WEEKEND WITH A VIEW

let's try this post again..

So I finally got to have a perfect weekend in Florence, that was casual/relaxing/and most importantly cheap.

Wednesday:
So I'll count this in the weekend cause after 10 hours of class on Mondays my week is for the most part over then, but also because in the morning my Lost Symbolism Art History class went to the San Lorenzo Church. Now this is a church I pass almost every other day, from the outside it looks ancient, no facade just straight rocks and earth. Total I'm old and just wait until you see inside demeanor, so when we actually went inside.. DAMN, total ornate paintings and white/gray marble everywhere, ginormous (I swear that's a legit word) ceilings. It was crazy and understandable why we weren't allowed to take any photos. However, it was pretty hilarious considering I'm the only male in my class and about 6 girls were given robes and shawls to wear because they were too revealing. Italy don't give a frig, put some clothes on Snooki & company. Then yet another hilarious Italian class with Daniele and it's officially the weekend.

Thursday:
So my Stonehill/Firenze friends and I decided to go out to dinner because in Florence it was the last night of this thing called Aperitivo: A Roof with a View, (aperitivo if i haven't mentioned before is this buffet style dinner with a free drink) and its a bunch of hotels around Florence that you can get a aperitivo dinner on their rooftops/terraces that overlook the city. So we decided to go to the first one on the list, figured if its first it must be good. We get there and find out the dinner is only for guests, but they were still nice enough to let us use the view... photo shoot opportunity GO. Also, as we are taking photos this sweet, hilarious woman from Illinois (she didn't know Tinley Park.. sorry Erin Kelly I guess you're not as well known over in Europe) who asked if we wanted a group photo.

So it's getting late and we're getting incredibly hungry so we decide to go to another hotel, and we find out its aperitivo with just cold cuts/cheese/wine/nothing really substantial at all enough to be construed into an actual meal, so after another awkward Americans not knowing what they're doing moment we bounce. Then we decide let's go to Gusta Pizza! (which I've been told by almost every person I know who's been to Florence to go there) only problem is we didn't know exactly where it was, but we did know we were on the right side of the Arno with it. We wish we hadn't make semi fools of ourselves in the hotel otherwise we could ask there, we walk past the Pitti Palace, we get useless info from a leather place, we ask random polizia, then we literally stumble upon it at the perfect time! Almost no line, and right after we order a huge line forms, get on our level.

Gusta Pizza's tables have the call number tabs under the glass with tourists/abroad students writings. We made a Stonehill one, Skyhawk symbol included.

So then we decide to eat our (some of the best pizza I'll ever have in my life) pizza on a bridge over the Arno facing the Ponte Vecchio. Casual, nbd. Small world, funny enough hilarious, nice woman and her husband walk past us. Too funny, they pretty much told us to have fun but don't do anything illegal crazy.

Casually running into Frankie Walsh on the Ponte Vecchio? check.

Friday:

So after spending 5 hours in the morning finishing up my still life for my art class (bringing me back to AP Studio Art days) we went to the Boboli Gardens and the Piazzale Michelangelo (both free WHATTUP)

So the Boboli Gardens are behind the Pitti Palace and its GIANT. Just what I like to see grass and trees! I haven't realized how much I love nature until I go to a city that pretty much completely lacks it. 

Cue link to Urban Dictionary: read the first one, the "official slogan" of Stonehill couldn't be more true

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stonehill%20College

So back to chillin' in the Bobes, enjoying more not real life views, the gardens has a fountain area surrounded by lemon trees (definitely my kind of place), wandering around just taking in the space.

Plank photo for all my Stonehill Summer Student Ambassadors, missing Donahue life

casual group lay in the Bobes

Lengel being Lengel

So then we walked to the Piazalle Michelangelo, the end all be all view of Florence. Enjoyed the view, sat by a restaurant that was playing michael buble-esque music, walked around the vendors got a purple Universita Firenze sweatshirt for 13 euros.. Katie was looking at one and the guy goes student discount 13 euros! Katie was sold and when I found out there was my size in the purple BOOM decision made, sucks that they don't have an LDM apparel but Katie and I will rock the SHE DOESN'T EVEN GO HERE look with our sweatshirts.

I think I might name my first dog Duomo...

Fake Davids errwhere

Saturday:

So with my program we went to the Uffizi. Needless to say I was excited to see pieces of artwork I have learned about for forever, a personal favorite Botticelli's Birth of Venus and at least 10 pieces I learned about in Professor Sheckler's 181 (she's THE best). But to my dismay we had a tour guide... the same one as the walking tour of Florence lady... I've come to realize how much I despise bad tour guides, working in Admissions all summer giving tours after tours even if I used the same stupid jokes (I swear frisbee is a real sport, cocoa puff shortage, holding doors etc etc) I would at least try to mix it up a bit and not be stale, but this lady made my want to fall asleep in the Uffizi. Don't talk for 25 minutes about piece after piece that I've already learned about for year on top of your boring anecdotes. And the icing on my Uffizi Gallery cake was that it was stuffy and I've been fighting a cold for the past 2 weeks sooooo almost upchucked in the Uffizi. As an art major I could not allow myself to do it and silently suffered because I was not about to be the guy that vomited in an art gallery, let alone the art galleries of all art galleries. So I chugged a bottle of water right when we got out, I enjoyed seeing everything but I'm definitely going to have to go back on my own. Not the best way to end my weekend (followed by spending all of Sunday writing my business paper.... on Starbucks (aside from my vente java mocha chip I don't even like Starbucks, but the topic worked) but overall fantastic weekend in Florence.