Palazzo Pitti and the Medici Chapel

Whoops! It's been a while since I wrote in my blog. This is like catch up special number 3! But I'm going to break it up into a couple of blogs so don't worry.

Quite honestly I am getting cultured out. Really. There are so many museums and churches here - and they are beautiful and they have culture and all that. I'm happy to see these things... No that's a lie. Sometimes I'm happy to see them, and sometimes I'm just kind of like "When do we get to eat?" I know still to come is the Uffizi and I am excited for that because I really want to see Venus, but I'm sure I'll see much more. (Sorry if this sounds negative, professoressa, but we've inhaled a lot of culture in our 3 weeks here).

So last Wednesday in my culture class, we actually went inside the Palazzi Pitti. It's really grand. I know a lot of these palaces are used now as museums, but it's crazy to remember that centuries ago, this is where people LIVED.

There was a lot of art in there. A LOT. There was nothing that struck me absolutely. But it was cool to see the procession of art through centuries.

That afternoon we went to the Medici chapels. I mean, the Medici really ran Florence for centuries. The Chapel of Princes, where the graves of several Medici patriarchs are resting, is so extravagant. The sarcophagus' are so big and looking over each is a huge statue.

It's been so long since I've written in my blog, so I'm already kind of fuzzy on which days I did what, but I also went to the Synagogue in Florence, which during WWII was used as a garage (Really? A place of worship?) and I also visited San Miniato al Monte, which sits up where Piazza Michelangelo is. So, of course, there was an amazing view. There is a grave yard in the back that is just so huge and there were so many graves. It was strangely beautiful though.

This stuff is great, but what I really enjoy is going out into Florence and...not really sight see, but just experience Florence. I'm trying to not stick out as a tourist, but just experience Florence and the culture the way that Florentines do. One night last week, my roommates Morgan and Madelynne went to Ponte Vecchio and watched the sunset. That was great to me. Going out to King Grizzly and grabbing an Italian craft beer and hanging out with other students on this trip and maybe having a conversation with an Italian, if they speak any english and can understand my attempts at speaking italian, is so fun to me.