We left Friday morning from the college at 9 o'clock (I think) on a Mercedes charter bus; fortunately, I was one of the few who had two seats to themselves so I wasn't completely crammed in there. It took us about 5 hours to get to Pisa (our first stop) where we stayed for about an hour. It doesn't sound very long but if you've only heard of the Leaning Tower then an hour is plenty. The road that the tower was on is loaded with street vendors so everyone was either browsing around or doing as I did and b-lined straight for the gelato. At the end of the hour, after everyone got their photos taken, we clambered back onto the bus and headed for Florence; they are about an hour and a half away from each other.
Once we made it to Florence we went straight to the hotel. It was situated in the middle of a square (which I would tell you the name of if it had one). The hotel we stayed in was really nice compared to what I though we would stay in. The last time I was in Paris, we stay in a really expensive hotel that wasn't very nice and my feet hung nearly a foot off the end of the bed. These, however, were nothing like that. It had a tall ceiling, long beds, a really nice bathroom, and a great view out the window. After that me and my friends Kevin Clay Steven Aaron Kylie and Hailie all set out in set for food. One of Kevin's friends had studied abroad in Florence previously and told us to go eat at the great pizza place called Gusta Pizza. Truthfully, it was probably the best pizza I've had in my entire life. Oh, and here's what we saw on the way there:
At the restaurant the tables were made out of large barrels with glass on top and everyone that goes out to eat there puts their names on a piece of paper and then slides it under the glass. If for any reason any of you ever go there, look for me! After dinner we just sat around in one of the restaurants in the square and had a Peroni, one of the more popular Italian beers.
On Saturday we went on a walking tour of the city which started out kind of cool until we realized that the tour guide wasn't the walk-and-talk type. She would quite literally walk somewhere, stop, and then proceed to tell us the history of something for the following 20 minutes. Then we would walk a little more and stop. Again. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad. It would have just been nice if she had walked and talked so we could have seen more of the city at the same time. At the end of the tour, we came up on Saint Maria del Fiore Cathedral. I'm sure you've either heard of it or seen it but if not here's another picture:
Afterward me and the guys I listed earlier, sans Aaron, decided to climb the the top of this Dome/Duomo. No biggy, it was only 496 stairs. Here are some pretty awesome pictures I took from the top.
After spending about 20 minutes just staring at the city, we started our way back down which may have actually been more frightening than actually looking over the rail at the top. By then it was nearly 2 o'clock which was only 30 minutes away from a museum tour we had planned. Once again, I'm not quite sure of the name of the museum was but I will say this one was particularly interesting. We got to see quite a bit of the work done by Botticelli and Donatello which was really impressive.
After the museum visit, we had the rest of the day free. Aside from quite a bit of meandering, we didn't really do a whole lot. However, we did make reservations at a traditional Italian restaurant with hopes of trying real pasta while we were there; and that's exactly what we got. He's a picture of my supper from Saturday night:
After we finished eat, we headed back towards the square trying to find something to do. After people watching for a little while, we decided to head to the Pub for a beer before called it a night and were greeted with quite a surprise; there was an Italian soccer game on. In an Italian pub. If that doesn't scream fun at you that you've never watched a soccer game with European's before; they get into it! It was really exciting for the majority of the time until the opposite team tied it up. Milan was playing Juventus (no idea where that is?) and seeing as we were American, we waited to see who everyone else was going to root for before we opened our mouths; it was Milan. Anyways, that's about it for Saturday night.
Sunday was the day we returned to Cannes but we made two more stops before leaving the city. Our first stop was the Accademia Gallery, better known as the museum that holds the Statue of David. Now I'm fairly certain I wasn't supposed to do this but I couldn't help myself:
And for our last stop we went to where I wanted to be the whole trip: The country side.
So to finish the trip off, we spent 7 hours on the bus; but then again, it was a Mercedes (classy).
As far as other things go, my French class is full of surprises every day. One day it will be the hardest class ever and then the next will be a breeze. I think it has a lot to do with how awake or not I am though...
Anyways, spring break plans. I'm nearly finished getting everything planned. I'll be going to Zurich, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest. How about that? I'm really excited, especially because I thought for the last couple of months that surely I would spend all of spring break with our friends in Belgium. Sadly though they wont be there that week so I had to improvise. I'm also excited because I'll have my own person tour guide name Sara Beth aka my cousin's cousin who lives in Munich at the moment. I can't wait!
I think that's about all I've got for now. Catch y'all later.
Hayden
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