DUOMO and other adventures.

As I am sitting here typing this blog into a word document from my hotel room, I am barely able to keep my eyes open.  Its been a long day already and its only 6 pm, haha.  We just got back from class and have dinner in about an hour, but I thought I would try and keep myself awake until then by updating you guys.

 

Yesterday was a good day because we spent about 4 hours walking around and learning about the Duomo.  For those of you that don’t know, the Duomo is the central cathedral in Florence and probably the biggest tourist attraction here (except for the food).  We were supposed to have class from 10-1, but ended up finishing up the lecture around 11:45 or so.  It was a nice surprise given that we knew we were in for a long wait in line to climb to the top of the Duomo.  We stood in line for about 40 minutes, paid our 6 euros and then headed up the 467 steps to the top of the dome.  Half-way up they give you a break and allow you to walk around the inside of the dome and get a very close look at the frescoes.  When you finally make it to the top you get a great view of the city of Florence.  We were able to take pictures of the Baptistery tower (my current facebook profile picture) as well as pictures of the city and surrounding towns.  It was definitely worth the climb up and we made sure to get our 6 euros out of the pictures we took.  After that adventure we went to a café so some people could get lunch (I have been snagging fruit and a cereal bar from breakfast so that I don’t have to pay for lunches. Smart, I know.).  After everyone had eaten we headed back to the hotel where we chilled out for the afternoon because I wasn’t feeling very well and there is a stomach flu going around so I took some medicine and laid down for the afternoon.  We had dinner at the hotel (salmon!) and then continued to chill out here until we went out to a karaoke bar for the night.  A couple of our friends sang, but I nominated myself as the camera girl and remained perfectly planted in my chair. Haha.  It was fun to get out and spend some time with friends in a fairly low-key environment in the city.  Although we didn’t end up leaving there until 1:15 or so, which made waking up at 8:45 a little less than ideal. 

 

My roommates and I woke up early this morning to try and find a flea market that my Fodor’s book had suggested, but were unsuccessful in finding it despite walking around for about an hour.  We did get to see a part of the city that we hadn’t ventured into yet though and then found another market near the Duomo that we could shop at.  I didn’t buy anything, but the other girls bought t-shirts for the soccer game that we’re going to on Sunday and scarfs.  It was a good way to spend the morning and then we had about two hours to kill until we were supposed to meet up for class at three in Piazza Santa Croce.  We ended up just finding a big bench and sat to eat our lunches and chat until three.  There was a really good band playing in the Piazza which was fun to watch and then we spent the time people watching and commenting on European lifestyle.  Class from 3-4:45 was rough today because we had been awake for so long beforehand, but it was good none the less.  We learned all about the church and the individuals who were buried there as well as the artists behind the painted tombs.  This class is so interesting, but like I said before, very intense.  I feel like I am learning so much and it is information that I definitely feel like I will want to look back over many years from now which is awesome.

 

Tomorrow we have class from 8:45-11 so its going to be quite an early morning.  I think we are going to stay in for the night so we can be rested for the rest of the week, but Nate and I were thinking about teaching people Shanghai tonight (for those of you who know what this means know how excited I am).

 

I have gotten several emails from some of you guys and am LOVING getting them.  I hope to hear from the rest of you soon.  Its odd to think I was still in the states this time last week because we have already done so much, but I am extremely excited that we have some awesome things planned in the near-future. 

 

Ciao,

E