Beautiful Views, Beautiful People, Beautiful Prices

Thursday, 3.13.2014:

All of us girls woke up early, at some breakfast and checked out in time for us to head over to the Accademia to look at the David and other pieces of artwork. I actually really loved this because I recognized so many pieces from my Masterpieces class in high school. This museum really made me want to take an art class pass fail at U of I, maybe I'll make that happen when I get back.

Fun fact: There are four Pietas carved by Michelangelo, and the last one was in Accademia. 

Fun fact: The Pieta is a central theme in Michelangelo's life and works.

Fun fact: The David is not in the traditional pose of having his foot on the severed head of Goliath. 

After we were finished being artsy we went to get some food in order to have a little picnic up at Fiesole, a little town right outside Florence. Getting the bus there was a little difficult for us, we actually ended up taking a bus in one big giant circle before finally figuring out where to go. After our first mess up we finally made it to the right bus and up the Tuscany countryside. At the main plaza of Fiesole we ended up making our second mess up of the day. We hiked up the steep hill we thought my brother was talking about but none of the buildings or scenery looked familiar from the last time I was there. Amy, Erica and I sat on a ledge we found and just looked out at the view, while Catie and Becca went up a little further. After looking at the view for about 30 minutes we set out to try and find the view we originally wanted. This resulted in our third mess up of the day because we still couldn't find it. After this we decided to return to the main square. And what do we find when we get back to the main square? The road we were supposed to take originally. I was so excited that we had actually found it. We went to the little park up on the hill and just relaxed for a couple of hours. Here are some of the views from this look out:

We then decided it was time to make it back into town. When back in Florence we walked to the Palace because Amy had heard a rumor that it was free to get into after 6. That rumor had been very wrong since the Palace closes at 6. Since this was a bust we decided to walk to the leather markets to see if we could do some haggling, Amy and Erica were pretty unsuccessful but I was able to get a nice leather purse for less than half the original price. With my new purse in hand all three of us made our way back to get our bags from the hostel. We then ate some cheap lasagna and walked over to the train station. The train was pretty short but I still managed to sleep a little. Once at the Rome train station we bought a short train ride to the main station which was right next to our hostel. Amy was a little on edge the entire time because she was convinced someone was going to rob us. When we finally made it to the right train station we walked a short distance and then tad-ah we were at our hostel. We checked in and then went up to the room to finally sleep since it midnight at that point.