Florence

On top of the Duoma

     For our second free weekend about 30 of us CIMBA students hopped on another one of Alberto's buses and headed to Florence.  We left Paderno at 4:30 AM and got to Prato at about 9 AM.  We took a 10 minute train to Florence and walked to our hostel.  Florence is a beautiful Italian city with cobblestone streets and tuscan rooftops.  Our hostel ended up being really nice.
     After putting our stuff in our rooms we headed towards the Duoma.  We stopped at a cafe on the way and had the most amazing croissant sandwich.  The best part was that is was only 90 Euro cents.  After breakfast my friends and I continued on our way to the Duoma.
     When we got to the Duoma we first went inside the cathedral.  It was really pretty and looking up at the dome was amazing.  It is crazy to think about how it was built so long ago.  The painting "Heaven vs. Hell" was also really cool to see.  After seeing the inside of the dome we decided to go to the top.  The staircase to the top was long, steep, winding, and narrow.  By the time we got to the top we were exhausted.  First we stopped at the inside part of the dome.  It was neat to see the dome and painting up close.  After walking around we went outside.  The outside part of the Duoma was amazing.  From the top you could see all of Florence.  It was definitely worth the hike to the top.  I could have stayed up there all day.

By the river with Evelyn, Mollie and Grace.

     After the Duoma and some gelato we headed over to see David. I don’t really know much about art history so one of my friends had to explain everything to me but David was simply amazing. I was in awe looking up at how detailed he was. From the expression on his face to veins on his arms he actually is a masterpiece. I am still shocked that someone could ever carve that by hand. When I go back to Florence with my mom in a few weeks I definitely want to go see David again.
     Later that night we had a real Tuscan dinner, which was absolutely incredible. It is so nice to eat outside of the school cafeteria when we are away. After dinner we made our way to our first European discotech. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
     The next day we did quite a bit of shopping and spent many hours at the leather market. I guess we are truly devoted shoppers. All the leather smelled so good and I couldn’t believe how inexpensive it all was. I only got a few things but will definitely be buying more when I go back. When our shopping was complete we headed back to the bus to come back to Paderno. Florence is a really cool city and I am looking forward to seeing more or Italy and Europe in general.