Florence

After Rome, we hopped on the bus for 3 1/2 hours to get to  Florence, which Dr. Hughes told us was the birthplace of the Renaissance. Florence was a pretty town and drenched with history.

The Duomo

The Duomo, a cathedral in the center of Florence, served as a meeting point and helped us to orient ourselves in the city. I passed it every day.

The Duomo was beautiful, made of white, green, and pink marble. 

The Duomo has a lot of history. One of the Medici brothers was famously killed there during the Pazzi conspiracy. 

The Uffizi

Our first day there, we visited the Uffizi Gallery, where we were able to see famous paintings and sculptures. 

Botticelli's The Birth of Venus
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The most adorable thing I ever saw was a young boy looking up at The Birth of Venus and sketching the painting in his sketchbook. He was simply adorable, from his sand colored sweater to his pencil in his mouth as he concentrated on his sketch.

The Leather Market

Florence is also known for it's leather markets. The leather markets were a great maze of bright colors with throngs of people shuffling ever forward. If you glanced at a leather bracelet for one second, the sellers would hassle you, telling you that they had the best price. I found that the best time to bargain was at the end of the day, right before the sellers packed up to leave. There were less people and by that point, the sellers were tired and wanted to make one last sell before the end of the day.

That said, the markets were definitely not my favorite place. At first I loved the smell of leather, but when you were packed close like herded animals and the sellers were always pressuring you to buy something, the smell of leather became suffocating. You could get great bargains, but you had to have willpower.

A love/hate relationship with the leather markets. 
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Easter Sunday

This Easter also began in a completely different way. We woke up early and went to the Scoppio del Carro in front of the Duomo. It rained on and off for a while, but luckily held out for the main event. We weren't sure what to expect but it far exceeded our expectations. It started with a parade with people dressed up in colorful, 15th century clothing. There were drummers drumming and handsome flagbearers. They escorted massive white oxen, which were larger than most of the European cars, which were decorated with flowers and were hauling a tall, ancient cart loaded with fireworks. There was a procession, which I think was sped up by the threat of rain with dark, monstrous clouds rolling in. Suddenly, a mechanical dove was shot from inside the Duomo to the cart, igniting it and starting the show. The fireworks sounded like gunshots as they ignited one by one around the cart and making its way from the bottom to the top. There were bright bursts of colorful fireworks and golden sparklers that spun in circles and then rained down. A girl I was with joked that we should sing the song "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele.

It was completely different than anything I've ever seen and I loved every second of it. I would definitely suggest traveling to Florence during Easter holiday just to see this. I did not take many pictures or any video of it because I was trying to enjoy the experience, but I was able to find a semi-decent video on YouTube. But the video drastically pales in comparison to physically being there.

Gelato

I also adored the gelato in Florence. We went to a place called Grom where I had their special Grom cookie flavor. It was delicious. And I just read that they opened up a store in Manhattan. I'll definitely have to make a trip to New York to have a little taste of Florence again.

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Florence was very fun and although it rained for a few days, it was a relaxing experience after a packed Rome trip.