Firenze

Saturday we took a day trip up to Florence, only an hour from Siena by bus.  Florence is probably my favorite city in Italy, right up there with Rome.  It's a lot bigger than Siena, where I'm living, and there are so many beautiful palaces, churches, and piazzas; not to mention open markets, gelaterias, and shops (from D&G to stationary).  There are so many museums to visit and tours to take, but my favorite thing to do in Florence is just walk around.  You can't go very far until you run into a little treasure.

The first thing we did when we arrived was climb the bell tower of the cathedral.  The views were incredible, it was hard to choose just a few photos to upload here.  After the tower, we went up to see Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti, and then to the markets around San Lorenzo. 

For lunch we stopped at an amazing little hole-in-the-wall called "I Fratellini," a little wine and panini bar near Piazza della Signoria.  I ate what was probably the best panino I've had yet. As soon as we all finished ours we wanted to head back and get another one.  But instead we got some gelato...

After lunch, some of the girls in our group went to the Uffizi Museum (I had some issues buying tickets online, but will definitely go with my parents when then come at the end of July), so me and Limher took a 2.5 hour walk around the city, finding some gems, but failing to find a bookstore I'd seen earlier--Limher was such a sport for letting me drag us around the same area for an hour trying to find it.

By early evening we were dead tired, so we took one last stroll along the Arno with the view of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), and slept on the bus ride home.

It was a great day, and I can't wait to come back (very soon).