When we made it to Florence, I could already to tell this city was going to be something special. The traffic was not as frustrating as Rome and the people seemed friendlier and less bothered by the Americans, particularly me, hogging the sidewalk with huge traveling backpacks. After navigating the streets of Firenze, we made after a bit of a detour to our hostel, Leonardo House. Here we dropped our bags off and got ready to go back out into Florence to see what all the hype was about. It was a beautiful day and we even figured it was warm enough to leave our heavy coats at the hostel and to just go out in sweaters..we would later reap the consequences. Turning right out of the hostel door and literally a two minute walk, we were at the Duomo. It was BEAUTIFUL. I fell in love right then and there with Florence. We never actually went into the church due to being cheap, but it was enough to take in from the outside. The one thing I was amazed at was the amount of American college students there, it was incredible..I felt like the had infiltrated the city or something.
From the Duomo we started just wandering down side streets and ended up finding the Palazzo Vecchio and seeing the copy of the David. It was great to see people gathered in the palazzo going about their daily lives in such a beautiful city. We then walked past the Uffizi Gallery and wound up by the river. SPECTACULAR. I cannot even get over the beauty of Florence and how jealous I am of all that live there. We wandered to the Ponte Vecchio, which is a bridge full of jewelery shops. In the middle of the bridge there is a statue that is surrounded by a small wrought iron fence and where several couples go to "lock their love" as there are hundreds of locks with two names all over the fence. I am not quite sure how such a tradition began, but all I can think is..lucky sorts. From the Ponte Vecchio, we explored the other side of the bridge and found Palazzo Pitti which is a large plaza which is also on a slant and where we decided to eat our dinner which probably totaled four euro and came from a small market across the street. Our orphan status was fairly set in stone at this point..and without coats, our dinner quickly grew unpleasant. So hurriedly, we made our way back to the hostel. However, we did not know what we were going to get into when we arrived back...
I must say that for my following story I was never actually in any grave danger, just fear but am completely fine.
So when we arrived back at our hostel we were a little wary. It was tucked away in this alley which seemed fine enough, but then there were two huge doors to get into the area where our room was, which was by itself and another room, sharing a bathroom. Our room also had a strong lingering scent, dim, and quite cold. After taking a nap and attempting to get warm, the three of us were awakened by loud male voices of probably Eastern European descent right outside our door. We were quite frightened and after watching Taken a few too many times, we may have been too cautious. After coming up with scenarios and thinking of how we could move the armoir that was significantly larger than the door and the three of us combined, we decided it was best to leave the dear Leonardo House and find new residence. After convincing an extremely frustrated Leonardo, himself a bit of a sketchy fellow, that we had an emergency and needed to return to Rome, he reimbursed one of night's stays. Thankfully enough we were also able to get in touch with America and my mom was able to book a hotel for us which was immensely appreciated. After finding our way to the hotel, even the streets, we felt so much safer. The orphans certainly got an upgrade when we saw the room we had waiting for us! That night, thinking we had had enough excitement for the day, we stayed in and watched a few hours of CNN, the only English channel.
The next morning, we were thrilled to have a free breakfast and we were excited to see the rest of Florence. Florence is famous for its leather market, so it was imperative that we find the world famous market. Within five minutes of walking into the market, we met a lovely man named Igor. Little did we know who Igor would lead us to... Apparently the leather that the vendors put out in their little huts is not their finest and is generally fake and of poor quality so we were taken down a side street to a small shop owned by the one and only, Massimo. Within a minute I knew this man was going to be one of the best salesman I would ever meet. A few minutes later, I was wearing a jacket he told was a pattern made for Gucci or Prada and since it was the winter and I was a student, he was willing to drop the price by 300 euro! WOW. how do you say no? Well..I didn't. After a few leather tests to make sure it was genuine and made in Italy, not a sweatshop in Indonesia, the three of us were outfitted by the man who also sold leather jackets to Lil' John. Orphans no longer, we hit Florence in style. We made our way to one of the most gorgeous spots in Florence, Piazzale Michelangelo. INCREDIBLE. It was essentially a plaza that looked out over the whole city of Florence...there were no words for how beautiful it was, my love for that city was sealed as soon as I turned around after the last step of the climb. Audrey, Bridget, and I sat on these steps for a bit just looking out over the city and thinking of how truly blessed we were. I would not take my time back there for anything. On the way back to the city center, we decided we would splurge on a real meal since we were all starving. I engulfed a whole pizza to myself and tiramisu for desert, we were also entertained by our waiter Matteo as we had the place to ourselves. We then wandered around Florence and I could not help but love everything about it, there was something that I wanted to get to know better about that place and still do. It was in Florence where my great interest in learning photography reemerged and I was greatly tempted to stay for awhile and enroll somewhere..anywhere to study photography. But we later ending up getting dinner and walking the city at night. Unlike Paris and Rome, we felt safe walking around Florence and did not feel as though we were going to be hasseled or mugged, it was a great feeling. We were all greatly reluctant to leave Florence, but the next morning came too soon..
We made our way back to Rome and by the time we made it back midday, we were all exhausted. We felt like we had been put through the ringer and all started to get sore throats and a large amount of congestion. Traveling had taken its toll. However, we still had a few days in Rome before we would go back to Ireland. We stopped back at the hostel where we had stayed before, the Beehive. Then we started to explore the city a little on our own, going to Piazza Navona and walking down various streets. Overtaken by exhaustion and illness, we headed back to the hostel and took naps as we rested for the night. Meeting up with SMC friends we walked to Campo di Fiori and simply watched the young Italians as they flooded the square and mingled. That in itself could have entertained me for hours..it was so fascinating to watch hundreds of them..I could not even imagine growing up and meeting in Campo for a night out, it certainly beats seeing a movie at Willow Knolls. A nutella crepe finished the night and we made it back to the Beehive for a much needed nights sleep.
The next day was certainly memorable. We woke up early and made our way to the Vatican for mass. We arrived early and were able to get good seats, it is absolutely incredible inside and the grandeur of the place is absolutely magnificent. As eight of us sat there in silence beforehand waiting for mass to start, a man with a Vatican badge approached my friend Lori and I, unsure of what exactly he was asking, we finally figured out that he wanted the two of us to take up the gifts. WHAT?! This man must have been insane..why did he want me to do this when I hadn't even showered that day, they really should warn you somehow. But in any event, the two of us were taken to the front row and given seats only after we practiced with Vatican officials on the proper way to bring up the gifts. Intimidation was an understatement. We had a man who guided us up there and we had to walk at his pace and had to learn the Italian for bow, so whenever he said that, we were to do it and to do it well--we were at the Vaticano after all. So once our practice was finished, we were escorted to the front row where we sat through the mass anxiously anticipating our worldwide giftbearing debut in the VATICAN. When the time came, the place started spinning and with all of the mosaics and marble, it was certainly hard to focus on what was going on. But Lori, an Italian couple, and I made it smoothly to the altar and were able to hand off the gifts without dropping them and without tripping. AMEN. I will certainly never forget such an experience and could only have been topped if the Pope himself had been the celebrant. Once I began to feel my legs again and was seeing straight, the group made our way outside and were blessed by the Pope as he came out his bedroom window. Once again, I was being swept off my feet by all that was happening to me! Looking back, it all seems like a dream! I felt as though I had already had a full day, but it was only a little before one. After getting some lunch we went back to the hostel to again get some sleep and try to recooperate. We also learned that in Italy one must weigh their own apples and print out a sticker to put on the bag, after each of us went through the line and were cursed at by a bitter Italian woman who was not sympathetic to our cultural differences, we learned our lesson.
The next day was our final day and we battled through our congestion and coughs to see the Colloseum and Roman Forum. They were both magnificent to see and to think at how old they were was endlessly fascinating. Despite a rainy day, we enjoyed ourselves and met up with a friend who took us to an unfrequented area by tourists, Trestevere where we visited one of the most endearing churches I have ever seen. Lined in mosaics and the sounds of chants in the background, I was amazed at the work and beauty of the place. After a short visit there, we went to grab a cappuccino at a cafe where all of the SMC girls go and let me say, it was one of the most heavenly things I have ever tasted. Back at the hostel we had dinner in its cafe where three chefs work on different days and prepare dishes where you set the price for whatever you want to spend, it's all based on karma. Every meal we had there was delicious and greatly satisfying. Overcome with a desire to sleep and an early start, we thankfully spent our last night in a hostel for awhile.
The next morning we run to the Termini Station and were finally off to start our semester in IRELAND...
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