life in bloom

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Florence welcomed me back with warm sunshine after spring break! It has been beautiful outside the past 2 weeks! I found one of my favorite spots in Florence, my rooftop. I've been going up there to read and relax. Its quite peaceful there during the day. Finally soaking up some rays of sunshine!

Thursday, I had my first experience with a restuarant called Dante's famous for giving you free wine with the meal. We made reservations and still had to wait to the waiter gave us fishbowl glasses of wine to wait. Then when we finally sat they kept bringing over more and more wine! Katie and I shared 2 pasta dishes. One a pesto tomato sauce and the other a spicy red sauce. They were both great, but I liked the first one better! After the meal ordered my first tiramisu. Then the waiter brought out lemoncello and grappe... two hard liquors. The next morning was rough to say the least.

Friday, APRIL FOOLS! We hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo. We had a picnic at sunset. It was the ending to a perfect week and the beginning of an amazing weekend! Along with the views of the city and the Arno a live performer who sounded like Jason Marz/Jack Johnson serenaded us with some songs. The sky was so pretty and it was so warm!

Saturday, April 2nd Katie, Kristin, Courtney and I went horseback riding in Chianti! We got picked up by a van that transported us to and from there. Our driver was pretty cute! But anyways to the horses, in about an hour we were at the horse farm in the heart of Chianti. We got our helmets and waited for our horses... thinking there would be an informational section we waited around, but to our surprise they got us right up on the horses! Before we knew it we took off down a trail with our guide who spoke no English! Luckily we had met a group of girls who were studying Italian in Florence and they did a little translating for us. It was a little nerve racking at times especially when I wasn't sure what my horse was going to do. It liked to eat a lot and I would have to pull up on the reins for it to keep going! But it was an amazing experience. The views were breathe taking. I've always wanted to ride through a vineyard since watching the Parent Trap! Now I can finally say I have!

After riding, we went to a Castle for wine tasting and dinner. The wine was delish but cost 80 euro to send 6 bottles home... sorry I did not buy any! I had the best gnocchi I've had in Italy, it was light with a light beef sauce then another pasta dish that was made that morning in a tomato, pesto sauce. YUM YUM Our night was complete 😊

Sunday morning I volunteered at the Half Marathon in Florence... all I really got to do was help put up banners and cheer along the runners. We couldn't understand our supervisor so I think he just kind of gave up on us! But Kelly and I stayed strong and lasted the entire day 7 am - 1pm. The first guy came in about 65 minutes time. That evening Kelly, Leah, Hannah and I cooked dinner for Leah's parents. We made an amazing tomato sauce, chicken parm, and eggplant parm! One of the best meals I've cooked yet!

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