Florence

Finally a computer!! let me preface this by saying i sm on an ipad...and it is the most annoying thing to type on ever. i want to warn you nowthat there wi,l be lots of words spelt wrong andhorrible punctuation. okay, here i go. time for floence!! (also, let me add that our hostel mates are blasting the beatles & its beyond fabulous. i coukd do without their singing though.)

so we arrived in florence on thursday morning at 6 am. even though we were exhausted, we wanted to get the most out of the day. we checked in at the hostel, changed and washed up. we wanted to get to the uffizi gallery early because we heard there are long lines. there was a long line, but we decided to wait anyway. the sign said it would 60 to 90 minutes. they lied! it took us 3 hours to get in. by the time we got in, we were starving and a little grumpy. we enjoyed looking at the artwork, but we didnt know what we were looking at. some of the explanations were not descriptive enough. we snuck in some pictures.

by the time we got out of the museum, we were starving. luckily there was a restaurant right across the street from the museum. i ordered a pizza. all the food has been so good. i dont u derstand how people who live here are not over weight.


the restaurant was by the ponte vecchio, or the old bridge. it is a pretty cool bridge. it is filled with jewlery stores on each side. when we got over we found pitti palace. not sure what it used to be used for, but now its a museum.you can go inside and see the furniture. there is also a large garden in the back. it has secret hide outs. it was for people to meet their lovers secretly. however,we did not go into the palace or garden. we had to get back to the other side of the bridge to see a church by 430. the outside of the church was amazing. we were hoping the inside would be just as nice but we were disappointed. the outside was not very decorated. plus after seeing the san marco basillica, this was far behind in wow factor.

when we were done with the church, we headed over to thd bell tower. if you went to the top you were able to see the whole city. i climed 414 stairs to get upthere, and was very pleased with what i saw. i am so excited to show off my puctures. when i walked back down the 414 stIrs i headed back over to pitti palace. i only had an hour until i had to be back to get our train tickets for the next morning. i decided to see the gardens since i didnt have that much time. it was beautiful. there are really nice sculptures and good views of the city. . i woukd like to go back to florence and see inside the palace.

when we figured out ourtrain situation, we went to get dinner. i finally got rissotto. it was so good. i am craving more of it now!! we alsohad a really good pinot grigio. i hope theyhave it in the states.

all in all, one day was good for florence. its a beautiful city with amazing historic buildings and artwork all over. however i think one day was the perfect amountof time. they also need to get rid ofthe cars in all the squares. after visiting venice, i dont know if i will ever be okay with cars in cities.

much love

sammy xoxo

p.s. i am glad youre all enjoying my posts. i love getting responses!!!