Florence

We woke up in the morning and I washed Andrea's hair for her and our friend Perry made scrambled eggs for whoever wanted them in the morning :) we started our day at 9:30 and at this point our huge group broke up and I hung out with Lydia and Terese for the day. We started to hit the stops I wrote down from the Europe book but most everything cost money so since we weren't sure how much other places would cost, we prioritized our options and just followed our map to the next destination :) while we were walking and looking at the shops we passed all the leather jackets which were a pretty big temptation until we were sucked into a leather store and this guy was so persistent, he asked us what colors we liked and found us some jackets and helped us put them on and everything. After the whole experience I was thankful since I really didn't think the leather jacket was my style but we told him our budget was €20 not because we actually thought we could get a jacket for that much, but to simply show the fact we were broke college students, but the lowest was definitely about €100 and that's when we left. I felt bad but there was just no way! Here's the Duomo cathedral which dominates the heart of Florence with its huge dome:

We really wanted to go up into the dome but the cost was a bit unreasonable so we were a little bummed, but it all worked out great because we ended up getting to go into St. Peter's Basilica dome which was cheaper and way more worth it anyway. After the Duomo we went to find the Galleria dell' Accademia and saw Michelangelo's famous "David." We found a sweet little church to pray in on our way to the Piazza della Signoria and there we saw a replica of Michelangelo's "Victory" statue and the "David." We picked up some pizza for lunch and ate outside in the sun :) We walked alongside the river on the way to the Basilica di Santa Croce.

At the Basilica we saw the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo!

Then we walked to the Ponte Vecchio which means "old bridge." This bridge is the oldest surviving bridge in the city and the only one to escape destruction during World War II.

We stopped for dinner and gelato on our way to the train station. Trains to Rome left every 30 minutes were almost to the train station at 6:00. We had been taking our time until we looked at the clock and had 10 minutes to catch the 6:10 train if we wanted. It obviously wouldn't have been a big deal if we missed it since another one was coming in 30 minutes but Terese and I thought we could maybe catch it. So we started sprinting. Lydia wasn't so keen about the idea so we let her walk since we still needed to get tickets and pick up our luggage. Terese ran to the ticket machine while I ran to get our luggage. We definitely missed the 6:10 train since the ticket machine was being a pain haha but it was fun anyway and not stressful at all since it wasn't like the last train or anything ;) We met three Spanish ladies from Venezuela who were sisters and were spending their vacation in Italy on the train and Terese, being the brave girl she is, asked them if they would pray a rosary with us, and we offered to say it in Spanish with them! Both Terese and I learned the Hail Mary and Our Father in Spanish, except both of us couldn't really remember the Our Father but it was really fun and they just loved us and we loved them too! We arrived to our hotel in Rome at 8:30ish and just relaxed for the evening :)