Florence

Sorry I haven't written in so long. Since I've skipped over 2 cities I'll just write separate posts about each.
Florence was absolutely amazing. I loved it so much and wish I could live in Italy. However, Florence would not necessarily be my first choice because of the high percentage of tourists and obnoxious Americans constantly on their blackberries. It is my favorite city thus far though.
Christine and I stayed in a nice hostel near the Duomo. We passed through the leather market several times and I even got some goodies. Christine's friends are studying in Florence so they showed us around. Since we didn't want to wait in lines or pay the high fees for museums, we mainly just walked around and ate tons of gelato and pasta. YUM. The two really touristy things we did was go to the Bobli Gardens (which were so worth it and beautiful) and climbed the bell tower next to the Duomo.
Thoughts about Florence:

• The Duomo is absolutely beautiful and dominates a magnificent skyline, but why is it so incredible on the outside and just a huge, almost barren inside? I was very confused and taken aback
• We were there the first really nice weekend (75!) and I got some "color" (aka sunburn)
• Really touristy but so worth it! I couldn't help but have a smile on my face while walking around
• Italians are so nice and outgoing and just love life. They are also really proud of their history and culture, which is why I think they refuse to adopt some Western technology such as dryers, dishwashers, and high speed internet.

On our last day in Florence we took a day trip to the region of Chianti and hiked through the vineyards and olive gardens of Panzano. Our hike ended with a wine tasting and a meal filled with pasta, salami, prosciutto, and olive oil that the vineyard also produced. We learned that Chianti wine can only come from the region of Chianti. Chianti Classico wine can only be made in 10 villages of the Chianti region, and the grapes must be closely monitored and can only be picked once some wine authority has said that the sugar content in the grapes is high enough. The first wine we tasted was Chianti Classico and it was definitely my favorite.

Overall, Florence was a great success. It is a place I definitely want to go back to and I am glad that I got to see other parts of Tuscany and attend my first wine tasting!