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Week #2: March 12-18
This week included daily Italian from 9am to 1pm. The students often suggest coffee or lunch after class and I’m always a willing participant. We went to the Mercado Sant’Ambrosio which closes at 2pm every day so we had to hurry after class ended. I’ve met a bunch of interesting people and for lunch this time, I went with my new friends Tuva from Norway and Pia from Columbia. We walked around the market a bit then decided to have lunch at Rocco’s — a trattoria inside the market. It was super chaotic there, Florentines having lunch, meetings, a cup of espresso but it was a fantastic and fun meal. We think we even met Rocco. After lunch each day, I head back to the apartment to check in on work and meet up with Emily for some exploring. We went to the Duomo and the associated Baptisery and Museum. One day was a particularly clear, sunny day so we hiked up the hill to the Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset. It’s quite a scene up there with cafes serving Spritzs, vendors selling souvenirs, etc. There are always a ton of student groups in Florence so it wasn’t surprising to see many kids of all ages up there.
We enjoyed another super sunny day so we headed on the 45 minute train ride to Pisa. Honestly, this wasn’t a city that was on my “to do” list but since it is so close and easy to get to, we decided to go check it out. You can easily go to Pisa for a half-day trip from Florence. We hadn’t had lunch so the first thing we did in Pisa was stop for a sandwich. The Arno River (the same one in Florence) flows through the town so we had to walk across a bridge to get to the older section of town. It’s about a mile walk to the famous tower. On the same site as the tower is the Cathedral, Baptisery, Museum and Burial Ground. You can get a ticket for all of the sights, which we did but Emily upgraded to a ticket to climb the tower. Because of my knee, I decided to stay on the ground! Pisa is a really cute city, the spots are easy to get to and lovely to see. The Cathedral is massive and well worth the visit alone. But of course, we had to get the stereotypical photo of us holding up the Tower.
The weekend was filled with the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and Uffizi Museum. My neck definitely hurt!! So much looking up!! I loved Boboli Gardens as there were great views of the city skyline and lots of beautiful natural trails to follow. I’m sure the gardens are just lovely in the summer or later in the spring when everything is flowering. The museum is so large and really needs much more time than I gave it, but to be honest, I’m not really a museum person so I was happy to see the parts we saw. One evening we went to a fun cecchetti place for a snack and then found a wine window too! By far this weekend was the best meal I had in Florence at Belle Donne, which happens to also have a wine window. I had a cinghiale stew over polenta and it was so so good. I can’t wait to go back with Lance. He’s going to love that dish.
It was really an exceptional week, exceeding all the expectations I had and then some! I’m working so hard to grow my Italian language skills while soaking up this beautiful city.
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