Firenze, Italia

From Rome, my mom and I traveled to Florence. We only had two nights in Florence, so we planned out our days very carefully. Here's what we did:

Day 1 // Exploring

View of the Duomo

When we arrived in Florence, it was already the evening. However, we were able to do a little bit of exploring. We stayed at a bed and breakfast by the Duomo. This was the view from our hotel room...

The owners of the bed and breakfast were so helpful and sweet. They recommended a couple of restaurants for us, and I'm glad they did because they were wonderful! For our first dinner, we ate at a very traditional Italian restaurant and coincidentally were seated next to a couple from Toronto and a woman from Colorado. What are the chances!

Day 2 // Museums

On our second day in Florence, we saw both the Uffizi and the Accademia. We did the Uffizi early in the morning. It was a great museum with lots of amazing paintings and sculptures. Both my mom and I were shocked at how old some of the items in the museum were.

Arno River in Florence - Ponte Vecchio in the background

After we did the Uffizi, we still had a lot of time to explore before the Accademia. We walked quite a bit around the city. Mainly we wanted to see the Ponte Vecchio - a bridge over the river in Florence that is lined with tons of shops. We shopped there for a while, and also looked for a store owned by a family friend. Unfortunately, we found that the store had closed a few years ago, but we still were able to see where it would have been.

Michelangelo's "David"

 In the evening, we visited the Accademia. It was significantly smaller than the Uffizi, but it had the David, which was the most magnificent sculpture we'd seen throughout our entire trip. If you've only seen pictures, it's hard to get a feel for how big the statue is...

Our time in Florence was much shorter than our time in Rome, Sorrento, and Pago Veiano, but we were able to get a good feel for the city nonetheless. It was definitely smaller than Rome, but there was still a lot to see and learn. Both my mom and I enjoyed the quaint, old city feel.

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Reflection on Italy in general ~

Our trip to Italy was a once in a lifetime experience. I learned so much, and it was so meaningful to spend that much time with my mom and share the experience together. Throughout the trip, my mom and I would ask each other what our favorite city was so far. We quickly found that we needed to take family out of the equation, because if we didn't, it would always be Pago Veiano. So, once we did, my mom's favorite city was Sorrento, and mine was Rome. I loved Rome because of all of the history, the culture, and the people.

My mom and I in Piazza della Repubblica, Florence

In the days after we left Italy, I reflected a lot on family and culture. Not only were we able to explore where our family is from, but we were able to actually connect with and spend time with family. My great-grandfather left Pago Veiano for Seattle in early 1900. His children tried so hard to conform to American culture, leaving their Italian heritage behind. They stopped speaking Italian and forgot many of the traditions. Reflecting on this now in 2014, this is sad to me. Although we are family, the cousins my age in Pago Veiano are very different from myself because we have grown up in two different cultures.

Immigrants to the United States are expected to conform to American culture, which is necessary in order to function in society. After connecting with my family in Italy, I have realized how important it is to also stay connected to your heritage, especially in the American melting-pot. It is crucial to maintain diversity of beliefs, values, traditions, and languages. My grandparents didn't want to be known as Italian because of the pressure put on them by society to conform - and I wish it hadn't been that way. Many immigrants are ridiculed for staying true to their heritage. Now, I will be much more understanding of immigrants in the United States. It must be so difficult to learn a different way of living and simultaneously maintain connections to your roots.