I woke up early this morning to hike across the Arno river to climb up to the Piazzale Michelangelo! I first walked for thirty minutes into the center, which I have grown very accustomed to since I've made this walk every day since I got here. Then I started across the bridge over the Arno river to go to the other side of Florence. It was quiet anyways since it was 8:30 am, but this side of Florence is in general a little quieter than it is by the Duomo, which was a nice change of pace. When you first start to make the hike, you are confronted by some extremely steep steps leading to the top of a hill. I began climbing, glad I had had such a great nights sleep the night before! Part way up the steps, I met a new companion, a cat who was basking in the sun!
She decided to then follow me all the way up to the top (with very little effort on her part I might add...), which was fun since we were the only two on the steps together:) We parted ways once I reached the top, and when I turned around I saw this breathtaking view of Florence that made the whole hike worth it!
The guidebooks are not kidding when they tell you that if you make it up the hill, you will see panoramic views of beautiful Florence. Here are a few of the dozens of pictures I took at the top.
I explored the rest of the area for the rest of the morning/afternoon, including two beautiful churches up on the hill, before heading back down.
Okay, now for the "escaping" part of the day. Today, I switched rooms in the apartment to Marco's old room because I think there are two new roommates who will be arriving soon. It is equally nice with a double bed instead of two twin beds!
After coming back from my hike to switch rooms, I decided that I'd go back out to the center to hear my favorite street band who play everyday in the center, but I did not expect what transpired. So, I made it to the center, and I was just sitting and listening to the group play like many others when this man started playing ball with his dog. The man then threw the ball in my direction where it proceeded to land directly in my lap. The dog then comes running over to me, waiting for me to throw the ball to him, and the man/owner of the dog comes running over saying what sounded like a whole bunch of apologies in Italian. After several seconds of him talking, I tell him that I don't speak italian. He then asks in Italian if I speak English, and I tell him yes. He then starts talking to me in English, and asks where I'm from. I tell him I'm from America, and he looks at me surprised because he said that he assumed from my red hair that I was Irish. Ha! He then insists that I allow him to buy me a cappuccino because of the whole dog incident. I say okay since the place was a few feet away. As we were sipping our coffees outside, he begins telling me his whole life story about how he is originally from Brazil, but has lived in Florence for the past 10 years, and that he owns the mobile scarf cart just around the corner. He then proceeds to tell me about everywhere I should go in Italy, and what I shouldn't miss (which was actually helpful), but as I am getting ready to leave, he tells me about some very Italian/Florentine dinner thing where you basically go on this food/bar crawl in one part of Florence. He asks me if I've ever tried it, and that if I hadn't that WE should go...tonight... I promptly tell him that I already have dinner plans with my roommates, and say a brief goodbye. I am glad I declined his offer(haha) for a couple of reasons 1) I have a great boyfriend back home and 2) while I know I talked about taking risks yesterday...this was not what I was talking about because this was definitely one I wasn't willing to take!
Oh Italia! Already so many adventures:)
Rachel
Rachel... you are seeing so many beautiful things!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that you have taken this time for a true Adventure with a capital A.