We arrived in Florence at about 8PM and our first mission was to find a map of the city. After buying a map we found our way to the hostel. The hostel was not very far from the train station and it was near to many things in the city. We walked by the Duomo, the famous basilica in Florence on our way to the hostel. It was a breathtaking view at night!! After checking in to our hostel, and seeing our great accommodations!, we went out to grab something to eat and walk around a bit. We walked to the Arno River and sat by the river, enjoying the view, and chatting with each other.
On Saturday we all woke up relatively early and walked to the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. The walk there was nice because we were able to see a lot of Florence, and the weather was perfect! The church was so beautiful (as are pretty much all the churches that I've seen while here)! I waited with the one girl (Alissa) for a little outside the church; she wanted to go to the Brancacci Chapel that was attached to the church, but it wasn't open yet. As we waited we enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of Florence, the beautiful weather, and each other's company. After she visited the chapel we went to the Uffizi which is a very famous art museum in Florence. We spent most of our day at the Uffizi admiring the artwork (well, most of it!) and talking about our opinions of it. After we were finished in the Uffizi we went back to the hostel and relaxed for a little. The rest of the girls came back and we made a plan to go out to dinner in a few hours. All six of us had a very nice dinner together with fantastic food! Afterwards Alissa and I grabbed our cameras (we both have DSLR cameras that we love) and walked to Piazza Michaelangelo. From this Piazza you can see a FANTASTIC panoramic view of the city. We sat there for awhile enjoying, again, the beauty of the city, relaxing, and talking.
Girls having fun our first full day, posing after the statues
The David statue, not the real one
Love Locks
The beauty of the city!
Great view from Piazza Michaelangelo
On Sunday morning we walked around the city more. I spent a lot of time taking lots of pictures of the Duomo, and could have taken a million more. I thought it was such a fantastic looking building. We enjoyed finding a small market and sampling the food people were selling. After getting lunch we walked in some shops, around a piazza, got gelato and saw another church. It was amazing how all the churches were done in the same style on the outside. A very different style than anything I've seen before. The colors on the outside of all the churches in Florence were mainly white, green, and pink. Then we walked to the train station to get our train home.
The Baptistry across from Duomo
Another church, you can see the similarities to the Duomo
Overall the weekend was fabulous. I got to see lots of great things and was able to be in a city that made you feel completely relaxed at all times. I mentioned this before, but will say it again, if you have the opportunity to go to Florence, take it!! Or add it to your list, I felt the beauty of the city was such a contrast to Rome. Not saying that Rome is ugly, but Florence had a very very different feel to it. And it's in the Tuscany region so you can travel out to the country-side, or do a day trip to Pisa if you are there for a few days.
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