Florence!

On Saturday around 5pm I decided that I wanted to go to Florence the next day and totally bombard my friend, Ana.

Being the awesome friend that she is, she welcomed me to Florence with open arms.

And so did her plant, Bernini.

What a cutie. (Not me, the plant.)

One of the first places we visited was the Duomo.

Holy mother of God.

It might be the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Ana kept laughing at the number of times I said "wow," and other various exclamations.

This is the clock tower. Also awesome.

Some cool statues.

A pony! Not a very happy looking one, but a pony nonetheless.

There were so many cafes and bakeries that had chocolates in the window for Easter.

Ponte Vecchio!

One of the coolest things we did was walk up this giant hill to get to a church.

On the way, there were little areas to stop and look the sights.

That book the wooden statue is reading is very interesting.

Ana was less interested in the literature.

Some of the views from halfway up the hill.

Countryside.

We made it to the church on the top!

The graveyard.

On the way down we stopped at the garden.

Then we headed back to Ana's adorable apartment to make some egg and salami sandwiches (after accidentally spending 11 euros on coffee and a croissant).

Ana's unsuspecting roommate is marveling at the mortar and pestle while Ana munches on a late lunch.

Before I headed back to the train, we did a little more sightseeing. Ana thinks this sculpture thing is a representation of Caesar.

This is a fortress. It looked super creepy in the coming storm. I actually hadn't heard thunder since coming here, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the lightning storm.

So Florence was fabulous. Definitely vying for the top spot on my favorite cities in Italy. I shall return.

-Meri