After saying goodbye to my parents and Clara in Madrid I was on my way to Florence for the rest of my Spring Break. The easiest way for me to get to Florence on April 1 was to fly from Madrid to Bologna and then take an hour long train from Bologna into Florence. While this probably wasn't the fastest way to get to Florence, I ended up loving having a couple hours to kill in Bologna between my flight landing and my train leaving. Bologna is pretty small, so in the couple hours I had I managed to find a little cafe and have some pizza for lunch and then walk into the main town square. Bologna was a very pretty and typically Italian town. All of the buildings were a earthy reddish color and all had spanish shingles for roofs. The main square was very busy with street performers and people walking around seeing some of the sights. I went into the Bologna Cathedral which was very cool and then just kind of wandered around the square. I also saw the Bologna towers, something Bologna is pretty well known for and what looked like an old palace before I headed back to the station to board my train to Florence.
The Bologna Towers
The Bologna Cathedral
The main square in Bologna
I loved having my afternoon in Bologna but was very excited to get on the train to Florence. After about an hour long train ride I had arrived in Firenze! I got off the train and was immediately greeted by my friend Brian and his two roommates Mike and Austin. I had met his roommates when they visited Barcelona about two weeks before and we had a great time talking and catching up on the way back to their apartment. Their apartment was about a 5 minute walk from the train station and after grabbing a quick star kebab for dinner we were hanging out in their living room having a great time. We hung out there for awhile and then Brian and I headed out to go to a couple of pubs in Florence. It blew my mind that when we were walking to the pub we passed the Duomo. It was so cool to see for the first time at night and I stopped to take some pictures with Brian. We also passed by the old city hall and the fake sculpture of David on our way out. It was incredible! After having a couple of drinks at the Lions Fountain and meeting some of Brian's friends, we headed back, skyped our friend Ellie, my parents and my brother and then headed to bed.
Thumbs down to fake David
The Duomo...at night
We slept in that Monday (4/2) and after Brian, Austin, Mike and I were all up we went to the Florence Central Market to grab some roastbeef sandwiches and cappuccino for a late breakfast/early lunch. We had sandwiches from this stand called Nerbone and they were honestly the best roastbeef sandwiches I have ever had. Definitely recommended if you travel to Florence! After sandwiches and cappuccino for lunch, we wandered around the market a little bit and bought food to make shrimp ceviche for dinner that night. We then headed back to the apartment to drop off the food before Brian and I went and did some sightseeing while Austin and Mike were in class. We walked all over Florence that afternoon. I loved seeing the Duomo again during the day and some of the sculptures around the city hall. We then walked across the river because we wanted to go up and see the Baboli gardens. Unfortunately, the gardens were closed that day so we decided to buy some cigars and some wine and hang out on Brian's balcony for the rest of the evening. We had a great time hanging out and listening to music, I've really missed having a balcony or a deck to do that on! After a couple of hours, Mike and Austin were back from class and we headed over to Mostodolce, a bar that sells delicious Italian craft beers and bar food. After a couple beers and some delicious fried mozzarella we headed back to the apartment for some ceviche for dinner. Dinner was delicious and after dinner Brian and I headed back out to the Lion's Fountain and then YAZ night club. I ran into a a few people I knew from high school there which was fun and after a little while Brian and I called it a night.
The Duomo during the day
The old city hall
On Tuesday, we all got up and decided that we wanted to go to the American Diner for a good American breakfast. That was not a good place. The service was awful, it took forever to get our food and even after we got it, the food wasn't great. We were also stuck in a booth that was not even close to big enough for four grown humans. Anyways, we had our lunch we met up with some of Brian's friends and went to buy tickets for the Lloyd Banks concert that night at the Space Club. After doing that, Mike and Austin had to head to class and Brian and I decided to go see the Uffize. I loved the Uffize, it was a very pretty building with some incredible Renaissance art inside. Seeing some of the Da Vinci and Botticelli works was amazing. The museum had also just opened a tapestry exhibit and that was my favorite part. The tapestry's were huge and amazing to look at. After going through the Uffizi, we decided to walk around a bit longer and then head back to the apartment. That night, Brian, Austin, Mike and I went out to Baldovino for dinner. We had a great dinner there. I had a pasta with Italian sausage and a truffle cream sauce and it was delicious. We had a great dinner and spent awhile at the restaurant talking and drinking wine in our blazers. After dinner we headed back to the apartment for a bit and then met some of Brian's friends at the Astro bar before heading to Lloyd Banks. It was a very funny night, Lloyd Banks is a washed up rapper and it was hilarious to see him try to put on a show. We had a blast though, skyped Kate when we got home and then headed to bed.
The Medici's Pitti Palace
Brian ponders life while looking over the Arno River
On Wednesday, we got up and headed back over to Nerbone for some roastbeef sandwiches. Brian and I both had some work to do that afternoon so we headed over to his program's library so he could work and I could register for classes (senior year...yikes!). After doing that for a little bid, we headed over to the Galleria Accademia to see the David. Seeing the David was definitely a highlight of my trip. I didn't really know what to expect as I had obviously seen pictures of the David before, but seeing it in person blew me away. Brian had me not look at it until I was right at his feet and that made it all the more amazing. I just couldn't believe how huge it was and how perfect it looked, it was amazing. We spent some time in the galleria and then headed out to give the Baboli gardens another try. On the way to the gardens we bought some picnic supplies to have some food while there. It was open on Wednesday so we walked through the gardens for awhile. The gardens were beautiful and offered some great views over Florence and some of the Tuscan countryside. We stopped and had a couple sandwiches and sat in the grass for awhile before heading back to the apartment. That night Mike, Brian, Austin and I met their friend Allie Butters at Boccadama for dinner. It was another incredible dinner (pretty much all we did was eat that week), I had lasagna and Florentine sausage and beans, it was great! After dinner, Brian, Mike, Austin and I headed back to the apartment. We felt like taking it easy that night because we were leaving for Umbria in the morning. We spent the night hanging out on the porch and had a great time.
Brian and I at the Baboli gardens
The view back at Florence from the Baboli Gardens
The David!
My first gelato in Florence
On Thursday morning, we started our Umbrian adventure. Mike, Austin, Brian and I rented a car for the weekend to drive down to a villa we had rented for the weekend in the Umbrian countryside (I know, very romantic). Thanks to the combined efforts of Mike and Funny Austin, we made it safely out of Florence and onto the A-1 highway headed south to Umbria. The drive through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside was gorgeous. It was exactly how I pictured it being with the rolling hills, villas, small hillside towns and the Italian Cypress trees. It was about an hour and a half to the villa. We were immediately amazed by this villa when we got there. It was in a very small town called Piegro and the villa used to be an old glassmaking factory dating from around the 1250s. We had a glassblowing furnace in the first floor apartment we had rented, a pool, a poolside terrace and a grill. We were set for the weekend. The views from the villa were also incredible. It was built right into the city wall and looked out over the countryside. As soon as we had unpacked, we were immediately sitting by the pool taking in the views. After a little while, it had begun to rain so we decided that was a good time to head to the grocery store. We stocked up on food and wine and then headed back to the villa to cook. We also walked into town to the local butcher for some steaks to grill for dinner (we were pretty psyched to be able to grill again). We grilled up the steaks, grilled some asparagus, sauteed some mushrooms and onions and had another delicious dinner. Brian made the bread and turned it into a huge crouton in the oven, it was still pretty good though. After dinner we hung out in the apartment and watched the thunderstorm outside while we drank some wine. We were in bed pretty early that night with plans to visit some other towns on Friday morning.
Our pool
Brian, Mike and Austin by the pool
The inside of our villa
The streets of Piegro
The view from in our villa
Brian and Mike having some pre-dinner sausage hour
On Friday morning, we got up and made some steak and eggs with the extra steak from dinner before heading out to see some Umbrian towns. After breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove to Panicale, one of the medieval Umbrian towns. Panicale was a very pretty little town. It was surrounded by a wall and contained many old, stone buildings. It also offered some beautiful views of Lake Trasimeno, one of the largest lakes in Italy. We walked around the town a bit, got some gelato from one of the cafes in the town square and then got back in the car to go to Castiglione del Lago, a town right on the lake.
Brian and I in Panicale
The view of Lake Trasimen from Panicale
The main square in Panicale
We got to Castiglione del Mar and walked around down by the lake for a bit. It was very hazy and very pretty down by the lake. Then we drove up into the main part of town. The town was built around a castle, so we parked by the castle and walked around it out to a point above the lake. There was an olive grove growing down to the lake from that point and the views were incredible. We then walked down the main street of Castiglione del Lago and stopped in some wine and cheese shops along the way. After buying some delicious cheese and walking down the whole street, we got back in the car because we wanted to get back and spend the rest of the evening by the pool. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to stock up for dinner and the headed back. Once back, we walked up to the local butcher to buy some sausage to go with the home made pasta Mike was going to make for dinner. It was so fun walking into town and going into the little butcher shop and the grocery store. We were clearly the only tourists that had been there in some time and it was great to get away from all of the tourists that were in Florence. We bought sausages and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out by the pool and eating. Dinner that night was Mike's home made pasta, asparagus, sausage all in a truffle cream sauce. It was incredible, I definitely put on a couple pounds during Spring break! After dinner, we went back out by the pool and sat around the table drinking wine for awhile. We then headed back inside, had a very bro-mantic night drinking wine and listening to music. The night ended with Austin and I jumping into the unheated pool (it was very cold, Brian and I tested it out earlier too. apparently some Norwegian kids were swimming in it but they swim in Fjords and could handle the cold) and then heading to bed.
Brian, Mike and Austin on the shores of Lake Trasimeno
The main street in Castiglione del Lago
The view from Castiglione del Lago
Unfortunately, the next morning we had to head out. We made some sausage and eggs for breakfast, cleaned up the Villa and said goodbye. After driving back to Florence, Brian and I grabbed a quick sandwich from Nerbone before I had to say my goodbyes and get on the train back to Bologna. It was a very teary goodbye for all of us after our romantic Umbrian getaway. I ended up having another afternoon to kill in Bologna, much of which was spent sitting at a cafe in the main square and reading my book. I got back to Barcelona very late that night but was happy to sleep in my own bed and have Sunday to sleep in. On Sunday, my friend Eric Syrjala was here so we met up for lunch at a Chinese restaurant and spent the afternoon hanging out down by Port Villa before he had to catch his flight back to Granada. It was great to see him and catch up with him. That pretty much does it for my Spring Break. It was very hard to go back to being in class this week after taking almost two weeks off! It was a great Spring Break though and I had a blast with my parents and Clara and in Italy with Brian, Mike and Austin. I've only got about two more weeks in Barcelona before heading off to travel throughout May! I'll be sure to keep updated! Ciao for now!
More pictures of my Italy trip at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151492909845481.835640.588220480&type=3&l=0097f324ec
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