After a 12-hour train ride to Florence, we were finally here! We immediately sat in our bus and headed towards our hotel. During our bus ride to the hotel, I was amazed at the beauty, authenticity and simplicity of Florence. The city really seemed to look like a picture from a book because of its unique structure and style. Furthermore, as soon as we arrived to the hotel, we checked-in and went straight to have breakfast at a small restaurant in Florence.
After our breakfast, we began a walking tour of the city. The first incredible building we saw was the Duomo. Stefania explained to us that it took 150 years to build this astonishing and gigantic cathedral, which holds so much of Florence’s historical stories and memories. After walking passed the cathedral, some museums and the Piazza Di Santa Croce, we arrived to a leather factory. The owners showed us how they do custom embroidery on leather products, what type of leather they sell and how they manage their business. I enjoyed visiting the leather business in Florence because I was able to see how these owners interacted with their customers, negotiated costs and actually sold their products. They used a technique of bargaining with their customers and henceforth, made a large amount of sales.
After, we headed towards the Academia in order to visit the famous David statue. The statue of David was just how I expected it to be; handsome, manly and perfectly sculpted. Next, we went to another famous church in Florence, where we were introduced to one of the most interested tour guides I met on our entire tour. His passion and knowledge of his cities historical past was truly inspirational and attention grabbing. He taught us the reason why wealthy individuals purchased their own chambers in many churches and about the specific paintings painted within the churches walls. One specific chamber we were introduced to the Medicini family servant named Francis. The tour guide explained to us that this individual had purchased this chamber in order to show the people of his city the level of his wealth and to always be recognized by future generations. Soon after, we left the church and went to the main center of the city, where we were assigned to evaluate different historical and god-like statues found in the courtyard. All of the statues there had their own stories, meanings, representations and value. They each told the past stories of the Romans.
When evening came around, we were escorted to our restaurant, Rubaconte, to enjoy a nice dinner with our entire group. After dinner, a group of us decided to experience the night-life in Florence. Therefore, we went to a club named Space-Electronics, recommended by Stefania. After a great evening of dancing and having fun, we finally went to the hotel and immediately fell asleep.
