Catching Up...Day 4

The past couple of days have been super busy, we've seen lots of stuff and had lots of fun, but it has left me with no time to let y'all in on the fun. So here goes...

Two days ago we met our group bright and early at the Duomo for a tour of the main cathedral in town.  It took about a century to complete (in 1313) and was magnificently detailed with incredible inlaid marble designs and depictions on the floor, ornate sculpture and artwork on the walls and beautiful stained glass windows at either end of the nave. Artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello and Bernini are just a few of the artists that worked on the detailed marble floors. Plans were made in 1339 to construct a massive nave making it the largest cathedral in all of Christendom. Only the back wall was constructed before the working population was wiped out by the plague in 1348 and building plans were abandoned. We walked around the baptistry and museum of the Duomo which were full of art, sculptures and other relics relating to the church. 

When our tour was over Stephanie and I came back to our apartment for lunch then went to find a cellphone store to get a SIM card for an old phone. We found one right on the Campo and got a good deal for the month we are here. Then we sat in the Campo for a bit before our class started. On a complete side note, the weather has been absolutely perfect. I was expecting hot, nasty summertime weather, but it has been cool in the mornings/evenings and bearable in the sun during the day. So lovely. We met our professor and other classmates in the Campo for class (Intro to Philosophy) around 2pm and took a nice walk to a park on the edge of the city overlooking the countryside for class. We sat under a gazebo, serenaded by the sounds of a nearby music school and discussed philosophy. Like I said about our other class, it can't get ANY better than this! 

After class we took our time walking back from the park and discovered a city/country overlook. Gorgeous. We went to the grocery store to get a bottle of wine for our wine tasting lesson that evening. We had no idea what to get since neither Steph nor I are wine drinkers so we asked for something sweet and white (in Italian). The grocer guided us away from the wine area over to what looked to be the liquor area and pointed to some bottles. Unsure, we looked at our options and chose a decently priced muscato. We were proud, thinking we had done good. Little did we know... (more on this in a minute). 

Before our wine tasting we met some of the girls from our flat, Jessie and Stephanie, and had a delicious but overpriced dinner at the Campo. Then we ran back to the apartment and walked over to Jack's apartment across town for the wine tasting. When we got there we pulled out our bottle and set it with the rest. A few minutes later Jack came to inspect what everyone had brought and immediately picks ours up. He says "Who brought this!?" It turns out what we brought was a super sweet dessert wine. What he was going to teach us about wine did not apply to what we brought. Oops!! That goes to show exactly how much Stephanie and I know about wine. Hah! Anyhow, it was interesting. Steph and I have decided neither of us like red wine (or at least the ones we have tasted). We did learn how to taste wine, first you smell and identify what you smell, then you swirl in cup, then you smell again and then you drink. Jack gave some explanation on the process of wine making. Apparently there are over 1,000 plus types of grapes grown in Italy and 600 out of that 1,000 are made into wine.

After that about half of our group, Jessie, Matt, John, April, Kristin, Steph and I went to get some gelato. We ended up just sitting out in the Campo for several hours talking and laughing before it was too late and we got too cold. Yep, too cold in June! (WHAT!?)

That was only day four. I still have a whole day of crazy packed touring in Florence to tell you about. But I'll save that for a little later tonight...

For now, Ciao!