Before leaving for our overseas adventure, I did a little reasearch. I want to emphasize the word little because I did not do the actual research, but instead read articles given to me by my family members, friends, and teachers. What I did not expect was to end up with a head cold on my free day in Florence. Instead of making my way through the list I made for myself to do, I instead made my way through the line at the local pharmacy. Three butchered Italian words later I bought my cold medicine and hybernated for the remainder of the day.

Now lets Rewind back to a much more interesting event, or story, before my cold medicine enduced coma. I left the apartment around 8:30am and made a right. My goal was to make it to the Ponte Veechio before the crowd set in. Back home I am widely known for my horrendous directional skills. Seriously, I’ve gotten lost on my way to a supermarket that I’ve been to a hundred times before. Going into my morning mini adventure, I had a lot of doubts concerning my ability to navigate Florence. Those doubts made me paranoid. About halfway to my destination I ended up having a miniscule freak out and ducked into the bookstore La Feltrenelli. After a few minutes of perusing through the books, a sense of calmness set in. I was no longer freaking out and knew exactly what direction I needed to go in. For the remainder of my journey I people watched. There were no vendors set up yet and most tourists were still sleeping soundly in their beds. I found it interesting watching the vendors set up. For once not a single vendor was trying to wrap a scarf around a neck or a bracelet around a wrist. They were dead silent and solely concentrating on setting up for the day. The locals looked at peace. They could leisurely walk the sidewalks without having to worry about running head on into a pack of tourists.

When I finally arrived at the Ponte Veechio, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The entire area was deserted. There wasn’t a single tourist in sight. I had free reign to take pictures from various angles and stand there basking in the bridges magnificence. I did the same at the Medici Chapel and a few othen piazzas. Being alone in Florence makes you feel more at one with the area because, at least for a little while, you feel like a local instead of just another American tourist.