor black skirt is not going to make it at this rate. After finishing our barganing we headed back to the hotel and had a fabulous three course meal. The girls dragged me out and we found a local artistic type bar and gabbed for a bit. I unfortunately drank a small amount of beer made with corn (without knowing beforehand) and if any of you know me, I was punished for it all today. ù

So that brings us to today, I woke up very early and had breakfast before heading downtown again! This time the girls popped back into H&M for their purchases before we got in line to go inside the Duomo. The church was quite immense with this beautiful painting ceiling. Definetly, worth the wait. Some of the others in our group climbed the tower (something like 800 steps) and I decided I would sit that out. After peeping back into the market we had lunch, and met the rest of our group for our reservation at the Ufitizie museum. The museum is probably large enough that two days would be enough time to really take in everything, but we only had one so we crammed a whole museum into a little over two hours. The most well known painting that was housed there is "The birth of Venus" by Botticelli. Will include picture. Believe me it was even more than I could have imagined, and I was very dissapointed that pictures were forbidden anywhere in the museum. We also got to see some Rembrandts, DaVinci, and Michelangelo. It was gorgeous, but I was quite overwhelmed by the end of it. So after we finished it was 3:15 our time (9am yours) and we booked and I mean BOOKED it to the trainstation. Remember the hour long walk I memorized well we did a quasi version of it at 3:15 and got the train station and 3:40 (I called myself mother goose the whole way there leading people with the trusty help of my friend LO) We had just enough time to check in, get a drink, and carefully find and board our train for 4:08. The train ride was great. I fell asleep (mouth open again) and they all took pictures of me, I did some homework and we hopped on the 6:15 bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro. Although we were the last group to get home besides the professors around 7:20ish, it meant we had the most time in the museum which I thought was important. All in all, it was a scary and exciting trip. It was also great practice for our next trip, next week to Sorrento, Pompei, and Roma (rome)! Anywhoo, this is way too long. Hopefully not too boring! I miss and think of you all everyday. Trying not to be homesick!

Ciao,

SB