Florence in Photos

I know I lured you in saying today is the day I have posted Photos of Florence, and they will be here, I assure you, but first stories from today. They're aren't many!

First, I walked around the Eastern/South Eastern side of Siena today, all the way to the Porta Romana (a very, very large gate). I passed the Basilica dei Servi on they way, which is a church and is or was a convent. I walked through the Contrada del leocorno (unicorn), La Contrada del Valdimontone (Ram), and La Contrada del Nicchio (Seashell). This may sound like a lot, but I made the whole walk there and back to the Campo in less than forty minutes. I only had a little while until the other student's had their lunch break at this point, so I then went and sat on the Piazza del campo where I sat and people watched for a while. I was looking at my syllabus when I heard a voice over me say "Buon Giorno." I thought maybe it was someone I knew-but it wasn't. It was just some man who felt like saying good morning to me...I went back to what I was doing and then he fortunately moved on!

My Italian class today went very well, I basically talked with my teacher for an hour and a half straight and then spent an hour working and grammar and talking.

Alright, now I will hand over the pictures!

A carousel on a Piazza

DINNER! Trofie (little corkscrew shaped pasta) with pesto and tomatoes

A parade passes in front of the Uffizi, the building in the beck left corner of this photo. If you can see the white squares directly above the people's heads, those are flags.

Piazza del somthing. Not sure which one it was. It's near the Uffizi though.

Florence from the Ponte Vecchio

We ran into this parade outside the Uffizi. It was for a tournament, Calcio Storico. We thought it was just soccer, but the men on the teams all looked to big to be soccer players. Today though we saw on TV in Siena what it was. It is an old version of soccer. They played on a dirt field and carried the ball. It seemed like a mix between modern soccer and American Football, which could explain the origin of football. I don't know that for sure though, so don't quote me on it.

Ponte Vecchio (The Old Bridge). All of the shops on the bridge sell jewelry

Ponte Vecchio from land.

These three girls plus me saw ALL of the Uffizi!

The chapel (maybe?) across the street from the Duomo.

The Duomo. I am putting in lots of pictures of this so that I can try and give you a full picture of it. It's very, very large and every inch is decorated!