so much to see, so little time

my report: christ and doubting thomas by verrocchio at the orsanmichele church

day trip to siena. this is where carley's niece was named after. so fun to see!

palazzo publico of siena

YUM

cathedral of siena aka slytherin household. our favorite cathedral we've been to. i felt like i was in harry potter. i loved it!

inside the santa croce cathedral. this is where galileo and michelangelo were buried

mcdonalds. i never thought it could taste so good. as much as we love italy, we miss america and american food!

signing our names at the picasso, miro, dali exhibit

rape of the sabine woman by giambologna. one of our favorites

the leaning tower of cheesa

 

 spent the day in pisa before we went to the cinque terre. this is the square of miracles and the cathedral of pisa

 

the deposition of christ by pontormo. such a beautiful mannerism piece

 we got to spend the weekend camping and hiking at the cinque terre which are these five little cities along the coast of italy. by far our favorite weekend!

 our new boyfriends

 view from the top of one of the hikes. paradise!

 watching the sunset after a long perfect day of hiking, laughing, swimming in the mediterranean ocean, laying and sleeping and doing cartwheels on the beach, eating fresh salmon and pesto pasta and gelato, riding on the train, talking about harry potter, catching toads and fireflies....perfect

today was our last day in florence. we took our final, went to the top of duomo, and will celebrate tonight with gelato and watching the sunset on the bridge of course. we are sad to leave florence because it really does feel like home. we have grown so attached to italy, i cant imagine living anywhere else. but tomorrow morning we leave for venice to spend a relaxing weekend there. then the rest of our europe adventures begins!

first week in florence

 

 city hall

 church of santa croce

 

 view of florence with the duomo in the background

 "gates of paradise" by ghiberti. the doors to the baptistry of florence

 the cathedral of florence and the duomo

 inside the baptistry with steve

 our favorite time of day

jersey shore walking the streets of florence...?

 snooki? after the camera crew yelled at us saying "no flash!" jersey shore proceeded to flip us off and then told carley to back up and swore at her and some of the other girls in the group. classy people right here

 mosaic of the three magi (3 wise men coming to see the Christ child). check out those pants!

 this crypt underneath the apse of one of the cathedrals was completely underwater and there were goldfish swimming in it!

 day trip to ravenna

 we love public toilets

 overlooking florence from a little city on the hill called fiesole

 

 walking the streets of fiesole

 the ponte vecchio "old bridge" of florence

 our favorite thing to do after dinner is to come to the river and watch the sunset. so pretty

 matching bug bites on our thighs, shoulders, and cheeks. we must be spending too much time together

 

this city is magical. it is so different from rome because it is a lot smaller and slower paced but such a nice change from the busy roman life. the tuscan countryside is to die for and i feel like we are really in the heart of italy now. we have already taken two day trips since we have been here-one to ravenna and one to siena. both were so much fun and we saw some really amazing art work. the days go by way too fast and at the same time i feel like we have lived here forever. we are loving all of it, every second. i started keeping a list of all the funny or memorable little things that have happened so far on the trip and i've already filled up half a notebook. and that's not including all of the art or architecture we've seen. is it legal to be having this much fun in such a short amount of time? let's hope so. ciao!