Firenze: Una Città Bellisima

            Hi Everybody! As mentioned in my previous post, I have fallen behind in my blogging duties and vowed to write more frequently in order to catch everyone up on what has been happening. I failed miserably! As one might imagine, I’m pretty preoccupied with other things and it seems as though I’m seeing or doing amazing things all the time and before I have a chance to write to you about it something else happens. Time is flying by so quickly. Can you believe that I have already been here for a month? Because I can’t!!! Anyway, this is my first weekend in a long time where I don’t have any school trips planned so, I will do my best to try and bring you up to speed.

            When I have found the time, my favorite thing to do here in Florence is just to walk. While many Italians can be seen going from point A to point B in a car or on a Vespa or bike, Florence is a major walking city. You can walk across the city in about an hour and a half and in that time you are sure to see some really incredible things. I am usually a girl who likes to plan every move that I make—spontaneity is not my strong suit—but  I’ve found that in Florence sometimes it’s best to just walk around without a planned destination and get lost. You are bound to stumble upon some famous landmark or hidden gem! In my humble opinion, this entire city is gorgeous so, there is always something amazing to see—whether it has been written about in an art history textbook or not. And while I usually return from my walks a sweaty mess, especially considering the extremely hot and sunny weather we’ve been having, I feel so energized and excited thinking about everything that I saw. In addition, discovering that I walked about 6 miles and my pants are gradually feeling a little looser makes me happy too!

            Some of my best days here have been spent walking to the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, il Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, il Ponte Vecchio and Piazzale Michelangelo (a bit of a hike up a hill but the incredible view of the entire city is well worth it).Of course, I have only seen a mere fraction of what this city has to offer but everything I have seen thus far has been amazing. It’s incredible to see things that most only ever read about in a textbook—and, believe me, reading about can’t possibly compare to seeing it. With that in mind, I am going to stop writing about how beautiful things are and attempt to show you. While photos (especially my crappy ones) can never do justice to the real thing, it will give you an idea. I hope you enjoy this little taste of Florence! I promise to blog more soon. Until then…

Ciao!!

-Alessandra