Fabulous, Fantastic, Flavorful Florence DAY 1 Oct. 25th-26th

I am back! And better than ever, ready to tell you all about my journey to the amazing place Italians like to call Firenze! Even just saying the name draws a smile to my face, so to say the least, this trip was absolutely amazing and I think what made it even better was that I went with amazing people! I went with my friends Jill, Evelyna, and Hayley. We all just know how to have a good time, make fun of each other, and constantly laugh! So on Thursday evening, we got onto the train for Florence:

This is Evelyna and Hayley!

And me and Jill! The train was very comfortable, we each had our own table in front of us!

After the 4 hour ride to Florence, we got off, got on a bus, and went to our hostel. We didn't know i we were on the right bus and I asked the bus driver in Italian and he pointed us to the nest bus which was waiting on the side for us to jump in. We got to our hostel, checked in and of course, we had to go get some gelato!

We found a place (it was super cheap) and I got cioccolato (chocolate) and biscotaccio (its like a cookie).

After that, we were very tired, we went back to our hostel, watched Pretty Little Liars (and got real creeped out) and then went to sleep. 

The next morning we slept in until about 10:30 and then got some food before we headed off to the center of the city. I got a zucchini omelet on bread at this cute little cafe. The people spoke some English too, most people in Florence did!!!

After that, we hopped on the bus, got to the center and since we had some time before our FREE walking tour, we just decided to roam around. 

This is the Santa Maria Novella Church

This is a really nice church!

This is the Duomo in Florence!

We stumbled upon a lot of the stuff that we were going to see on our tour also!

So we met with the tour guide and started our tour!

We ended up back at the Duomo! It was soo detailed and intricate!

The Medici family owned this

It is now a library

Another better picture capturing the Duomo

And a close up!

The golden door!

A piazza with a carousel 

The leather markets! That's only some of them

The oldest chocolate shop

A nice view down one of the streets we passed by!

This is the Ponte Vecchio, it means old bridge

The view from the bridge

Me so happy to be in such a lovely place

And to have my good friends there with me!

Another shot off the bridge

There were stores selling jewelry and other expensive things that I could not afford on the bridge

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This is a view from a patio looking at the Ponte Vecchio, where we had just crossed!

Our tour guide told us this was the best gelato shop in all of Florence, so of course we got some! I got pear and chocolate, and it was delicious. The owner went to Gelato University in Rome (no joke!)...and I do not know how but I ended up getting the chocolate all over my white coat!

My friends and I with Pinocchio!

The palace of Florence! It was too big to get the whole thing in the picture!

The David! Not the real one because the real one is inside, but this is the one outside and looks exactly like the other one!

A tall pretty building!

Another statue near the David

Me in front of the fountain!

A guy on a horse, and I thought of Michele!

And another horse, so I thought of Meshul again!

We found the pizza place that the Jersey Shore cast worked at!

And of course we had to eat there, we got 2 margherita pizzas and one vegetable pie. It was delish.

We were not supposed to take pictures inside the restaurant, but Evelyna is a big Jersey Shore fan and got a pic with the door that Snooki hide in when she did not want to work.

We also found a Hard Rock Cafe! I so far have seen one in Belgium and Florence

This is the Jersey Shore house in Florence

And this is their door

This was again only part of the leather markets they had there!

We walked around the markets for a while, and tried to bargain with some people, but in the end it started pouring so we got out our umbrellas, made our way to the station, got on the bus, and went back to our hostel. We watched some Jersey Shore episodes while they were in Florence, and then went to bed because we were getting up early the next day for another free tour!! But since I have shown and written so much already, I will be sure to post tomorrow about DAY 2 in Florence, I hope the suspense does not kill you too much! Blog to you all tomorrow! 

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

Ciao,

<3 Lauren

I feel like Michele and Becca, so late on my posts! Oct. 15th - Oct. 25th

So, I know that I have been really bad about posting/updating my blog lately, but I have good reasons for it, I sware! But anyway, enough about being late (it seems to run in the family) and more about my adventures here! So where did I leave off......oh yeah, the week of October 15th. That week, I had classes, babysitting, and some field trips in 2 of my classes! Oh yea, and I met and heard Rutger Hauer talk (if you don't know him, IMDB it, that's what I did). So my first field trip was in my sociology class and we went to Museo di Novecento (Museum of the 19th century). Here are some pictures to ease your wonder:

This has something to do with Milan

These 3 are a series of paintings describing the migration into Milan

This one is just a random one I thought was pretty

Me and my friend Michele!

Some modern art!

A flower

This is on top of the ceiling and its a piece of art, oh how art these days can be literally anything.

This is the view of the Duomo from the museum

And the plaza in front of the Duomo

This architecture is just so unreal!

The next day I got the chance to go to a masterclass with Rutger Hauer who is a Dutch actor who was in movies such as "Blade Runner" and "Batman Begins". He was a bit boring to listen to, but he had some interesting things to day in between the hundreds of curses he was using!

There was a press conference before where journalists and paparazzi were asking questions and taking pictures.

Then there was a more intimate session where he answered students questions.

This is where he was talking. It the museum of cinema!

It was a nice experience to have and I am glad I went. I also got to know my Storytelling professor better and where she has worked in terms of the film industry, which cannot hurt in the long run to know her. My art class had a field trip the next day, but I couldnt take pictures, so sadly no pictures to show! It was just a lot of art that makes you think ALOT! So nothing too important.

That Friday, since I do not have class, I went to lunch with my friend Jill and we decided to walk around Milan a little and have a cooking fest. So we went to the grocery store, got all the stuff we needed and cooked a nice dinner and of course a dessert!

We made brown sugar and garlic chicken, garlic bread, and baked zucchini!

And the best part about the night was that we made Nutella cookies!! YUM!

The next day, Jill and I went to the flea market! YAY. I got so much stuff for 5 euro. I even got 12 bananas for 1 euro 15 cents! It ended up being that I bargained with him by just acting stupid, which was simple enough, so I got alot of bananas and later made banana bread with them! It was the greatest thing ever! Then Jill and I with our friend Anna went shopping around Milan. 

A nice fountain near the shopping center.

We went to this Kilo store where instead of having a price tag on each piece of clothing, you weigh the clothes and it shows you the price from there, which is really cool, however, not as cheap as we thought it would be. It was 80 euro for a SCARF! So we left that store and went to some outlets, which were also really expensive, so we did not buy anything but it was interesting to see the fashion in Milan. I mean its the fashion capital so that was fun to see it. From all our shopping we were really hungry, so we went to, get this......a BAGEL place. It was the first and only bagel place I have seen here. I got a chocolate chip bagel and it was okay, but we all know I am picky with my bagels and I will forever be faithful to NY bagels. 

Walking around there was a series of these creepy things that really are not people but looked like people.

I thought this person was gonna pop up and scare me, but she is fake!

Nice building!

More scary, fake people

The Galleria di Vittoria Emanuele II

An exhibit on the "fast train" that makes it to Rome in 2 hours and 45 minutes. 

A church, what else is new, there seems to be one around every corner!

And Ben and Jerrys!! My first time seeing one in Milan!

The next day, Sunday, I just did some studying and school work and a nice workout. I made my very first omelet here! It was a zucchini and cheese omelet and I made home fries on the side! 

That next week, was more class, working out, and no babysitting because they were away on vacation in Vienna. So I had a lot of time to myself which was nice and I got to hand out with my friend Jill more! And it gave me more time to prepare and pack for FLORENCE! Yes, thats right, I was leaving for Florence that Thursday evening and I was so excited. I planned this trip with my freinds a long time ago and it was finally here. As for the trip....you will hear about it in my other post which will be coming shortly! Now that I have filled you in on the weeks that I have missed, I need to go to sleep!

Keep a look out for my nest post about Florence, you wont be disappointed!

"Been up all night, staring at you. Wondering what's on your mind. I've been this way with so many before, but this feels like the first time." (love this song, check it out)

Love to all and glad everyone is safe from Sandy for the most part,

<3 Lauren