Bon Voyage: Florence, Italy

I am finally back in London after 10 days of Italian adventures, and this is my attempt to remember every incredible memory over the past week!

On Wednesday (April 10) a group of 5 girls, including myself, flew from London and headed to Florence, Italy for 3 nights. I had been given a run-down of what to do and see there from my dear friend, Sam, who studied there before. We stayed at a precious hostel right in the center of Florence, where we all shared a room and bathroom (usually you get some sketchy random people staying in your hostel room) so we were super excited about our wonderful accommodation. We ventured out into the city the first day and started our eating spree. I cannot tell you how many gelato cones, pizzas, pasta dishes, wines, bruschettas (you get the picture) I ate this past week, and I enjoyed every single moment of it!

Our second day in Florence, we headed into the Tuscan countryside for a Chianti wine tasting! It was so awesome to get to see the wonderful countryside I had heard/seen so much about, and the wine tasting was amazing. We were given a tour of the vineyard (grapes aren't in season yet) and then led to the wine tasting with... Italian snacks! It was a beautiful day, and did I mention it was about 75 degrees? Wonderful change from cold, foggy London.

The next day we knew we wanted to see Michelangelo's David statue, so we waited in a two hour line to get into the museum, and it was definitely worth the wait! The statue was much larger than I thought and incredibly crafted. You could see such amazing small detail, even the cracks that have formed in recent years.

From there, we headed to the Duomo, the tallest peak in Florence. It is a Cathedral that is absolutely stunning on the outside and inside, and allows visitors to climb all 700 stairs to see the skyline view of Florence (for a small fee of 8 euros and the most insane workout of your life, of course) I started to panic as we were walking up because of the small stairs, heat, and insanely tight spaces you had to maneuver in, but was blown away when we reached the top. It was SO worth the slight panic attack and really was the best view of the beautiful city.

After these fun adventures, we toured around some more, saw the leather markets, ate, got some paintings, did more eating (you get the picture) it was time to pack up and say goodbye to our first Italian city. I cannot wait until I get to visit Florence again, for the amazing views, people, and food!

Next city- ROME!