Tourist Attractions: best places in Florence, best day of Italy!

Today I woke up with a sore throat. This was so upsetting because I have been so sick the last week before Spring Break. And I mean sick. Like 102 temperatures were normal for me. I was a little worried this morning that I was going to slip back to what I had before, but I pushed through the day and ended up having (possibly) the best day that I've had so far!

We got to sleep in until 9 am, which was so amazing. What was even more amazing is the fact that after our daily morning meeting was done, I went back to bed until lunch! With about a week worth of sleep deprivation before this trip started, and then between the jet lag and late late nights each night, taking a nap was so beautiful.

After lunch Gabrielle and I rode into Florence to go start our story for the day. Kim Kokernot came with us, for camaraderie. Our story today was to feature the top five parts of Florence- one place for each category: attraction, view, shopping, church and restaurant/gelato place. It was great because we wanted to see some of the stuff around Florence while we were here as well.

We went into the courtyard and saw all the statues and the (fake) David. The real David is in the Galleria dell' Accademia, but you need tickets to reserve your spot way in advance which we just don't have time for unfortunately. I mean, who comes to Italy, to FLORENCE and doesn't go see the David?!???

During a quick visit to the market, I embarrassed myself by saying "hola" to a merchant that said "hello" in English to us. I just made a face like 'oops, what do I do now?' laughed and walked away. Then we jumped on the tram and bus and came back for a delicious dinner of chicken tortellini soup and chicken, with ice cream for dessert. We're so spoiled.

Except for our buildings and artwork! And by "our" I mean America. As we were walking around the whole city we noticed that even the lamposts are decorated with such exquisite artwork and detail. In America we have to go into closed off buildings with locked up cases to see what a few, rare people created out of the creativity of their minds. In Italy, however, the arts are in the streets. It is living art. I would now like to quote the great Kim Kokernot, "Get with it, America!" Agreed.

And I decided that I think I'll move here to Italy; I don't want to go home! Kim, Gabrielle and I decided we're going to move and start our own franchise of Target, which will include a gelato place inside. Sounds like the perfect life. :)