Florence = Peace

Florence is pretty much everything I expected it to be- and more.

I started this morning with an early run. Though I was incredibly tired when I woke up, it was invigorating and refreshing to be out there in the streets. I have not ran since I left Atlanta, and so I felt alive, moving along the pavement.

Florence is beautiful in the morning in different sort of way than it is at other times. It is quiet, and the streets are empty save a few delivery trucks and early workers. I have since photos and articles in Runner’s World about running in a foreign locale, but I never thought I would get to experience it.

It was amazing. The ability to randomly select your path with the various streets and see so much variety in the compact city is a fantastic experience. Not to mention running along the river or up neighboring hills at dawn.

We had class and that was ok. Kind of boring- not going to lie. After this came a short break before our first museum lecture, so I took a short nap and slowly walked through the city to the museum. I must say, the city itself made me feel at peace. Just walking along back roads, stopping into a shop when I felt like it, admiring the architecture- this is all an experience I’ve never had before and it was sure to continue.

We had a museum visit and lecture at the Uffizi this morning. It was one of those hyped up museums, and I have to admit, I was a little bored and found it over rated.

Perhaps I was just anxious to back out in the city. But the building was fascinating, and once again I was more interested in the structure and not the art.

We had a break before our next museum visit, we had time for lunch. I went with a group of people to a ristorante right across from Uffizi. Given its location, it had great pizza for a very reasonable price. So here it was- my first encounter with real Italian pizza! It was delicious, as expected and I never want to eat American pizza again. But I’m sure I will have to. The food here is just so full of flavor and given so much consideration.

After some amazing gelato, we met at the Duomo Museum for our next lecture. This was the museum for the Duomo, or the Florence Cathedral.

It was very interesting to see some original religious art that has been preserved from the magnificent cathedral.

Afterwards, I had some time before I was to meet my “group” for the evening, so I finally took the chance to wander by myself. I walked up and down streets, some main, some less-traveled, through merchant squares and along the river. I did some shopping, some looking, and just overall took it all in. I was very content for having done so little. It was very satisfying to not worry about rushing around or to have real worries or to have a restriction on time.

They make shopping in Florence really easy. They have window displays with every item labeled by its price. So I immediately knew if I could afford it or not! Another funny thing is how much they imitate the American style.

You’ll find a lot of stores with shirts with English writing, much like you’d find at American Eagle or Abercrombie. They also play American music everywhere! So sometimes it’s easy to forget I’m in Florence and not in Atlanta. But I tended to avoid these places and enjoy the ones that were truly European.

I met my group of friends for our evening adventure- walking up to the Piazza Michelangelo for sunset. Being on the other side of the river, it is a little bit of walk but has the best view of the city, river, and surrounding landscape. It lived up to expectations and the sunset was one of the best I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. It was so serene and breath-taking, especially to watch the city change from its daylife to its nightlife.

Afterwards, we grabbed a late dinner and went back to the hotel for bed. Ciao!