Feeling lazy but these pictures are pretty much in order
I haven't updated this in awhile so I have a few new posts coming at you. Last weekend we visited Florence and it was absolutely amazing! We departed from Carpi around 7:30. I was wearing a dress and spiderman jacket. I looked pretty ridiculous but none of us packed for the cold weather
. The previous night I stayed up super late because it takes a few hours to do laundry here. whoops. Anyways, we had about a 3 hour bus ride to Florence from Carpi. We had a beautiful drive through the mountains.
There was so much to look at. Emily and I stayed up the whole time talking. When we finally arrived in Florence we had a long walk from the drop off point to the hostel. The hostel wasn't too bad. It was fairly clean and only had to share the room with 3 other girls. The one bad thing about it was the noise; you could hear everyone and everything. After we settled in a group of us went to get lunch and explore the city. The great thing about Italy is Italians take a 2 hour lunch break. That is something I will miss once I am gone. After lunch we headed out first to the duomo. It was absolutely incredible. The pictures I took of it don't do it justice. We then headed to the markets to do a little shopping. I bought a cheap little scarf but that is it. I have to say I was really disappointed to find out that gypsies did not look like Esmeralda. Next, we took a bus to Boboli Gardens. I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland. There were so many beautiful statues and walkways. There was an ENORMOUS hill that we didn't really want to walk up because we were so tired but we were glad we did. Turns out that you have one of the best views of the city from the top of the hill. We spent quite a lot of time up there enjoying the view and taking pictures. We were all exhausted after we left the gardens so we decided to go back to the hostel to nap and clean up. That evening a group of 8 went out and had a really nice dinner. We just stumbled onto the place which i think made it even better. Our server was fantastic and was patient with all of us not speaking Italian. We had appetizers, entrees, desert, and several bottles of wine. They even gave each of us a free Limoncello shot and 30 Euros off the bill! After dinner we went to S. Croce which is an area where all the bars are. We went to a bar known to be more American. We had a great time dancing and watching karaoke. We even met some people who were from Mizzou studying abroad in Florence. One of the bad things about Italy is that there are NO public restrooms anywhere. If you are lucky enough to find one you will most likely have to pay a Euro to use it. This makes things difficult when you have a 20 minute walk home from the bar. Luckily Emily and I found a cafe that was open. They gave us free water and let us use the restroom! We only got a sleep for a few hours because we had to get up early the next day for the accidental tourist. Accidental tourist is a company that takes you on a unique adventure through Tuscany. First, we had about a 20 minute drive through the countryside. The view with all the vineyards was stunning. We then arrived at a vineyard. It was an incredible piece of land. We first learned how they make olive oil and wine while taking a tour of the vineyard. We then went to a wine/olive oil tasting. Afterwards, we took another 20 minute drive to a nearby house where we took a cooking lesson. It is hard for me to put into words how incredible there house was. I like to compare it to the city museum. There house even had a tower that you could climb to the top of. The owners father once hid Jews up there during WWII to save them from the Nazi's. It gave me goosebumps to be standing in the same place that the Jewish people hid. The lady who gave us our lesson was so great. I could listen to her speak all day. Her life was like something out of a book or movie. At her lesson we learned how to make homemade pasta. It is super easy so it is something that I will do once I get back to the US. For lunch we had chianti, eggplant parm, quiche, pizza, pesto pasta/pomodoro pasta, and homemade tiramasu. It was all so good. After lunch we took a ride in a homemade swing they made out of an old paragliding seat. We eventually had to go and once we arrived back in Florence we did a little exploring of the shops. I eventually made my way back to the hostel to take a short nap. after dinner unfortunately my night had to begin. Girls can be pretty awful sometimes. Once I got away from it I went out to one of the "discos" in Florence with a group of the girls and had a great time. I didn;t get home until almost morning but again I had to wake up early to tour the Uffitz. I got to see some beautiful works of art by artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Da Vinci. Our tour guide was fantastic; he was knowledgeable and had interesting stories about the artists to tell. After our tour a group of us went to lunch then walked around some more before we had to leave. At 5pm we made our way back to the pick up point and it was a hike again. Once we made it to the pick up point we had to stand in the rain for 45 minutes because our bus was late. Luckily I am finally over the cold that I got from it. I was so exhausted once I got home from not sleeping all weekend but I had a blast. Laura and Alessandro like to tease me saying I got "totally destroyed" in Florence. "Totally destroyed" is one of my new favorite sayings!
. The previous night I stayed up super late because it takes a few hours to do laundry here. whoops. Anyways, we had about a 3 hour bus ride to Florence from Carpi. We had a beautiful drive through the mountains.
There was so much to look at. Emily and I stayed up the whole time talking. When we finally arrived in Florence we had a long walk from the drop off point to the hostel. The hostel wasn't too bad. It was fairly clean and only had to share the room with 3 other girls. The one bad thing about it was the noise; you could hear everyone and everything. After we settled in a group of us went to get lunch and explore the city. The great thing about Italy is Italians take a 2 hour lunch break. That is something I will miss once I am gone. After lunch we headed out first to the duomo. It was absolutely incredible. The pictures I took of it don't do it justice. We then headed to the markets to do a little shopping. I bought a cheap little scarf but that is it. I have to say I was really disappointed to find out that gypsies did not look like Esmeralda. Next, we took a bus to Boboli Gardens. I felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland. There were so many beautiful statues and walkways. There was an ENORMOUS hill that we didn't really want to walk up because we were so tired but we were glad we did. Turns out that you have one of the best views of the city from the top of the hill. We spent quite a lot of time up there enjoying the view and taking pictures. We were all exhausted after we left the gardens so we decided to go back to the hostel to nap and clean up. That evening a group of 8 went out and had a really nice dinner. We just stumbled onto the place which i think made it even better. Our server was fantastic and was patient with all of us not speaking Italian. We had appetizers, entrees, desert, and several bottles of wine. They even gave each of us a free Limoncello shot and 30 Euros off the bill! After dinner we went to S. Croce which is an area where all the bars are. We went to a bar known to be more American. We had a great time dancing and watching karaoke. We even met some people who were from Mizzou studying abroad in Florence. One of the bad things about Italy is that there are NO public restrooms anywhere. If you are lucky enough to find one you will most likely have to pay a Euro to use it. This makes things difficult when you have a 20 minute walk home from the bar. Luckily Emily and I found a cafe that was open. They gave us free water and let us use the restroom! We only got a sleep for a few hours because we had to get up early the next day for the accidental tourist. Accidental tourist is a company that takes you on a unique adventure through Tuscany. First, we had about a 20 minute drive through the countryside. The view with all the vineyards was stunning. We then arrived at a vineyard. It was an incredible piece of land. We first learned how they make olive oil and wine while taking a tour of the vineyard. We then went to a wine/olive oil tasting. Afterwards, we took another 20 minute drive to a nearby house where we took a cooking lesson. It is hard for me to put into words how incredible there house was. I like to compare it to the city museum. There house even had a tower that you could climb to the top of. The owners father once hid Jews up there during WWII to save them from the Nazi's. It gave me goosebumps to be standing in the same place that the Jewish people hid. The lady who gave us our lesson was so great. I could listen to her speak all day. Her life was like something out of a book or movie. At her lesson we learned how to make homemade pasta. It is super easy so it is something that I will do once I get back to the US. For lunch we had chianti, eggplant parm, quiche, pizza, pesto pasta/pomodoro pasta, and homemade tiramasu. It was all so good. After lunch we took a ride in a homemade swing they made out of an old paragliding seat. We eventually had to go and once we arrived back in Florence we did a little exploring of the shops. I eventually made my way back to the hostel to take a short nap. after dinner unfortunately my night had to begin. Girls can be pretty awful sometimes. Once I got away from it I went out to one of the "discos" in Florence with a group of the girls and had a great time. I didn;t get home until almost morning but again I had to wake up early to tour the Uffitz. I got to see some beautiful works of art by artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Da Vinci. Our tour guide was fantastic; he was knowledgeable and had interesting stories about the artists to tell. After our tour a group of us went to lunch then walked around some more before we had to leave. At 5pm we made our way back to the pick up point and it was a hike again. Once we made it to the pick up point we had to stand in the rain for 45 minutes because our bus was late. Luckily I am finally over the cold that I got from it. I was so exhausted once I got home from not sleeping all weekend but I had a blast. Laura and Alessandro like to tease me saying I got "totally destroyed" in Florence. "Totally destroyed" is one of my new favorite sayings!
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