Yet again, I had a weekend to remember. This trip has been so full of amazing adventures and it is such a blessing to be able to experience it all. To start off the weekend we had the Opera Thursday night. We saw the French opera Carmen at the Teatro dell’Opera, which is a short walk from the Repubblica Metro stop. Everyone got really dressed up, which it seemed like they enjoyed. I was more on the casual side – surprise, surpise – wearing jeans and a button down shirt. Sorry, Mom, I didn’t wear the slacks or tie you convinced me to bring :) But I was complimented on my “LA” formal attire, so I consider it a success. Anyways, we were quite the scene on the metro, and I’m sure no one suspected us of being anything other than tourists at that point. When we got to theater we spent some time outside on the “red carpet” taking pictures. It had been a pretty busy and tough week, so it was fun letting off some steam. Then we went inside to our seats. We all had boxes for four people, and I was with Mike, Ben and Amanda. We were on the fourth level on the left of the stage. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately because of the angle it was impossible for more than two people at a time to see. So Ben, Amanda and I decided to go sit in the stadium seating in the back, which had a slightly better view but was less comfortable. For some parts we had to stand to see the whole stage. So anyways, the opera was in French, and there was a translation of the words on a small screen in Italian. This left me thoroughly lost during the first act, as I had no previous understanding of the story. At the first intermission I discovered the pamphlet we had been given which had a synopsis of each act, which became my best friend for the rest of the night. The music was amazing and the voices were incomparable. Surprisingly, I recognized about three of the songs – the Prelude, Torreador, and one other that I can’t remember the name of. It was pretty cool seeing the source though. Overall, I liked it much more than I expected and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Afterwards, we were directed to a bus that would take us back to our apartments. It was about 12, which means the metro had already closed. However, we were hungry and the nearby McDonald’s drew us in. I got a caramel sundae that definitely hit the spot. For some reason even the soft serve tastes better here. Rumor has it that it is because of the purity of the water, but I’m not sure I buy that. Anyways, I think we missed the bus while getting our snack, and when we got to the bus stop we just stood there waiting. Soon we tired of this, so we decided we knew how to get back and that we could walk. Judging by our history, this was probably the wrong decision, but we went with it. I was with Ben, Amanda and Stephanie, who was wearing heels. We decided to convince her not to come because we would probably get lost, but she claimed she was willing to try. Again, probably not the best decision. We were doing great for about a mile, walking in the right direction and making good progress. Then, we suddenly hit the city walls, which threw us off completely. We should have turned left, but for some reason or another went right. It took us over a mile to figure out we went the wrong way, and by then we were lost. Soon we came across a sign pointing towards Termini station, which was the opposite direction from the way we started. We knew for sure that we had messed up big time by then, so we just decided to go to Termini and find a bus home. We found some police officers that gave us directions, and kept running in to them the closer we got. I think we asked four or five of them along the way, but at least we knew where we were. At Termini, we only found one bus still running, and even though we had no idea where it was going, we decided to get on it. It was probably about 1:15 at this point. It started off in the right direction, then went the complete wrong way. We ended up again by the Coliseum and Palazzo Venezia. However, it came back on track and we eventually got off next to the Vatican. From here it was about a fifteen minute walk home, and we finally arrived close to two. I crashed pretty much immediately, as we left for Florence at 8:30 the next morning.

So after a good, but all too short night’s sleep, I got up to pack for the trip, and I even got to chat with Kristin for awhile. We took the metro to the train station and then took the train to Florence, which was about an hour and a half trip. I slept a little, but spent most of the time reading Dan’s Power of Persuasion book, which I still find quite interesting. When we arrived in Florence it was painfully hot, and we were instantly soaked with sweat on our walk to the hotel. We stayed around the corner from the Florence Cathedral, which was pretty cool. The cathedral was very impressive and used a pretty green marble on its façade. It also had a huge dome made of piers with blocks weighing over 5 tons each. I have no idea how they built that without cranes, but it was quite the engineering feat. Anyways, I was rooming with Mike and Ben, and after checking in we had free time for lunch. We wandered around and found another hole-in-the-wall restaurant. It turned out to be one of our better finds. For only eight euro we got a three course meal of pasta, meat, and salad. And they were even big courses – I was actually full after the second one, which is definitely the first time that has happened yet. I got spaghetti ragu, salmon, and a mixed salad. It was delicious. Then we had to head back to the hotel to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery.

We again split into two groups for the tour, and again I was fortunate to get the best tour guide (at least in my opinion). His name was Rocky, and we is an Art History professor that teaches American students in Florence. He was very knowledgeable, a good story teller, and ridiculously funny. I would definitely take his class if given the opportunity. The Uffizi Gallery was by far my favorite museum thus far on my trip. It had so much art that I actually recognized and understood. They claim to be the most important art collection in the world, and I think I might believe them. Having such a good tour guide just made it that much better. We saw a couple Leonardo’s (da Vinci), a Michelangelo painting, Boticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera, and some old altar pieces by Giotto, among many other things. We spent about two hours inside until five, and then had the rest of the night free. We were all quite tired at this point, and we decided to go take some naps so we could have a traditional Italian late dinner. I slept for an hour, and then went with Mike and Kara to the Ponte Vecchio. This is a bridge that crosses the river which has stores that exclusively sell jewelry. Some stores have been there since the 1500’s. I had been hoping to maybe get some gifts there, but let’s just say that it was a little out of my range. Minimum price we saw was 200 euro and the average was at least 1000. But the jewelry was amazing, even to someone like me. So then we wandered back to the hotel and had the idea of finding the best gelato place in the world, which is rumored to be in Florence. We looked it up online, and it’s a place called Vivoli’s. We decided to take a trip there and were joined by Ben and Becky. It was definitely good, and quite different from other gelato, but I can’t definitely say it’s the best. It is very rich and creamy with strong flavoring, and I can see why so many people like it. But I am too easily swayed by elaborate presentation, cool flavors, and big servings. We sat outside Chiesa Santa Croce and listened to a singing dog from the third floor of one of the apartments. Its owner was playing the piano and it would bark along to the tune. It was pretty funny and provided good entertainment.

Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with Dan, who joined us for our late dinner. But first we decided to climb the bell tower of the cathedral. It was just after sunset, so it was starting to cool down, but the 417 stairs were still pretty tough. It was totally worth it though because the view was amazing. We definitely picked the best time to go. After this short adventure we were off to dinner. Our tour guide, Rocky, had recommended a good place for Florentine steak. We followed his directions, getting a little lost, but for the most part did okay. We found it eventually and sat down and ordered our steaks. It was a very quiet and peaceful restaurant with some nice jazz playing in the background. We ordered some red wine to go with our steaks as well. In Florence it is an insult to order the steak to be cooked a certain way, so we were at the whims of the chef. Our steak, as is typical with the Florentine style, was rare – maybe even less cooked than rare. However, it was delicious. Especially after so little meat in our diet since we’ve been here, it was probably one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. It wasn’t the cheapest meal, but it definitely hit the spot and made me ready to head right to bed. We did just that – after another gelato stop of course – and crashed for the night at about twelve. All in all, it was a busy and fun day in Florence.