I just had the most fabulous weekend in Florence! Saturday morning, Jillian, Leanna, Caitlin and I got up at the very early hour of 5:30am to catch our 4 hour train to Florence. The ride wasn't bad at all, I slept most of the way there. Once we got there we found our way to our hostel. At first I was a little disappointed because it seemed like Florence was very similar to Rome by the looks, but the weekend definitely proved me wrong! We checked into our hostel and then decided we would go to the Duomo. The dome itself was huge (I think the biggest before St. Peter's was built). It was so big that they had to build a dome within the dome to help support it. The dome with in the dome had a dipiction of the Last Judgement, which was really neat. To get to the top we had to climb a good 500 steps! It was quite a hike, but totally worth it! At the top we could see eveything there was to see in Florence. And it was such a beautiful, clear, sunny day. The city was just beautiful, with pretty hills off in the distance. It was nice to get the big picture of the city.

After we left the Duomo we caught a bus to one of Jillian's family friends who lives in Florence. It was actually quite miraculous that we found the place. We had no idea where it was, only the bus line to get on, but somehow we found our way there! When we got to Vonna's house she gave us tea and pastries and we all sat around talking in Italian. I was really impressed with how much I understood! She showed us old pictures of when she had gone to visit Jillian's dad's family when her dad was about our age, it was so funny to see! Then her son Neri came over and told us he would take us out that night and show us around Florence.

First, he took us to Piazza di Michelangelo, which over looked a different part of the city. It was really pretty because the sun had just set and all the lights were turning on and reflecting over the river. After that he took us to this fancy bar where he got us pre-dinner drinks with strawberries. The bar overlooked the river and the Ponto Vecchio (the superold bridge, and the only one in Florence that the Germans didn't burn down during WWII). Neri took us for a long walk around the city showing us everything. It was so nice to have a person that really knew Florence. It was so cute he kept saying "this is my city", he seemed so incredible proud of everything, I loved it! After the walk we returned to the bar that actually had a restaurant on the other side of it and we had dinner there. Our table overlooked the river again and there was nice music playing. Neri ordered all these traditional Tuscan appetizers and explained all about them. We had wine, pizza, chocolate dessert, and some espresso. I was sooo full by the end of it! It was so nice too because he insisted on paying for all 4 of us! After dinner he wanted to take us to this bar that he always goes to. It was really funny because everywhere we went Neri seemed to know everyone! It was such an Italian thing! The bar was really fun because he got us drinks and we all went outside and some of his friends who spoke a little english showed up. We tried to teach Neri some American slang and it was hilarious! He thought all the words were so funny because they didn't make any sense at all. After quite a full night he took us back to our hostel.

The next day, we all got up and decided to go to some museums. It was a good day for museums because it was cold and rainy outside. I was really happy we had spent so much of the last day outside. First we went to the Galleria Accademia where David is. It was so awesome to see! He is absolutely huge! After that we went to the Uffizi. It took us about 3 hours for the whole thing. There was so much amazing art there!! Some of my favorites were of Botticelli's and Caravaggio. The Uffizi is a must see for anyone that goes to Florence! After that we had lunch and caught our train back to Rome. I absolutely loved seeing Florence and I am now really looking forward to Barcelona next weekend!