"The Sweet Life" Saturday, May 16th was our free day and I was extremely excited since it was our first full day in Florence! First thing was first - conquer the Duomo. Between 1418 and 1434, the cathedral's dome was constructed (thanks to the plans of Filippo Brunelleschi), which has sustained thousands of years of earthquakes, lightning storms, etc. To this day, it is known as Florence's home church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. The Duomo, aka Florence's cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, is by far the city's most recognizable and well-known building. The top is seen across the city when walking through the streets, as well as above the city when sitting on Piazza Michelangelo. Interesting enough, the Duomo actually consists of two domes - one inner and one outer shell to help sustain the massive design. Nowadays, the Duomo continues to be known as one of the largest, most beautiful churches in the world. Originally, the actual dome was the world's largest as well until 1615 when St. Peter's Basilica in Rome quickly took that title. Today when staring at all three structures - the Duomo, the Bell Tower residing next to it and the cathedral sitting in front - one will notice its unique design of the green, white and red marble (a very Italian motive, right?!). However, this exterior was not the original design; instead this well-known appearance was completed in the late 19th century. Around 8:30 in the morning, a group of us ventured to the Duomo where we stood in a fast-moving line and worked our way up the 463 steps to the top. After stopping and starting several times, it reminded me of a lighthouse because of the constant enclosure, but every now and then, little windows were available (such as the one on the right -->) where we could begin to look how far we have climbed. As we reached the top and found ourselves looking down below into the church, I honestly began to have a panic attack! I have never experienced a fear of heights or claustrophobia since I am an adventurous person, however, low and behold - the Duomo gave me anxiety. However, there was no turning back and I was motivated to reach the top! As we continued up through the dome, the paintings on the ceilings were gorgeous and the people down below looked like ants. The steps began to get steeper and the halls got darker and smaller. I felt as if I were Alice in Wonderland. Thankfully we reached the top and stepped out into the fresh air, looking above all of Florence and the neighboring mountains. It was an amazing view, especially waving to the tiny-looking tourists standing across from us on the Bell Tower! In all honestly, the view was well-worth the anxiety attack! After making our way back down to the grounds, we all decided to just walk around, tour Florence and shop. We immediately headed towards Ponte Vecchio, crossed over the famous bridge and walked towards Pitti Palace. Construction of the enormous building was done around 1440 because Luca Pitti was in the mood to challenge the much-hated Medici Family. It became the largest private residence in Florence - still extremely impressive and jaw-dropping today. It didn't even fit in my widescreen camera screen! Although we did not tour the museum or gardens because we had arrive around the time of siesta, it was still a beautiful sight to see! One day I will get back to Florence and tour Palazzo Pitti! **I FINALLY found Torrone on our walk!! After a day full of walking, shopping and exploring the Florence history and lifestyle, we went back to the hotel for some quick naps and met Donna, our professor from Stockton, in the hotel lobby. She bought us wine from the money we received from fundraising! Therefore, we all gathered in the lobby with glasses in hand and stories to tell from our experiences so far! We then walked to Cibreo Trattoria (Il Cibreino), which was a restuarant that Luke Palladino has suggested for us to visit. Thankfully the restaurant was just around the corner from our hotel since I was starving! Cibreo was tiny, but quaint. It was full of tables and chairs in every open inch, which quickly filled up after the 14 of us sat down for dinner! By the middle of our meal, the restaurant was packed and loud with laughter and talking. For my dinner that night, I believe I had ordered the chicken and/or veal meatballs. Those two meatballs became one of the highlighted meals of my trip! It also helped that the staff was extremely friendly and funny, along with explaining the dishes in Italian and English! Each dish was done in a typical Tuscan style, all served deliciously and fresh. If it were polite to lick my bowls and plates, especially the meatballs and flourless chocolate cake dishes, I'd win any competition versus a dog. Our after-dinner walk led us back to the Duomo where my favorite wine store ended up being located. My one friend and I picked up six wines in order to ship back to the states so we could have a little taste of Italy when we reached back home! By 10pm when we were walking back to the hotel, half of our group wanted to head to bed, however the other half of us were ready to experience Florence's nightlife again!! Flashback: The night before around midnight, Magen, Victoria and I decided to walk through the local park and (of course) right past the Italian army men who were guarding the synagogue too ;) The one spoke very fluent English and was translating for all of us in the group. "Middle", who was the cutest unfortunately did not know much English, but he definitely looked good! Anyways, we had some nice conversation for about 20 minutes and became known as "NEW JERRRRSEY". Back to present time now - my friends and I were standing on the street corner trying to figure out which areas to explore the nightlife again! That's when a black car pulls up and the six men crammed into a car (that only holds five people) begin talking to us in Italian. We are completely confused, continue walking when we hear, " "NEW JERRRRSEY"!!! and "IT'S DESTINY!" That's right, the Italian-English speaking translator Army man has found us again! He is literally hanging out of the car in the middle of the road trying to talk to us, when finally, they hopped out. We ended up walking and talking, planned to go to a few bars together but then we got separated. That didn't ruin our night though! The first bar we went to looked amazing, but actually stunk, especially with the awful music the DJ chose to play. The drinks were expensive and that was the worst mojito I have ever had! We were disappointed, but finished our drinks and just had to go back to OIBO! We ended up being the only customers at OIBO, when they had their good music on so we grabbed drinks and were dancing and singing on the dance floor - especially when Jason Derulo's "Want To Want Me" played! We were having a great time when two guys came in and thought he had a chance with NS. He began dancing with her and was so clingy, it quickly got annoying. He tried to get her number and facebook when KT was quick enough to respond and tell him that NS did not believe in technology at all and had no access to it (HAHA) Friend #2 was also trying to hit on MD, therefore we grabbed drinks to go and made a run for it when we could! Walking into the next block of Florence nightlife, KT was stopped by a guy named "Elvis". He obviously could tell that we were American and took his chance because he was able to lure some of the girls into his ways, telling them that he and his friends knew a good club to go too. Well, I did not trust him and neither did MD, so we stayed back a little and continued calling "Elvis" multiple times to see if he would respond. Luckily we had done this because he did not respond at all and that's when we began to pass word around to our friends that he was a fake. We continued to stay behind and watch for anything even more suspicious while word continued to escape, however that's when Elvis and his friends began to take our friends down a darker street, away from the crowds full of Italians and Americans. At this point, I was honestly beginning to get angry at the guys and a little panicked. We quickly pulled our friends back and told them everything that was happening, while Elvis and his friends just continued walking, not even looking back. What jerks!! Our friends were freaked, disappointed and felt horribly stupid because that's when KT realized the zipper on her purse was slightly open. Thankfully, nothing was stolen, but it was easy to see their intentions. Lesson learned: Be aware of your belongings and sleazy guys! We continued walking the opposite way when MD and I needed to find a bathroom badly. I was about to honestly pee my pants. We were stopped by a few people passing out invitations for free drinks at a club nearby. Even though it looked extremely sketchy, I needed to go to the bathroom! As we were walking in, there was one person upstairs and maybe two people downstairs. It smelled and looked like a frat house in all honestly, which was disgusting. Being slightly OCD, I was not the happiest when looking at the bathroom with no toilet paper and a room that also probably hadnot been cleaned in awhile, but you gotta do what ya gotta do, amiright! We ran out of there so fast - it was definitely a night full of interesting experiences! Heading back to the crowded area, there was an "American pub" where we met some students from Penn State. After talking to them for awhile as well, we continued back on the path to the Duomo where we found a pastry/sandwich shop still open because some of us had to use the bathroom again... We ended up buying food because 'no purchase equals no bathroom'. A little bit of not-the-best food actually tasted pretty good after all of our excitements from the night. After that, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. Italy has definitely brought out some crazy moments for us! | Italia Day #6 |