Farewell, Firenze

On the morning of May 26, Josh and I arrived back in Florence on our overnight train from Munich. We were there really early. Like 6. Our hotel wouldn't even be open for us to check in until 8:30. So we took our time walking across town to the hotel, though we were exhausted and loaded down with accumulated luggage. We stopped for pastries for breakfast (since that's really the only option). Then we waited on the stairs inside the hotel building until someone came to open up the door to the tiny "lobby." We checked in, paid, and left our things there. There was still someone in our room and it still needed cleaned, so we headed back out into town.

The first thing we did was go to climb the Duomo, something I hadn't yet done all semester. I'm really glad we did! And since we were some of the first people there in the morning, we didn't have to wait in line! There were a lot of steps, but it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures I took from on top of the dome.

Repubblica, the Bell Tower, etc.

Santa Croce

San Lorenzo

Then we went to the market(s). The leather market and the food market. I bought some totally necessary olive oil to bring home from the Mercato Centrale. (My bags didn't weigh enough already. Ha.) While we were there, Josh got a roast beef sandwich. (He was too much of a wimp to try the tripe or lampredotto.)

Mid-morning, we went to the train station to meet Shanita. That's my brother's girlfriend, and she was meeting us in Florence to spend a couple days during her trip to Hungary with her grandpa.

Once she got off the train, we took her through town. We went back to the market and I was disappointed to find that the bread ladies did not have any mozzarella and tomato focaccia sandwiches that day. I settled for a piece of their pizza, and wasn't too impressed.

We went back to the hotel around noon, I think, to move our things into our room. I took a shower because I hadn't showered since. . . Rothenburg. I know that's gross. TMI. Sorry.

When we were ready to go, the three of us went out to explore. We walked around and showed Shanita most of the main sights in town.

Arno and Ponte Vecchio

We went to Gusta for dinner and actually ate our pizzas inside this time, instead of at the Pitti Palace.

After being plan-less all day, we decided we would actually do things the next day.

My final day in Florence, we went to the Accademia museum to see David, the Uffizi to see the Botticelli paintings, and Trattoria Mario's to get the famous bistecca Florentina steak.

I used to think of myself as a "well-done" kind of gal.

Nope.

This steak was definitely red inside. And I definitely didn't care. It tasted AMAZING. It was sinful. Normally when I eat my meat, it doesn't seem anywhere near alive. But it's also normally cooked straight through. I think it was worth the guilt, and the price. Poor cow.

We shopped and walked and museumed all day. We got gelato. We had Gusta for dinner. (Seriously. Best pizza in the world. Please go there.)

I said goodbye to my home of four months, the city I had grown to love. I said goodbye to la dolce vita, the Italian accents, the squished-together buildings, the Arno, the Duomo, my old apartment, authentic pizza, gelato, the market, street vendors, festivals, Renaissance art, cathedrals, crowded streets, trains, wine, Euros, the metric system, designer stores, being the outsider, tourists, Jersey Shore, and everything good and bad about Italy.

And then I went to bed at 9. My alarm was set for 2:45. At 3:30 I was sitting in our taxi, airport-bound for what ended up being a very long trip home.

Flying Over the Alps

I just checked the prices of airline tickets to go back.

It'll probably be a while. :(