by Carrie Osborn, Staff Member Florence is a city that does not allow you to ignore art. Regardless of whether you cross the threshold into a museum, you are constantly sounded by masterpieces. The façade of the church that you walk past every morning was probably designed by one the best architects of the Renaissance. The Loggia dei ...
By Carrie Osborn, Staff Member Having lived as an American student in Florence two years of my life, I got pretty good at spotting the obvious “do’s & don’t’s” when it comes to blending in with the locals. We’re all familiar with the common traveler’s cliché: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, the same can be ...
By our Resident Artist Justyna Ptak Top 10 Things to Do in Florence Florence is the capital of Renaissance. This town is considered one of the most important places in the world when it comes to art and culture. Many famous personalities like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael lived and worked here. 1. The Uffizi Gallery is ...
We have arrived in the city of lights: Paris! After spending around two weeks in Italy, I had to change from saying Grazie (thank you in Italian) to Merci. After saying Gratis to numerous Parisians on the first day, I have finally adjusted. On our first full day, we visited Saint Chapelle, where there are some of the most impressive stain ...
Having just arrived in Rome on Sunday, I'm ready to settle down for a couple of weeks here. Yet, after dinner, the staff reminded us to pack up all our stuff tomorrow. I really wish I could be staying here longer! It's been such an incredible, exciting, and adventurous month, which I'm exhausted from (so it will be nice to go home and relax), ...
Today was another exciting day; we were completely exhausted by the end but felt like we had learned a lot and widened our knowledge of Rome's various delights. In the morning we walked to the Colosseum, and on the way, we passed over the Roman Forum, which was very exciting; later we would go to see it in more depth. When we arrived at ...
Unfortunately, last night was my last in Italy with this unbelievable group of people... Today we went to a beautiful museum that houses many of Bernini's sculptures, which are utterly breathtaking! The attention to detail that was paid by Bernini at the age of only 23 is just crazy! Each muscle was perfectly sculpted down to the vein, in ...
Well as you can probably tell from the title, I have both watched the referenced movie and safely arrived in Roma Sunday afternoon. As we got off the bus and began our short trek to the hotel, you could already tell the stark difference between how Florence and Rome conduct themselves. Florence is a lot smaller, and the pace of events seemed ...
Today was our last day in Florence. I had an amazing time in Florence. It is a city of art and food! Probably one of my favorite cities so far on this trip. Here's a view of the Duomo's bell tower in the late afternoon. We actually got to walk all the way to the top of the dome. It was a tiny winding staircase, and it was extremely hot and ...
A heat wave has rolled into Europe, and we sure felt it here in Florence. On Sunday, we had a change of plans and headed out to the west coast of Italy. More specifically, Cinque Terre, which means the five lands. What’s interesting about these towns is that they are accessible mainly by train, and cars are not allowed in them. This adds a ...