Italy and a Sprained Ankle

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Ciao!

Sometimes I still can't believe that I am actually in Italy! This has been such an exciting and eventful three days. Travelling always leaves me exhausted but being on planes for roughly 10 hours was not as terrible as I expected. Getting onto the second flight was stressful, to say the least, because of a minor mishap with Rachel's ticket. The good news is that it all ended up working out, with some heavy plane stalling techniques and constant pleading with slightly rude airline workers. Arriving in Florence was absolutely breathtaking! Pictures truly do not do this beautiful place the justice that it deserves.

Having time to settle in then going to a "welcome" dinner was the perfect beginning to this trip. The food was absolutely amazing, it was definitely a great first meal in Italy. Finding the way to and from the dinner was exciting because we started finding familiar landmarks that we continue to use when we walk around the town. Getting used to the time change has definitely been one of the hardest parts about this trip so far. I never knew what people meant when they talked about jet lag...now I do! With that being said, I think that I am starting to get in the groove of being six hours ahead of home now.

Our first full day of Florence started with finding our way to a café for some breakfast, but most importantly coffee. I was very nervous to order before we walked in but I have been pleasantly surprised that most restaurants and cafés have workers that are pretty good at speaking English. We decided that we were going to go grocery shopping after breakfast and encountered our first street scammer on the way...but not before I managed to trip on the lovely cobblestone! It is just my luck to be in Florence for one day and to sprain my ankle (and rip a hole in my favorite leggings!!!). I was not going to let this put a damper on our first day though, so I kept walking.

Antonio's walking tour was so fun and extremely informative. I really love how much passion he has for his town's history! It seems to be a common thing for the residents of Florence to be extremely knowledgeable about their heritage and history, which is so different from America. It is evident that the people who live here truly love this place and all that it has to offer. I was very surprised to hear that Alexander Graham Bell was not actually the inventor of the telephone, Antonio Meucci was! I took so many pictures of the statues and buildings during that walking tour but when I look back at them, the pictures really cannot show the true beauty of this place. I also made my first trip to the "Farmacia" in search of a wrap for my ankle. Fun fact: "Ace Bandage" does not translate well! Luckily, I did end up getting what I needed. I finished the first day with 13,742 steps, even after spraining my ankle!

With a lot of ice, ibuprofen, and overnight elevation; I was more than ready for our second day of exploring Florence. I was really excited to see the Epiphany parade and did some research of my own about it. I do not think I have ever seen a place so crowded in my life! We decided to go to the Duomo in order to hear the children's choir (who were absolutely AMAZING) and we were smashed into the crowd like sardines! I did make friends with a very cute dog beside me named Maya, she decided to nap with her head on my foot during the parade...I loved it. The costumes were beautiful, I especially loved the renaissance style dresses. After the parade, we made our way across the river to go to San Miniato. I was nervous to walk such a long way, uphill, on my very swollen ankle but I powered through and it was all worth it. The views of Florence that we got were truly indescribable. We decided to stay for the Epiphany Mass service and it was SO COLD! Being in that church with all of the history and gorgeous marble made the purple fingers worth it though. My step count for today was 14,059...not too shabby for a sprained ankle! I am having the best time, and can't wait to make more memories here!



Ciao for now!!



*Total step count for the last 2 days: 27,801 (roughly 13.5 miles)*

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