Day 3 - Florence

 Today we started off early once again (though a little less early than the past two days) to start our trip to Florence. We got on the bus at 8:30 AM and enjoyed a scenic ride through the Italian countryside. We were able to see many of the beautiful mountains and vineyards for which Italy is known. We also experienced the strangeness of going through tunnels under the mountains, some of which were so long that they took several minutes to go through.

 At around 10:15 we stopped at a rest stop, which was far busier and nicer than any of its American equivalents that I have seen. It also had some food and snacks that were strangely familiar yet so different.

 We then got back on the bus and finsihed the drive to Florence, or, as it is called in Italian, Firenze. Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted by the sights of the amazing architecture and ancient structures of the city, which were only more and more impressive the further into the city we got. The below picture is of the Basilica, which was my personal favorite of all the buildings we saw. We were able to have some free time for lunch, and so a group of us girls went to a nearby restaurant where we were able to have some delicious pasta. 

Then, we went on a guided tour where we were shown some of the most impressive sights around Florence. Our tour guide told us many interesting facts about not only the structure of the city, which was founded about 1500 years ago, but also about some of the most important people who had lived and worked there over the years, including Leonardo Da Vinci, the Medici family, and Donatello.

At the end of the tour, we were able to go to a leather shop and learn about how leather is made in Florence. The shop had many gorgeous pieces in all different colors, including some boxes with gold leaf detailing on them. I had no idea that it was possible to make leather boxes!

Then, we had free time again. I pretty much all of this time with Miranda, Nicole, Erin, Kaitlynne, Ricardo, and Weston. The first thing we did when we set out together was to go get gelato. It's no exaggeration that it is much better in Italy. We went to a nearby museum that featured a lot of statues, and in particular was known for their statues made by Donatello. This included his statue of David, which was amazing to see in person, but was also a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be. 

After our free time was over, we all went to a local restauant for dinner. We were able to have ravioli (with homemade noodles!), and what was described to us as the Italian version of meatloaf, but actually looked more similar to meatballs. For dessert, we had tiramisu. It was all so delicious.

After dinner, just as the sun was beginning to set, we took one last walk through Florence to get to our bus and head back to the hotel for the night. The view from the river was incredible. I can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow.