Walking, Walking and more Walking

The last two days included 90 degree weather, roughly 6 miles of walking a day and a ton of sight seeing!

Friday, I had a mandatory orientation for the ISI program that my roommates and I attended for a couple hours. They served us lunch and also provided an optional walking tour to see some school buildings and downtown Florence.

While walking to my one building, we walked down the street with all of the designer stores such as Gucci, Michael Kors, Prada and everything you can think of. One school building is in the heart of downtown on the street level. The other building is right along the Arno River, sooo gorgeous...and the VIEW from class is amazing.

(view from school building)

We spent the rest of the day across the river on the other side of town walking around, getting more gelato and looking at all the beautiful buildings.

(best gelato I have ever had)

We ended the night with some pizza from a local pizzeria from one of the side streets near our apartment and went to a local bar that had live music! 10/10 day!

(the sauce was very flavorful and rich)

(they sang "Sweet Home Alabama at one point hahah)

Saturday, we all slept in pretty late (still overcoming jet lag) and decided to get an early lunch right away. I had caprese pasta salad and my first coffee of the trip! (an iced caffe latte).

Our goal of the day was to go to some flea markets across the river, but unfortunately when we got there they weren't happening:( Instead we took more time to shop around and see new streets. I bought a new dress from the one store for $15 euro due to my luggage still being lost (literally the worst thing ever) and also bought a tote bag to use for groceries, carrying things around town, etc.

(replica of the David statue outside on one of the streets)

We found one of the most famous bridges in Italy, and it was simply stunning. It is called Ponte Vecchio, a medieval bridge that has shops along it. (also where I bought the cute Florence tote bag) ($8 euro!)

(view from bridge!)

Tonight I think we are planning on having aperitos at a restaurant in town, and tomorrow hopefully seeing the David statue in the local museum and (crossing my fingers) picking up my luggage.