Gaby and I spent three nights in Florence at the apartment of my friend Graham, a UNC student who is studying there this semester. Two of his roommates were out of town for the weekend, so we even got our own beds!
The afternoon we arrived, we spent a couple of hours hanging out with Graham and his roommates in the apartment before heading out to visit a museum, see the Duomo, eat gelato, and climb a hillside park to watch the sunset. Graham, who has taught himself how to cook while in Italy, made us a delicious Italian meal — chicken parmesan for the meat-eaters and a bready tomato soup for the vegetarians.
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| quite different from Milan's Duomo |
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| ...but equally as impressive |
The next day, Gaby and I knocked out an impressively full day of sightseeing and museum-visiting. From Florence's Duomo to Michelangelo's David, we saw more than I would have thought possible in one day.
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| baptistry ceiling |
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| can't |
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| get |
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| enough |
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| of |
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| Italian food |
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| Firenze at sunset |
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| sunny sidewalk cafe with Gaby |
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| Gaby loves crypts |
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| handmade pasta at the central market! |
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| my delicious lunch at the central market: some sort of bready soup with onion and kale or cabbage |
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| where we got our lunch |
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| Gaby's intestine sandwich |
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| Florence has many, many statues (mostly of naked men) |
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| creepy street "performer" |
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| Gaby with every piece of art at every art museum |
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| chilling with a guy at a park |
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| said park |
Saturday was rainy and colder, so we stayed in most of the day instead of visiting Cinque Terre as originally planned. I worked on summer plans, Gaby played 2048, and along with Graham's roommate Jorge we both watched at least an hour of trailers for old Disney Channel movies.
Overall thoughts on Florence: It's a charming little town, like Pamplona with better weather, better food, actual tourist attractions and a prettier river. If I weren't so obsessed with learning Spanish I'd definitely be having regrets that I hadn't studied there instead. Getting to hang out with Graham and his friends was another highlight of the visit! Having such a limited social circle in Pamplona has gotten old quickly, so it was nice to make new friends — especially with other UNC students who I could connect with easily. I'm looking forward to seeing them back in Chapel Hill!
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| with Jorge and Graham in Michelangelo Park above Florence |
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| dinner with the UNC kids in Florence! |
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| veg lasagna with garbanzos in olive oil |
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