Buon Giorno!

I have been very busy the last few days trying to do everything I want in Florence before I leave. Last weekend traveling to Switzerland didn't work out unfortunately so instead I took a day trip with friends to Assisi. It was a 2.5 hour train ride from here. A bit long but it was definitely worth it! Assisi is a small town built onto a hill/small mountain so it is very pretty but the roads are quite steep. From Assisi you get a great view of the surrounding area. While we were there we went into St Francis Basilica. It was huge! It was 2 floors so there was an upper basilica and a lower basilica. The inside was covered in paintings from hundreds of years ago that were in very good condition. I also got to see the tomb of St Francis which is under the church. I really liked the church a lot.

After the church we got lunch and then went to a castle at the top of the town. Lunch unfortunately was very slow so we were at the restaurant for about 2 hours. We still had time to see a few more things though. The castle was built in 1100 and still in very good condition. It had a great view of the area especially because you could climb to the top of one of the towers of the castle. Right after we finished with the castle it started hailing! The weather had been pretty crazy the whole day especially since that was already the 2nd time it had hailed. We stopped to get some souvenirs and dodge the hail and then we headed back. Throughout the day we also spent time just walking around the streets and went into some other churches. Assisi is a very well preserved medieval town and it is probably one of the best kept, cleanest places I have been to. Everything there was really pretty.

The next day Andrea (my roommate) and I went to a Christmas Festival in Florence. There were lots of booths set up selling different Christmas gifts or crafts along with some food booths. We got some delicious hot chocolate and just checked everything out. The whole place was decorated quite a bit and Santa was there taking pictures with kids. It was fun!

Since the festival I have been trying to do as much as I can in Florence. Since I have been traveling and so busy most of the semester I haven't made time to do all the sightseeing. I made a big list of everything I want to do before I leave and every day I try to do a couple things from it. I went to a museum called La Specola which has specimens of hundreds if not thousands of animals. It had tons of different animals: ants, butterflies, tons of other insects, every sea animal you can think of, worms/other creepy crawlers (I skipped that room it was too creepy!) mammals including bears, rhinos, hippos, tons of birds and fish etc. It was very cool since everything was actual specimens they were either preserved in jars or (most of the mammals) were stuffed. Thus they look almost exactly like they would in real life. I have to say hippos are very scary in real life! The specimen in the musem was 300 years old, it was the oldest specimen. The weird thing about it was a wealthy family in Florence kept it as a pet..so that is there it came from. You could see the mark around its neck from the rope of when it used to be tied up. What a weird pet! Then after all of the animals there were wax models created by someone in 1751. He created them to teach anatomy instead of having to use cadavers. The wax models were of all the parts of the body, organs, veins, everything. I couldn't believe how detailed and realistic they were, and they are only wax!

I also climbed the Duomo ( I will post the pictures soon). It is the church with the giant red dome in my earlier pictures. It was 463 steps to the top. The stairs got quite narrow and steep at the top too but it was completely worth it! The view was amazing, I could see the entire city and more.

One night I took a walk through Florence to a high point in the city. I have a Florence book that gives you a kind of self-walking tour. I decided to follow that and it was very cool! The sunset was really pretty that night over the city so it was perfect timing. I also timed it so that I could listen in on a mass at the end of the walk. According to my book (which was right) the monks sing at mass daily at this specific church. It was fun to sit and listen! The walk ended at that church which is high above the city so you get a view of the entire thing. (I'll post the pictures from that walk soon too!)

This week I have crossed off about half my Florence to-do list so I should finish everything before I leave! Only 9 days left-I can't believe it! I have my finals starting on Monday which hopefully won't be too difficult. Otherwise I am just planning on enjoying my last few days here!

Ciao!