The hard life of a tourist

This weekend, I tried to be a tourist.  It was not my style.
On Friday, I went to the Galleria dell'Academia which had some tremendous works of art, including Michelangelo's David.  Ironically, the sculpture was about the size I pictured the giant who he defeated.  I think it is incredible that Michelangelo was able to sculpt something so massive and keep all the proportions in order and even add details like veins and tendons.  We did not see the entirety of the museum, but saw many more beautiful and old sculptures.

View from Boboli Gardens of Pitti Palace

Boboli Gardens

We enjoyed a nice stroll in the Boboli Gardens by the Medici's Pitti Palace after that.  The property is on a rather steep hillside with great views of Florence; it is so massive that there are small patches of woods.  I really enjoyed seeing these gardens and hope to stroll through them again before the weather changes.
I felt like I squeezed too much into one day here in Florence, but that was nothing to the blur of Saturday and Sunday.
We had an overnight orientation field trip starting in Assisi.  I admire Saint Francis of Assisi and connect with him as a fellow animal lover, so I was thrilled to visit his basilica.  I could have spent days in that church; it was like being inside an illuminated manuscript or a child's dream.  And the town was full of bright white buildings giving the entire town a sort of holy aura.  I was able to picture myself happily living in Assisi, and I was very sad to leave after our quick tour.
After another hour in the bus, we arrived in Perugia.  I was excited about Perugia, but our tour lasted no longer than a tour of Rockport's Bearskin Neck would have.  We only had a short amount of free time, so rushed to the chocolate store.  Perugia is famous for their chocolate and has a chocolate festival every September, so I was disappointed that the store was just a store without a secret factory behind it.  We spent the night in Perugia at a nice hotel and most of us (in the group of about 70) played Apples to Apples and sang karaoke in the hotel lobby all night.  The center of town was a far taxi ride away, so this was a nice bonding experience for everyone.

Siena Cathedral

Palio di Provenzano where horse race is held

Early the next morning, we set off for Siena.  At this point, I was exhausted and was not interested in rushing around on cobblestone with a tour group.  Thankfully, it did not last long.  I would love to return to Siena because it was a beautiful town with a lot of great history.  Every year they have horse races in the center of town (which seems incredibly dangerous), so I bought a banner/scarf for one of the teams (with a fish/dolphin on it of course).  The cathedral looked like a fairy tale castle, but we only saw the outside quickly, so I did not remember it at all until looking at my pictures.  I would have loved to see the inside.
Finally, we went to San Gimignano.  At this point, all I wanted was to cool off in my own apartment.  We got gelato from a place that claims to be the world's best (and might be), so I tried some interesting flavors.  I had one scoop of a grapefruit champagne that I thought was too acidic, and one scoop of saffron creme gelato which was interestingly delicious!
While I saw a lot this weekend, it was too much at once.  I'd rather learn about the town and let the information soak in as I calmly explore it, but the school did a great job organizing the trip and now I know what areas of central Italy I want to spend time in.