Lucca and Florence

On November 2nd, the second day of our tour of Italy, we left Torino to spend a few hours in Lucca, a small town, and then make our way to Florence for a few days. It was to our surprise that in this small town they hold a comic book and cartoon convention every year that was currently in progress. Lucca was packed with huge number of people, most of whom were dressed for the occasion in quite a variety of costumes. The reason for visiting the town was to see and walk on the paths of the city walls that surround it, to see the amphitheater turned into a piazza near the center, and to have a nice place to stop for lunch on the way to Florence. I only wish I had taken more photos of the costumes, but I felt a little rude doing so.

Photos of the crowds of people and of the amphitheater turned piazza.



We arrived in Florence on the evening of November 2nd and spent the 3rd and 4th there leaving for Rome on the 5th with a stop in Pienza. Sadly, it rained the entire time we were in Florence, but we all had a great time and loved the city nonetheless.
On the first day there, Frank showed us a few small churches that are some of his favorite spaces in Florence, as he said. After he led us to them and we both sketched and photographed them, we were off on our own. We decided to go to the Ponte Vecchio and the surrounding area from there; the Ponte Vecchio is a bridge lined and created by shops, currently almost all jewelry shops. Needless to say, I think the girls enjoyed it more than the guys. Depending on what each person wanted to do, we split off into groups to check out what we were interested in seeing that day. Ashton, Kristina, Megan, Danett and I, who spent most of our time together during this trip, decided to continue to see the Duomo, to get lunch and to wander. We travel well together! Later, we did split again when Megan and Danett needed to take naps; Ashton Kristina and I walked to see an orphanage we had learned about in History of Architecture by Brunelleschi. We walked a lot just to see the city. Later, Frank and Regan, the Virginia Tech graphics teacher joining us for a few days, took us on the merry-go-round on the piazza outside of our hotel.


Photos of the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, part of the orphanage, me on the Merry-Go-Round, and Lindsey and Will dancing to some live music in the piazza just outside our hotel.



On November 4th, we went to see the Uffizi Museum with Frank and Regan in the morning, after which we were once again on our own. Many of us went to see the Laurentian Library, another building we had learned about in History of Architecture, before it closed at 1 pm. Ashton Kristina and I spent the rest of the day doing a little souvenir/gift shopping and exploring the area across the Ponte Vecchio. We went to Michaelangelo's Piazza, from where you can see the whole city and a bronze imitation of the statue of David. By the time we did all of this, it was almost time for dinner, so we headed back to our hotel. After dinner, we all went dancing.

View of Florence.


I'm sorry to put so much information in one post! It is easier to do a few long ones than to break it into each of the days. I will continue to update later.