We had to reschedule our flights to Florence at the last minute due to an Air Traffic Controller strike in Paris. We were scheduled to fly into Paris for a short layover before traveling on to Florence. Instead, we had to wait to leave a day later and fly through Rome. I didn’t get hardly any sleep the night before we left and couldn’t sleep on the plane like I normally do, so I was exhausted when we got to Florence on Tuesday and didn’t do anything the first day. We were pretty relaxed and low key on the second day as well. Griffin got up and went to have pastries with Curt and the other professors and then hung out with them for their last morning class of the study abroad program. Later in the evening we met the students and other faculty for a walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which is the best place to view the sunset in Florence. After watching the sunset, we had gelato with everyone.

The students were proud of their Fantas and asked Griffin to join in their picture with his!

We enjoyed our first gelato treats of the trip!

On Thursday we joined some students and the faculty for a trip to the Capella dei Brancacci, a church that we’ve never visited while in Florence. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you walk in you are treated to a lovely courtyard area and inside the chapel are amazing frescoes. The rest of the church is pretty also, with baroque architecture and some nice natural light.

In one of the rooms off of the courtyard, there was a depiction of The Last Supper. This one was interesting because it has two cats joining the meal!

Since our apartment is in the Oltrano area this time (across the river from the city center), Griffin and I had not yet seen the most beautiful areas of Florence until this evening. We strolled over the Ponte Vecchio to Piazza della Signoria and were pleasantly surprised that a performance by a military band was in progress. A vocalist also joined them for some songs and it was quite lovely! We also explored the Loggia dei Lanzi where some really beautiful statues are located. We had a nice dinner at Trattoria Nella, one of our favorites in Florence, and then strolled over to see the Duomo before heading back over the Ponte Vecchio on the way home.  It has been neat to see Griffin taking everything in since he was so young and doesn’t remember much from the last two times that we were here.

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