This past weekend was quite enjoyable. Hate to rub it in, but the weather was beautiful and I walked around in a t-shirt during the day! Friday we wanted to get a full view of the city, so we went to the Piazza Michelangelo, or the "Overlook". The walk there sort of turned into a hike, but we made it. The view was fabulous and absolutely beautiful. You can see for miles, making us realize there is so much more of Florence we haven't seen yet. After taking our pictures, we sat down and took in some of the sunshine!
After seeing the city, we checked out the Chocolate Festival. We were drooling at the sight of all the different chocolates. Every woman's dream, right? After tasting some samples, I set in on a cup of fresh cut strawberries covered in melted chocolate. Delicious!! Then we set our eyes on a brownie with an orange layer covered in melted chocolate. Again, delicious!! The festival lasts until this coming Monday and I would not be surprised if we head back for seconds!!
Saturday we went to Assisi which is located about 2 hours and 45 minutes south of Florence. Assisi is what I thought to be as the typical Italian city, close buildings, cute niches and rustic qualities. The city sits on the side of a mountain so we walked up hills all day. The city of Assisi is the birth place of St. Francis and St. Clare. Someone on the bus from the train station to the town asked one of girls who came along if she was going to church and shreeked when she said no. The town is filled with religion and churches.
Along with seeing the different churches, we climbed to the top to a fort still in tact. It was really neat to walk through and because it was the highest point in the town we had fantastic views of the town, country side and distant mountains. The passageways through the fort are really narrow and the spiral stairs to climb to the top were a bit nerve wrecking, but it was totally worth it. Here are a few pictures from the fort.
This is the church of St. Francis. Pictures were not allowed inside, but the inside was not what I would have expected. The frescoes through the church tell the story of St. Francis. Besides the entire ground level of the church, there is a basement level that stretches the entire length as well. It was more like a museum filled with artifacts of St. Francis such as clothing worn and also his tomb. The ceilings were painted a beautiful dark blue that looked like a night sky.
Saturday we left Florence for the first time! We rode a train to Pisa and visited their Duomo and surrounding buildings. When we got first sight of the church and the bell tower, the tower looks way taller in pictures. We were really surprised by that. It was really neat though to see how much it leans upclose. To go to the top of the tower was too much in our opinion, so we paid to see the baptistry and courtyard, which was way more worth it. The church was free enterance, which we felt should have been the thing to pay for because it was beautiful. After viewing all of this, there wasn't a whole lot more to see. We did some browsing in the shops as we walked to and from the train station, but that was about it. We made sure to take cheesy pictures with the tower, so here are some pictures from the day.
Saturday, we took a field trip to Piazza Petraia which was the summer home of the Medici family. It was super cold and windy this day, and after getting off the bus walked quite a distance. The two teachers that took us there bought us all espresso because they felt so bad. The home was beautiful though! We couldn't take any pictures of the inside, but here is one of the outside.
Sunday was a relaxing day of homework and staying warm!