Beauty is Everywhere

Another wonderful travel experience this weekend! Thursday night, I headed to Florence with Amy and Gretchen. It was a whole new dynamic with just the three of us; we all had to contribute to the travel process. Each of us has our unique travel strengths. Mine is keeping the group focused on finding gelato. (Kidding, I have more. Although that's definitely one). 

Anyway, the train ride on Thursday evening was very comfortable. Unfortunately, we arrived in Florence after it was already dark. The next two days would definitely make up for lack of views the first night! Gretchen and I found our hostel relatively easily (Amy stayed with a friend of hers). When we were booking our hostel on Wednesday night, we were both laughing hysterically because many people had commented on the site that they had to "play receptionist" for other guests because staff is only there for part of the day. The staff had emailed me "codes" for the doors since we were arriving after hours. It could have gone either way, but luckily we figured it out and found our room. This was some "hostel." There were rose petals in the bathroom! They had upgraded us to our own private bathroom but we paid the same price. Not complaining! I think I bring good luck when it comes to accommodations. Amy's friend Emily teaches English in Florence, and she was a wonderful guide/companion. She recommended great places to eat (that were removed from large numbers of tourists) and really helped us make the most of our time!

Friday was full of adventures. Naturally, we started the day with cappuccino and cornetto (a scone). If you’re us, you start off the day with two scones. Emily showed us this place off the beaten track that is well known among Italian locals. Mind you, this is after Gretchen and I had already had cappuccino before we met up with the other two. So now, we’re in yet another bar, and I just cannot help but get a cioccolato (literally amazing, rich chocolate syrup in a cup) and yet another cornetto. They were just calling my name is all.

The three of us did the Uffizi after breakfast. This very famous art museum could literally suck you in for days. There are three floors, and they wrap around, room after room. The museum holds very famous Renaissance works, many of which hold connections to the famous Medici family of Florence (shout out to AP European history). I don’t believe I mentioned this in my Rome post (I can’t believe I forgot) but in the Vatican museum, most of the male marble statues have no penises (as in, the penises were chopped off). Turns out that one of the popes centuries ago did not “approve” of penises on statues, so he had them all cut off. I guess when you chop a penis off a statue, it’s as if it didn’t exist! They actually look even more awkward without one (almost as awkward as this probably feels to some of you to be reading about this, particularly coming from me). For whatever reason, I thought it was fascinating. You may be pleased to know that the penises of the Uffizi museum statues were fully intact. Guess the pope didn’t reach those ones. There’s your art history lesson for the day! You can always learn something new! I’m all about spreading knowledge.

Rooftop pictures at Uffizi

Exploring!

After some general exploring, we decided to try out some of the leather stores (we’re twenty-year-old girls after all). Shopaholics in fact. What originated as a decision to enter a random store called “Caesars” turned into the most glorious shopping experience I’ve had to date.

Why was a random store glorious, you may ask? Two names: Dario and Angelo (the owners). When we first walked in, they were very, very attentive and kept showing us different leather products. To many, this may seem annoying. But they were HILARIOUS. Completely separate from the shopping, we had a conversation with them that lasted over an hour. They kept telling us how beautiful we were (“bellissima!”) and that we were the nicest girls they’ve met, and how we just seemed so intrinsically happy. I guess I can see why. The girls and I had just been saying how happy we are to be having these experiences, and I guess this genuine passion for living we’re feeling right now is carrying over into our demeanor. Dario and Angelo were saying that American girls aren’t used to compliments. (So true). They said that we deserved to be praised and told how special we are. Wow. We agreed that we would take their advice and not settle! 

Dario and Angelo have sweet life stories. They look about in their late fifties now, and are both married (“Our wives can’t know about this!” they joked as they hugged us and demanded a photo shoot with us in leather). One of the wives is actually from the US, and they have twin girls who are twenty-two.

Anyway, this amazing shopping trip ended with the three of us splurging on three authentic, custom-made Florentine leather coats. The men gave us a major discount because they loved us, but I still used debit because I didn’t want to see the price. However, I knew that this was a day that I’ll remember forever, and it was definitely a once in a lifetime chance to get something so beautifully authentic. Florence is known for leather, after all. Originally one of the other girls had tried on my coat, but it didn’t fit her. They pointed at me and insisted that I try it. Dario and Angelo zipped it up, and were speechless. Apparently it was “perfetto” on me. I apparently agreed. SOLD. (I used debit because I didn’t want to know). Dario and Angelo wanted to show us how real the leather was, which turned into them whipping out lighters and scraping the flames against the coats we were wearing (I jumped a little, I’m not a huge fan of being chased with fire). Apparently, real leather doesn’t burn (and our coats didn’t, the flame didn’t even make a mark). If the coats had been fake, I would have gone up in smoke. Comforting.

Sold! Rocking our new leather! 

It was really difficult to part with the guys, but they gave us their business cards and we are definitely going to try to keep in touch somehow. This is what I absolutely love about this country. You literally have no idea who you are going to meet each day. The life advice, the jokes…people here want to offer you a piece of themselves, a part of their lives. I can’t even explain how special that feels. 

Still cracking up over the whole thing, we headed to Ponte Vecchio to watch the sunset. Amy and I are kind of obsessed with sunsets (particularly beach ones) so that was always in the cards for the day. Ponte Vecchio is a famous bridge with colorful shops and stunning views. Several bridges cross the water in Florence, and they make for beautiful scenery. The atmosphere was lively and fun, with people taking pictures and chatting it up. We met a wonderful older man who took a special interest in talking to us. He was the sweetest, and he too told us that we were some of the happiest, nicest girls in the world (do we have a flashing sign or something?) He was sad to learn that Gretchen had a boyfriend, but couldn’t help but kiss her anyway.

Looks like a painting

The impending sunset made us so excited. We bought champagne to pop as it got dark. I joked that I "won't even remember" the night, but that turned into a joke ("I won't even remember spending that 3 euro on yet another gelato"). But of course, I was kidding. I will never want to forgot our Florence sunset. And, as always, we took lots of pictures. It was a wonderful evening with wonderful girls!

Gretchen's new friend

Miss you UMass!

After Emily got out of work, we met her at her apartment where she cooked us a fabulous dinner. She had invited her friend Dario, who was both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious and spoke no English. Amy, Gretchen and I are in the same Italian class (intermediate II) so we have similar language abilities. I think our proudest moment of the weekend was being able to communicate with Dario in Italian, and have a whole dinner conversation. We had to repeat ourselves occasionally (and vice versa) but we overcame the language barrier! Dario and I are actually Facebook friends as of today, and he’s been chatting with me in Italian since we’ve been back. I love having an authentic Italian to practice with!

After a really late night on Friday, we got started early on Saturday with a trip to the Duomo. One of the most famous churches in the world and a symbol of Renaissance power, the Duomo is something to see. We agreed that the inside was very anticlimactic after seeing St. Peter’s last week, but the outside is absolutely incredible. Nothing in Florence is built taller than the Duomo, so it towers above all.

Rub the snout for good luck

Duomo!

Accademia was the next stop. Accademia is a museum that is the home of Michelangelo’s David. We mainly went to see this sculpture. I have never seen anything like it. David looks like he might come alive. You can practically see his veins pulsing. Unfortunately, even my rebellious picture-taking skills wouldn’t cut it here (there were very few people to blend in with so I would have definitely been seen/yelled at) but trust me, it’s a masterpiece. We were marveling at how Michelangelo sculpted such a realistic looking figure out of marble. What if he made a mistake? It would be harder to cover up than a painting…would he just start over? So much time, so much effort. It is truly mind-blowing.

We ended the day with a hike up to the lookout over the city. Beautiful small churches lined the path, as did the Stations of the Cross. We were rewarded for the climb with these views. We agreed that it would be a beautiful place to be proposed to (hint hint potential suitors).

On our way back, we popped into one last store, and were looking around when guess who pops in? Dario and Angelo!! I guess they were on pausa (an afternoon break that most stores take). Or as Angelo says, “I can go on pausa whenever I want” (I like his attitude). When I say they “popped in,” it was more that I turn around and see a man with a turtleneck halfway up his face sprinting towards me to engulf me in a bear hug. They kept calling us “their girls” to the owner of the store we were in (who they are apparently besties with). Oh Italy. It was great to see them one last time!

Another random moment: we were walking through the piazza when we see a bunch of people dressed in black sitting in chairs, looking like they were about to do something major. Turns out, it was an urban theater group! They started miming to an accordion player and acting out really complex scenes without speaking. We could have watched them for hours! So spontaneous but amazing! Another reason I love this place.

Throughout my four months here, I am working on finding beauty in the everyday. I strive to share my stories that reflect how glorious life can be when you keep a positive attitude and an open mind! There is so much to appreciate. In Accademia, I found this message someone had written in the bathroom stall that I was in:

Says it all, no?