Florence and Pisa

Soo.. it was a rainy Friday afternoon when Monica was home alone because Melissa was in Belfast.. when she decided she wanted to explore somewhere new. 12 hours later, she was on a plane to Pisa, Italy!!!

Buongiorno!!! I just got back from the most beautiful and romantic place I have ever been in my life! Firenze! Absolutely amazing!

I left my building at 6am to try to make my way to the airport for my 9am flight. Of course even getting to the airport was an experience! Realized the bus I was planning on taking didn't leave until 7am which was too late so I started walking to the airport! I decided I would walk as far as I could and take a taxi at 6:45 to get to the airport so it wouldn't be so expensive.. well I had left the city and finally asked a garbage man how far the airport was still and he said 10 miles.. then out of the corner of my eye the air coach bus passed me and pulled over! It was a sign! I sprinted to it and it was just 6 euro to the airport for a 10 minute ride, perfect! I felt just like a Bohl when I realized I was ridiculously early and the first at the gate, haha Well, the plane flew over the Wicklow and Dublin mountains, then the Alps of Switzerland and I was already having a great time.

Ponte Vecchio

When the plane landed in Pisa I got on a bus  to take me to Florence. I quickly realized people were speaking chinese next to me, french in front, and italian behind me. The bus started and the song "Heaven is a place on earth" came on the radio..I was so happy to hear the states are always with me :)


When I got to Florence I didn't get too lost finding my hostel and I just backpacked through the city. I got my hostel out of the book my wonderful sisters bought me, "The Best of Europe" by Rick Steves. It was a great hostel and I dropped my stuff off and went out exploring for the rest of the day! The design and architecture of the buildings was absolutely amazing. The streets were so narrow and the buildings were tall and fun colors all with colored shutters and intricate railing designs on the balconies. I wandered aimlessly for a while but found the Ulfizzi and Piazza Signoria Neptune Fountain. There were so many shops in the street and wow were they good at selling, in two seconds I was handing the people money and had bought something! It was ridiculous, no worries, I stayed away from them after that. Then I ended up at Piazza Stazione where there were drummers and flag people performing in the square. It was hilarious to watch because the crowds were so intrigued and the flag people took it so seriously as they leaped around and threw flags into the air! When the crowds cleared I saw tents and quickly realized I had entered CHOCOLATE HEAVEN!!!! Yes, it was a chocolate fair. Chocolate liquor, truffles, crepes, strawberries, fruit, chocolate statues, chocolate EVERYTHING! Yeah I was in heaven. Of course everyone spoke italian and I had no idea what was going on but I taste tested some stuff, yum yum yum.

Gellato!!

After that I went to look for the "Piano Jazz Bar" Julie had told me about on the river banks near the Ponte Vecchio.. I went for a hike, and got sucked into Indian dancing around this musician while singing and dancing to Indian Christian eclectic sort of music it was hilarious. Finally realized the restaurant Julie was talking about was called something different but I went in and it was like 6:30pm and the place was empty!! I got a table for one at the window seat overlooking Ponte Vecchio and I ordered a glass of wine and Gnocchi! Yumm.. It was very a quaint place and I loved it. The waiter treated me very well and gave me extra wine and bread, I think he felt bad I was alone lol! After I went back to the hostel for a bit, took an hour nap and decided to walk around again at night. I got some AMAZING gellato and sat on the bridge just chillin and watching the crowds. It was really peaceful!

The next day I noticed a new girl was in the hostel and I introduced myself. Turns out she had been traveling by herself all through Spain, France, and now Italy and she is from Chile! I invited her to come tour some museums with me and suddenly I had a friend! We walked through Uffizi, went in Cathedral di Santa Maria, Piazza Signoria, Neptune Fountain, toured Accademia Gallery (where Michelangelos' original David is), we went in Santa Croce, Bargello, Maria Novella, Orsam Michele, and walked through Mercato Centrale! We even walked through a peaceful protest in the Piazza della Repubblica against the Prime Minister of Italy, Berlusconi. It was really interesting to see how many Italians were peaceful protesting and what they had to say about the situation.

David

My favorite place was definitely the Accademia Gallery, Michelangelos' David was mindblowing! He was HUGE and if he blinked I wouldn't even be surprised because he looked that insanely real. As Alejandra and I were walking by all of the statues I was wondering what the yellow stuff on them was. She told me a really cool fact that its wax on the statues to keep them together.. and that the word "sincere" come from the latin and spanish word "sin cera" which mean without wax, not fake. So when people say you are sincere, it means your not fake, your pure. I thought that was cool! lol Easily amused.

Anywhoo, I definitely experienced Italian pizza, and pasta and was fairly impressed with each. I must say though, Chicago probably has WAY better pizza than Italy. More toppings and more flavor.

My last day in Florence was by far the most beautiful. It was around 53 degrees and sunny, a perfect day to get lost in the Boboli Gardens. I went by myself and got lost in these amazing gardens that overlooked the entire city. The trees were all curved in on the paths and when you emerged at the top of the hill it overlooked the entire city, mountains in the distance, and all the red roofs and cathedrals were breathtaking! I was in those gardens for 3 hours just exploring and taking pictures of course. It was a perfect way to end the trip!

I got on the bus and headed back to Pisa where I hiked into the city and found my hostel. I knew that my plane left at 7am the next day but I had to see the leaning tower of Pisa once in my life. So I definitely headed out in the city to find it and got lost for 2 hours. Don't worry mom!! Everyone was super nice, no one spoke english but I bought a map and found my way! The tower was SOO much smaller than I had anticipated but it was definitely on a tilt! By this time it was 8:30ish at night so it was pretty dark but I still had a good view. It was pretty and worth seeing but definitely overrated.

After a flight delay due to intense fog I made it back to the rainy Dublin city and the adventure continues! I can't believe I spent my valentines day weekend in the most romantic place in the world alone, but I must say it was completely worth it.

Tomorrow my program is taking us paint balling in the Wicklow Mountains and I'm totally excited. It will definitely be a brawl.. france vs america! Can't wait, other than that Melissa and I have a ton of homework but we will probably do a day trip to Sligo in northwestern Ireland.

Love you all!!!