The Magic of Florence!

Sorry I haven't written the past couple days! I've just been getting to know beautiful Florence!

On Tuesday I went to the Palazzo Vecchio and met two girls from Arkansas, Amanda and Tamara. They were signing up for the same tour as I was. It was fun to hang out with them a bit. They are both seniors in college...just having one last fling before they finished up. They invited me to go to dinner with them, but I was working on meeting up with someone that I'd met at church on Sunday.

Having a cell phone could be very handy! The only way I can contact people is through email. I had received an email from Mark, one of the expats I met at church on Sunday, offering to show me around Florence. He had mentioned the school he goes to and what time he got out of class...so, in a slightly stalker-esque fashion, I looked up the school and waited outside for him to finish. I looked at it this way: a) he thinks I'm a bit of a psycho for hunting him down like that, but at least I get to hang out with someone that night or b) I can worry that I appear like a stalker, not meet up with him, and spend the evening by myself in my hotel room since all the sights close around 6:30.

It's kinda fun not worrying what people think...you're only here for a short time, right? So, I went to the school, he showed me the art studio (it's an art school) and then we walked a bit around Florence. Mark showed me an awesome gelato place...and I had chocolate and cayenne gelato! It was awesome! We went over to the Palazzo Vecchio, sat in the piazza watching people, seeing the statues, commenting on the ridiculous rules imposed by the security guards (you're not allowed to sit cross-legged. You have to keep one foot on the ground, at least or they come over to you with their big dog and the guns strapped to their belt and point to you to put your feet on the ground). Strange.

After that, we met up with a girl named Liz who is studying Italian. She's from Texas. We went to a small trattoria "Il Gatto e il Volpe" and met another student from the art studio, Joe. He's a 50 or 60 year old man from Ireland. So, the four of us had a nice dinner...and the great thing about Italy is you just sit and relax. The waiters don't come and bother you...and you can stay at the table as long as you like. We were there for about 3 hours...just eating and talking about all sorts of things. Liz is a really skinny girl who can't drink a lot of alcohol...and Joe, being polite, kept filling her glass with the wine he'd bought. She just kept getting funnier and funnier as the night went on. She wasn't drunk, just very buzzed. I'm happy to be the observer and not the participant in those situations, though!

So we all left and walked our different directions. Liz got on the bus to head to her host home and Mark and I walked around the city. We walked over to the river Arno...the Ponte Vecchio is a pretty happening place at night. He explained why it was so important. It was the only bridge not blown up by the Allies during WWII. It is so old...dates back to the Medici in the 1400s...so they could cross the river without having to mix among the commoners. It was a fun evening!

The next day I went to The Uffizi, the art museum. I really enjoyed it. Sat there in front of Boticelli's Birth of Venus for a VERY long time. It was my favorite painting while I was growing up...and I just enjoyed seeing it...the real thing. Big and beautiful! The Uffizi isn't a very museum-goer-friendly museum. I was not as impressed as I was at the National Gallery...and I hear the Louvre is even more amazing. But, it was beautiful and a great way to spend the morning. I met Mark for lunch and had some awesome pasta and tomatoes with mozzarella and basil! Mmm...I'd lost weight in Barcelona, but I think it's coming back here in Italy!

In the afternoon, the hot afternoon, I went to the Duomo museum and the Duomo. Beautiful buildings! This morning I was going to go to the Palazzo Pitti...but I have kinda wasted the morning. I've gotta learn to NOT do internet in the mornings. Take advantage of the time to go see things...and do Internet at night.

Anyway, not anything too exciting. But, I'm really enjoying Florence! I could definitely live here...it's a fabulous small city!