So as I mentioned in my previous blog, during my trip to Italy I visited two cities: Rome and Florence. Out of the two cities, I liked Rome better, but that isn’t to say Florence isn’t nice either. I had a great time in Florence too, AND I got to spend more than 24 hours there.

On the first day, I met up with my friend who I went to high school with. She is currently studying abroad in Rome, but she was taking a weekend trip to Florence. After I settled in, I walked across the city to where she was staying. She came up with her roommates from Rome, so we had a huge group with us. We decided to walk back into the city (they were a bit outside the city center) and get some gelato while finding the leather market. I’d just like to take a moment to point out that Italian gelato is infinitely better than 99% of the ice cream in America. (and if you find the right places infinitely cheaper too haha). We mostly just explored the streets until we finally found the leather market. The market was basically a bunch of vendors set up in a flea market style way selling jackets, purses, bracelets, scarves. Later on, we went back to their apartment where they made dinner. 

For the next two days, I was on my own. The first place I visited was il Duomo. Both the dome itself and the bell tower are incredible. They both rise high over the city, and after walking up like 1000 combined steps, I was able to see the view from both angles. Both rises lend an extraordinary view of not only the city of Florence, but the hillsides of Tuscany too. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

Next, I checked out one of the Medici castles. I explored most of the city taking pictures of a lot of the statues that Florence’s streets are riddled with. I also went to the museum where Michelangelo’s David is housed. I had no idea how large the statue was. It stands like 12 feet high, and truly is a beautiful sculpture. On Sunday, I kind of aimlessly walked around the city because my train didn’t leave till 10 pm. I stumbled upon the Belvedere Fort by accident. I decided that it would be a good way to spend my time checking out the gardens and the inside of the castle. Evidently, the gardens are MASSIVE. I wound up walking around checking out the statues, fountains, and garden houses for like 3 hours. I imagine the gardens are even better in the late spring though, because a lot of the trees hadn’t started blooming yet.