Florence

I arrived in the beautiful city of Florence in the late afternoon of September the third. It was my 25th birthday and I was feeling rather alone. I never really liked a big deal to be made of my birthday, and now no one I was in contact with had any idea it was my birthday. That is the way I wanted it, or so I thought. It still felt rather odd to not get the greetings of a happy birthday.

I decided to purchase a map to ensure I got to my hostel with little problems. The hostel was nice. I never really talked with anyone at it. Just hellos in passing. I checked my facebook where I saw some birthday wishes from home. I knew it wouldn't be long before I arrived home, so this last night in the hostel would be enjoyable and full of mixed feelings.

I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner at a random restaurant I found. On the walk I saw a ton of statues in different squares along the way. The squares were littered throughout the city in much the same way as the ones in Rome. I did not see a lot of ruins within the city however.

The next day I woke up and did a walk of the city. I climbed up a hill and got to the Piazzale Michelangelo. It is obviously names after Michelangelo, the artist who painted on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.




There were also replicas of his sculptures in the Piazzale. That includes the statue of David, perhaps his most famous statue. I got there nice and early and beat most of the other tourists there. It is a pretty famous spot to go and different booths were set up at the very top. I got there just after 8 after walking about an hour. People were just setting their booths up.






I went to visit a couple other similar Piazzales. I also tried to find the Baboli Garden. I could not find how to get into the garden however. I walked around it and eventually got turned around. I ended up walking off the map and getting myself lost once again. Luckily I ensured I had plenty of time to make it to the train. I found a nice lady in a little shop who didn't speak very much English. She showed me where I would be on the map if the map was bigger and which way I needed to walk in order to re-find the river.

I finally found my way and took the train to Milan, where I caught my final train to Paris. With that my European trip was over, at least this chapter. I am considering doing the American Village camp again next year, spring or summer, I am undecided. If that is the case I will want to also add some sort of additional adventure to that trip as well, perhaps not as large. It depends what life dictates at the time.

Stay tuned for additional stories from other parts of the world that were either not mentioned in my other 2 blogs or were revised.