One Week In

So we're approaching our 1-week mark, though it seems like we've been here for much longer than that.  The weather continues to be sunny and quite warm, and we have continued our non-stop schedule of walking and visiting sites all over the place.

On Friday, we spent time in the Palazzo Pitti (once home to the Medici) and the Boboli Gardens, which were beautiful.  Great views across the city.  It was nice to see some actual grass and flowers, too.  And now for some photos....

(Villa Spelman, where I studied in grad school.  Awww.)

 

Yesterday, I traveled to Siena with about half of the students.  It's a small medieval city about 80km from Florence, and it's absolutely beautiful.  Very quiet, compared to Florence, with tons of hills and amazing views everywhere.  We did a LOT of hiking up and down the streets, but it was worth it!  I'd happily live there.

And then today, I dragged most of the students up and down and up all kinds of hills in Florence as we made our way up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which has some of the best views of the city.  After our exertions, we sipped cocktails and looked out over the view, which made this pretty much the perfect Sunday.

Now it's time to relax.  Tomorrow we head to Pisa for the day, though it's supposed to rain so that may not be entirely fun.  I'm looking forward to it, though!

Ciao a tutti!