My third day in Italy, I was really hit by jet lag, and didn’t get as much out of the day as I should have, but I made up for it over the next few days.
Stacey and I got up and around about noon, and went by the Mercato Santa Ambrogio. The Market Stacey frequents, and it’s really close to her apartment and Santa Croche. I love going to markets. They’re such a beautiful gathering place. You see all types of people: the vendors were singing, women were walking their dogs, customers bartering and and friends meeting and gossiping in beautiful, smooth Italian. I loved it. I bought some beads for my mom and me, to make jewelry, and I bought some amazingly delicious olives for Stacey and I to take on our picnic we had planned for that day.
Our first stop for the day was Santa Maria Novella. I was really excited to go into this church because I had read that it is full of frescos and I was so excited. When we got there, though, there was a Veterans Day type ceremony going on, so we weren’t able to go inside. Instead we ate our picnic in Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. It was a really good place to have a picnic- as long as tourists aren’t going crazy feeding the pigeons.
We walked around for a while just looking at the buildings. It’s amazing because every other street corner there’s an amazingly ornate building, a beautiful basilica, a fountain or a statue. We made our way to a church, that Stacey had been to before and said we should visit (it’s free- great for budget travelers). It was Orsanmichele which is a church and museum. We happened to be there on a free day for the museum and we were eagerly ushered upstairs by the sweet man who was working the museum that day. You go up to the second floor, and the museum is the collection of original sculptures that were on the outside of the church. The artists of these statues include Donatello, Giambologna and Ghiberti. Then, after going up one more flight of stairs to the top, you find yourself in a room made mostly of windows that allowed for amazing views of Florence. To exit you walked on a bridge that connected you to the third story of another building across the street.
I spent the late afternoon taking a nap and meeting Stacey’s roommates, who were out of town for the weekend. Then that night we made a “family dinner” at one of her friend’s apartments. It was a nice relaxing day, and I finally got adjusted to the new times.
For more on my recent trip to Italy or my past trip you can read about them here:
Italy Trip 2007- Part one, part two, part three
Italy Trip 2011- Florence Day One, Day Trip to Bologna
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