Florence

In mid-November, I went to Florence to visit my best friend, Cara. She is studying there for the semester, and I knew I didn't want to miss out on the chance to see both her and the beautiful city where she lives! 

It was much cheaper to fly in to Pisa rather than Florence, so I decided to take advantage of my detour to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was a quick visit, but I'm definitely glad I got to see such a famous, beautiful structure. I was alone, so I didn't get to take the typical tourist "holding up the Leaning Tower" picture, but a nice American couple took a picture for me so I could remember my solo adventure. 

As I walked back through Pisa to the train station, I got one last shot of Pisa on the Arno River, the same river that flows through Florence. I caught a 5:30 train to Florence and finally arrived within an hour! I was beyond excited to see my best friend. My first impressions of Florence were great. Having been in Rome just the weekend before, it was easy to compare the architecture and feel. These cities have two completely different feels. Florence has truly beautiful and unique Renaissance architecture that includes colors like pink and dark green. It really gives the city a character unlike any other place I've been.

The Duomo- Florence's main cathedral

For the three mornings while I was in Florence, Cara and I had a fun, very Italian breakfast routine going. We went to little cafés and stood at the bar while eating pastries and drinking cappuccinos and caffe lattes! Food has been one of my favorite ways to experience each new culture and place I've been, and Florence had some of the best food I've eaten the whole semester.

After our breakfast on Friday morning, Cara showed me her school, lots of piazzas (plazas/squares throughout the city), and some shops, of course. We pretty much like to do all of the same things, so Cara knew just how to plan the weekend! Everything was really relaxed and we didn't stop catching up the whole time- we hadn't spent time together since MAY! 

We then made our way to the Ponte Vecchio, a stone-enclosed bridge that is lined with stores, like many bridges used to be. The majority of the shops along the Ponte Vecchio are high-end jewelry shops, and I'm sure those who know us can only imagine the fun Cara and I had window shopping. (Yes, only window shopping!)

View from Ponte Vecchio

As we were walking around the city some more, Cara pointed out the Gucci Museum, where she had already been. She promised me that she didn't mind going back if I wanted to go, and I just couldn't refuse such an amazing opportunity. Gucci was established in Florence, so it has very special meaning there. The Gucci museum is three stories tall and houses collections from Gucci's beginnings to today of luggage, handbags, clothing, evening gowns, shoes, and more. We ended up paying only 6 euros each for a private tour of the entire museum.

This experience is definitely something that sticks out in my mind of my whole experience abroad. Call me crazy in a city of some of the best collections of art, but standing next to exquisite gowns worn by Blake Lively, Cameron Diaz, and Salma Hayek was pretty much a dream come true. We finished off our tour with some tea at the Gucci Café... Yes, I just said that. Complete with small tea cookies and Gucci logo sugar cubes, it was perfect.

We walked over to the Leather Market, where I first had to overcome by germaphobia for a quick moment to rub the boar statue's nose to ensure I'll come back to Florence some day. I will gladly come back to this city- who's coming with me? Ben?

The Leather market was full of purses, jackets, belts, pashmina scarves, and so much more! I ended up just buying a pashmina, because I had found some leather boots earlier that day that I ended up buying. Cara and I used our best bartering skills and got the price of the pashmina down three euros. ;)

The trip just wouldn't have been complete without a stop at a carousel, where we enjoyed ourselves quite possibly more than the Italian 5-year-olds. 

Our next stop was the "Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella," one of the oldest pharmacies in the world. Opened in 1221 for monastery use, it has been open to the public since 1612. It was very grand, and Cara rightfully assumed that if anyone was going to love an old pharmacy, it was me!

For dinner, we went to an amazing, cozy restaurant called Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco. If anyone reading this goes to Florence, I HIGHLY recommend this place. It was delicious and felt very authentic. I had some pumpkin ravioli after searching for it in Rome the weekend before, and it was incredible.

 

After dinner, we met Cara's friends at a bar called "Art Bar," where the drinks truly are just that--pieces of art. They're all topped with basically a fruit sculpture, and my drink was delicious.

On Saturday, we woke up and went to the Accademia Gallery to see THE DAVID and some other amazing art. The David was way bigger than I imagined. All of the details were incredible, and Cara and I stood around it for a long time just observing.

We then met up with two of Cara's roommates at the food market to buy some ingredients to cook dinner in their apartment that night. My favorite part was getting the pasta. It was all homemade, of course, and we got to watch our pasta be sliced from a large sheet. We bought other fresh ingredients to make bolognese sauce, caprese salad, and broccoli. 

The market made us a little hungry, so we walked over to a popular sandwich shop. Its popularity was confirmed by a line of Italians that stretched down the block! We got a little red wine with our salami sandwiches and sat on the sidewalk to eat them- such a nice Italian moment.

We kept walking around and eventually made our way up to a beautiful rose garden and Piazza Michelangelo. Piazza Michelangelo is up on the top of a hill, so it holds an amazing view of the city. My host mom recommended going there for sunset, and we timed it just right! We laughed at ourselves because we were surrounded with couples asking us to take their pictures. It was a fun BFF moment, too!

That night, we made a nice Italian family dinner with Cara's friends. It all turned out great!

On my last day, Sunday, Cara and I took a little excursion out to a town just outside of Florence up on a hill called Fiesole. It was only about a 20 minute bus ride. I love seeing small towns, because they feel so authentic. There was a market with handmade goods and lots of little restaurants. We found a cute restaurant with an incredible view of Florence where we both enjoyed some "inside-out" pumpkin ravioli. I had been missing Fall a bit in Sevilla, and my weekend in Florence/Fiesole really helped me out! 

We trekked up to a monastery and looking point where we could see the entire city of Florence. I'm a real sucker for views of cities, and this view was unbeatable. It was a perfect last few hours in Florence.

One of my favorite pictures I've taken!

We went back to relax for a little before calling a cab to take me to the Florence airport! Traveling back proved to be pretty crazy... After an hour and 15 minute delay in Florence, my 1.5 hour layover in Barcelona was pushed to the test. Adding on the extra time of having to park outside the terminal and take a bus, I ran to my next gate only to arrive minutes after the doors were shut.

Thankfully, the airline put me up in a nice hotel by the airport and I left on the first flight in the morning. It was a big pain, especially because I was alone, but it was a great learning experience. That's what going abroad is all about, right?

I had an amazing time in Florence. Thank you for being a great tourguide & friend, Cara. I'll always remember our munchkin time in Florence. I'm so grateful to have had the chance to travel with my best friend!

A