Ciao, bella!

In London, everyone speaks English. Much to my surprise, however, everyone in Florence does as well. No, not because they learn it in school, not because they want to sell things, but because they are American. Florence was overrun with tourists, and at times it appeared as though no one in sight was actually Italian.

There's good reason for this, as Florence is an interesting city. Basically the only location in which the entire Renaissance took place, the art here is quite something. I spent the weekend getting to know the small city, where streets are roughly wide enough for two Smart Cars, and the whole city is only a 30-minute walk. Mallory was nice enough to show me around, and I got to see everything with the benefit of a seasoned Florentine.

The David, by Michelangelo, does not disappoint. It is situated in what is essentially its own museum (the Academia) that costs as much as the other art museum containing everything else, but is very impressive. They have a 3-d visualization of the statue done by Stanford, so we spurt of pride 5,000 miles from our alma mater.

I met two guys in my hostel from BU who ended up knowing Jonah from camp. We ended up hanging out a bit, and went out together to some bars on Saturday night.

Sunday was more walking, including the gardens of the Medici family. If you didn't know, the Medici family essentially owned Florence (and most of Italy and the Vatican) from about 1400-1700. They became Popes, commissioned tons of art (including a lot of the Renaissance), and were, understandably, bankers. For that reason, they also had a (mostly) favorable relationship with the Jews, who naturally had a Jewish quarter and seemed to function for the most part well in Florence. We checked out the synagogue, as well, which was quite beautiful. There, of course, I ran into a middle-aged Jewish couple from Westchester who were just thrilled that I was bringing my shiksa friend to the Jewish museum.

Overall, I felt like Florence was a pretty manageable and easily navigable city where basically anyone you interact with with speak English. After dinner, it was off to the train station for the late night train to Bologna.