Across the River

Sunday we decided to head across the river and try to take a scenic pic of the entire city of Florence because of all the hills. Other students had told us they went to a fort and took some pictures there. Although we did not make it to the fort, at least the inside of it, we stumbled upon Giardino di Boboli, the Boboli Gardens. The area is quite large and very beautiful even though the plants were not in their peak season. The Palazzo Pitti is also located on the edge of the gardens. I'm not quite sure who lived here or what it is significant for, but we all pretended it was our summer home and would play hide and seek across the gardens! Here are some pictures.We all agreed that this would be the perfect spot to have a dream wedding, so we had a short seremony!!

Yesterday was the first official day of classes. I had International Business, which will go towards my Marketing minor, and History of Interiors. My International Business teacher is quite hard to understand, and it was early in the morning so I'm sure that didn't help.

For History of Interiors we visited San Lorenze, a Italian Renaissance church designed by Brunelleschi. The church had quite a history, and it was great going with our teacher because she knew every little detail. I don't have any pictures because we weren't allowed to take any inside. I didn't take any of the exterior because it was never finished, so it doesn't look that interesting. After San Lorenzo we visited the Palazzo Medici. The Medici family had a lot of money, they actually funded for nearly all construction of San Lorenzo and some members of the family are buried in the church. The home is very large and unfortunately not a lot was left intact. Our teacher took us to the only room which is almost the same, which is Cosimo de Medici's personal chapel. The walls are filled with murals of a processional of the Three Kings taking their treasures to the newborn Christ. Behind the kings is the Medici family, riding on their horses. The Medici's were very involved with activities in the city and every January 6th would have a processional that went by their home.

Today was my first official Italian class, along with Sketching and Drawing. In a half hour I have studio, then I'm done for the day!!