Art of the People

Liz, Ed, Callie and Annie
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This past weekend I packed up my bags Thursday night and set out on another adventure Friday morning. My friends Liz and Callie and I caught a train to Firenze (Florence) at around ten that morning and were in the artistic city by noon. Both Callie and Liz had seen Firenze before but I was doe-eyed in this packed city with so many contradictions.

We walked toward the old city center and I was surrounded by tourists, mostly American and there were signs in English everywhere. The shops that lined the streets seemed to carry both the latest Euro fashions as well as the more reserved American styles. If it were'nt’t for the excessive amount of bikes and mopeds lining the road I might have confused Florence with an American city. And then I saw the Duomo.

Fountain fun at the Boboli Gardens
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Towering high over the low level buildings of the city the dome of the famous church soared into the sky. The reds, greens, and pearl colors that constitute its glory shine against the browns and grays of the streets and construction work. The patterns on its façade are mesmerizing and the eye can hardly chose one place on which to focus. As I stopped to take it all in I lost sight of the world at ground level.

I was reminded of the crowded city when a tiny woman carrying armfuls of scarves approached me and a bicycle zoomed past on my right. As I was brought back to reality I kindly refused the cheap scares and jogged to catch up with my friends. They were on a search for food, a quest that seems to arise often on our journeys. After making a few purposeful wrong turns to get off of the main streets we found a nice little place for pizza and pasta.

Our little restaurant
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The thorough fueling sent us again on our aimless exploration of the city. This time our walking led us to the main Piazza in Florence, copies of the David and the Pieta and a stroll through the archways between the Uffitsi buildings. We ended up at the river and saw the Ponte Vecchio ahead of us. That was our new destination so we walked with all of the other tourists through the vendors selling their fake goods.

We took in the sights of Florence for the rest of the day and also did some shopping at the leather market. Our friends finished their field trip around six and so we met up with them and had a huge dinner with ten people. After the filling meal we went our separate ways to our respective hostels and hotels and called it a night.

Ponte Vecchio at Night
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In the morning Callie, Liz and I went to the Uffitsi with our new friend and roommate from the hostel. Her name is Petra and she is originally from Croatia but has lived in Australia for the last ten years. After an hour in line for tickets we finally made it inside Florence’s major art gallery. However we faced definite irritation when the museum did not offer a student discount! As Liz put it “Come on! We are freakin students tryin to learn about art, what is up with Italy?!” My friends were definitely doing this one for me and I appreciated it. I got to see Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and his…… The collection also housed a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit that as well as some Byzantine art that I knew way too much about.

By the end of the museum my friends had about had it on the art and were once again ready for food. We grabbed a quick bite and headed over to the Boboli Gardens. These gardens were the “playground” for one of the Medici palaces. We once again paid to enter without a student discount and wandered around the absolutely gorgeous gardens. My favorite part of the day was mimicking the statues that lined the ponds and just laying in the grass. Grass and trees are hard to come by in Perugia so it was a nice change of pace!

The time was approaching to meet our friends again so we caught up with them and did more shopping. Florence has a lot of options in this area and when you are traveling with seven or more girls it can become a distraction. Needless to say I hung out with the one guy with us a good deal once we started hitting Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Hermes and all these other places with one-liner names.

That night we ate in the best little Italian place right off of the river. Callie had been there before and it was a tiny little restaurant where all of the menus were in Italian and the tables were covered in candles and bottles of olive oil. Needless to say it was an amazing dinner that soon consumed our whole evening. After a good two hours or more we began the walk back to the hostel where five of us girls were sharing a room. We definitely felt like we were in Annie but it was a great time.

Sunday morning we caught an early train back to Perugia and spent the rest of the day catching up on homework and getting things in order. Once again upon our arrival in Perugia, we were thankful to be home. The streets seemed so quiet and calm, and there was so little English. The big cities are great for travel but nothing is better than returning to the quaint town we call home.