Art History

After a rough week of midterms, it seems that I've arrived at one of the things that I've been looking forward to this whole trip: my first big trip to London.

But first, a quick recap of my previous weekend in Florence. I'm no stranger to 36-hour power trips, and Florence was definitely a good choice. The city was beautiful, and far less busy than Rome. After a 5 am wake-up call and a four-hour train ride, my friends and I arrived at the Florence bus station disheveled and sleepy but ready to go. And man, did we ever go. After some confusion finding out hostel, we dumped our bags and set out for the nearest museum. First we hit up the Galleria degli Uffizi, where we "studied" for our imminent Art History midterm, took illegal pictures of "The Birth of Venus" and contemplated why art is so darn weird. We then booked it to the Accademia, where we spent most of our time being verbally assaulted/chased by museum security for taking pictures. Really? Do they really expect people to stand in the shadow of Michelangleo's "David" and not want to take a picture? I'm disappointed, Florence.


After discussing how carving a 9-foot statue out of a random piece of marble could even be possible, we moved on to the Duomo, Florence's main cathedral. After shelling out 8 Euro, we proceeded to climb to the top of the dome, something that is much more difficult than it sounds. But 463 stairs and a few wheezing rest stops later, we found ourselves presented with one of the most amazing views I've ever seen. Florence sprawled out before us in every direction, creating a panorama that was almost unbelievably beautiful.


Other highlights of the trip include AMAZING pizza at a fantastic little place called Dante's, checking out the obscenely expensive bling on the Ponte Vecchio, and spending 3 hours causing chaos at the Bobboli Gardens. Let's just say that art means different things to different people, and sometimes that means all you can really do is sit on it. Or just make fun of it.


So yea - LONDON! I'm ridiculously excited. Not only do they actually speak English there, but it's also going to be the big roomie/other half reunion: Kim and I, and Laura and Kelly. There's going to be lots of tears involved. It will be legendary. Bring on the British accents, the crappy weather, and the crappy food. I'm going to King's Cross.