european adventure: italy... florence.

may 3:

so earlier on this day we went had left ostia to head into florence.  the bus ride there was hot and long, but eventually we made it after a stop into some lovely town on the way...  there was a gorgeous cathedral there.

and we got some great food. naturally.

and would you check out the view!  it made the bus rides so much better.

then we headed the rest of the way into florence and made it to our hostel.  if you know what bridge you are on in florence you can basically find wherever you need to be.

^^this is the main bridge that we used during our stay in florence.  we were headed left and our hostel would be to the right.  the famous ponte de vecchio is two bridges up ahead.  the one with houses and such on it!^^ 

our hostel fit nine girls.  we only had six though!  and get this,  everyone in hostels have to share a community bathroom, but lucky us, we got our own private bathroom hooked on to our own room.  four showers, two bathrooms.  it was much better than having to share two and two with an entire floor.

after checking into the hostel and all that jazz the first thing we did was go to the academy.  the first couple of rooms are just filled with paintings and such.  then you turn the corner and there is a long isle of about eight non-completed sculptures on each side.  then in the middle and at the end of the isle is michaelangelo's david.  oh, my.  amazing.  david is the symbol of florence.  because florence defeated rome.  florence being the smaller and less powerful that defeated the greater power.  he was amazing.  after the academy we walked to where the uffizi was.  because that's where we would be meeting tomorrow morning as a group.

so we had the rest of the evening for ourselves to wander and get lost and such.  naturally we ate, because that's what seemed natural in the case of we were lost and there was a shawarma shop right in front of us.  yum.  i drool just thinking about it again.  basically they call them kebabs or donor kebabs.  whatever that means.  but who cares.  they are delish.

^^man, oh man!  i LOVE shawarma.^^

we found the gates of paradise.

they are right across from the duomo.

^^the dome doesn't look that high in pictures, but wait till i had to climb it!^^

we got some gelato.  surprise, surprise, right?  then we headed back to the hostel, found some street performers on the way back and then off to bed.

may 4:

we woke up at six ish... the earlyness never ends.  we went to the uffizi museum as a group.  then we had free time for the rest of the day.  i think the teachers must have been getting sick of us.. because in london we spent all the time together as a group.  and as the trip went on they would only plan one group activity then send us off on our separate ways and hopefully no one would get lost.  oh, total side note.  this girl got lost in rome!! hahahahahaha.  call me a bully for laughing.  but you know those people that just have bad karma coming there way... well i just kept waiting for it to come and it did.  anyway.  the uffizi is amazing.  i feel like i say everything is amazing.  but that's because it is.  stacy and i kind of hung around each other in this museum.  we were in there foreverrrrr.  but the nerdy art student in me came out and it was paradise to be there.  i'll save you the long gory details of the millions of pieces i looooved in there.  so after the uffizi we got some breakfast.  we got some pizza.  please don't judge.  it is soo good because everything is so so fresh.  i could eat italian pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life.  after our tummies were full we walked to the santa maria novella.

^^walking to the santa maria novella^^

^^surprised?  we got gelato.^^

^^in the plaza right in front of santa maria novella!^^

inside of there was the cross by brunelleski.

^^this is the cloister.^^

and this church was one of my research pieces for one of the credits i was taking.  so i was so excited to go there.  naturally it was amazing.  the italians definitely had a neat style of building their basillicas and cathedrals, much different from the french style.  they used gorgeous colored marble and its just beautiful.  taylor, stacy, vanessa and i hit up the markets!!!!

can you say shoppers heaven?!  it was a three way street of tents and tents of markets. it reminded me of the black markets in vietnam, except a ton more organized.  i got some ties and scarfs.. and a wallet.. and some bracelets... and debated on a purse... and i really love shopping.  we ate lunch at a cute little shop that one of our teacher goes to every year that he visits.  the couple who owns the shop are adorable together.  they were the best sandwiches on the block!

after lunch we got gelato...... yummmmmm.  okay. i realize that i have an obsession and i'm trying to work on it.  so by the time we got to the front of the line to climb the duomo we were through eating our gelato.

then i got all sorts of hyper and we started climbing up the four hundred and sixty three stairs to the top!  basically the stairs were steep and dark.

^^blurry, i know.^^

then we came out on the inside of the dome.  and you can see how high up you actually are.

now, fun fact of hte day about morgan..  I HATE HEIGHTS!!!  they are so so frightening to me.  but i had already gone this far.. but i sort of wanted to cry, or pee my pants, or magically grow a pair of wings in case the glass casing cracked or broke and we all fell to our death.  dramatic much?  i know!  but that's what i was feeling.  so you have to walk around the inside of the dome from one side to the other.  that may not seem like much, but when the wood planks that you are walking on squeak every time you are on them it feels like forever.  then you get to the other side, where you walk through another door that leads to another tunnel that is even more narrow than the other side.  it also i darker.  oh, and not to mention there is more stairs.  yikes.

the gelato effects were now starting to die off, and i was now feeling butterflies instead of the happy-go-lucky feeling that gelato gives you.  you come out quite the tiny square hole when you finally get to the top.

i was definitely shaking.  but i made it.  congratulations to me!  it was definitely worth it.  you could see the entire city.  so beautiful.  we sat on a bench and just embraced the fact that we were in florence.  italy was beautiful.  such an amazing view.

then you had to walk back the same way you came...... don't worry.  i made it.  barely.

^^so we ended up climbing to where the light is coming from.  and can you say scary that the only thing as railing is that glass??^^

we sat outside for a bit on a curb while we figured out what we wanted to do next.  we found this adorable couple and probably one of the coolest art teachers i have ever seen.

^^this would be the adorable couple^^ 

^^annnd.. this would be the awesome art teacher.^^

^^there is art like this on literally every street like it is no big deal at all.  love that.^^

then we went to the medici palace.  the medici's were a wealthy italian family that commissioned many great artist during that time.  we got to walk through the entire house.  they had gorgeous wallpaper, fresco's, statues and paintings.  it would have been so awesome to live there.  there was a donatello and michaelangelo piece in the first room we went in.  among other things.

^^secret door!^^^

^^this picture has no purpose, other than mr. mc-sexy in the jeans and white t-shirt smelled kind of like heaven with a drop of amazing.^^ 

^^drawing of what it would have looked like at its high point of the room below...^^

^^this was the piece michaelangelo was commissioned for.^^

then we had a private guitar concert set up for us.  he was a guy that one of our teachers found several years ago as a street performer, and now he is doing so well and making cd's and such.  except.. i forgot his name.  this is the view we got every night too...

^^oh... and i had some gelato.  black cherry and dark chocolate...
i was skeptical at first.. but dang, it was to die for!!!^^

tonight was the first night that i actually talked to my family as well.  whoops.  but who has time to get on face book when there is too many other things to do?!  but that was fun to talk to them.  good way to end the night.

may 5:

so we woke up early.. crepes and waffles for breakfast!!

then we got to go to church at the basilica of santa croce.  croce means cross.  i'm not really sure what santa means.  maybe jolly.  we went to mass there.  it was lovely.  its neat to see what other religions do and believe.  except the only thing i could understand was the amens.

there were some fun street performers and cute little birds.

we went to some museum..  and i honestly can't remember what it's called.  but it was an old italian house that was transformed into a museum.  it had a lot of gorgeous statues and such.  and i hate to admit it... but we went back to the hostel to take a nap.  i know, i know!  i gave into temptation.  but it was only a nap for an hour and then we hit the city again.  holly went to a modern art museum for a bit why stacy, taylor and i explored.  we found a cute little restaurant by some cute little church.  which we were going to go eat in a little while... but when in rome!  or florence.

^^lemon and kiwi. best combo in all the land.^^

then we met back up with everyone in front of the gorgeous santa maria novella.  all forty-four students, four teachers, and three of their wives.   i feel bad for the restaurant that we went to.  and whoever was scheduled to work that night.  i got a four cheese pasta that was so so yummy!  delish.

^^so the two long skinny tables behind us on the circle table, and there was another long skinny table behind us!  i really really reallllly feel bad for the worker that night. ^^

then we walked the streets of florence for our last night.  we talked on the ponte de vecchio.  that is my favorite bridge.

then it was back to the hostel and off to bed.  but one last thing of gelato at the shop near our hostel.  it was so dang cheap too that we always stopped there!!  if you couldn't tell by now.