Florence Day 1

By Maia Cruz

June 25, 2012

On our first day in Florence we woke up and got ready for the day and soon headed out. We walked around the area for awhile and we came across a church and there we saw a statue of St. Peter and Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. We walked around a bit more on the damp little sidewalks (for they had just washed the streets) and we came to the Palazzo Vecchio. The Palazzo Vecchio was this big old building with a tall clock tower and right next to it was a fountain and a bunch of statues. After we saw that we went walking around again and we came to these buildings with a little open space in the center with statues all around.

The statues were of very famous people -- there was a statue of Galileo and Amerigo Vespucci (according to dad that's the guy they named the Americas after.) After we looked at the statues we went walking and went to the river. We stood looking at the river for awhile and then we headed off to breakfast. We went to a posh cafe called Gilli (almost 300 years old) and got some yummy pastries and juice (Noelle got chocolate all over -- must have been really good). After we ate we headed off again to see more sights in Florence.

We walked up to this big cathedral with a tower and a big dome in the back called Santa Maria Del Fiore, also commonly called The Duomo. The whole thing was made out of pink, white and green marble and had detailed designs all around and paintings and marble statues at the top. We didn't go into the cathedral itself but we did go into the tower right next to it and walked all the way to the top. We had to get tickets and when we got through we started walking. There were 419 steps up the whole tower and I was wheezing between flights but on the bright side it was a great workout for my legs!

Although the climb was tough the view was amazing. We could see everything from up there. After we gazed at the view we headed back down. After we saw the Duomo we went walking and stopped by a market near our house for some cereal and milk and shampoo. We went back to our house and put away all the supplies we got and then we rested for awhile before we went to lunch.  After a couple of hours at the house we went out again looking for a place to eat.

We found this awesome restaurant called Brac that had great pasta and bread. We got some anglioli pasta and pesto ravioli and this really cool rice dish with zuchini and carrots. My absolute favorite was the rice dish I loved it and I love zuchini! We walked around again after we ate and we saw the Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge in Florence with a bunch of shops on it. We walked around that area some more and saw all these great shops and restuarants.

We stopped by this book shop and looked at some books and then I saw some books with English titles but all the rest of the books wer in Italian. I bought a notebook and then we went out and walked some more. We looked in different shops and then later on in the day we got some gelato and then we headed home.