Today we went on a walking tour around the city of Florence. We met our tour guide and began on our trek. We saw the impression of the David statue. Then we went around and saw The Rape of the Sabine Women and the Perseus statue. He gave a great and thorough explanation. We touched the hog in the piglet square. We saw the outside of the Duomo and took 2 group pics! We saw the river and the skywalk and the scenery was beautiful. Overall the tour was a great time.
We also had the most amount of free time that we have been given so far. We had four hours to explore Florence, visit tourist attractions, and find places to eat. We did however have to stay in groups and have ways to connect with our chaperones. Some decided to visit the Medici Chapel. It was very interesting to see the church dedicated to the famous Medici family. It was also where they were buried, and the coffins they had were very extravagant. Next, we looked for a well known place to eat, and we found a highly rated sandwich shop in downtown Florence. It was genuinely one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. To follow the sandwiches, we went to one of the best gelato shops in Florence. We were very glad to have a long amount of free time because it allowed us to explore Florence and immerse ourselves in the culture.
We also had the opportunity to go see the Academia Museum. Here lies the famous statue by Michelangelo:“David”. The statue was much larger than expected, we were in awe at the detail of the statue and how accurately it depicts a human body. The rest of the museum was filled with stunning religious paintings from the 1300s. These paintings contained extraordinarily ornate depictions of biblical scenes. Lastly, the museum contained a collection of old instruments showing the evolution of instruments such as the piano and violin.
To cap off our evening, we stopped by Aroma Italia for an evening cooking class. While we had been enjoying the food in Florence for the past few days, it was time for us to experience all the work that goes into the dish.
For an appetizer dish, we created Bruschetta, which is bread, white beans, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Each of us received two pieces — one to try with beans and one in case we didn’t like the beans!
For our main course, we made sauce and pasta from scratch — literally. We used flour, eggs, and water to knead our own dough.
We also made our own tomato sauce and rolled the pasta (which is harder than it looks!).
For dessert, we made tiramisu!
The meal was absolutely delicious, capping off our first full day in Florence!