Happy Italian Unification Day! (Italy’s equivalent of our Fourth of July). I decided to skip out on dinner tonight to stay in and do a ton of homework, eat some food I bought from the grocery store (oranges and rice cakes, anyone?), and fill everyone in on what’s been happening these past couple days. It’s been a pretty exciting week so far!
On Monday, we started the day off bright and early with an excursion to the little town of Fiesole, which sits on a hill overlooking Florence. I suppose at one time this little town was further away from Florence, but because of Florence’s natural expansion over the years, Fiesole today is more like a suburb of the larger city. It still has a lot of its village charm, and of course, amazing views. We did the usual church-visiting, note-taking deal, ate lunch, and then did more touring in Florence. I can’t tell you how many churches we’ve seen just in Florence alone...I can’t keep them all straight anymore. To be honest, all the marble, elaborate altars, painted ceilings and mosaic floors make me miss the simple and bare environment of Radius, my church back home. The churches here are breathtaking, and we marvel at the time and craftsmanship that was required to create these structures, but nothing compares to plain hardwood floors, fold away chairs, and a single wooden cross as a place to worship and discuss the One who doesn’t care about earthly decorations.
On Tuesday, we saw David! I mean, THE David. In the world of sculpture, Michelangelo’s David is equivalent to the Mona Lisa, his popularity easily observable from the huge crowds waiting outside the Accademia to see him. The ridiculous amount of naked sculptures we’ve seen on this trip rivals the number of churches, but this sculpture, by far, definitely has a reason for being one of the most famous. It really is an amazing piece of art, right down to the anatomically correct position of the veins in his hands. (Though there was one piece of David that technically wasn’t anatomically correct...Historically, the Biblical character of David was a Jew, and this David didn’t look very Jewish, if you know what I mean...) No one is allowed to take pictures of him anymore (due to copyright laws?), but we had fun sneaking as many as we could.
Wednesday was entirely dedicated to two things. 1) The Uffizi Museum, and 2) The 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification celebration, which is technically today, but they started celebrating the night before. One thing I didn’t realize about Italy before I arrived is that it is technically a younger country than the States. All the little towns and areas of Italy didn’t become a single country until around 1860. So, their “unification” is basically like our Fourth of July, only bigger. The streets and plazas were completely packed full of people waiting to watch the fireworks and partay. It was crazy, but how awesome was it to be in Italy for their 150th anniversary?
Today we drove an hour and half to Pisa to see that oh so leaning tower and its accompanying Cathedral and Baptistery. It was a pretty disgusting day weather-wise with cold winds and a constant, annoying drizzle, but the weather held out for us when we climbed to the top of the tower. Climbing up the tower was an adventure in itself. I didn’t expect to feel so much of the lean, but there were times that it was difficult to keep your balance as you climbed the spiral staircase because it was leaning so much! The view from the top wasn’t the highest, but the surrounding mountains covered in dark storm clouds made it one of the most beautiful views we’ve seen. I wish I could write and tell you how wonderful and beautiful the town of Pisa is, but that just isn’t true. It is sad to see a town that has succumbed to so much tourism that it loses its charm and intrigue because of it. The few parts we walked through had nothing but cheap souvenir shops selling Leaning Tower figurines, sketchy-looking fast food restaurants, and gas stations. I’m sure that if we had had more time in the city, we would have found better areas, but all we saw was a poor, dirty town living off of the world’s fascination with its bell tower that leans to one side. This was the thought that stayed in my mind as we left that place, and I wondered if it was just the bleak weather that was affecting my opinion, or if Pisa is really that dreary all the time.
Anyway, tomorrow is a free day, and a group of us is taking a train to Cinque Terre!! (Cinque Terre is a beautiful area on the coast containing five different small villages that are built basically on the cliffs of the coast.) The plan is to take the train to one of the towns and hike the rest of them to our hostel, where we’ll stay for one night, hike some more the next day, and then come back to Florence in the evening. So pumped to spend two days outdoors! It’s going to be an early start, though. My bed is calling my name.
I miss everyone at home a lot. My day was brightened exponentially by a video that Sarah and Kat made me today, but it also made me miss Furman that much more. I am not usually one to ever get homesick (something I used to brag about), but for some reason on this trip I’ve been anxious about getting back to certain things. Maybe it is because we’ve moved so much, or because we don’t have a set schedule every day...whatever it is, I hope a good dose of hiking will cure me of this recent relapse of homesickness.
Much love!
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