Date: July 19, 2024
Location: Florence
Blogger: Jonah Banis ‘28
Hometown: Roanoke, Texas
Ciaowdy y’all, our final day in C.F. and first day in Florence turned out to be one of our busiest days yet.
Today started at 7:30 for me. My alarm went off and I rolled out of bed to brush my teeth and finish packing up my bags. At around 7:50 I put on my cross-body and backpack, and wheel out my suitcase to the lobby. I skipped the hotel breakfast and decided to eat the rest of the pastries I’d bought the day before while listening to my new music for the day.
Around 9:05 we all managed to make our way down from our hotel rooms and turned in our keys, we had a few late folks holding us up at first, and made our way to the train station. Now this wouldn’t be a great story without some conflict. After a perfect morning walk and boarding of the train, we found out that there was a blackout in Florence and the train was going to be delayed by about 40-90 minutes.
One of our Staff Leaders, Nic Bradley, and I sat across from an Italian woman and settled in for our wait. At some point the train finally started moving and we were on our way to Florence.
About 5 minutes into our train ride, Nic and I were trying to figure out where the trash can was in the train and the woman across from us, Ines, let us know where it was and we found out she spoke very good English. Us three talked for the rest of our ride about college, life in Italy, and Florence foods, I should have taken her advice on Florentine pizza.
We arrived in the city around 1 and got settled into our hotels and went on the way to lunch by around 1:45.
Even with the whole of Florence available to us, we were naturally drawn to the McDonald’s right behind our hotel. A true taste of fine American dining. We took the largest table they had, and were comforted by the amazing food and drinks after our now stressful day.
After our food we finally got to head to the shops and spend all our money on souvenirs, clothes, jewelry, and snacks. Today I got a Lego set, film, and Dr. Pepper for myself, and I got some souvenirs for my mom, dad, sister, and girlfriend today too.
At about 5:50, we finally headed back to the hotel to drop off all of our bags and got ready for dinner. We ate dinner at a place called Matto Matto. We had our usual pasta, this time in a beef sauce, and a dessert called Panna cotta, similar to ice cream. At about 8:50-9:00 we were released from dinner and were free for the night until 10:30.
A group of about 4 and I decided to walk around the city for the night, we saw churches and buildings, residents and tourists enjoying live music and opera, and ended the night with some tiramisu and cheesecake from a small local shop.
Florence is a huge city, but that doesn’t take away from the walkability and small feel it has. Even if you walk 20-25 minutes from where you’re staying it doesn’t feel that far away, and there is every type of shop and restaurant you could ever want here. This is a retirement dream location, and should I ever get the chance to visit again I am immediately taking it.
Grazie, and thank you. I miss all of you back home and even though I am enjoying every minute here, I can’t wait til I am back with all of you.
Sincerely,
Jonah Banis