May 16th Day 6 Florence:
Kristina's FitBit Information: 10.37 Miles walked & 25,584 Steps
This is the girls’ accountings of our free day in
Florence.
Beth: “This day was our free day! We got to choose
what we wanted to do on this day, so a group of us went around nine in the morning
to climb the Florence Duomo. It was about ten euros for a ticket, and we waited
in line for maybe only thirty minutes before we got to the door of the church.
We entered and began our journey to the top! Over four hundred steps through
tight and dark spiral staircases, around a scaffolding of the church and up a
few more almost completely vertical stairways, and we finally made it to the
top! The uneasy climb was completely worth it, amazing views of the entire city
of Florence, the mountains and the river were completely breathtaking,
definitely a view of a lifetime. The marble, gold detailing and murals all over
the building are simply inspiring. It really makes you ponder how much time it
must have took to complete a building like this.”
Jennie: “We finally had a day to ourselves! We were
still coming off of a major swollen ankles epidemic, but many of us decided to
start the day by climbing to the top of the Duomo. The Cathedral di Santa Maria
del Fiore is a magnificent structure. You walk around the fairly small piazza
because the middle is occupied by this breathtaking-in-size-and-architecture
building. We climbed the small, steep, castle-like stair cases to the top
(which was an experience in itself) where the 360 degree view of the city is
just remarkable.”
Kelly: “This is the day I truly fell in love with
Florence. Rome was great for all of its historical value and amazing sights,
but Florence is where I fell in love with Italy. Florence is less of a touristy
city and I think that’s why I took to it so quickly. The people are so
friendly, and everything is so close, but it still had a city vibe to it;
there’s just something about Florence.
We went to the leather market and explored the Ponte
Vecchio. It was also a bit rainy so we had some fun with the hotel
umbrellas. I went pretty hardcore
shopping today, but if you give a girl a free day in a city full of leather you
can only imagine the damage to her bank account.”
Magen: “Onto another favorite of mine was climbing
the Duomo in Florence. Now I knew that
this
Taylor V.: “Being on top of what felt
like the world and seeing mountains, the incredible Tuscan countryside,
churches, ant-sized people, and a bird’s eye view of Florence, home is exactly
what it
Taylor M.: “At the very last part of the
climb, the stairs were so steep it was like climbing a ladder! It was all worth
it because the view from the top of the Duomo was like nothing I have ever
experienced before! It was gorgeous and it is something I will never forget!
Definitely one of my favorite experiences!
The rest of the day we spent eating and
shopping all over Florence! I treated myself to a Gucci wallet that I am really
nervous to use, but I think I can get over it quite easily! Melinda and I
explored some underground ruins underneath a castle. It was really cool that
there were literally between two periods of time, under us were ancient ruins
and above us was a very old, but more modern building compared to what lies
beneath it. We walked all over Florence and embraced all that the city had to
offer! We then met up with the group at the hotel for some wine before dinner,
which would become a tradition each night!”
This night we had our first happy hour
or “wine:30” back at the hotel. For the remainder of the trip we kept this
ritual going of meeting up between 5 and 6:30 to debrief, enjoy local wine, and
plan a dinner location.
We all went out to another one of Luke’s
recommendations for dinner! An authentic Tuscan restaurant right around the
corner from our hotel called Cibreo.
The menu there was quite interesting to say the
least, so fresh that the menu items were written in pencil to change or add
items at the last minute. We continued our tradition of tasting each other’s
food. Victoria and Kelly shared the chicken neck dish (which Kelly did not
love), the tripe appetizer and the ox tail stew, which were both beyond
appetizing. We were all very nervous about trying these new foods at first, but
everything was prepared correctly with all of the freshest ingredients and it
was all very good!
