Katie Kleinman

We began our day on the train, traveling to Florence, with beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside. After many hot days in Rome, we were very happy when our room had a fan! We ate dinner and then went to see Ponte Vecchio (a bridge). We also saw Chiesa di Santa Croce (a church).

The next day we went to the duomo (cathedral). The duomo is very beautiful with a striking pink, green, and white exterior. We climbed to the top for a great view of the city. We walked around some more and then had a very nice dinner.

The next day we took a day trip to San Gimignano. We ate lunch there and went to an exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci’s machines. We walked along the outer city walls to see the beautiful landscape. Back in Florence, we got a pizza, some salads, and wine, and ate dinner on the steps of the duomo. We sat with the teenagers hanging out for the evening.

The next day we decided to get our portraits sketched for our parents. We had both of them done while sitting right next to the duomo. We also saw the Synagogue of Florence in between getting our portraits. It was really big, but it was closed for Friday evening services. A woman stopped Brian on the street that day and asked him if we were going to Chabad (a Jewish organization) for Shabbat dinner. She saw Brian’s Chi necklace hanging out of his shirt. So we decided to try out the dinner.

We met Becky from San Francisco and Dean from Toronto, while waiting outside. We waited outside because we couldn’t use the bell because of Shabbat. Dinner was good, but the experience was better. After dinner we went to a restaurant with Dean and split a bottle of wine. It was nice to talk to someone else traveling for the summer.

We went back to our hotel and packed our stuff for our next city: Finale Ligure with a stopover in Pisa.