Ok dear readers, so this weekend was a busy one. Here's what went down. Thursday I got done with class and we went to a soccer game, the Fiorentina (from Florence) vs the Ajax (from Holland). One thing I have to say is that soccer fans are pretty crazy here. There was so much security at the game that I thought Obama was going to be playing or something. It was pretty nuts. Also, soccer hulligans are pretty vicious people. The hulligans for the Ajax had a nice little cage that they had to sit in during the entire game...and by cage I mean section of the stadium that had 30 ft fences around it and razor wire on top. What can I say, Europeans love their soccer. Unfortunatley the game was kind of boring, Fiorentina lost 1-0, so there wasnt much action on the field. Luckily we had nice seats and we plan on going to another game sometime.
Friday I went to a bunch of museums with my friend Emily. We toured the Plazza Vecchio, which is basically the city hall for Florence and has been for a couple hundred years. We also went to the Museo de San Marco which is an old church and nunnery. We got to look into all the old rooms that the nuns used to sleep in and they each had some intricate paintings on the wall. Finally we went and climbed the dome of the Duomo. 462 steps later we were at the top and had some awesome views of the city. Luckily we have had some really nice weather lately, so the view was that much more awesome.
Saturday Emily, Nate, and I went to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the place where Michelangelo originally put the statue of David. This is on a huge hill that overlooks the city, so again, great views. There was also a really cool church called the San Miniato al Monte up there too. It was built in 1013, so its probably one of the older buildings in Florence. Cool thing about this place is that it has a monestary that was connected to it, and we were there at the right time when a bunch of the monks came out and did some Gregorian chants for a while. Pretty sweet, not gonna lie.
Sunday we went to Venice for Carnivale, the European version of Mardis Gras. Let me just tell you this, people in Venice are complete crazies, at least when it comes to this holiday. There were a ton of people everywhere, and a lot of them were dressed up in silly-ass costumes. Most people where a mask for this day, so a lot of people wore those with normal clothes, but some people went all out in costume. I have some pictures for you...its hard to describe. So Carnivale was fun, but I didnt get to see much of Venice, just experiencing Carnivale. I did see a lot of canals and wondered why the heck anyone would build a city on this place. I would assume its a logistical nightmare to get any supplies around there because there are no cars on the streets. Silly Italians!
Well, thats all for now. Tune in next week because I think I am going to Rome this weekend. Boom Shack-a-lack-a!
