tales of the creeper.

This past weekend Vivi, Clara and I set off for Firenze, Italy, otherwise known as Florence.

We left on Thursday night after our class. We almost missed our train due to confusing train boards and unhelpful information workers! Turns out when you buy the super cheap tickets your train doesn't even make it into the main station, we had to walk about ten minutes down the tracks to find the side platform where our train was leaving from. After that the train ride went smoothly, it was a four hour ride, which we spent talking and planning out the weekend. I did feel like Harry Potter though, as I haven't been on a train since I was about 8. :)

We got into Florence at 11 and headed towards our hostel. There wasn't anyone to actually let us in, so we had to call a number to get into the building. Our hostel was the floor of an apartment with 5 rooms and bathrooms, but for only 8 Euro we had nothing to complain about....yet. So since we went with the cheapest possible room, we were in a 5 mixed dorm. Well lucky us, there was one other occupant to our room that was a 30 something year old from Bucharest, Romania. Turns out he was living in the room for the past few months. That first night he pretty much told us his life story, including showing Vivi (she was the only one who is really good at understanding Italian) all his certificates from Elementary school on.

We got up early on Friday morning and made a quick escape from our room. First thing we went to was the Uffizi Gallery. It is an art museum that holds the works of Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael etc. It was really cool. We then got lunch where I had a calzone as big as my face! It was intense! We then decided to walk around for a bit and saw things such as Palazzo Vecchio, where the replication of David is, Santa Croce, and Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio is a bridge and on the way to I saw Lucchetti d'amore for the first time. It's a tradition in Italy for couples to carve their initials on a lock and throw the key into the river thus sealing their love. Needless to say I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the locks, they're everywhere!

After simply walking around and enjoying the city we decided to go to Santa Maria del Fiore otherwise known as "Il Duomo." The Duomo is the main church in Florence and is absolutely gorgeous! For eight Euro you can walk up to the top. It's a total of 463 steps and is quite a trek. We complained the whole way up, but once you get to the top it's quite literally breathtaking! You can see ALL of Florence and some of the surrounding Tuscany. We ended up staying there for at least 45 minutes just taking in the view!

We then decided to go back to the hostel and relax for a bit before dinner. When we got there our lovely roommate was talking about washing. We were all confused until he went to the window and presents us with my sweatpants. I had left them on my bed that morning, and our roommate washed them. It was super weird! He was trying to be nice, but it just added to his creeper status. Thankfully I had leggings with me, so those were my pajamas for the rest of the trip. After that awkwardness we found a fabulous restaurant where I had chicken, roasted potatoes, bread with olive oil, and a nice glass of Chianti! It was delicious. We then went to a bar (a bar here is where you can buy coffee, wine, and usually sandwiches and pastries) where we got desserts that were heavenly! We were on chocolate euphoria for the rest of the night! :D

We got up again early on Saturday, but before we left the creeper interceded again. He told us he didn't like to leave the room because he hates Florence and gave us five euro to buy him shampoo. So after that we went to Santa Maria Novella, which is a church. We got to see the work of Masaccio, which was very cool. After that we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia. This is the art museum that holds Michelangelo's David. Even though I've seen it before, it's such an impressive statue! If only pictures were allowed! They also had an exhibit of the Medici's instrument collection. It was super cool, I'm hoping the exhibit is still up when Josh comes! :] We then walked around and saw things such as Dante's house (he's EVERYWHERE in Florence), and the Orsanmichele. After a nice lunch of paninis we went to the Bargello, which is another art museum. Since we got there a half an hour before it closed we got in for free! We got to see Donatello's David as well as Ghiberti and Brunelleschi's contest entries for the Baptistery doors. It was really cool. We then walked across the river and I had my first official gelato since I've been here! As I ate it I dedicated it to my little Biscuit and her undying love of ice cream! :D

We then walked around some more seeing Palazzo Pitti, Santa Trinita, and Piazza della Repubblica. There was even some chalk drawing in honor of San Valentino day.

We went to dinner at another local restaurant and I had the house macaroni, which was a penne pasta in meat sauce for the first course and grilled chicken with cooked spinach for the second course. Plus the traditional bread with olive oil and wine. I do love Italian food! :D After dinner we tried finding a chill bar/pub to watch the Olympics but failed miserably.

Our last day in Florence was pretty relaxed. We checked out of our hostel, said goodbye to the "agoraphobic housewife" and then walked to an arts and crafts market that Clara had read about. Turns out it was more like the Porta Portese market here, which is like a mixture of Goodwill and cheap street vendors. I did get some AMAZING dried fruit though so I was happy.

After the market we walked to the train station and got lunch, we still had an houror so to kill so me and Clara went to go get another gelato. I got a cone with half nutella gelato and half white chocolate gelato, it was good, except that it ended up being 8 euro!! I definitely learned to always ask the price!

The train ride home went smoothly enough, but it took us about an hour to get back to our apartments, because the bus never showed up! Stupid public transportation!

Alas, now the vacations over and it's back to classes! This weekend I'm staying in Rome. I'm going to try and take more pictures from my part of town! :D Then next weekend I'm off to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria! I'm super excited!!

I'll post pictures to flickr and facebook either tonight or tomorrow!

...Also, I'm sorry this post is sooo long, I try to make it short but there's just too much to tell! :]