Back from Florence

I'm back gang, and it was a great weekend as predicted. I left Friday for Florence, spent Saturday in Florence, and then left early Sunday morning (7 am train) from Florence to Pisa, 9:30 from Pisa to Empoli, 10:15 to Siena, 4:00 to Chiusi, 7:00 to Rome, home by 10 pm. It was a full weekend, and there's lot to say. I'll throw up some of the photos first and then detail some of the adventures.

Rooftops of Florence

Duomo of Florence

Doors of Baptistery

Ponte Vecchio

Daughter of Niobe getting her disco on

Nothing begs for respect like a dopey looking helmet

Two heads benefiting from the fountain

That's a real bird

Santa Croce

St. Mark's Lion

My boy David

There's lots to say. Florence is beautiful, not as crowded as Rome and fortunately not as hot. There's a lot of hidden gems and a lot more to see, but I feel like I covered a lot of the bases and don't desperately need to go back. I missed some of my friends in Florence, but as it worked out I only planned this trip on Thursday and wound up running all weekend. I move at an incredibly quick pace when I go to a city, combining a sense of urgency with my long strides to get quantity instead of quality. I always assume I'll never return to a city, and so have to get as much done as quickly as possible. The way it worked out, I wound up going to bed early both nights (10 pm, which is extremely for early for me) since I needed to get up at 7 and 5:45 respectively. I had dinner on Friday (plate with steak, veal, pork and chicken as well as potatoes! a much needed American fare cooked in the Italian style) and then returned to my hotel to finish planning Saturday.

So I've run Florence and can cross it off the list. The collection of attractions went like this: Uffizi gallery, ponte vecchio, boboli gardens, piazza of Michelangelo, santa croce, lunch at san lorenzo's market, gallery of academia (home of David), mass at duomo at 5 (first English mass since coming to Europe!) dinner and then home to the hotel. And that's only on Saturday! Since I'm not going to be exciting this week, I'll save the pictures and details of Pisa and Siena for tomorrow, and let you mull this over tonight. My landlord, Francesco has invited me to play soccer with himself and some of his friends this evening, so I'm going to try my hand at European goal-tending. Also tonight I need to plan the rest of the summer. I have 37 days until I return to the states, and that time is going to fly by, so without proper planning I'll miss things. Glad to be back safe and sound at home, love to you all, and hope you've enjoyed this post and are looking forward to more tomorrow!