Florence, home of the Ninja Turtles

We arrived in Florence on Friday, straight off of the high speed train and straight into the arms of a beautiful hostel. Rooms are cramped but it definitely keeps us out and about in the city which is fine by me.

A tour guide brought us around some of the major sites in Florence such as the Duomo and Uffizi Piazza before leaving us on the Ponte Vecchio and releasing us into the streets. (Possibly because the tour had already gone on for two hours and we were quite starved). Dinner was found in an Asian fusion restaurant with incredibly amazing Japanese ramen noodles that had me crying for a solid hour. After all that, a group of kids decided to stay in while another few took to the cobblestone alleys discovering Piazza Santo Spirito; a remarkable square on the far side of the river with all the youth and livelihood you could possibly imagine. While the walk began to seem a little sketchy on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio, all of a sudden everything opened into the beautiful Piazza with a church on one end and a wonderful green space in the middle with dancing of all varieties.

Yesterday the group was taken to an art restoration facility focused primarily on inlaid stone pieces. Taking beautiful paintings and recreating them out of pieces of stone cut with what looked to be a longbow with a sharp metal draw-string. It reminded me a lot of the inlaid wood workshop I visited last year except maybe a bit more impressive...the stone came in all shapes and sizes of various colors, some such as Lapis Lazuli coming all the way from Afghanistan. We also saw doors from the Duomo's Baptistry being restored for the first time in centuries! This was followed by a wonderful panini lunch and a lecture on the Medici family. The lecture focused on their rise to power from the humble beginnings as a banking family.

I decided I would cave and see what an Italian Burger King is actually like, (I can feel my Dad cringing as he reads this part) so last night I partook in a Whopper with a Strawberry smoothie. Far from the vanilla milkshake I had originally tried to order but I don't think even delicious vanilla goodness could have saved that burger. An experience? Yes. Worth repeating? No. We ended the night at an Irish pub singing karaoke which went about as well as one can imagine, I certainly did some terrible things to some wonderful songs.

Today we have off, so I think I'll go explore this city's laundromats and maybe attend a symphony. Common stuff.