Florence

This morning we left Venice at eightish in the morning, and after breakfast, embarked on a three hour journey to Florence. I was exhausted for some reason this morning so I slept a majority of the way, wrote some letters, and was awake in time to see some scenery on the way in. We stopped at a gas station once and then arrived at our hotel around twelve-thirty. After this, in an effort to save some money, some of us went to a local market and picked up some food. I had a procuitto wrap that was really good and only $.89! After this, we checked our luggage and embarked on a tour of the city.

Florence isn't very large, and the tour took only a little over an hour. We got to see the church that Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michaelangelo where buried in. This was really amazing for me to see this church because I have been in many legal classes over the past four years that focus on Machiavelli and all his philosophies on the law. It goes without saying that the other roughly 250 individuals buried there were amazing/famous in their own rights. There are three main squares in Florence that are all different and date back as far as the 13th century. The largest cathedral in Europe is in Florence, and it has the most beautiful fresco I have ever seen. It also boasts the largest dome in Italy. Most of Florence has been built on top of the ruins and many of the churches and cathedrals have been redone as recently as the 19th century. We got to see Dante's (from "Dante's Inferno") house. They have assumed that this building was his house because he speaks of its general location is some of his writings.

We took some pictures, branched off from the tour, and hit the leather markets. I have been needing a carry on bag to put some things that wont fit in my large suitcase. I figured what better place than Florence, famous for its leather goods. I was able to haggle a merchant down nearly 50 Euro's by speaking in Spanish. I was proud of my skills, and now I have a beautiful leather carry on/weekend bag that looks like a million bucks.

When we got back from the tour and shopping, I was beat and took a quick shower and took an amazing nap. After that, we had dinner in the hotel with real VEGETABLES and yummy Italian pasta-it was great. Most of the group went to some discotech with our tour guide Herbie a.k.a Herbs...but some of us opted to hang out on the terrance in Elise and I's room. (we keep getting really awesome rooms!) We stayed out there for nearly two and a half hours talking and laughing and having a great time.

Now I am downstairs at one am splitting an hour of internet with Mal because it costs eight Euro an hour. According to Herbs, Italians don't part easily with anything. This is evident in that I have had to pay for any time I use to blog, call home, or even check my email. RUDE (and expensive)

Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Rome and I am really looking forward to moving on and continuing the trip.

No time to upload pictures because my time is ticking...will update as SOON as I have free internet.

Hope all is well at home!

Miss everyone and cant wait to be back :)