Florence, Italy

There’s a first for everything and this trip marked my first time traveling to Italy!! And better yet, a large portion of my friends are studying abroad there this semester, which enabled me to visit with them too! This weekend was one of two 4-day weekends I have this semester. I seized the opportunity because the timing was perfect. Everyone is always traveling every weekend, but this weekend we were all free allowing me to come! My time in Italy was well spent. Before coming, Mary told me that her friend, Bri had two girls visiting her this same weekend and were most likely on my flight. Guess what? They both go to SLU with me in MADRID! Ironically, we met up in the Pisa airport after we landed just by chance. I was waiting behind them at the information desk and asked if they were going into Pisa to visit the leaning tower. Sure enough, they were and one of the girls said, “I think we were supposed to meet you!” So, the three of us traveled to the tower together and then into the city of Florence. Pisa had so many tourists especially people taking the touristy pictures pretending to touch the tower or push it up including myself. 

Pisa

We didn’t stay here long at all. I actually thought it was a little boring. Back in Florence, Mary showed me around her apartment and then brought me to see Deanna and Lauren in the apartment downstairs. After everyone said hello and we were all showered, the group went out to dinner to celebrate Mary and Trevor’s’ 20^th birthdays (no they are not twins). This whole dinner experience was pretty poor. Megan and I did not get our food until everyone was finished with theirs even though we ordered the same meal as some people. After what seemed like forever, the two of us finally received our food. The chicken was delicious and dinner was fun! The next day on their actual birthdays, we did a family dinner at home. The girls had one and then the boys had their own. We had lasagna, which I am normally not a fan of, but this tasted good and was homemade by Alex. Before that some of us walked around Florence and went sightseeing. I had my first real Italian pizza for lunch from Gusta Pizza, which in fact was delicious. Who says you’re too big to ride a carousel?   

Piazza Republica

Not any of us because in fact we all did just that in the Piazza Republica. Just around the corner was a Ferrari store so of course I had to go inside and check it out. They had Ferrari everything! (t-shirts, notebooks, golf balls, hats, etc.) The prices were as expected and out of my budget. 

On to the next place! Or should I say places? We were on a mission to get to our destination but passed a handful of other important places in Florence that everyone pointed out to me. Some of the hot spots include the Ponte Vecchio (the oldest bridge in Florence with nothing but jewelry shops), the Santa Croche (church where Michelangelo is buried), and the Duomo (where I attended church on Saturday night). We reached our main destination: The Boboli Gardens (pronounced “bubbly”). 

View from the top of the Boboli Gardens

Beginning of the Boboli Gardens

 I almost had to pay for a ticket which would have cost me 25euro but my group of friends is sneaky and Deanna used her free access card at a different window to get another free ticket for me.  Inside the garden, we climbed multiple gates and steps until we reached the top. The views were pretty cool.  The real views were at the Piazza Di Michelangelo. I climbed this “mountain” on Sunday and saw the most spectacular view of Florence. The weather wasn’t awesome, but then again the weather could have been worse. Another thing I got to experience in Italy was the central markets and the leather markets. Florence is famous for its leather making.  I bought a few presents at the markets, which I will not name in case someone I purchased something for reads this! Italy overall treated me well. It was weird seeing how much English is used and how little Italian is actually used. I didn’t even really feel like I was in Italy (language wise). The city is small and my friends do not even use public transportation to travel anywhere. It’s all done by foot. I even picked up the hang of things after walking the same streets about 3 times. In fact, Mary and Lauren made me find my way home one time without any help from them! Sure enough, I found their apartment with no problem. I also got to experience a real cannoli which was DELICIOUS along with a fruit ice pop dipped in chocolate made to order. The ice pop was phenomenal. Easily my favorite thing I tried in Italy. My short and sweet visit with so many of my friends had to come to a close. However, I was not THAT sad because they were coming to Madrid the very next weekend. Before I end this blog post, I must mention how I was sitting by the gate at the airport waiting for my flight when all of a sudden a guy wearing his dirt biking gear sits down next to me. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. Obviously he was getting on a Ryanair flight because he wore his biggest and heaviest clothing/equipment! People will do the silliest things these days just to save some money!

My two favorite pictures of the trip

My two favorite pictures of the trip