There is just something about Florence. The moment that we arrived in Florence, I knew that there was something different about this place. Some unrecognizable and potent energy that reverberates from underneath your feet. Florence offers up a level of beauty that cannot be overshadowed by any other place. Between it’s rich history of Renaissance success and the success of the artists that still roam the streets. Florence is, and will remain to be, a wonderful mixture of the old and new.

I have never been much of an artsy person. Though it is true that I am a writer, and writers are considered artists, I do not consider myself a creative writer. I would take writing a set of voter registration directions over writing a poem any day of the week.

That being said, I have never really put that much thought into art before. Sometimes I will think to myself that a piece is eye catching, or that a animal in a picture is cute, but about a minute later I will move onto something different. I have been this way my entire life, up until yesterday. Yesterday when we were at the Uffitzi Galery I finally gained that appreciation for art that I have been somehow lacking for all this time. Seeing the famous pieces of art that before I only saw on websites or in the wrinkled pages of textbooks, served as an enlightening experience. While gazing upon and noticing the amount of detail that went into Michelangelo’s paintings I could feel how much of himself that he put into each of his painting. The amount of raw detail was breathtaking. I felt the same way after encountering Michelangelo’s David statue. You could literially see every single detail of the human body, down to a t. I just could not look away.

Now, while I walk through the streets of Florence I notice so much more. I notice the immense amount of artistry that still thrives throughout the city, where even a simple street sign can be turned into a humorous rendention of a stick figure. Even in the centuries to come, Florence’s reputation will never be tarneshed and continue to thrive.