Florence Pt. 2

On Sunday morning we woke up early for our second day in Florence. At eight o’clock we ate breakfast and headed for the bus. Being that it was Sunday, most of the stores along our street were closed so we had to walk farther to buy a bus ticket. The nine o’clock bus was running a little late so we caught a 9:16 one instead. Once we arrived at the station, the group divided into two groups; three in one and five in the other. My group consisted of Shannon, Jess, Megan, Lilly, and me. Our first stop was at the Uffizi Museum. I was map manager again and within ten minutes we arrived at the museum. The line was really long but we still wanted to go in so we waited. After forty-five minutes we went inside and the wait seemed to be worth it.
The Uffizi Museum was built in 1581 and located adjacent to the Medici Palace. Uffizi is an Italian word meaning office. The space was originally designed to hold offices and an area for the bureaucratic meetings. Today, the use of the space is quite different. The Uffizi holds many famous sculptures, paintings, and artworks in Florence. There were several Renaissance and Medieval artworks at the museum, that were discussed in class. I saw the painting of the Duke and Duchess of Montefeltro. It is one of the famous paintings of Piero della Francesca, an Italian Renaissance painter. He is also a native of Sansepolcro; interesting!
After about an hour and a half in the museum, some girls were ready to move on. Jess, Megan, and I wanted to go back to the market before we caught our train. In order to cover two different agendas, we split up. Shannon and Lilly were really interested in the artworks and decided to stay longer. They agreed to call us afterwards so we could all meet up at the train station. After the Uffizi, we searched for a snack before shopping. We were in luck because directly outside the museum we found an inexpensive snack bar. I was craving chocolate so I ordered a chocolate croissant and my favorite drink, coke. We quickly ate our snacks on the way to the market. We found a reasonable market, just past the Duomo. It happened to be the same market we were at on Saturday. All of a sudden many of the vendors remembered us and tried to get our attention. One man from a wallet stand, remembered me in particular because I brought a wallet on Saturday. This time I wanted to buy my mother a leather wallet. I was originally supposed to buy her leather gloves, but they were too expensive. The wallet was originally 30 euro, but the man kindly reduced the price to 20 euro since I gave him business the day before. I was really excited to check my mom off my list for souvenirs, but I was still in search of a gift for my grandfather. As we passed a tie stand, I saw a tie that would go perfectly with one of my grandfather’s church suits. It was stripped silver and blue, and had the Florence symbol on it. The ties were three euro apiece, but I thought I could bargain two for five. So I used my skills to buy two. It actually worked and I was impressed. Jess and Megan were too and said they should learn from me. I guess all my days in thrift shops with my mom finally paid off, because I used all the skills she taught me. Jess and I both brought scarves for ourselves. I bought a beautiful purple, blue and gold one, Megan has one identical to it. Jess brought a pretty black and gold one. After spending all our money in the market, we headed towards the train station to meet the other girls. We navigated our way back within ten minutes. Just as we were walking into the train station, we were lured in by another vendor. It was a lady who hand-stitched sayings on potholders. I thought it would be nice to buy one for my family, therefore I brought one that read “Patterson’s”, Jess bought two: one for her parents and the other for her and her boyfriend. Megan brought a chef’s hat for her mother that was very cool. After that we went into the station to look for a quick sandwich to eat on the train ride. Jess and Megan wanted to eat McDonald’s, but I did not. I hate McDonald’s, but I was going to walk with them anyway. Once we were in McDonald’s the girls decided the meals were too expensive so we did not buy anything. There were other restaurants around that we wandered into. None of the food looked satisfying, so we were out of luck. We left, only to find ourselves in the middle of a strike of some sort.
There were people shouting and screaming in Italian while carrying flags through the station. Many of them were men being followed by the police. Jess, Megan, and I were all scared and did not know what to do. We looked on in fear as the mob went toward the streets, we felt relieved but then thought about the other girls. I quickly called Shannon but I did not get an answer. I tried Lilly too, she did not answer either. I was hoping that the strike would not turn violent, but all of sudden there was a cloud of orange smoke throughout the whole station. It was difficult to see through the smog, but I noticed Shannon walking towards us with a confused look on her face. Behind Shannon, Lilly and Kelsey tagged along. The three girls were just as confused as we were, but we had other things to handle. First we went to the luggage section, where we had all locked our belongings earlier that day. We retrieved our belongings and scurried to the nearest list of train arrival and departures. It was confusing, but we managed to find our 2:15 train back to Arezzo. We validated our tickets and boarded the train. Luckily, it was not crowded; everyone found seats next to each other. Once settled we all put on our IPods and waited until our next stop in Arezzo.
It was a long wait until we finally reached Arezzo, but we made it. We had just enough time to take a restroom break and get to the bus stop. After looking at every sign, we found our correct bus stop. The ride was longer than usual, being that it was a Sunday, but calming. We reached the Palazzo after about an hour and half. We were exhausted but glad that we were back at “home”.
The following weekend, the group took a day trip to Siena. Siena’s origin was the myth of Senius and Acius, sons of Remus (hence the various she-wolves around the city), and it was founded by the Etruscans. Siena is a hilly, Tuscan city famous for the she-wolf emblem, cuisine, museums, and palio. Palio di Siena is a horse race that happens twice a year during the summer. It is held in the Piazza del Campo, the town center, where 10 riders race barebacked upon horses dressed in colors representing different parts of the city. It is a big event that attracts tons of people. Unfortunately, we were not visiting during palio season, but there was still a lot to see. I was able to see two museums; the Duomo Museum and the Museo Civico located in the Palazzo Pubblico Torre del Mangia. The palazzo was originally the headquarters of Siena’s rulers and ruling council, but today the upper floor is occupied by the Museo Civico. Both sites had wonderful medieval artwork and detail, but what caught my attention was all the civic pride within the city. The Campo was a focus of city life, and pride was shown by flags, frescos, and mosaics. After seeing the museums, we did a little shopping and finished the day by eating gelato. Afterwards, we slowly made our way back to the station to wait for our bus. To get back to Sansepolcro, we had to take two buses, the first one of which switched off in Arezzo. The trip was just what everyone needed to re-energize for the upcoming week. Overall, Siena was similar to Florence but differed in many ways. Although both are historic cities of art, the feel of the cities are opposite. It was noted in the Rough Guide, that Florence and Siena, are rival cities. Florence is famous for its Renaissance era; while Siena has a Gothic style that blows tourists away. They both have Duomos, famous museums, and piazzas; but Florence and Siena are two cities one must see. Siena seemed calmer and easier to get around because all the buildings radiated from the Piazza del Campo. Florence is more of a tourist and shopping site than Siena. I learned a lot from both cities and would not mind revisiting either one; maybe next time I can take my family!