Firenze

We woke up early this morning to meet the tour bus taking us to Firenze (aka Florence!)! The bus ride took four hours. I tried to stay awake the whole time because the Italian countryside was so beautiful, but I was so tired that I fell asleep for a lot of it.

I love driving in Italy and France so much more than in the US because instead of seeing McDonalds restaurants and gas stations at every exit, I see much more landscapes filled with castles and cute little towns!

The first thing we did when we arrived in Florence was to go to a museum and look at the statue of David by Michelangelo. According to signs on every single wall, door, and window, we were not allowed to take pictures. However, since I saw at least twenty flashes surrounding me, I captured a few contraband shots and hid my camera before one of the guards could pick me out from the crowd.

Quote of the day (courtesy of a girl on the tour with me): I wonder if it was really awkward when he was chiseling out his "parts".

After staring at the "ideal man" according to the Italians (who was actually modeled after a thirteen year old), we went to see the Duomo. The church actually has a really long name, but no one remembers it. On the outside, it was the most colorful church I have ever seen with multicolored marble styled in a beautifully ancient pattern. On the inside, contrarily, it was quite plain. Apparently, the architects of churches in Florence did not want the insides of chuches to be styled so that the focus of the church-goers would never leave Jesus and God. The inside of the church did have, on the other hand, the tomb of Botticelli and one of the oldest and coolest clocks (It counts the hour in relation to when the sun goes down.) that still is in perfect working order!

We then walked to a square filled with 2 000 year old statues. Most of them were replicas. The ironic thing was that those that had 2 000 years were the replicas, while the originals were only about 500 years old.

During our free period in the afternoon, Grammy and I walked down to the Ponte Vecchio.

Afterwords we toured the market before meeting back up with the group.
Highlight of my day: While walking around in the market by myself, I passed a French couple standing in front of a stand selling candy and dried fruit. I saw a wierd, green gob of gooeyness and asked the man in French, "What is that green thing?" He responded that he had no idea. He then asked the Italian vendor in English. The vendor responded (in English) that it was a fruit in the citrus family. (Here comes the best part!) The French man then turns to me and translates for me from English to French! I can now officially try to pass myself off as French! Yay for not having a strong accent!