Florence (April 18-19)

On Friday, I got up early, said goodbye to the Büels and my parents, and caught the 7:40 train to Florence. It was a 7 hour train ride, but it didn't seem so bad because there was scenery to look at. Once I got to the city, I checked into the hostel (which was very nice) and explored the city a little bit. I went and saw the impressive Duomo cathedral, once of the largest cathedrals in the world (it is unbelievably massive in its giant domed area). I then hiked up the many steps of its bell tower, which gave an excellent view of the city and the surrounding hills (I took tons of great pictures). After that, I met up with Kevin McCormack, who is spending the semester here in Florence. We went and saw the Academy, which houses Michelangelo's famous David. The statue is very impressive (I didn't realize how massive it is). We then went and ate some gelato, which I had never had before and which is very delicious.

He had to head out, so I went back to the hostel to get some warmer clothes (it had been surprisingly warm when I arrived, but had by that time cooled off, and it would eventually start to rain). I then walked back to the Duomo and met up with Michelle Delanty, who is also in Florence for the semester. We walked past the old civic center and palace and over to the ancient bridge across the Arno, which has loads of shops on it. We walked over and looked at the Medici palace across the river and then looped back towards the Duomo. She then headed out for the evening (she and Kevin both had their last finals the following week and needed to finish up projects). I then went and ate a good (and quite large) calzone and headed back to the hostel. While on the computer in the common area, I ran into Josh Bark, a friend from Queen Mary (what are the odds?). Even more ironically, he also was going to Rome the next day. After running into Josh, we hung out in my room with one of my roommates (a girl from Idaho). While we talked, a heavy thunderstorm and rainstorm descended upon the town (it was neat to listen to). Shortly thereafter, the 5 remaining roommates (4 Swiss girls and 1 Canadian girl) arrived, completely drenched. They had been caught out in the rain, but found the incident humorous once they finally made it inside. Shortly thereafter, we called it a night (it was by then quite late).

The next morning I got up and cruised over to the Uffizi Gallery. To get there, I walked along the Arno, which is quite a brown, dirty river (it is one of the dirtiest rivers I have ever seen). After waiting an agonizing 2.5 hours to get into the gallery, I finally got in and discovered that it was definitely not worth the long wait. While it does have a fair amount of artwork, most of it is not to my taste, and I feel that the museum pales in comparison to the Louvre, National Gallery, or Prado. I think I saw everything in there in about an hour (maybe a little bit longer). After that, I was quite hungry (I had only had yogurt and Rivella for breakfast), so I went and ate at none other than McDonald's (I felt like a burger). Never have a seen a more crowded fast food place - and it wasn't tourists, it was mostly Italians. Apparently the locals love their McDonald's. It actually was quite good - McDonald's is better over here. I then walked over to the other side of the city to go inspect the Medici family's imposing fortress. From there, I then went and caught the train to Roma.