It only costs 6,95 for a one way trip to Firenze on the slow train, which includes a transfer in Prato and takes about an hour and a half to two hours, but I didn't mind at all. As hard as I tried to do my grammar homework and get some reading done for my Italian literature class, I just couldn't help but stare out the window at the beautiful Italian country side for almost the entire train ride.
I arrived and met my friend Shannon across the street from the train station and we hardly skipped a beat. To preface, Shannon and I haven't really spent much time together outside of soccer practice, games, and tournaments, so up until then we hadn't gotten many opportunities to really get to know each other extremely well. However, in less than a day it felt like we had already become best friends.
Shannon took me back to her apartment where I was able to drop off my bags - which was only a backpack - and we proceeded to begin exploring Firenze. We wandered through the city and saw La Piazza della Repubblica, il Centro Mercato, and La Basilica di Santa Croce where lucky for me, there was a chocolate festival well underway with some of the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. I ate more chocolate in one sitting than I would probably normally eat in a week. But it was SO good. We also went to see Il Duomo (also known as La Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore), which I had heard was pretty amazing, but it nonetheless took my breath away the moment I laid eyes on it. I have never seen another building quite like it. It was hard to stop staring at it because it was just THAT magnificent and absolutely gorgeous. We also made our way to Ponte Vecchio which was probably one of favorite places I saw during my time in Firenze. The bridge itself was aesthetically pleasant in every way. It also offered a stunning view of the Arno River and I definitely went a little picture-crazy. Afterward we headed to one of Shannon's friends apartments to eat a late dinner of yummy pasta with ragu sauce, bread, and vino - the perfect end to an exhaustingly wonderful day. The kind of day where it just feels good to be tired. It was also kind of funny because while we were hanging out with some of Shannon's friends, after spending a mere 7-8 hours with this girl (the first time that a soccer ball wasn't involved), someone asked us if we were besties from home, to which we responded by looking at each other with the mutual understanding that the answer was a yes/no, it's complicated but we're such good friends now kind of thing that we couldn't help but laugh.
Il Duomo
Piazza della Repubblica
La Basilica di Santa Croce
Chocolate Festival!
Me in front of Ponte Vecchio
Ponte Vecchio
We ended up hitting the sack pretty late, so we slept until about 10 or 11 the next day and went for a run around Firenze (no big deal). Some of my friends think I'm crazy for how much I like to run, but they haven't met this girl yet. In Bologna, the only places that it is really acceptable and possible to run are in parks so it was a really refreshing change to be able to run around a city instead of having to count laps. Running is one of the best ways to truly get to know a place, and the scenes were gorgeous. I was practically gawking at everything we passed, especially when we were running by the River. And Shannon was nice enough to slow down for me since I was too busy looking at everything except where I was going and way too preoccupied to even think about how fast I was running. After a nice 5-miler we showered and grabbed some lunch at one of Shannon's favorite make-your-own panino places and proceeded to continue our exploration of the city together. And we of course had to stop by the chocolate festival once again to double dip. We first headed across the River to the Piazza di Michelangelo, which is somewhat of a hike, but the view is totally worth every step. One who traverses this piazza is treated to a breathtaking skyline view of Firenze - and I thought I had gotten picture-happy when we went to Ponte Vecchio. It was indescribably beautiful and refreshing with the same sensation one feels after reaching a desired destination after a long and difficult journey. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the piazza, and then headed back across the river where we met up with another girl to visit La Galleria dell'Academia, the home of the David. L'Acadamia is home to a variety of other works of art from the Renaissance era, but the David is by far its most highly sought out attraction, and for good reason. Not only is the actual statue huge - much larger than I would have ever expected, but it is glowing with artistic perfection. One can't help but to just sit and stare at it. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed - as if they would ever be able to capture its entire essence anyway - but getting to see such a renowned and historically significant statue not only took my breath away, but it kind of it me that WOW, I am in ITALY. It gave me chills and instilled in me a sense of appreciation and wonder that I had yet to experience. We wandered a little more around the city, bought some postcards, and headed out to a bar/caffe for one of the biggest arrays of apperitivi I have yet to find thus far. Dinner was wonderful, and afterward we met up with some of Shannon's friends and went out for a bit.
View from Piazza di Michelangelo
Me and Shannon, and oh hey there's Firenze in the background!
I departed the next day around noon to catch a train back to Bologna. I was sad to leave, especially after me and Shannon had rapidly become such good friends and I still felt like there was a lot of Firenze that I had yet to see, but at the same time, it felt good to get back to Bologna, to home. I'm definitely going to try to make a trip back to Firenze at some point - especially since round-trip train tickets cost a mere 15 euro - but I must say that there is something about Bologna that truly made me miss it while I was gone. I dont know if it was just because it was my first time out of the city for an extended period of time, but I am in love with it. It is familiar, it is a temporary home, and it is mine. And that is a great feeling to have.
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