who needs a stairmaster when you have tuscany

I don't even want to think about how many stairs I climbed in 4 days in Florence & Siena combined. Let's just not talk about it, really. I think my knee might just spasm in pain sitting here in my bed. All my old dance injuries are coming back to haunt me: my ankle is sore, my knee is bruising and doing weird painful things, my hip is all tight and uncomfortable... but Florence was nice. Really, really nice. So, no worries (besides worrying that I need to find stretching time in the near future to alleviate all these rock-hard calf muscle issues)!

But, okay, since you literally couldn't be here to climb all these stairs with me, or appreciate how much I walked...
I should start out by saying that our hotel was in a building of 4 hotels. And ours was on the 2nd floor. Now that's 2nd floor Italian style, which really means 3rd floor to Americans (the Italians have a ground floor then the 1st floor, FYI). So everyday began with a descent of 2 flights of stairs and ended with me dragging myself back up said 2 flights. However, this day began with that of course.

Saturday:
2 flights of stairs to hotel
back down said 2 flights
lunch @ Trattoria da Mario (I just put that in there because it was wonderful and you should go!)
climbing Palazzo Vecchio (about 3 flights up)

back down
walk across town to Palazzo Pitti (which is kind of built into a hill, so I'm counting it)

up 2 flights in Museo degli Argenti
down 2 flights as fast as possible to see gli impromptu sbandieratori

up 4 flights to the Museo dei Costumi
down 1 flight to the Boboli Gardens

hiking up and down Boboli Gardens (not so much stairs as calf-burning uphill climbs)

up 2 flights at hotel to collapse in bed

Sunday:
down 2 flights at hotel
up 2 flights to second floor of uffizi galleries

down 2 flights to see foreign painters
back up said 2 flights because the designers of the Uffizi can't connect parts of floor 1 properly, apparently
down said 2 flights again
(Academia: almost no stairs!!)
up 1 flight in Academia to see not-so-exciting religious art
down again
(but it's okay, because I illegally snapped a pretty decent photo of the David!)

up 2 flights to hotel room
back down
down 2 flights at International Artisan festival (after walking for about 3 miles inside)
back up (after walking about 5 miles inside the ginormous building)

This isn't the building... but it was inside. I just thought  it was cool.

back up to the hotel -__-

Monday: Siena (which is really all one big hill -__-)
up to the top of Torre del Mangia: 400 stairs

back down
up and down various hills killing time before lunch

march uphill to the Duomo
up at least 2 flights to get to the Panorama line

up at least 300 stairs to the Panorama
back down
up the hill we climbed down to see the Baptistry to get to the Duomo

hike up to Piazza di San Francesco for a so not-worth-it museo we paid for in a cumulative ticket

up 3 flights of stairs in the not-worth-it museum
down
hike to the bus stop
dragging myself up 2 flights of stairs to the hotel room

Tuesday:
Duomo Campanile: 414 steps

back down (I should mention this was in monsoon-type weather. While it was nice to have the Campanile free from all signs of life, I would not recommend this method of beating-the-crowds to anyone.)


...and not to forget: up & down 2 flights of stairs at the hotel to get my luggage!


At this point, I would have climbed the Duomo Dome too, if it wasn't pouring rain and windy whichever way I turned. And if I wanted to spend 8 euros to be even more miserable. Instead I went to Coin and bought watch parts. I'm telling you, you're all going to be jealous of my new awesome watch! Then it stopped raining, I climbed a total of about 6 steps to Basilica di Santa Croce then went to Piazza della Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and lounged in the sun for about 4 hours, taking a break to walk to a pharmacy celebrating its 400-year anniversary where you can buy a small bottle of perfume for 80 euro-- if you have that kind of cash to drop! Me? I'll just stick with my scented soap.

So, really, no more mention of this for a while, okay? I'm afraid my muscles might tense up in fear.

I did also get a lot of shopping done. And to anyone who really cares or remembers this because they were there with me: I successfully remembered the exact location of the leather store where I bought my Florentine leather bookmark with gold filigree which I lost my senior year of high school and bought two more (of course they weren't as stunningly beautiful as my first one, but they will suffice. I was lucky to find even 2 nice ones in a pile of inferior bookmarks and really ugly red leather with blue paint imitation pieces). Also, I got some pretty good deals. A certain someone will be looking super snazzy with a teal leather bag with brown leather detailing that I haggled for in the market. All this and a boat-load of more souvenirs! Shopping and exercise... what more can I girl want from a vacation (other than no rain, no rain, rest, and relaxation)?!

Homework update:
1) Read 37 pages of Contemporary Italian History 26 pages
     Read 27 pages of Italian Cinema
     Write a 2000 word essay for Italian History
     Finish researching my essay
     Finish reading 25 more pages of a super boring book for Fem Lit
2) Read an additional 81 pages for Fem Lit 57 pages
    Read 100 pages more (at least I can do this in English) for an Italian presentation
    Plan my Italian presentation for my final (which is this next week, I should add) 
    Give my presentation
3) Study for my Italian final (also next week) (tomorrow)
4) Study for my Cinema final (thankfully in 3 weeks) (in 1 1/2 weeks)
5) Study for my Contemporary Italian History final (ditto)
6) Study for my Fem Lit final (almost 2 weeks away)
7) Write my Fem Lit paper (and I haven't even started on that research...)

and let's add:
8) Do all my thesis work
to the list, because I don't already have enough to finish in 2 1/2 weeks. I don't even want to list all that mess out for you.

One last gem for you, my readers!

At Trattoria da Mario... it is forbidden to ask for ketchup, mayonnaise, pizza  & coffee. Lol. Don't worry, I still liked it.