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It is flippin hot here. We hear Greece will be worse, but cannot, at the moment, imagine how that could be possible. Yesterday, we woke up early and waited in line for the Uffizi museum. It is the most famous museum in Florence and holds works of art by Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Rembrandt, Botticheli, and Raphel to name a few.
After Uffizi, we went to the church, which was beautiful. We didnt want to wait in line and pay to get in, but we admired the outside of it. Its made of red, green, and white marble. Its stunning. We also walked around Florence's expensive shopping district, entering stores such as Gucci, Armani, Tiffanys, Cartier, Prada, Dior, and the likes. Well, we didnt actually go into Tiffanys or Cartier because you had to ring a bell outside and be let in, and that was a bit intimidating. But we looked in the windows.
After wandering through the streets and looking at things that we know we will never have, we took our packed lunch of tuna and crackers and headed to the biggest park in Florence, which is huge but nearly impossible to find. Laura was getting very frustrated trying to navigate and I just followed and tried not to make her mad but we eventually found it. And really, it is HUGE, but very well hidden. We sat in the park for a few hours and made lunch and took a nap. It was very relaxing and it was too hot to do anything else.
We met some local Italians, and had a great conversation in a mix of 4 languages--Italian, English, Spanish and a bit of Greek. Seriously, it was cool and alot of fun. There, of course, was some misunderstanding and difficulty, but overall, we had a good converation and they seemed to enjoy our company alot. 😊
For dinner, we got invited to a wine tasting dinner by the owner of a cute little restaurant--free of charge. Obviously, we quickly accepted. We are, after all, in Tuscany Italy, an area that is world-famous for its Chianti, among other kinds wine. We bought our dinner, but the wine was free. And man o man, was it good. We enjoyed some of the best wine I have ever had! And we had a great night talking to the table next to us (they were from Colombia) and the restaurant workers.
We caught the bus home, and even had some different italians walk us home. We had a good conversation with them too. Overall, best day yet! It was so fun, so great, and reminded us why we love to travel.
Today, was great too . . . very relaxed. We got up early to go see the David in a different museum, which really is the only reason people go to that museum; however, we found the "musical instruments" exhibit quite fascinating, we'll be sure to tell you all about when we get home! 😊
We were tired today so after the seeing Michelangelo's sculpture, we headed back to camp and took a nap. Then we woke up, packed a lunch, and hopped a train to Pisa. It started to pour as our train pulled out of the station, so we were a little worried about what the rest of our day would look like, BUT thankfully it stopped by the time we got there. Remember all those anti-climactic sights we saw in Rome, the leaning tower was one of those. Pisa really didn't have much else to offer, and while the cooler weather was a welcome relief, the cloudy skies made the town very unappealing. Oh well, we saw the monument, which was what we wanted--crazy how that leaning tower attracts so many people!
After Pisa we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the old city of Florence, dined at a little pizzeria and then searched out the only gelato store with soy gelato!! No worries . . . we found it and our sweet tooth was satisified (at least temporarily!) Today was fabulous, we took our time seeing the sights, relaxed in the grass around the leaning tower and just simply enjoyed being in Italy . . . you should all try it sometime!!
Tomorrow we're headed to the Cinque Terre and then it's off to Torino . . . ta ta for now and don't forget to leave us a comment or two!
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Cuz
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Albergo della Giobentu Ostello
Hey Jen and Laura. It sounds like you are really having the authentic post-college-American adventurer experience. I am truly jealous, reading about all of your (mis)adventures. I have one assignment to give you though... when you get to Cinque Terre, proceed directly to Manarola where you will find a Co-op. Buy a 2 Euro box of wine and continue on your way up the very steep hill until you get to the Hostel there. At the restaurant, order the Pesto Gnocchi and eat it on the rooftop pavilion - the view and the food is simply amazing. Otherwise, good luck will everything, and happy Eurotripping.