Florence

I'm in Firenze! That's Italian for Florence. The internet works really well here so I'm trying to update my blog while I can!

Florence is wonderful. It's a pretty small city so it's easy to find your way around, and it's not overwhelming like Rome. It's still pretty hot but a lot less humid.

We went to the Uffizzi Gallery Thursday. As I was standing in the museum trying to listen to the tour guide tell us about a painting, I heard someone talking really loudly behind me. I turned around to give this man an "ahem" look, but to my surprise I was staring in the face of Michael Caine. Michael Caine! I was so shocked that he was in the museum walking around like us normal folk. Haha. He basically followed our group through the next few rooms with his tour guide, so needless to say I could not pay attention to anything. I still don't know anything about Bottecelli's Birth of Venus because Michael Caine was standing next to me (I bumped his arm) and all I could think was "oh my goodness it's Michael Caine!"

Yesterday I saw Michelangelo's David.
http://www.fmboschetto.it/religione/libri_storici/davidMichelangelo.jpg
I have to say I wasn't overly excited to see it, but when I did it was wonderful. I'm not a Renaissance lover, but the detail and scale of the sculpture (the sculpture itself is about 15 feet high without the base so it towers over you) is amazing.

The teachers took us to dinner our first night in Florence to a restaurant that is in the old barn of a Renaissance palace, and we had dinner like a big Italian famiy. It was the most food I have ever eaten in my life! The waiters gave each table a free bottle of chianti that was pretty tasty to start off with. We had canteloupe and proscuitto (first course), pasta with meat sauce, gnocchi in pesto, spinach and cheese ravioli (second course), veal, pork, and chicken (third course). Then came the dessert platter....I can't even remember what all was on it, but I loved every bit of it! We also had a traditional Florentine dessert of biscotti dipped in some sort of liquor. It was like amaretto but a little stronger and warm. It was strange but very good. We were also given a glass of Moscato wine, a dessert wine. Talk about gluttony!

I go back to Rome today, but Florence has been really amazing. Ciao for now!