Italy: Florence

A very dear friend of mine has gone off and started her Ph.D. in Florence so naturally I hopped on a plane and flew to visit her first chance I got. I combined this trip with visiting my sister in Milan and going to the world expo there (post coming soon), but first I want to give you a glimpse of my time in Florence while the memories are clear in my head. Here goes :)

Just as I arrived it began to pour down raining... not exactly what you envision a holiday in Italy is going to be like. The poor weather did not spoil my mood though as seeing my friend had the equivalent effect of the sun coming out. We quickly dropped my things off at her apartment (such a grown up living all by herself!) and headed off to walk through the city.

Walking around in Florence is quite spectacular, the whole city has maintained its authenticity by maintaining the old style of the building making the entire city look like the old town areas in other cities. We raced down the narrow, one-way streets full of parked Vespas and bikes (would not want to be driving a car there either) and passed by some remarkable landmarks.

As I so happened to come on the first Sunday of the month- a day during which most museums are open for free, it's not surprising that we made our way to one. We chose to visit Pitti palace and the gardens surrounding it. Lucky for us the rain had stopped so we could walk around without running from tree under tree. The gardens were truly impressive and the palace was big. very big. like 400 rooms or something equally ridiculous. The ceilings in these rooms were probably my favourite part to look at, frescos galore. Although by the end I was experiencing art overload and so we continued with my introduction to the city outside.

After a lovely dinner where I tried gnocchi (traditional to Florence) for the first time, we grabbed a bottle of wine and some Cantuccini we journeyed up to Michelangelo square to wonder at the Panorama of the city as the sun was setting.  Traditionally you're supposed to dip the Cantuccini in sweet wine, but since we forgot the bottle opener we had to make do with simple white wine. Not the same, but had to be done nonetheless. It wasn't bad although I imagine eating them with dessert wine is a whole lot different. Oh well, next time :P We sat on the steps in the square overlooking the city and catching up as it became dark and the city lights all lit up revealing the night view of Florence - a great end to an awesome day.

The second day I had to entertain myself as my host went to work, but not without recommending a couple free city tours which I decided to go to. These took me around the city sites and I got to know more about the history of Florence and the Medici family - one of the richest families in Florence who had a passage built between its palaces which includes the passage over Ponte Vecchio- the old bridge. Would love to take the tour walking through the passage, but unfortunately, I don't have the 500 euros it would cost to do that lying around so might have to forget that little wish.

During the tour, I also met some pretty cool people who were traveling through Italy as well as a friend who came down for a couple days and ended up spending the day with them. We once again went to Michelangelo square which was nice as I got to see the view in the daytime and proceeded to head to my friend's apartment to have dinner together. This was followed by a nighttime walk to a semi-secret place to chill that you get to by hopping over the railings of a bridge.

With a newly made friend from the day before we decided to do the typical touristy thing of going up the cathedral, tower and visiting the baptistry so we proceeded to do so on my third day in Florence. The views were unbelievable and I think I can safely say that it will be hard for a panorama of red old town rooftops to make an impression on me ever again. I think the number of photos I made speaks louder than words about how much I enjoyed the views of the city from above. 

We ended the day with an aperitivo with a spritz - a must do at least once in Italy. This was together with an international student society which was slightly weird to be doing things with not being a student anymore... they picked this pub that had temp ceiling broken down to reveal the frescoed original ceiling - guess that's just the standard in Florence, frescos everywhere :D

My final full day began with climbing the dome of the cathedral, as we decided the other day it was overcrowded with tourist groups. More breathtaking views opened up and many more photos were taken. I then proceeded to visit another museum- Galleria dell Accademia which houses the famous Michelangelo's David sculpture.

Before taking the train back to Milan my friend and I visited Fiesole - a small town on the hill to get a final view of the city before I left. This was a wonderful visit and a great rest of all the stuff happening back in Vilnius.