Day 4

Today we went to Florence.  We woke up extremely early to catch a train that was really cool, because it had a cart for coffee and snacks.  I have never been on a train like that before.  In Florence or Firenze as the Italians know it as, we saw many things and had a lot of free time.  We saw the Duomo and the copy of the Door of Paradise.  After that we saw, Dante (the father of the Italian language)’s house and the first University of Florence, the second oldest in Italy.  Outside of Dante’s house there was a gypsy that was determined to get money from one of us.  She went around to every person in the group at least twice and would not take no for an answer.  After that we went on a walking tour of Florence.  We walked on the Ponte Vecchio that had a ton of jewelry shops and it was the only bridge that was not destroyed during the World Wars.  We saw the Porcellino, which is the mascot of Florence, and the legend of that is if you touch it’s nose you will go back to Florence and if you place a coin in it’s mouth and make a wish, if it falls into the grate below your wish will come true.  Of course I touched the nose and placed a coin in the wild bore’s mouth.  And my coin fell into the grate so we’ll just have to wait and see if my wish will come true.  After the walking tour we went to Leonardo’s leather making factory.  There we learned how to make the infamous Florence leather jewelry box.  We spilt into groups after that.  I went to the Accademia with Thomas and Angela to see the David.  The Museum was a little small and hidden among other buildings.  The David though was gorgeous and it was interesting to see the unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo.  After seeing the David, we had some free time, so I ate lunch and went shopping.  I loved Florence and did not want to leave but unfortunately we had to.  After arriving at the hotel, we went to dinner at a restaurant not too far away.  There Marie and I spilt a pizza and a plate of the best calamari I’ve ever had besides the calamari in Greece.  After dinner we went to a local pub and stayed there for quite some time, it was fun.  Around three am, my bed was calling my name.