A Weekend in Firenze & a Day in Pisa

Spending a weekend in Florence instead of traveling is never boring...especially when one of your best friends comes to visit you. One weekend a friend of mine, Melinda Fischer, came up to visit. She is studying in a more southern town in Italy and was on her way to Ireland.

The weekend was filled with the typical touristy activities throughout Firenze: seeing the David, going to Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset, walking through all the piazzas, going to the leather markets, eating at the famous restaurants and more.
 
By this point, I had finally begun to really know my way around the city. For the first month or so, the winding ally ways and changing road names, mixed with a unordered way to number the buildings, really confused me. However, now that I had been lost so many times over and over again, I now know how to get most places throughout the city. Just don't ask me street names...I probably only know a few and just find my way around by landmarks and memory. But, I still got lost on my way to see the David with Melinda...
 
The touristy and gelato filled weekend with Melinda wasn't the only cliche tourist activity that consumed my time. Living in Florence, I happen to be a short 50 minute bus ride from Pisa, home of the leaning tower.

Luckily on Tuesday's Emma and I don't have classes. Therefore, we took the day and went to Pisa to take our super touristy "I am holding up the tower" pictures. Aside from the tower, there isn't much to Pisa. By the time we got off the bus, took our pictures and got back on, we had spent about 20 or 30 minutes in the city before we were on our way home. But, if you're in Italy and as close as I am, you might as well get a picture with the tower.
 
The weather has also been getting better. The sun and warmth has become more consistent. While we still have our colder and rainy days, the cold days are now becoming mid 50s rather than mid 30s and the days are more often than not staying in the 60s. This has led to more time exploring the city. With the warmer weather, we have ventured off to the Pitti Palace Boboli Gardens a couple of times. We are luck enough to have this directly behind us, we could consider it our backyard.



The Boboli Gardens extend for acres and are absolutely gorgeous. It contains isles of tall trees and hidden path ways and open areas with big fountains. The flowers are also beginning to bloom and I cannot wait for everything to be full. We easily spent 2 hours exploring the gardens without even knowing and didn't come close to covering all of it

 

As I begin to know the city better and the weather becomes more beautiful, it gets harder and harder to think about leaving.