Firenze

I went to Florence on Thursday night to visit one of my friends from home who is studying abroad there.  I had midterms all last week.  They were a lot easier than my tests at Conn but even so, I was glad to get them over with and go somewhere else for the day.  My friend's apartment was so nice - it looked like a palace compared to mine and it had a really good view of the Duomo.  We also went to a Florence "secret bakery"which is when bakery's are open between 2 and 6am when the bakers are baking for the next morning.  They sell what they are making fresh at a discounted price if you come between these hours and not too many people know about them.  I think they have secret bakeries in Rome too but I don't know where any are.  
During the day we walked to the Duomo and went inside.  Then we walked over to the outdoor market where they have really nice and relatively inexpensive leather and a lot of other random knick-knack things.  Then we went to the Ponte Vecchio which is the famous bridge that has all the gold and jewelry shops.  Florence seemed a lot more organized than Rome in terms of the streets and you can definitely tell that Rome is an older city.  It is in a good location though because it's so close to everything in Tuscany and up north and sometimes I wish that it was easier for me to get to those places but oh well.  I am glad to be back in Rome now.

 Secret Bakery

 Duomo

Ponte Vecchio