Spring Break: Florence

Traveling from Nice to Florence was not so fun. I took a 6 hour train from Nice to Milan. The Trenitalia train was probably from the 1960s, with cars of 6 people. I was sandwiched in between 2 old couples, one Italian, one German. I talked to the German couple a little bit (in French). That was when I updated my blog from a few weeks ago. I was the obnoxious American plugging away on their blackberry but when else was I going to catch up on my blogging?! The train took an hour to get through Genoa, Italy for some reason so I missed my connecting train from Milan to Florence. They have one every hour though so I just got on the next one. The train from Milan to Florence was great, very modern, with internet and comfy seats. I got off in Florence and met my friend Marc Kovarsky near the train station.

Marc is one of my best friends from high school and I was staying with him at his apartment in Florence. He is studying abroad there. We did a brief tour of some of the main spots in Florence on the way to his apartment. Florence is gorgeous and very old. There were beautiful churches and plazas everywhere. Marc lives AT the Ponteveccio! It's a really cool, old bridge where they used to sell gold and silver. Now it's a huge tourist attraction but still beautiful. We went out to dinner that night with some of his roommates and my friend Sarah Scully from high school. The food was delicious. Penne alla Vodka, Veal, Gnocchi (me and 2 other guys split our dishes). The bread and balsamic vinegar was amazing too! That night, we went to a bar called the Red Garter that was all Americans! There are a ton of Americans studying in Florence so I saw so many people from Michigan and Chicago that I knew. That night we went to a place called "Secret Kebab". It's a restaurant in Florence that isn't technically allowed to be open past a certain time but all the students know about it. They have all the lights off and if you knock on the door, a guy will bring you quickly into the back of the restaurant and make you kebabs. They were the best kebabs ever!!

Wednesday
Marc and I woke up and made our way to the bridge down river from the PonteVecchio. We had booked a Bike Tour of the Tuscan countryside with a company that my friends from Paris used. This company led you from 10 - 5 through the Chianti region on bikes. I was so excited! There were about 30 people on the tour and they drove us 30 minutes to an old Italian Villa (where a Count and Countess lived and produced wine and olive oil). We had a tasting and tour of the Villa. The olive oil was unbelievable!!! I would have bought some if I wasn't traveling with a backpack for another week and a half. We biked through the stunning countryside, through hills and valleys that were breathtaking. There was randomly a girl from Michigan on the trip! Everyone was pretty young and we all had a great time. We had an amazing lunch at a small Italian restaurant half way through the day. I had some great lasagna and great Chianti wine. The riding had been pretty easy up until this point, all down hill or flat. But after lunch, we rode for about 40 minutes until we got to a huge hill. The company offered to drive people up who didn't want to ride. About half of the people hopped in the van. Everybody else rode up the hill. They were not kidding when they said it was steep. I was the only one who made it up without having to get off and walk for part of it. It took a good 20 minutes of steep uphill climbing to get to the top. I definitely earned my free Tuscany Bike Tour water bottle! The tour took us back to the Villa and they drove us back to Florence. The entire day was just amazing. The weather was perfect, we met so many cool people, saw some amazing terrain, great food, wine and olive oil, and I really enjoyed the biking! I couldn't have asked for a better day! And, we went to get gelato afterwards !! For dinner on Wednesday, Marc, his roommate Josh, and I went to a restaurant on the river that was great. Spaghetti bolognase - perfect. That night we went to a club called Full Up. We went to a girl's apartment first that was unbelievably nice. They had a 6 bedroom apartment on the top floor of a building overlooking the Duomo. This apartment was insane...the kids in Florence live like kings. An apartment like that in Paris would cost AT LEAST 2 million euro. We had a great night though and I saw a lot of people I knew (theme of the trip, I know).

Thursday:
I woke up in the morning and did a little sightseeing on my own. Marc had an Italian quiz in one of his classes. I went to the Duomo first. Before I came to Europe, I'd been inside probablyl 3 or 4 churches. Now, I'm pretty churched out. The Duomo was very cool though, huge and intricate. Then I went to the Academia to see the Michaelangelo. I had a pass from Marc so I didn't have to pay or wait in line. The David was so great, much better than I ever expected. It's so imposing, so perfect, and it really propelled the Renaissance Movement. So the David, definitely worth seeing in person. From the David, I tried to go to the Synagogue in Florence. I saw the outside which looked amazing but it was closed for Passover! Very disappointing! I walked to the Leather Market and went to a store called Massimo's. This is where 'everybody' gets their leather jackets. I knew I wanted to buy a nice, leather jacket in Florence and I spent about an hour trying on different jackets and debating which ones I liked. The people in the store were very patient and spoke great English. I finally landed on a nice, lambs skin black leather coat that is great! Marc is bringing it to Paris for me because I didn't want to travel with it. I shopped in the markets for a leather belt too and found a nice one. Marc finished class and met me at the Leather Market. He took me, with Stephanie Raskin (*who I shared my Bar Mitzvah with) to a great sandwich place called Antico. The food in Florence is great! We went to the Leather School after that, where I got my wallet engraved with my initials. We walked around more of Florence, went back to Marc's, and packed for MUNICH! (NEXT POST)