Today we visited one of my favorite cities in all of Italy, Florence! We woke up bright and early once again, and took a train ride to Florence. Once we arrived, we immediately made our way to the Duomo. An amazing site to see, the Piazza del Duomo consists of the Baptistery which is adorned with Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, the Cathedral with Brunelleschi's dome, and Giotto's Campanile. Each architectural structure is a site to see on their own, but all three combined make it a 360 degree wonder. From here we walked through Florence on a guided tour, visiting Dante's House, Or San Michele, and the famous Ponte Vecchio, a bridge overlooking the Arno River. Next we made our way to the Piazza della Signoria. Basically an outdoor museum, this square houses a copy of Michelangelo's David as well as several other interesting statues such as Hercules and Cacus, The Rape of the Sabine Women, and Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The piazza is towered over by the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florence town hall. After spending some time enjoying the statues and listening to the tour
guide, we headed over to a leather factory to watch a very interesting demonstration. Here we learned how to distinguish real leather from fake leather (I slyly hid my faux leather jacket). From there we split up, some people from the group had free time to explore Florence, others went to visit the Academia to see Michelangelo's David, while I joined another group which headed to the Uffizi Gallery. Here we saw some amazing art from Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo di Vinci, Durer, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other amazing artists. The room of Botticelli was definitely the highlight of the whole museum. At the end of the museum was a terrace with an amazing view of the city of Florence. Next we had some free time to explore Florence on our own. I went with a few other girls from our group to get some lunch at a restaurant just outside the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. I enjoyed my favorite Italian appetizer, bruschetta! Afterwards, we made our way back to the Duomo to meet up with the rest of the group. We took another train back to Rome where all of the girls from our group enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant just around the block from our hotel. We ended the night at a nice outdoor bar across the street from the hotel where we all enjoyed some drinks and toasted to such a wonderful trip thus far.
Today we visited one of my favorite cities in all of Italy, Florence! We woke up bright and early once again, and took a train ride to Florence. Once we arrived, we immediately made our way to the Duomo. An amazing site to see, the Piazza del Duomo consists of the Baptistery which is adorned with Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, the Cathedral with Brunelleschi's dome, and Giotto's Campanile. Each architectural structure is a site to see on their own, but all three combined make it a 360 degree wonder. From here we walked through Florence on a guided tour, visiting Dante's House, Or San Michele, and the famous Ponte Vecchio, a bridge overlooking the Arno River. Next we made our way to the Piazza della Signoria. Basically an outdoor museum, this square houses a copy of Michelangelo's David as well as several other interesting statues such as Hercules and Cacus, The Rape of the Sabine Women, and Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The piazza is towered over by the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florence town hall. After spending some time enjoying the statues and listening to the tour 
guide, we headed over to a leather factory to watch a very interesting demonstration. Here we learned how to distinguish real leather from fake leather (I slyly hid my faux leather jacket). From there we split up, some people from the group had free time to explore Florence, others went to visit the Academia to see Michelangelo's David, while I joined another group which headed to the Uffizi Gallery. Here we saw some amazing art from Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo di Vinci, Durer, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other amazing artists. The room of Botticelli was definitely the highlight of the whole museum. At the end of the museum was a terrace with an amazing view of the city of Florence. Next we had some free time to explore Florence on our own. I went with a few other girls from our group to get some lunch at a restaurant just outside the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. I enjoyed my favorite Italian appetizer, bruschetta! Afterwards, we made our way back to the Duomo to meet up with the rest of the group. We took another train back to Rome where all of the girls from our group enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant just around the block from our hotel. We ended the night at a nice outdoor bar across the street from the hotel where we all enjoyed some drinks and toasted to such a wonderful trip thus far.
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