Florence

Ciao from Firenze! I've been here for 10 days now and I really love it. I've been staying with a good friend of mine from home, Ali Rose. She is studying abroad in Florence for art. One of the reasons that I came to Italy was to visit Ali along with another friend from home, Ian. I've been looking forward to seeing them for some time now, and it has turned out to be greater than I could have expected. It was a great reunion with Ali and we've been having an incredible time together drawing, seeing the sights of Florence, enjoying a bit of nightlife, and just catching up in general. It was that feeling of just living in a place for a while, with your best friends, enjoying every minute of it, just being able to relax. It was well needed after the stress and struggles of backpacking for weeks.

Ali in her kitchen with bruschetta on the table.

The famous Piazza Signoria, right next to the Uffizi gallery and Ali's apartment.

View from Ali's window.

Ali and I in front of the Duomo.

The Uffizi gallery above and around.

View of the Arno River from a window in the Uffizi.

The Uffizi gallery was quite an experience. Kim and I stood waiting in line for a remarkable 4 hours to enter the gallery. There were really large groups of young students on field trips, who were so loud and obnoxious, and we happened to be stuck in between two of them. There were just so many people everywhere. It was a bit chaotic. The line was so unorganized that people kept cutting and it took an unnecessary amount of time. I hear that Italians are not that great with organizational skills. Finally by the time we got in, all I wanted to do was sit down! Though it was worth it all. We saw so many masterful paintings and sculptures that it seemed unreal. My favorites of them all were Duccio Di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child Entroned with Six Angles" from the year 1285, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Adornation of the Magi", Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and everything he did, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and many more. I was in such awe that it gave me chills.

On another day, I climbed to the dome of the Duomo (meaning cathedral church), specifically the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and saw the view of Florence. It was beyond breathtaking. That's me and the view!

The Duomo from the bottom (note how tiny the people are!), I was standing on the very top of the dome.

The really steep stairs to the top. Around a thousand something stairs I believe.

Inside of the dome, a fresco begun by Vasari in 1572.

After staying at Ali's for about a week, I moved out and am now staying with my other friend Ian, who is working and living in Florence. He works for euroadventures tours as a guide and takes groups around europe. His apartment is really nice, and cozy.

Me at the table in front of the brick wall.

From Florence I am going to Rome tomorrow by myself for a day/night and then meeting Ian in Rome the next day and joining his tour group on a trip to southern Croatia. I'll be in Croatia for about a week, and from there I'm going to Budapest and hopefully meeting up with Kim there. Kim has been doing her own thing here in Florence couch surfing with some real Italians! Look forward to hearing her perspective on some first hand Italian lifestyle.

I could honestly stay in Florence for a while. It's an extremely beautiful city with a lot of fun people and things to do. The weather has been incredible, and most of the time I've spent has been outside exploring, lounging in public squares, eating yummy gelato, living the life!

Florence will be missed.

Ciao,

Camille