Day 28: Thursday
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
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| Pont Vecchio and Florence |
