Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Spring Break: Florence (Feb. 28- Mar.3)

Hello everybody!

My spring break was so amazing. I decided I am going to split this blog entry up into the different towns we stayed in. I will start with Firenze, then Lucca, and then Perugia. I had a chance to see a lot and do a lot with my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Mark. I will do my best to get every detail in each entry and include pictures.

Thursday, February 28:
Thursday was my last day of midterms. I had alread completed my Photography, Contemporary Art, and Italian midterms the day before and only had my Italian Reniassance test left. After I had gotten that over with I met my aunt and uncle at the Hotel degli Orafi. The hotel was like a palace so it was fun to get to relax and live like royalty. We headed to the Pitti Palace once I was done with my midterms. The Boboli Gardens were alread closed so we were only able to get into the palace but that took up most of the night anyways. There was plenty of art to look at. The Pitti Palace is one of my favorite places to visit so I didn't mind being there for my second time. We then went to Bucco Mario's for dinner. The food was amazing. I would have never found this place if the guy at the front desk at the hotel wouldn't have suggested it. The waitors were wonderful and the food was excellent. They even gave us a box of chocolate chip biscotti and an apron. Pretty cool!


Friday, March 1:
We got up early and had break fast at the hotel. Good Lord, the food! There was cheese, salmon, proscuitto, fruit, bread, EVERYTHING! The best breakfast spread I have ever seen! I definitely didn't have a problem with eating cheese for breakfast, afterall I am a cheese head. We decided to spend our time around the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. We went inside the cathedral first and then I told me aunt and uncle we should do the tour of the Duomo. So we did that first, good thing too because if we would have waited any longer we would have been stuck waiting in line to climb the dome. It was perfect timing. It was a lot of stairs but so worth the view at the top. It is just so hard to grasp the idea that I had climbed a dome that was made so many years ago. Everything is so old here and historical. We then decided to climb the bell tower. Perfect timing again there! We were in the tower as the bells were going off. Any of you who are Facebook friends with me probably saw my cheesy video of my excitement about the bells. It really was neat and another great view. After that we went back into the Cathedral to finish looking around. It was to the Medici- Riccardi palace next. I am very lucky to have my museum card to get into so many places for free. It can get pricey going into all the museums. We ate at a restaurant called Za-Za's. It was delicious. It was there where I tried my very first glass of Micheletti Wine. It was really good along with the food. Our last adventure of the day was to the Acedemia to see Michelangelo's David. The statue never fails to amaze me. It is so massive I just can't believe someone made that! And the detail is just so amazing.
 
Saturday, March 2nd:
Our first stop was the Uffizi. This was my forth time being to the Uffizi and I always notice something that I haven't observed from the previous visit. It is like art overload when you go there. At least for myself it is. I do love all the art, it's just a lot to take in at once. My aunt and uncle really enjoyed it though which made me happy. After the Uffizi we headed back to the Medici Palace where the Dali exhibit was going on. It has been there since February I think. It was really cool. Surrealist art. I loved the statues. There was one of this large snail with wings that I just thought was really neat. We ate at a couple more places today as well. The place we ate at for lunch was great. It was definitely a hole in the wall. It was called La Mescita Fiaschetteria, I believe. It was very quiet and relaxed. I got some kind of pasta with 4 cheeses. I loved the blue cheese. The place we ate at for dinner was by our hotel. It was called Osteria dei Baroncelli. All the food has been wonderful. I got some kind of crepe thing with cheese in it. We enjoyed some gelato afterwards and headed up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for one last sight of Florence before leaving for Lucca the next day.
 

Sunday, March 3rd:
Sunday we packed up from Florence and headed to Lucca. The ride there was frustrating because the streets here are crazy and the signs aren't always easy to understand. The country was beautiful though! Read more in my next entry!

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