There was party on the street outside my hostel last night and they were going hard in the paint until like 3 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep after that, so I got a LATE start. Last night I washed my hair and I put it in a nice twisted bun to dry because I didn’t want to use my hairdryer at such a late hour in the hostel.

Well, this morning after I got dressed and did my makeup, I decided to straighten my hair and so I plugged my straightener in. I have a CHI and I’ve used different CHIs overseas before and they worked pretty good. Not. This. Morning. I am pretty sure I fried my straightener. I plugged it in and let it heat up while I finished getting dressed and I thought I smelled something. I went over to the sink and it was SMOKING!  I unplugged it immediately, but that meant that I had to wear my hair “curly” today…aka frizz central!

After that, I busted out my map and decided to explore the area around Santa Croce.

I’ve been to the Santa Croce 3 times, but I only went there and back to the area around the Duomo. I left my hostel and went to Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi. I’d seen all these posters around Florence for an exhibit that was going on, but I didn’t know it was there. It was really beautiful. It was comparing and contrasting the works of Pontormo and Rosso (I got in for free with my FirenzeCard). It was funny because yesterday I wrote about my inability to decipher art and appreciate it, but this exhibit was awesome! It compared the two artists works from early on, throughout their careers.  One of them was loyal to the Medici family and the other was funded by Florentine aristocrats. Although they were part of the same artistic school, they evolved very differently overtime. It was really neat to see. I think Rosso was the better illustrator, but Pontromo was the better painter and his use of color was RIDICULOUS!

I couldn’t take pictures, but here is a video for the exhibit:

After that, I walked through Piazza della Repubblica and stumbled upon Museo Casa di Dante. I went to Dante’s home and his personal chapel! I haven’t read the Divine Comedy all the way through, but I recently bought a copy and read about 50 pages. I really liked seeing his personal chapel!

While I was there, I saw this place that was selling tripe sandwiches and I wanted to try one so bad, but was afraid of getting sick before starting my day. I might go back and get one on Saturday so that if it’s bad I will have time to recover! 😛

After seeing Dante’s home and chapel, I walked to Santa Croce. Thankfully, I got to skip the entrance line because I had a FirenzeCard so I got in really quick and walked around and took lots of pictures!

After Santa Croce I walked to the Jewish synagogue and museum (it was closed), then to the Basilica della SS. Annunziata. Walking through the streets on that side of town was so interesting! There were all these posters about police violence and there was a political rally going on (elections are coming up at the end of this month)!

I saw some cool street art and some other cool stuff!

It was absolutely GORGEOUS. It is within sight of the Duomo, which I couldn’t believe. I have never been their before and it is definitely one of my favorite churches I have ever been to in Italy! I would definitely suggest going to SS. Annuziata if you ever visit Florence. After the Bell Tower and the Accademia, this is definitely the best thing to see in this city! These women were in there praying and it was beautiful to hear.

 

After that church I walked back towards my hostel and got a gelato because I hadn’t eaten all day.

I was so thirsty and grabbed a water too, but I took a big gulp and realized it was the fizzy water…BLEH! I went back to my hostel and dropped off my stuff and then ventured to that eatery I went to yesterday. That guy is so nice and it is so reasonable. It is on the corner of Via dell’Albero and Via Palazzuolo! I got a bottle of wine, a salad, some pasta, and a liter of water for 14 Euros!

I came back to my room and realized there is a club under my room (that explains the partying last night) and there was an Italian band down there playing Folsom Prison Blues! So, now I’m tipsy and listening to some Italian dudes cover Neil Young and Johnny Cash, which is pretty rad. I will definitely venture down to this bar tomorrow night, since it’s literally underneath my bed!

I didn’t meet any new people today, but I did get into 3 more places for free with my FirenzeCard and took a lot of pictures.

Today was a slow, but a beautiful day. Tomorrow I am leaving Florence. I don’t know if I am going to Pisa or Cinque Terre! It should be more action packed than today.

Thanks for reading folks and sorry for the boring material today! 🙂