Florence Adventures

Hello everyone! It has been a very busy last few days. I am in Florence, Italy now. We have been here since Saturday. We took the train from Brescia to make it to Florence. Once we arrived in Florence, we went to the Central Mercado to find some lunch. I had a tasty sandwich with mozzarella and tomatoes. 

The market is surrounded by vendors selling leather purses and scarves. Many of the vendors sell the same items and one must bargain to get the best price on goods. Some of the vendors are very pushy, but you must keep going and not get drawn in. After browsing around the market, we gathered together to explore the town. 

We had dinner for the evening at Pinocchio. I ordered some gnocchi with oregano. We enjoyed talking together and playing sudoku. Later that evening we walked around and saw the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the only bridge that was not destroyed in WWII in Florence. 

We stopped for some scrumptious gelato. I got coconut and chocolate, which was amazing. 

It was a long day, but it was well spent. 

On Sunday, we went to the Accademia Galleria to see David. We took a few wrong turns, but we eventually made it to the galleria. Once we were inside, we all broke off and admired the artwork at our own pace. 

This is the Madonna and Child by Boticelli. I was fascinated by the gold that  surrounds the Angels. When I walked into the next room, the statute of David was  towering above the swarms of people with cameras. I was immediately encaptured by the statue, but I wanted to admire the other pieces of art that shared the space first. 

It's hard to explain how beautiful and large this statue is. The photos I saw online do not serve this masterpiece justice. Michelangelo studied human corpses, so he was able to know how to anatomically depict David's body. The hands are so large and intricate. 

After the gallery, we went back to the central market to grab a bite to eat. I tried the vegetarian station to get a much needed salad before our cooking class in the evening. We walked around the market again, which after one day is a bit overwhelming. At 4:30 we had an appointment for an Italian cooking class.

This class was amazing. It has been one of my favorite parts of the trip thus far. The chef who taught us was a genuine Italian chef. He and his wife were some of the sweetest people I've met and he keep cracking jokes in the kitchen. We learned how to make tiramisu, homemade pizza, and pasta! It was a four hour long course and we were all able to be hands on and help prepare our dinner. I learned some new cooking techniques, which I'm excited to take back home. 

We made the pasta from flour and eggs, rolled the dough, and helped to shape the noodles. 

We all made our own little pizzas and many of us flipped the dough in the air! 

I made mine with tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella, and zucchini. 

Mmmmm... Pasta!

My tiramisu. 

I hope everyone is enjoying my little updates. This trip really has been an  amazing learning and growing experience for me. I've met some wonderful, kind people.