When the moon hits your eye...

I took a two hour nap today; my roommate, a three hour nap. After the weekend we had, we were in dire need of it. From five a.m. on Friday morning until two a.m. last night, eight of us from the program were traveling nonstop through Pisa, Florence and Rome, trying to take in as many sights as possible in four short days. On the flight back home, we did some quick calculations to try to guesstimate just many miles we walked in this time; walking six to eight hours per day at a pace of a twenty minute mile puts us at around eighty to ninety miles. Luckily, not one of these steps was wasted.

We started off our trip catching the metro as it opened at six in the morning and took a flight from Madrid to Pisa, a waypoint along the way to Florence. Since we were in town, we wanted to see the famously leaning tower of the same name. While Madrid has its legendary landmarks and memorable monuments, it can’t quite match Italy in that I-can’t-believe-I’m-actually-seeing-this factor. Laying eyes upon the Leaning Tower of Pisa felt almost unreal, not only because of its precarious position but also because I’ve seen pictures of it since my years as a toddler. It turned out that this was an experience that would be repeated again and again over the next four days.

What else did you expect?

After seeing the tower, we were off again, catching a one and a half hour train to Florence and getting some shut-eye along the way. Since Vanderbilt has another study abroad program there (Vanderbilt-in-Florence), some people stayed with friends who had room to spare while the rest of us shacked up in a hostel by the name of Soggiorno Berlini. Despite the low ratings I talked about last time, it was actually a pretty sweet place (well, except for the showers). But we didn’t stay in the hostel long, as we wanted to get out and experience the city. We did the tourist thing (maps, guidebooks, and all) and quickly set off for Accademia to see the Statue of David. Like the Tower in Pisa, David is one of those pieces that is so integral to our concept of art that seeing it was practically worth the entire trip. Towering over the gallery, David’s huge size, intricacy, posture, and proportions captured the attention of all the museum-goers. While pictures were forbidden, I managed to snap off a few on the down-low.

David in all his glory

While simply listing the other monuments we visited destroys their mystique, we also got to climb the 463 steps of the Duomo to gaze out at the city, walk across the Ponte Vecchio, take in the Florence skyline from the Piazza Michelangelo (with wine and cheese, of course), and experience so many other unforgettable sights, smells and flavors (can you say gelato?).

The Duomo from the front

Just one and half days after touchdown, though, it was already time to move on, and we packed up our bags for the eternal city. To give this leg of our journey the attention it deserves, I’ll devote an entry to it in the near future. Hang tight!

Favorite picture from Florence:

Rower on the Arno