Florence, Day 2

After a busy day at the museums, the four of us were exhausted. We had planned to wake up early Saturday in order to catch a bus to Siena, but decided to sleep in because the amount of time we would have been able to stay in Siena was not worth the amount of travel and rushing we would have to do. So we went back to sleep, got up and ate lunch at Amor di Vino. The little restaurant was perfect, located in the piazza in front of the central market. We sat outside (the weather was perfect all weekend except for Sunday) and two men came and played the accordion and guitar for us.

We had a wine tour scheduled to leave at 2pm, so we finished lunch and walked through the central market on our way to the train station. I found a ring and bargained with a woman so I could pay 2.50 euro for it instead of 5. We made it to the bus for the wine tour in time and settled into our seats. We drove out of Florence, up into the hills towards a small town (I can't remember the name) and stopped there for some views of the vineyards and olive trees. Then we continued on until we came to the Trebbio Castle (click to read more), where our wine tour was held. This castle was built by the Pazzis, a rich family living in Florence during the time of the great Medici family. The Pazzi and Medici were rivals, and after a failed assassination attempt of the Medici by the Pazzis, the Medici had all of the Pazzi wiped out. The word "pazzi" is now used by Italians to mean "crazy". The castle was beautiful, and we got a tour of a few of the private rooms inside. The owners have been there for two generations now, and have started a wine and olive oil business. We got a tour of the wine cellar, which was huge and beautiful. The castle has no central heating, so in the basement especially, it was pretty cold despite the heat outside.

We then got to taste a white wine and two Chianti (red) wines, one more aged than the other. They were all delicious. We had Italian cookies, cheeses, salami, bruschetta, and bread with the owner's extra virgin olive oil on it. It all tasted great! I can't how skinny Italians are because of the amounts of starch they eat all the time. So lucky. After the castle tour was over, we went to the wine shop and I bought a bottle of Chianti and a birthday gift for my mom :) While in line I realized there was a girl with her parents that looked about my age. I learned she was studying art in Florence for the summer, but goes to school at Baylor (a little bit south of Dallas) and is originally from Amarillo (2 hours north of Lubbock, where Tech is located). We laughed and talked for awhile. Such a small world!

Saturday night we wanted to eat a more fancy dinner and try Florence's famous Florentine steaks. The steaks are a big specialty and are priced high, but we remembered seeing a pretty cheap price at Friday's lunch spot. So we made our way back and split a 20 euro steak, as well as tripe (cow stomach) and a cream pizza with ham and mushrooms (basically an alfredo sauce, the BEST pizza I have ever had hands down!!) It was a lot of food, but by splitting it amongst ourselves we got pretty full and only had to pay about 10 euro. Not bad! We were eating at the restaurant pretty late, and so as we were leaving they were shutting down. The owner insisted on giving us free glasses of limoncello because Katie was wearing a Florentine purple dress, the city's color. He was very nice and we got a picture with him.

Drinks are pretty expensive everywhere, so we decided to stop and buy a cheap bottle of wine for 5 euro. The lady gave us four cups so we could go drinking and walking at the same time. The whole time we felt like we were doing something wrong. Maria is over 21, but the rest of us are still 20 and are not used to buying alcohol, let alone just walking the streets with it. There were many people out (a lot more guys, especially), and as we passed the duomo we practically got begged to go to a bar down the street, so we did. It was fun, the downstairs was a dance club so we made our way there.

Enter Leo : ) :sigh:
He couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Italian but it all worked out. He lives in Florence and studies architecture. He said I was beautiful (all Italian men say that, though) and insisted that Texas must be beautiful if I was from there. He saw I was wearing rings, thought I had a boyfriend and became pretty distressed, which was funny. Anyway, we spent a few hours together and he gave me his phone number. I think he was more enamored than I was, but it was sweet and I'm glad to say I experienced some romance in Florence!
Exit Leo.

The four of us made our way to Twice, and ran into the guys from Naples that we had spent so much time with Friday night. It was hilarious. Maria and I got tired so we went back to the hostel, and Danielle and Katie stayed out and had some funny stories to tell us in the morning. Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining, but we decided to make our way by bus to Piazza Michelangelo for the view. It was great despite the gray clouds. We could see all of Florence, including the Arno River (which we hadn't seen much of because we stayed north of it for the entire weekend) and the famous Ponte Vecchio and Ponte Santa Trinita bridges. We grabbed a panini from a stand and waited for the bus back to the train station. On the bus we met a guy from California who was traveling all over the country. He said he hadn't paid for a bus or train ticket in a month because nobody checks, but I would rather pay one euro for a ticket and validate it than chance an officer giving me a huge fine on the spot. We made it back in time to catch a train back to Prato Centrale, where Alberto's bus would pick us up at 3pm. We made it back to Paderno around 8 and went to the hotel bar to grab a panini before heading to our rooms and passing out from the amazing but exhausting weekend.

The schoolwork here is starting to catch up with me. I still have 8am classes, plus the 4hour blocks in the afternoons. It's all very tiring but I can't believe it's almost over!!! This weekend I am going to Rome and it is harder to stick to my budget because that is the most expensive city. Danielle found a day trip to Naples and Pompeii for 117 euros, and I want to go SO BAD but it's a lot of money and I don't know if I will be able to see all of Rome on Friday alone...

Pictures are coming soon. I have meetings, group projects, studying, and afternoon classes to take care of first. Can't wait for the 12th to see my parents and start our cruise to Venice, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey!!!