The weekends begins

Finally, it's the weekend! It seems like we have been here so much longer than a week, and I am excited to have a weekend that is not chock full of pre-scheduled activities so I can relax and get to know Florence a little better on my own. That said, we do intend to visit the San Lorenzo leather market, hang out on the banks of the Arno, and visit the Pitti Palace at some point this weekend. I also have to go to the Accademia to observe statues for my English class, which I'm looking forward to -- just not with all the tourists around!

Today, we went to Fiesole on a group trip, and it was a really charming, quaint little town. I definitely want to go back. We didn't go inside any of the churches as we were all wearing shorts and tank tops, and you typically have to dress more modestly to go inside churches here, but we found out too late that no one was checking visitors' apparel at these churches. So, since it's only about a 20 minute bus ride from Florence, I want to return and see the inside of the Duomo there and the other churches, which are supposed to be gorgeous.

Beautiful view of Florence/Tuscany

Me, Marie and DeeAnne

Blu Bar where we had our crepes

Nutella crepe -- I really want to try this in Paris!

We first walked to the top of a long, steep hill to see the lookout over Florence and some more of Tuscany, which was completely stunning. Then we walked around the little town square and went to a restaurant called Blu Bar with a beautiful view for crepes and coffee. It was almost time for lunch then, so we just looked at the outside of the Duomo, which they had unfortunately just closed for visitors right as we walked up, then into the cutest shop selling stationary and other souvenirs. I bought a little ceramic duck, as did 4 of my other roommates, since we call each other ducks -- Marie and I, as the mama ducks, are always leading the "little ones" around the city, so we call them our ducklings. We can be found boisterously quacking around the streets of Florence.

Town square

Fiesole Duomo

Different lookout on the way to the pizzeria -- Katreina, me, Kristen and Marie

After we walked about a mile down to the pizzeria where our professor had made a reservation, I had a delicious 4 cheese pizza with an inexplicable olive right in the middle. Before coming here, I was never a fan of thin crust pizza, but as that's just about all there is in Florence, I now love it. But, I'm also very excited to try deep-dish pizza from Naples.

Olive on my pizza?

Tonight, we're going out with a group from the program, but before then I need to find chocolate and/or gelato, something I don't think I should ignore any longer today...