Adventures in Florence

Florence is a beautiful city filled with rich culture, history and breathe taking views. The first few days here were super tough getting around because of how different the streets are here but it gave me an opportunity to see and get to know my city even better.

In the States, when you walk down a street, no matter how far you go down that street is going to be called the same name. For example, in my college home town, Main street stretches pretty far, but no matter how far you go- it's still going to be main street. In Florence, this is not true. I swear someone just pointed to the map one day and said "Hey! Let's divide the street here and name it something else- because why not?" 

Getting around was hectic the first few days, but I am eventually getting the hang of it! 

Either way, walking around Florence is just amazing. Just when you think you've seen something, or you know where you going you walk down another road just to find the cutest little shop or another view of The Duomo. 

The other day, my friend Emily and I walked around the city to try and find her shoes and I had the most amazing day. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Florence so I was happy to be walking around. We met by the Duomo and I can't stress enough how gorgeous it is. Just being able to see it and the detail is just incredible. We explored different areas of the town and kind of just got lost in Florence, but it is so beautiful it doesn't matter. 

There was an art gallery that had the cutest garden in front of it! 

A Man playing the violin outside of my school.

Towards the end of our day, we were walking by the Arno River and that is when our day really got perfect. We went onto Ponte Vecchio, which is one of oldest bridges in Florence dating back to the renaissance!  It is filled with stores selling beautiful jewelry and offers amazing views of the other bridges and Florence in general. In fact, back in the days of the renaissance, on Ponte Vecchio they originally did not sell jewelry but meat. Up and down the the bridge, meat would hang and butchers opened their shops to people. However, the Medici family lived near this bridge and the wives would complain about the smell- especially in the Summer (how gross!) so they changed it to Jewelry. Interesting, right?!

 View from one of the bridges! 

So how exactly did I find out this tidbit of history? Well, while on the bridge, Emily and I met the most amazing older man name Pietro! He is an older man, who has lived in Florence for his whole life. He even experienced World War 2 here! I have never met someone so in love with their own city or who knew so much about it. He told us so many things about the bridge and even took us to the Church where the Medici family would pray. When he talked about the city his eyes just lit up with such excitement. He generally enjoyed just talking to us about Florence and we enjoyed hearing everything he had to say. 

Even though my feet have a crippling pain from walking around for 6 1/2 hours, everything was worth it. I had such an amazing day.