I spent a few days in Rome and packed them full with different activities. We were only in Florence (Firenze) for a day and a half, so I don't have quite as many cool experiences to talk about, sorry.
We left pretty early in the morning as we had a tour scheduled for 2:00 pm. I slept surprisingly well on the bus (and definitely have since then as well, much better than the plane). So the public transportation bus stop felt awkwardly far from the hotel and then the ride into town was so squished on the bus, that the ride felt forever. When we finally got off, it took us a while to get to the area we had to meet for the tour. Getting to the city wasn't super fun. ;)
One there though, the city was very pretty! It had a different feel than Rome. It seemed cleaner and a little more open. It also rained the day of the tour which was wonderful because it was hot. Our tour was very informative and interesting, but much slower and not has funny as our other tours. We got to see and touch a lucky boar nose and see the different markets. She also pointed out the difference between the old and new buildings because many were damaged in the war. We just glanced over The Duomo which was absolutely beautiful up close! This was another building I'd studied but never thought I'd ever see in person.
We ended the tour with the statue of David, which was much bigger than I ever imagined. It was huge! And I very much appreciated how hard it was to do that all from one piece of marble, Michelangelo was incredibly talented! I am glad I got to see it in person!
After all that, a small group of us continued to walk around Florence, look more closely at vendors in the market, and grab some excellent Gelato. We tried to go into the Duomo but it was only open for mass so we just walked around it.
On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to church. They translated for us so we were able to understand most everything. The members were happy to see us and we met some wonderful people whose faith in the Lord is incredibly inspiring. I hope to one day have that same faith. The gospel is true everywhere!
Sarah, Bailey, Spencer, and I spent the rest of the day just chilling at the hotel. We had to go get lunch somewhere, so Sarah, Spencer and I went to a pizza place the hotel had recommended. At first, the building looked weird because it was up on stilts and there were stairs you had to use to get to it. We walked up and Spencer mentioned it might be closed as no lights were on. He walked toward the front door and a REALLY loud alarm started blaring! Luckily Sarah kept calm as we walked down the stairs because I was so tempted to book it, but then I would have looked super guilty! Hahaha! We then committed something on par with not trying pizza in Italy... We went to McDonalds. Florence was mostly closed because it was Sunday AND Mother's day. So, that was really our only option unfortunately. We had a good laugh about the whole thing though.
I'm so happy I found this wonderful group of people to travel with. We are a small no-drama group that is easy to travel with. We are up for anything and can figure out where we are and where to go quickly. They are positive and funny, we laugh the entire time we are together. I'm truly blessed!
I got to Skype with my momma and family to wish her a Happy Mothers day. That made me happy to see them and tell them about some of my adventures. :)
We are off to Milan next, the fashion capital of the world!
Ciao!
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