Firenze

(This is taken from what I wrote in my journal about our daytrip to Florence two Saturdays ago, which puts it at the E.T. alert of orange; and this was before the vino!)
As my friends and family are tailgating half a world away, my hair is blowing in the breeze as I stand at the Piazza Michelangelo overlooking the city of Florence. Everything is so surreal--the sea of red-tiled roofs, the massive Duomo, the surrounding Tuscan hills. I hear the tourists and traffic and somehow I am a part of it but more so I am on another existential plane, the living and breathing eternal spirit that is Firenze. It is not a city that must be on traveler's map to see the historic sites, but rather a spiritual experience of being a traveler and communing with all that ever has been and all that ever will be Firenze. This is not an experience to be rushed, or one in pursuit of the things one can only get in Florence. Rather you must simply allow it to show you what it wants to show you and absorb everything it has to offer.

(This last part is nowhere near existential--I can't handle too much existentialism.)
Obviously my favorite part of Florence was the Piazza Michelangelo, which has a great view of the city. We did some shopping, and capped off the day with a delicious Italian meal and the requisite vino. In all of our wandering through shops, the only thing besides postcards that I came away with was some chapstick so I could get a couple of neat bookmarks about an Italian domestic violence campaign; totally something that I only I would do!