2/19/2016-2/21/2016
A lot of the time when you think of Italy, you think of the typical places like Rome and Venice (and if you're anything like me, you think of Tuscany). The beautiful rolling countryside with vineyards as far as the eye can see, and those typical screen saver stock photos of beautiful green landscape. What you might not know, and what I definitely did not, is that Tuscany is definitely a region, not a city. Whoops. Let me break Tuscany down for you guys into two places that are very popular: Florence and Pisa. Who knew? These two places are where I spent this last weekend on a girls weekend getaway. Before I go on I have to be honest, I was debating a lot on whether or not I actually wanted to attend this trip. Tuscany is expensive and I am very poor. Being the unemployed student I am, I have been looking for any way to save money. This means cutting out wine, pizza, and Nutella from my day to day diet. Just kidding. I've accepted being poor. I am going to be honest with you lovely readers (Mom and Dad... and Grandma if you ended up figuring this out) one more time and say that this blog post is going to be somewhat anti-climatic and uninspiring. While I did enjoy this trip, there is something about this past weekend that leaves me feeling that I could have gone without and saved some moo-la. However, it did happen, and I must document it. I'll try to keep it entertaining.
DAY ONE: FLORENCE
Oh good you're still reading. Glad to have you. On Friday we left for Florence from Torino, Porta Nuova at 06:15. The ride was pretty uneventful and lasted about 2 hours long. When we arrived in Florence, it was raining and naturally I didn't wear a jacket with a hood. After we wandered around trying to find our hotel (that was actually a hostel but they called it a hotel), crossing the same streets and walking in circles, we made it to the place we were staying for the weekend. As we walked in I noticed the third star on their hotel sign was painted over and the once three star hotel was in fact, a two star hotel (which explains why a hotel was considered a hostel). Obviously at this moment I gained such high expectations for the quality of our stay. After the four of us squeezed into a tiny elevator, we went to the check in desk and talked to a very nice man who told us that he had accidentally overbooked the room and given it to another large group of Americans. However, all hope was not lost because he had upgraded us to a hotel around the corner (that was actually 3-star) and paid the difference in the room fee. I honestly do not care about 3-star vs. 2-star, vs. no-star places, considering I am only traveling on weekends, which means 2 night stays and almost no time actually spent in the room. Yet this news was music to my ears. Considering I was very up-in-the-air about this trip to begin with, each little perk was reassurance that going on this trip was the right move. The hotel we stayed at was in good condition, and our room had high ceilings, which added to the illusion that the two person room was large enough for four people. Which honestly, it was. When we left the hotel, two other friends had joined us, and our four-man wolfpack grew to six. We went to breakfast/lunch at around 11:00, ate a few paninos, drank a few cappuccinos, paid our 8 euro and went on our way to a huge building at the end of the street. This building turned out to be the Duomo of Firenze, which was very large and very beautiful. If there's one thing that I can credit the Italians for doing well besides the food, it's the cathedrals. Honestly every duomo I see amazes me. I still don't understand how they made these huge buildings with so many details, hundreds of years ago. Snaps to you Italians.
After this we went to Florence's main attraction: David. This ticket was 12 Euro, which was very pricey for a museum, but it had to be done. Normally, museums give a discount to students or youth (which is 5-24 here), but because we were international students, we had to pay full price. I hate to say it, but once you have seen one Italian museum, you've seen them all. I love art as much as the next guy, but unless you are an art major or have a immense appreciation for paintings and sculptures of naked people, museums can and do get a little boring. But my man David was there, and I did have to see him in all his glory *wink wink*. And see him I did. Something unique about this sculpture is his hand, which is not proportional and much bigger than the rest of him. Personally, I think Michelangelo should have focused on making that hand more proportionate, and made something else a little bigger if you catch my drift (we're all thinking it ladies, am I right?)
Now that I got that vulgar joke out of the way we can move on. After wandering around the museum looking at more naked people and seeing a few famous pieces of art, we were looking for something new to do. So we left, got a couple Cokes, and walked around Florence. We stopped at a leather market and checked out some handmade leather purses, watches, jackets and other fun things. Vicky was dead set on getting a grey hat for her wine tasting outfit, so when she found one, the lady selling them peer pressured me into getting one ("every fashionable woman is wearing one these days"), and I bartered down the price from 20 euro to 17 euro (a skill I learned in Mexico from my Dad, thanks Dad). At the time I didn't think this was a great price, but as we kept walking we saw hats for upwards of 30 euro. Feeling jazzed on life after making the purchase of a lifetime, when the opportunity arose to go to the Uffizi Gallary (fancy word for museum), naturally I was so excited and thrilled to see more naked people from the 1500s (anotha' one!!), so off we went.
Now that I got that vulgar joke out of the way we can move on. After wandering around the museum looking at more naked people and seeing a few famous pieces of art, we were looking for something new to do. So we left, got a couple Cokes, and walked around Florence. We stopped at a leather market and checked out some handmade leather purses, watches, jackets and other fun things. Vicky was dead set on getting a grey hat for her wine tasting outfit, so when she found one, the lady selling them peer pressured me into getting one ("every fashionable woman is wearing one these days"), and I bartered down the price from 20 euro to 17 euro (a skill I learned in Mexico from my Dad, thanks Dad). At the time I didn't think this was a great price, but as we kept walking we saw hats for upwards of 30 euro. Feeling jazzed on life after making the purchase of a lifetime, when the opportunity arose to go to the Uffizi Gallary (fancy word for museum), naturally I was so excited and thrilled to see more naked people from the 1500s (anotha' one!!), so off we went.
In all seriousness, museums are filled with so many naked people with different body types, so I'm not sure when body shaming started, but it wasn't in Italy 500 years ago. You go Italy. After spending some time in the Uffizi, it is safe to say I was in need of a drink and some time outside. So that's exactly what we did.
The Goal: Drink wine and watch the sunset over the city from Piazza Michelangelo.
The Obstacle: Wine in Florence is expensive (not the 2 euro bottles we are blessed with in Torino)
The New Goal: Pop tiny bottles of champagne and watch the sunset over the city from Piazza Michelangelo.
The New Obstacle: The packaging was misleading and what we thought was a pop-able cork was actually a screw off cap. It was also raining. And windy. There was no sunset.
The End Result: Three girls taking too many pictures with baby bottles of bubbly in the rain after walking up what felt like 500 flights of stairs.
Bottom line is: Champagne was involved so that's all I cared about. Champagne is champagne, no matter how small.
To end the night, we went to dinner in a piazza near a carousal where a handsome man was trying to get us to go to his nightclub, the restaurant heaters almost melted my face off, I had delicious clam spaghetti that almost broke my teeth (still good though) and cheesecake that was not cheesecake, we shared some wine, and struggled to split the bill. All in all, the dinner was yummy, the company was great, and the wine was even greater.
The Goal: Drink wine and watch the sunset over the city from Piazza Michelangelo.
The Obstacle: Wine in Florence is expensive (not the 2 euro bottles we are blessed with in Torino)
The New Goal: Pop tiny bottles of champagne and watch the sunset over the city from Piazza Michelangelo.
The New Obstacle: The packaging was misleading and what we thought was a pop-able cork was actually a screw off cap. It was also raining. And windy. There was no sunset.
The End Result: Three girls taking too many pictures with baby bottles of bubbly in the rain after walking up what felt like 500 flights of stairs.
Bottom line is: Champagne was involved so that's all I cared about. Champagne is champagne, no matter how small.
To end the night, we went to dinner in a piazza near a carousal where a handsome man was trying to get us to go to his nightclub, the restaurant heaters almost melted my face off, I had delicious clam spaghetti that almost broke my teeth (still good though) and cheesecake that was not cheesecake, we shared some wine, and struggled to split the bill. All in all, the dinner was yummy, the company was great, and the wine was even greater.
DAY TWO: VESPAS + WINE TASTING
On Saturday we woke up to clear blue skies. I don't know how we got so lucky, and I was so thankful for Mother Nature. She must have known that I had a cute wine tasting outfit that was not rain appropriate!
First Step: Breakfast- Chocolate croissant, Pineapple, Cappuccino. 6 euro.
On Saturday we woke up to clear blue skies. I don't know how we got so lucky, and I was so thankful for Mother Nature. She must have known that I had a cute wine tasting outfit that was not rain appropriate!
First Step: Breakfast- Chocolate croissant, Pineapple, Cappuccino. 6 euro.
Second Step: Figure out how to get a taxi from the city center to the countryside. Posed to be easier than we expected. 8 euro.
Third Step: Make it to Vespa/wine tasting location. Sign our life away. Learn how to ride a Vespa. Take a lot of shameless pictures.
Fourth Step: Trade hat for helmet, say a prayer, and join the crazy Italian drivers on the windy road along the country side.
Fifth Step: Pictures
Sixth Step: More pictures
Seventh Step: Wine. We made it on Vespa along the country side and avoided getting hit by cars. So we were off to celebrate like the Italians, naturally, with wine. We ate bread dipped in olive oil, cheese, and assorted meats (like salami). We drank wine from the region and learned hot to taste it like pros. We talked to a newly engaged couple from Belgium, and man from America who was there meeting his girlfriend's parents. We rode in the little Fiat 500s and overall had a really good, relaxing time.
Third Step: Make it to Vespa/wine tasting location. Sign our life away. Learn how to ride a Vespa. Take a lot of shameless pictures.
Fourth Step: Trade hat for helmet, say a prayer, and join the crazy Italian drivers on the windy road along the country side.
Fifth Step: Pictures
Sixth Step: More pictures
Seventh Step: Wine. We made it on Vespa along the country side and avoided getting hit by cars. So we were off to celebrate like the Italians, naturally, with wine. We ate bread dipped in olive oil, cheese, and assorted meats (like salami). We drank wine from the region and learned hot to taste it like pros. We talked to a newly engaged couple from Belgium, and man from America who was there meeting his girlfriend's parents. We rode in the little Fiat 500s and overall had a really good, relaxing time.
All in all, the man teaching us was amazingly supportive, even though Vicky almost ran into a pole and died, I didn't ever figure out how to get the kickstand in place, and we were essentially three confused girls on a mission to get fabulous pictures and drink some wine. Mission accomplished.
The rest of the day went as it usually does, pasta, wine, lots of walking, tourists, selfie sticks, and Coke. A pretty great day.
The rest of the day went as it usually does, pasta, wine, lots of walking, tourists, selfie sticks, and Coke. A pretty great day.
DAY THREE: PISA
We woke up to grey skies, checked out of the hotel, and made our way to the chocolate market. Upon arriving at this market we discovered that it was more a row of booths than an actual market, so we went across the street for a good old fashioned American breakfast. The breakfast was highly disappointing and expensive, but I was trying to keep a sunshiney outlook on the cloudy day. We went to the train station, I got some sour candy straws that I found myself addicted to since buying them before my bus to Rome, got on the train, popped some headphones on, and tried to find my happy place. At this point, all I wanted to do was curl up in bed, drink some water, and fall asleep. But I had a whole day ahead of me, some sour straws, and the determination to make this day a good one.
An hour later we got to Pisa and immediately walked to the Leaning Tower, which was about 30-40 minutes away. The town was completely dead, and the weather was gloomy, so I found myself feeling pretty strange the entire day. But, we made it to Pisa and I had to get my touristy picture.
Here it is:
We woke up to grey skies, checked out of the hotel, and made our way to the chocolate market. Upon arriving at this market we discovered that it was more a row of booths than an actual market, so we went across the street for a good old fashioned American breakfast. The breakfast was highly disappointing and expensive, but I was trying to keep a sunshiney outlook on the cloudy day. We went to the train station, I got some sour candy straws that I found myself addicted to since buying them before my bus to Rome, got on the train, popped some headphones on, and tried to find my happy place. At this point, all I wanted to do was curl up in bed, drink some water, and fall asleep. But I had a whole day ahead of me, some sour straws, and the determination to make this day a good one.
An hour later we got to Pisa and immediately walked to the Leaning Tower, which was about 30-40 minutes away. The town was completely dead, and the weather was gloomy, so I found myself feeling pretty strange the entire day. But, we made it to Pisa and I had to get my touristy picture.
Here it is:
Apparently it doesn't look like I am holding the tower up, but instead that i'm "caressing it" (looking at you Cam). After this we wandered around, I continued eating my sour straws and tried to muster up the energy to feel present in the day, instead of feeling like a zombie.
No success. We were all exhausted and ready to get some food in us and leave. So we found a pizzeria and got some food, sat down, and relaxed until our train. I got the cheapest thing on the menu, a margarita pizza (6 euro), and ate the whole thing. Which, if you know me, is not a likely occurrence. Typically I will eat 1/2 of it, 3/4 if i'm feeling good, and give the rest to my boyfriend who seems to never get full. I have only met two impressive people like this in my life, one of them is Cam, and the other is my friend, Shaye (hi Shaye). These people are good people to have around if you are in places like Italy, where it is considered an insult to leave food on your plate. Usually I have one of them with me to finish my food (wish you were here Shaye), but this time I did it all by myself (proud notable moment).
No success. We were all exhausted and ready to get some food in us and leave. So we found a pizzeria and got some food, sat down, and relaxed until our train. I got the cheapest thing on the menu, a margarita pizza (6 euro), and ate the whole thing. Which, if you know me, is not a likely occurrence. Typically I will eat 1/2 of it, 3/4 if i'm feeling good, and give the rest to my boyfriend who seems to never get full. I have only met two impressive people like this in my life, one of them is Cam, and the other is my friend, Shaye (hi Shaye). These people are good people to have around if you are in places like Italy, where it is considered an insult to leave food on your plate. Usually I have one of them with me to finish my food (wish you were here Shaye), but this time I did it all by myself (proud notable moment).
So, with stomachs filled with pizza, we concluded our Tuscany trip (remember, Tuscany is a region, not a city. I have to remind myself of this every time I try to tag a photo's location as "Tuscany"), and went to the train for our 5 hour train ride back to Torino.