Florence

After only one full day in Rome, it was already time to leave. I knew as soon as I got to Rome that I'll have to go back sometime, as I only got to see a fraction of the sites! But the next morning, we were off to the train station to catch our train to Florence. As soon as we got to our hostel, we went to walk to the Central Market, to the Duomo, and to the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). These pictures of the Duomo show that it is seriously too big to take a picture of... hence so many photos of half the church! Also, a word of wisdom to anyone who goes to Florence: don't stand in line to go inside the Duomo! It is way more impressive from the outside. Luckily we jumped in a short line and only had to wait about five minutes, but we saw lines wrapping around the building to go inside. It is free for a reason!

We continued walking towards the bridge, stopping in squares to take pictures of all the beautiful buildings and scenery! I think I was too exhausted to take too many pictures...

In Florence there were lots of street vendors, especially selling leather purses and paintings. Some of the street vendors were very forceful, so Nicole was happy to find this beautiful painting from an adorable, gentle old man.

We kept walking down to the river, which had an absolutely gorgeous view!

I stole that last photo from Nicole. We all agreed that the view was so beautiful that we wanted to "hug all of it!" Instead, we walked toward the Ponte Vecchio.

This is the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). It's so adorable! The outside shows all the little jewelry shops that line it. The jewelry was way too expensive for us, but we had fun walking by the shops!

The view from the bridge was beautiful, too!

That evening my friend Ashlyn, who was living and working in southern France this summer, met us in Florence! We caught a bus up to Piazza Michelangelo, and sat looking down over the city. Here you can really see why I couldn't fit all of the Duomo in one picture!

The next day I walked around with Ashlyn and Lauren. We saw a lot of the same stuff we had seen the day before, but we also went to the palace. Our tickets only let us in to see a few things, so we saw the Boboli Gardens and the costume gallery. The gardens were so beautiful, and they had quite a view of Florence. It was also VERY hot, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible!

The costume gallery was also really cool, although I don't have so many pictures. It featured designers from about the last century, all of whom had very unique styles.

That night, Ashlyn and I did a wine tasting at a small wine store in the center of Florence. No one else showed up, so we had a personal wine tasting! The store owner paired his wines with meats and cheeses. 

On Sunday, Ashlyn and I felt like we had already seen most of Florence, and we weren't really sure what to do! We woke up and walked across the river in search of a cafe for breakfast, and stumbled upon this adorable farmer's market. It made us so happy! 

We finished off the day at Piazza Michelangelo again, but in the daytime. Here are a few more beautiful pictures of Florence!

:)