DAY THREE

Today I woke up at 5am, and headed down to the hotel lobby at 6:00am for breakfast with the Bay Path College group. The hotel served us an array of choices! We could sample croissants, pastrys, cappachinos, coffee, juice, boiled eggs, meats, cheese, cereal, toast, fruit! You name it and we were offered it! After enjoying a delicious breakfast we boarded our bus and prepared for a 3 1/2-4 hour bus ride to FLORENCE (which is in Tuscany!). Throughout the bus ride we could see mountain sides with little villas, all kinds of houses with terra cotta roofs, the classic italian housing style. It was beautiful! And everything here is so green! Each lawn is a different shade and so when looking down on Italy it kind of looks like a patch-work quilt, that is the only way I can think to describe it. We saw many olive and grape trees at which point our guide told us some interesting facts! Surrounding all the olive and grape trees are roses, thousands of them! The reason farmers do this is because any disease or bacteria that would damage the grap or olive trees will damage the roses first, thus by keeping an eye on the rose plants farmers can be sure to have a successful olive and grape year! I found this to be very interesting! After telling us a few more facts and details our tour guide set down the mic and most of the girls slept for about an hour or so. We made a quick rest stop and then continued straight into Florence! We started our visit with the Piazza Del Duomo, which is decorated more intricately than anything I have ever seen, in my entire life! The building is decorated with pink, green and white all the way up the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fior, crowned by Brunelleschi. We then ventured to the "Gates of Paradise" at the Romanesque Baptistery of St. John. The "gates of paradise" was a term coined by Michaelangelo to describe the beautiful bronze doors ont he front of this building. Next we moved onto the Academy of Fine Arts where we saw the ORIGINAL 'DAVID' by Michaelangelo. This sculpture, moved me to tears. It is so vast and grande that no picture can do it justice, and to think that Michaelangelo created such a masterpiece in his 20's! 'David' was originally placed in the political center of Florence, however, during a riot, someone threw a heavy item off the top of one of the buildings. The item then landed ontop of the 'David' breaking the forearm of the piece! This was done while Michaelangelo was still alive, however, the piece was not put back together till after his death. At which point the sculpture was moved into the Muesum after being outside in the climates for 300years! Also in the Academy of Fine Arts were four of Michaelangelo's unfinished sculptures, many critics have often called these sculptures slaves because they were unfinished and thus unable to be seen fully, our guide suggested however, that we call them prisoners. She said that Michaelangelo saw a piece of marble and thought that inside each one was a sculpture being held prisoner and that as an artist it was his job to chizzel away at each giant slab of marble, in an attempt to uncover it. The unfinished statues presented in the museum show intricate strained muscles and veins in each character which helps to demonstrate how Michaelangelo felt each one was stuck in the marble, fighting to get out! After viewing these pieces we were able to see a plaster model of the statue "The rape of the sabine women" despite the title, this sculpture was BY FAR my favorite, it consists of three bodies woven intricately together in such a lyrical manner. I tried all day to find a small replica of the statue to take home but I have yet to find one.

After viewing these galleries we were given the afternoon to shop and meander around the town of Florence! My group made our way down to the straw market and the local flea market which filled the streets with the best of Florence's leather, purses, scarves, gloves, souvenirs, gifts and art! After shopping to our hearts content we stopped at a local Gelato shop and tasted a variety of samples before choosing the one that we liked best! I had tirimisu gelato and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD! We met back at the political center of Florence and then made our way back to Rome.

Upon arriving back in Rome Robin, Sam Hahn, Melinda Siel, Amy Laporte and I changed quickly and then hit the streets in search of dinner! We stopped at a ristorante named "Bella Roma" we ordered a bottle of red wine and all kinds of classic italian dishes! Tonight I had salmon and penne pasta! It was amazing, I have noticed that here in Italy the chefs spend more time on the pasta than the sauce but as you would imagine, the combination is to die for! After dinner we intended to taxi across town to go to a different discotech, but first we needed to find an ATM so that we could get money from our US bank accounts. We tried numerous ATMS however, every one of them refused our cards saying that there was a daily withdrawl limit and that we could not receive any money. We searched all over town for a currency exchange but had no luck, finally we decided to head for a quick drink instead around the corner from our hotel. It was a great time! I had some chocolate mousse that was incredible! Afterward we headed back to our hotel! Tomorrow we are headed to the Coliseum and I cannot wait! I will keep you posted!

(Mom and dad if you see this can you try to put money in my savings so I can withdraw it here because I cannot find a cash exchange place, find out if I can pull it out of the account as soon as you put it in or if I have to wait a few days, If I have to wait a few days don't worry about it!) okay! Headed to bed, it is after midnight, talk to you tomorrow!



Caio Bella!