Florence - Firenze

Tuesday began the first day of our second class trip (the first was to Venice in January – AH so long ago) around Southern Italy. I had an early start when a few of us woke up at 4am to watch the National Championship game, Go Duke! We had breakfast and left on the bus around 6am for Florence. Since we were on a class trip we got to actually stay in hotels and not hostels. It was really nice and right next to the Duomo! We had lunch when we got there and then followed our teacher around for a while learning about the historical sites nearby. Luckily that didn't take too long and we were allowed free time the rest of the afternoon. I walked across the Ponte Vecchio bridge (which is famous for amazing jewelry) and around the main Piazza. Late afternoon was spent at the Leather Market = rows and rows of stands with leather products all made in Firenze, they are very famous for their leather. We had a group dinner that night at a really good restaurant and then went to an Irish Pub FILLED with American students- apparently, they are all over Florence.

Wednesday we had another early morning to get to Siena, a close by town that relates to the Romans…what one of our classes is about. We mostly just milled around their on our own and then left to head back to Florence around 1pm. We had a free day the rest of the day and Kate and I went on a run by the Arno river, which runs through Florence. We met up with a few others around 7 and rushed to the Piazza Michelangelo which is on top of a hill with live music and amazing views of the city. We just missed the sunset but it was gorgeous regardless. Afterwards we had dinner near to the hotel and turned in fairly early.