Italia- Firenze {Part 4}

**My Last Italian Adventure Installment. 
I hope you all enjoyed re-living my experiences with me! **

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-) 

Last but certainly not least!

Firenze

{I will need to break this into a couple of posts...I was here for a month! What can I say?}

The Duomo. 

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

At night.

During the Day

Isn't it gorgeous...from all angles and at all times of day!

Wow!

On my last day in Firenze, Stephanie and I climbed the stairs of the Duomo to the top. Zia told me to go early in the day and to go on a cooler day.  She was right...and we didn't follow her instructions....it was hot and there wasn't a lot of air circulation...it was totally worth the heat exhaustion! Do it, if you are there! You won't be disappointed!!

 All of that graffiti!

 We were getting hot!! It was warm and the stairs are narrow!

 The paintings of the ceiling of the Duomo! Isn't it neat?! They have the lowest part be the depiction of Hell and as you move up the done, you get into Heaven! So beautiful!

Yes...the stairs were ALL that steep and ALL that narrow!

The view from the top!! That is Santa Croce

San Lorenzo. 

I had to walk by this every day to get from class to my house. 

And you can see all of the tents and umbrellas on the right hand of this picture...

that is the open air market where I bought 2 leather purses, a leather jacket {my red one form my engagement pictures} and many many other souvenirs!

I figured...when will be the next time I come back? I might as well buy everything in site! 

Wells Fargo was loving me!

Of all of the things to do in Firenze, make sure you climb the stairs of the Duomo! 

 It is amazing and you will not regret it!

Italia, you have my heart, and I will go back and visit you some day!

I promise!

Grazie Mille!

Italia- Firenze {Part 3}

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-) 

Last but certainly not least!

Firenze

{I will need to break this into a couple of posts...I was here for a month! What can I say?}

Piazza de la Republica--this is one of the original walls of Firenze. the city was a square and as it expanded so did the walls. This is one of the original walls still located in its original location. There is a fountain, a carousal and lots of restaurants in this little Piazza.

Funny story about eating in Italy...
The hosts at the restaurants stand outside on the street and greet the people as they walk by and they convince you to eat at their restaurant.  We were walking by a restaurant in this Piazza, just to the left of this photo, and two hosts started bickering about where we should eat! One of the guys even went so far as to insult the other hosts mother! We were dying laughing! We decided to go to the guy who was insulted and NOT to the guy who did the insulting...wrong choice...Jodi found a rollie-pollie in her salad!! More protein, I guess??


When we were in Firenze, we studied art, music and culture. So we spent most of our time when we were in our group going to museums, learning a bit of Italian, seeing performances and listening to music.


One of the shows that we saw in our first week in Firenze was the Momix. It was one of the coolest shows I have ever seen, still til this day!


If any of you have seen Cirque du Soliel, it is very similar to that show. The difference being that Momix is more dance focused while Cirque du Soliel is more acrobat focused. It was soo neat!

It was in the Boboli Gardens which is located on the opposite side of the Ponte Vecchio. We were crossing the Ponte Vecchio just as the sun was setting, so we stopped for a photo shoot! ;-)

We were too excited for the show to start!

It was dark, so the only a few pictures came out. Isn't this neat!?

Like I said in my post about Verona, if you come across something in Italia that is "good luck" you want to make sure that you do it!

There was a hog-I am not sure of the symbolism- in Firenze that we need to touch his snout and drop a penny in the fountain {water came out of its mouth}

Until next time, Buon Giorno

Italia- Firenze {Part 2}

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-) 

Last but certainly not least!

Firenze

{I will need to break this into a couple of posts...I was here for a month! What can I say?}

I had to leave the program a week early because I was an RA and I had to get back for our senior staff training.

That said, there were a couple of museums and places that I wanted to go to that I wasn't going to get to see with the rest of my group so I went on my own time. 

When Zia and I were looking for our hotel on the first day I was in Firenze, we walked through the Piazza de la Signorina where there is a copy of the statue of David. 

{not a picture from the first day--nonetheless a picture from Piazza de la Signorin}

 

I didn't realize at the time that it was a copy and I almost died because I saw him and we just stumbled upon the statue!

   

I went to the Accademia in Firenze because I wanted to see the statue of David.

I went inside and I did what I could to save him for last.

Before I went to the Accademia, I wasn't really sure what everyone was talking about when they talked about the statue of David. I thought to myself, "yeah yeah yeah another naked man statue, what's the big deal?"

And then I saw him. I sat on a bench next to the statue for a solid 30 minutes to looking at him. Admiring the amazing detail and assuming the time, sweat and blood that wen into creating this master piece.

I was captivated by him.

{these aren't the greatest of pictures because technically you can't take any inside the Accademia...that obviously didn't stop me ;-)}

 

Definitely make time to go to the Accademia. You will regret it if you don't! It is amazing!

Until next time, Buon Giorno 

Italia- Firenze {Part1}

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-) 

Last but certainly not least!

Firenze

{I will need to break this into a couple of posts...I was here for a month! What can I say?}

Chiesa Ognissanti

Next to the Grand Hotel

14 Via Santa Reparate. 
Our door into the building

Our apartment door from inside the building

 Our bedroom..it was pretty large!

 

The bathroom, gotta love the bidet! ;-)

Our Kitchen...
the fridge is behind where I am standing. 
So small!

Our first gelato in Firenze! And our first day in Firenze!

Zio & Zia on Ponte Vecchio!

The Ponte Vecchio was used by the Medici Family to get from their Palace {Palazzo Piti} to the Uffizi {their offices}. It is open air on the bottom and is enclosed on the top. The Medici would walk through the closed top so they did not have to walk with the common people in Firenze.



Palazzo Piti was my favorite place in Firenze!

It has beautiful and lush gardens and the Palace is a museum. There is a fashion museum inside! 








Look at those views...definitely can't complain!






The beautiful flowers!






Our house was right next door to the convent of San Marco! So beautiful!

In the convent is a rendition of the Last Supper. It was really neat because we had a tour guide who was a professor at the University of Firenze who took us on our tours of the areas around Firenze. We were able to get into a lot of museums etc because he was showing us around and we got to go inside places that were not as busy, which was really nice!

Until next time, Buon Giorno

Italia- Venezia

I went to Italia in the summer of 2008. I studied Art, Music and Culture in Firenze for a month.  

From now on, my adventures were mainly shared with my two roommates: Jodi and Stephanie, people in my program, Bev or random people we met along the way!

Now on to my Firenze adventures--a lot of site seeing, staying up late, and wine! How to travel in Europe when you are 20!

I have decided that I will take you along my journey based on the places I went :-)

Venezia

Venezia is my favorite city in Italia. Hands down.

How gorgeous is the San Marcos Duomo? 

I remember a lot of people told me that Venezia was dirty and gross and so I was a little apprehensive about going there. We arrived on a beautiful blue sky and sunny day and I was captivated by every part of this beautiful city!

Sure, all of the pigeons were a little gross....sure you don't want to swim in the water...

...the architecture, and food, the culture, the people all made up for it!

Ick...all of the pigeons! ;-)

We took a tour of Palais des Doges

Inside  Palais des Doges is the Ponte dei Sospiri {the bridge of signs}
The Ponte dei Sospiri is the bridge that the prisoners crossed from their cells to the execution chamber, or to be hung and this is when/where they had their last glimpse of sunlight and their last breath of fresh air.
The guide told us that if the prisoner committed a very terrible crime, that they would have a sack over their head so they weren't allowed the privileged of seeing sunlight on their way to execution

This is a cell that is in Palais des Doges.
The prisoners were fed bread and wine for every meal. 
The bread to sustain them and the wine for the nutrition! 
Very interesting! 

This picture {below} is my absolute favorite picture of my entire trip. No people in the way...nothing...simply beautiful, peaceful, calm, wonderful.

A picture taken from the Ponte Rialto! 

Ponte Rialto is where all of the little street vendors are in Venezia. They sell everything from clothing, to blown glass, and masks.

I bought a beautiful mask here...well two, one for me and one for my Friendoodle! Now for a masquerade party!

The beautiful Ponte Rialto at night!

Look at that moon! wow!

San Giorgio Maggiore Island

All of the boats getting ready for Il Redentore.

This picture is of the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore. The church was built to honor the end of the plague in Venezia. Every year the Venetians celebrate the end of the plague during the 3rd weekend in July. They build a Ponte Votivo {a temporary bridge} from Piazza San Marco to Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore.  The Bishop from Venezia blesses the bridge as he crosses it. And then he gives a speech thanking God and the Virgin Mary for saving the people from the plague.

There is the Bishop! ;-)

The Bishop crosses the bridge first to bless it and then everyone else crosses it and listens to his speech.

Most people have boats, so they go into the water because once the sun goes down, a firework show begins! This was the best firework show I have ever seen! It seemed to have gone one for hours! It was amazing!

Everyone was cheering, singing and having a merry time!

On Sunday, we went to Mass at San Marco and we heard the Bishop give the service. It was so special! I won't ever forget it!

I wish that I had taken the boat to Isola Murano. We bought Murano glass from Ponte Rialto anyway, so it wasn't the end of the world. It would have been nice to see a tour!

You must go on a Gondola ride! It was fabulous!! The Gallerie dell'Accademia was beautiful {pre-19th century art}and the Guggenheim museum was really neat too!

And definitely buy a mask--you won't get one like it anywhere else! I promise you that!

I would recommend going to Venezia when it is the Redentore because it is such an magical experience. Beware that there are thousands of people there to celebrate and so it will be busy...it will also be worth it!

Until next time, Buon Giorno