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Published: September 20th 2011
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Florence, Italy
Kristen & Carolyn at a CUTE little cafe I have so much to say that I don't even know where to start! I haven't posted pictures for awhile because I failed to mention in my last blog that I broke my camera on that hike! Yup, dropped it while the lens was out...but I bought another one so hope y'all enjoy the new pics!! & check out the VIDEO of my jumping off the 1st cliff! So fun! If it doesn't upload correctly on here then go to:
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We went to Florence again last Wednesday & did a couple tours of churches and the Galileo Museum (my favorite!! so cool!!). Afterwards we were on our own the rest of the day so naturally I looked at as many shops as possible & found SO many things I wanted but I didn't end up buying anything cause I'd rather spend money on traveling than souvenirs. I have some really cool trips planned already 😊 My stepdad, Todd, requested that I go to the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence (he & my mom have been to Florence before), which is the only bridge still standing from WW2, the rest were destroyed & later rebuilt. It's really cool, it
Florence, italy
Ponte Vecchio Bridge. This one is for you Todd!! has shops built all along it & in the center there's a spot where there are TONS of locks attached to the railing & to each other. It's a romantic type thing where people buy a lock, write both of their names on it then "lock in" their love. It is so cute! The funniest part, which will not surprise any of my family in any way...but last time we went to Florence (a week prior to this trip), I broke away from the group and just went walking for awhile by myself & noticed some really cute shops. Well, turns out I was standing on Ponte Vecchio bridge that entire time...but I never made it to the center where it opens up & you can tell that your on a bridge...this probably sounds so confusing but the shops on both sides make it seem like you're just walking down a street. I had no idea that I was on a bridge...I wouldn't really call it a blonde moment, I was just kinda lost & in my own world...as usual. Hope the family got a laugh out of that cause y'all love giving me hell back home for my sense
Florence, Italy
Ponte Vecchio Bridge of direction 😊 Anyway, after the bridge we went over to a world famous "gelateria," where you get gelato ice cream. IT WAS SO GOOD! Omg! Loved it 😊 That's about it for Florence, we caught a train back in time for dinner at the center luckily!
The better part of my week started Friday morning, when a group of 7 of us took a train to Cinque Terre, Italy. It's northwest of Castiglion Fiorentino (home) and it means "5 cities." Heather went here on Semester at Sea last summer, so it might sound familiar. Friday we were on the beach the entire day & Saturday we hiked. It is the most beautiful trip I've been on...it felt unreal. Basically there are 5 cities along the water and you hike from one to the other, it's about 7 miles long but we didn't hike the entire way...most of it though! It kicked my butt...I mean seriously I was hurting but I couldn't stop smiling through the pain because it was so beautiful! When we first walked in, we noticed some rocks way below us & we decided to explore. We ended up jumping off cliffs, without ever seeing anybody
Florence, Italy
these are a few locks on the bridge that couple put there to "lock in" their love! do it before us. Sounds stupid but Jae, one of the guys in our group, got in before & made sure it was deep enough, then Roberto was the 1st to try it. It was an adrenaline rush, for sure! But the water is SO ridiculously clear that it looked really safe before Jae ever swam down there. Such a fun way to start our day! It was nice having this huge area to ourselves, although there were TONS of people above us watching our craziness hehe 😊 Good times, I will never forget it...I felt so free!
Vernazza was my favorite town of all, it was so cute & I felt safe there. It was the 4th town of the 5, the last one being Monterosso where we stayed for 2 nights. Monterosso has the main beach & man did I see some boobies there! & lots of speedos haha quite the experience, it was really nice staying less than 5 minutes from the beach. & for a really good price! From Vernazza we decided to take a ferry instead of hiking because we were so exhausted, some of us couldn't make our legs stop shaking by the
end of it, I was one of them. My legs felt like noodles! The ferry was really cool too, just to be out on the water like that was really relaxing even though it was maybe a 10 minute ride to Monterosso. That night we hung out at the bed & breakfast where we stayed & played "catch phrase" (funnest game EVER) but turned it in to a drinking game to start off our night. We were having so much fun that by the time we decided to go out, everything had already closed. There's not much of a night life there, bars were closing at 1...so we hung out on the beach until a boat came hauling butt towards us with a spotlight on us. I didn't know we weren't allowed on the beach at night...we ran! Fast! I don't know why, it's not like we were drinking on the beach, we were just sitting and talking in a group...oh well though, it made for a better story right? 😊
Sunday (yesterday) was the ultimate disaster day except for when we stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower...it's so cool!! We had fun taking pics with it,
you can tell from the ones I posted 😊 I'm still grateful that I went through the bad part of the day because I learned a lot! Basically there was a train strike (it's very common to have strikes all over for different reasons here) so all the trains were cancelled except for a select few. We ended up spending our entire day, literally from 8:30am-8:30pm, either at train stations or on a train...just praying that we could get back home. At one point we got on the train & they kept delaying it 5 minutes at a time until it reached a 2 hour delay and they cancelled it. WTH! Frustrating. We just played lots of catch phrase to waste time & keep smiling. I loved the group that I was with, everything worked out so well & we were all positive about it for the most part. I learned how to buy tickets for certain trains & what to do in a bad situation like that. I'm not completely confident to do it alone, but I'm sure after a few more trips I'll be a pro!
Tomorrow we leave for Rome until Friday, so we basically had
one day of class this week, meaning one class for me & we got out early. I do not feel like I'm in school AT ALL. This is just the best vacation I'll probably ever have in my life! I literally walk down 1 or 2 flights of stairs to a room directly under my bedroom & that's my classroom. Sometimes we meet outside too if the weather is nice 😊
It's really hard to put into words the things that I see or do...I hope I'm doing a decent job, at least so you can kinda imagine! But to be honest, there aren't any words that can sum up my experiences...this is a dream!! & I'm living in it!! Haha well I'm not sure when I'll be able to write again because I don't plan on taking my computer to Rome with me...I just don't trust people at all! And after Rome I'm going to Sorrento & Capri, maybe a couple other places in the area...we're still planning that at the moment. So y'all will have to call me to talk! Love you all!
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Todd
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Ponte Vecchio
OMG!!! I so love that picture and that you thought of me! I remember seeing that for the first time like yesteday. Beautiful and thank you for the note!!! Love and Miss You