Apart from crashing into a blind person and tripping over his walking stick my luck has definitely improved!  I had “luckily” missed what would have been my 3rd encounter with bird poop and had no part in my apartments toilet getting clogged.  Success!  I cannot believe how fast time is going by here.  Let me recap on the past week.

            I finally visited one of the highlights of Florence- the Ponte Vecchio.  The Ponte Vecchio literally means “old bridge” and is flooded with jewelry shop after jewelry shop- a girl’s best friend!    

The dazzling displays of diamond, gold, and silver jewelry were mesmerizing.  I never expected the bridge to be filled with such high quality items.  I was imagining handbags, belts, and scarves, which is what is found in every other popular market around town.  Unfortunately the jewelry was wayyy out of my budget, but I did find some beautiful leather bracelets that I may just have to go back to get. 

            The next day I visited the popular Mercato Centrale- a GIANT fresh foods store.  This store has the biggest selection of fresh fruits, vegetable, spices, cheese, and meat I have every seen in Florence.  My roommates and I bought some vegetables (Guacamole!) in preparation for the yummy Mexican feast we had later that night.  

This past week I got a really great taste of the historical aspects of Florence.  I’m really glad I enrolled in the “Art of Florence” class because I get to explore the city’s major monuments, museums, and churches with the class.  It’s like a class and a tour guide in one!  My professor will lecture for the first half of the class and then take us out to visit the original pieces she was lecturing about.  I certainly can’t experience that in boring State College.  So far, we have already visited the Duomo, Orsanmichele, Palazzo Piti, and Santa Croce.  The Palazzo Piti was one of my favorite site visits.  This palace was the residence of many of Florence’s ruling families starting with the Medici family.  The palace now display treasures the Medici family owned and famous paintings by Caravaggio.  Besides the class visits, one of my roommates and I went out on our own to explore the Palazzo Vecchio.  

This building has such an amazing history as well.  It was originally built in the 1300’s to be used as the town hall.  The major ruling families of Florence then used the palace and today it still serves its original purpose of being a town hall.    My roommate and I, like super nerds, brought our own museum guidebook along and literally stuffed our heads in our books as we walked from room to room.  Today, we visited one of the bigger museums in Florence- the Uffizi.  This museum has mostly paintings that are chronologically organized by room- from the 1400s-1700s.  Once again, we had our handy museum guidebooks and used them faithfully to learn more about the paintings we were seeing.  Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” were my favorite paintings of the museum.  I love history so physically witnessing history has been amazing so far. 

            Last Friday, I went on a school led trip to Altroarno, which literally means “across the Arno.” Fyi the Arno is the main river that runs through Florence.  Altroarno is basically the countryside of Florence.  It is filled with trees (which is amazing because the actually city part of Florence has absolutely no trees!) and beautiful houses hidden in the hills.  

            We started our trek in Florence and as we got deeper into Altroarno, the atmosphere completely changed.  The noise of traffic was almost nonexistent and the air just felt cleaner.  The view as we climbed the hills was breathtaking.  I am so jealous of the people who live in the houses on the hills.  The typical house in Altroarno has a beautiful gate that opens up to a small garden in front of a Spanish style house.  Their backyard view..no biggie…just the entire city of Florence surrounded by mountains.  They really do get the best of both worlds (no Hannah Montana pun intended) because they live in the quiet peaceful atmosphere of Altroarno but still have the fast paced city life at their feet.  

I would definitely love to rent a house here when I’m older…or so I can dream.  =)  After trekking, I relaxed a bit and then started to get ready for Venice! 

            On Saturday, my roommates and I booked a day trip to Venice with the tour company Bus2Alps.  I was soooo excited for this trip because I have always wanted to visit the famous “city on water.”   I already had a plan of the places I wanted to visit and the things I wanted to do- gondola ride, San Marco’s square, Murano glass blowing demonstration, and the Rialto Bridge.  Unfortunately, I was only able to cross out one thing from my list!  The Bus2Alps itinerary completely misled my roommates and I.  We arrived at the Island so late- around 3 pm and were left to explore San Marco Island for 45 minutes before being taken to Murano Island to view a glass blowing demonstration.  45 minutes was just enough time to grab a quick lunch (we hadn’t eaten since 8 that morning) and take some pictures of San Marco’s square and a pretty bridge.  We then met up with the Bus2Alps people to take us to Murano Island.  After 2 hours we finally arrived at Murano Island because the tour leaders essentially had no idea where they were taking us.  Once we got to the island, only 1 tiny Murano glass shop was open!  I think if you’re going to lead a tour group you should know the hours of operation of the main activity on your tour!  On top of everything else, the tour leaders just randomly left us on Murano Island and went back to the main island.  It was quite an adventure to island hop back to the main island without a clue of Venice’s waterway.  After stopping at 4 different islands to ask for directions, we finally reached the island our bus was on.   I was very disappointed with the Bus2Alps tour but the few hours I had in Venice was definitely amazing.  I was so surprised to see how large Venice is.  Before going, I thought that Venice was composed of maybe one or two small islands…but Venice is huge!  It has six islands that range from metropolitan- like to rural.   Venice’s main waterway is called the Grand Canal and is filled with water taxis- which are literally taxis on water.  Venice is such a romantic city!  I actually saw a man propose to his fianc� on a passing gondola…and pda is rampant.  The highlight of the Venice trip had to be shopping at a Murano glass shop- the only one that was open on Murano island.  The jewelry was all hand made and absolutely gorgeous.  I definitely want to go back to Venice someday and really explore the islands. 

          Beautiful Coastline of San Marco Island in Venice

 Murano Glass

Gondola Ride

            Now that I have experienced 3 weeks in Florence, I have noticed more differences between American and Italian culture.  I had already mentioned in my previous blog a couple of differences but I have discovered some more. 

1.  At the grocery store, I have to tell the cashier how many bags I think I will need before he starts scanning my items.  This is because bags aren’t free like in America.  My first few experiences in Italian grocery stores were really confusing because the cashier kept asking me “quanti borse?” which means “how many bags” in Italian.  I would just nod my head like an idiot and say “Si,” not realizing that he was asking how many bags I needed so he could charge me accordingly. 
2. I have to bag my own groceries unlike in America and that too at a really face pace!  The cashiers scan the items so fast that I end up bagging my items along with the next three people in line because I’m a realllyyyy slow bagger.  Yesterday, the man behind me had to actually grab my bag and open it for me because he saw how badly I was struggling to open the bag….hahah whoops =P
3. So far, I have not seen any free public restrooms in Italy.  Most cost about .30-1.50 euros.  If you have to go- you better have exact change!
4. Public display of affection is the norm here.  People have no shame in eating each other’s faces right next to ATM’s, benches, and in restaurants. 
5. Europeans don’t wear flip flops- ever
6. I had been told that tipping is not required in Italy but that’s only because most restaurants have a cover charge of about 1.50 euros per person
7. In cafes, I will be charged more if I sit down instead of standing with my coffee
8. This is probably common knowledge but restaurants charge for water- be sure to ask for “Acqua naturale” otherwise you’ll get sparkling water. 

Besides these differences, I am really enjoying my time here.  I am going to gain so much weight eating my daily dose of 1 pastry and a gelato.  =)  Ciao for now

Location: via del Moro, 22, Florence, Italy