Florence, November 2013

After Modena, we took a quick train to Firenze. I wish I could say the weather was beautiful but it just wasn't. It rained the entire time we were there. Fortunately it was more of a sprinkle, which didn't stop us from walking around. We were only there for one full day and one half day, but we packed it full.

It was interesting visiting this city again for the third time. Of course it's still beautiful to me, but I wasn't so clicker happy with my camera. I guess that's true of all places when you think about it. Once you've seen something, it's not quite as special as the first time. It also didn't help that the sky wasn't the beautiful blue I was used to seeing.

Our first stop was the San Lorenzo Market. We bought purses, scarves, and journals galore. I was looking for one specific stall with a lady who I've seen the past two years. She sells these perfect clutches and leather gloves. But she was no where to be found! I was so disappointed but I guess the bright side is I saved a bit of money??? I'm still on the lookout for some good gloves, though. Winter in Geneva is brutal for this Georgia girl.

We just stumbled around the city for most of the day. Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, beautiful side streets...my mom loved it all. And I was so glad. It's still my favorite city so far. We ate dinner at Ciro and Sons. My mom had gnocchi alla sorrentina and I had margherita pizza. It was delicious. I highly recommend it. The staff was so friendly and the food was great. They even have a lot of gluten free options (you just have to call ahead if you want gluten free pizza).

The next morning we had breakfast, walked around the market a little more, and then hopped on our train to go to Milan, where we caught a flight to Glasgow!

Sunset Over Firenze

Piazza Michelangeo. One of my favorite places. Especially at dusk. We hiked up the massive hill to see a beautiful sunset.

Little did we know, the MTV music awards were being filmed at the top! We had some nice background music as we watched the sun go down.

I'm still learning how to work my camera. Especially at night! It's been a lot of fun to use it in so many different ways on this trip.

Really wish this picture wasn't so dark! But I still love it.

On to day two!

Checkout in our hostel was at 10:30. We slept until 11. Oops! We totally forgot about checking out until the cleaning man knocked on our door and yelled at us. At least they didn't charge us!

We went to an American diner for brunch. I had yummy chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs. It was so nice to get a little taste of home.

Then we went shopping again...no surprise there! It was really nice to be away from camp and relax with some retail therapy.

Of course we saw the Duomo. That building is just breathtaking. I love it so much.

And then we walked back to the Arno River before our train left.

I love these girls. I'm so thankful we worked at camp together. Don't know what I would have done without them! It's crazy to think that we are all in different countries now. I'm in Spain, Rachel is back in America, and Maggie is in England. Good thing we have texting and snapchat to keep in touch!

It's always a good idea to go to Firenze. I plan on taking my mom when she comes to visit me later this year. Can't wait to go back!

Leather Market and Gelato

I've been horrible with keeping this blog updated. I have pictures already on facebook that are going to make an appearance here. So all you family members and friends who are reading...sorry for the duplicates! Maybe stories on here will keep you interested??

I want to finish talking about Italy before I move on to other cities. Mostly because I love that country. And the people. And the food. So basically everything about it.

While Rachel and I were traveling together, we kept saying how we couldn't wait to get to Italy. I mean Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris...they were all great. But they can't compare to Italy.

There's just something about that beautiful country that has my heart.

Last year when I studied abroad, we got to go to Florence.

{I just looked back at my posts from last year and realized I never blogged about it. Oops!}

Rach and I loved it so much that we went back. And Maggie, another counselor from camp, came with us! Mags is also from UGA. She did the same program this year that we did last year.

We left early Saturday morning (like 7:20am early) and stayed until late Sunday night (like 11pm late).

Poor Rach has injuries all over the world. Literally one minute after walking out of our hostel, she tripped on the road. Good thing we had water and bandaids handy!

Our first stop? The leather markets. We came to Florence to shop. And shop is what we did.

Next stop? Venchi. We went there three times in two days. Totally normal.

We made a quick stop at Ponte Vecchio.

And then we had dinner at a little restaurant at the base of the hill leading up to Piazza Michelangelo.

Tomorrow, I'll show you pictures of our second day in Firenze and the sunset at Piazza Michelangelo. So stunning.