From Rome with Love: Florence Fun

I've been busy having so much fun in Florence I haven't been blogging! Though I am still salty about missing the Dave concert, I had a couple of the best days so far in Italy. Friday night we met up with some German guys and an Australian girl and they were so much fun. We all wandered through Florence exploring their bar scene. Theres a lot of places for young tourists as seen evident by the several Irish pubs and even an American college bar, the Lions Den, complete with a few Purdue shirts. Yesterday, Saturday, we took a walking tour with a guide. She talked a lot about the Di Medici family, the most powerful family in 'Italy' until their extinction in 1743. Their wealth came from power in the merchant and banking fields and was used to produce kings, popes, and queens. When the last family member died, she intended for Florence to remain in possession of all of the family's money. Because of this gift, the city was able to keep all of the art and belongings the family had as well as build more in honor of them. After the walking tour, we went to the Boboli Gardens. It was so beautiful! Instead of having just paths with flowers and such, it also had numerous pieces of art. It's located behind a palace built by the Di Medicis and housed people such as Napoleon and the king of Italy when Florence was the capital between the years of 1865 and 1870. That night, we went out again. One of the bars we were at Friday had a special so we started out there. Today, we were able to sleep in before going to a museum at 1. It was filled with art, mostly sculptures. At 5, we went to a cooking class! We made an asparagus and cream dish, crepes filed with meat, spinach, carrots, and onions, a chicken dish with mushrooms, rosemary, and zucchini and finally tiramisu for dessert. OMG it was incredible. Don't worry family; I have the recipes. Ill cook it for you when I get back :) I just got back to my room a little big ago. A few of us were watching Gladiator in the courtyard. Very fitting go en we were just in the Colosseum.