Florence, City of Statues/Naked Men

This past weekend, we traveled to Florence. It was amazing! We took a train early in the morning and arrived in Florence around 10:30am. Once we got to the station we found a bus that would take us to the hostel we were staying at. It was super confusing because we forgot to write down the directions on how to get there but we found it. It was about a 20 minute bus ride and the place we were staying at was a campsite that was on top of the hill that looked out over the city of Florence. It was beautiful! We stayed in 3 person tents that were actually quite comfortable. The only problem was that there was no air conditioning and Florence was on fire.

"our lovely tent"

But, we weren't spending too much time in our room so we didn't mind it. We got freshened up and took the bus back into the city. Some of the girls had booked a wine tour but, we were just down to explore the city so we split and started our journey. The city is beautiful with all of the buildings and statues. I loved it. 

After getting lost in the city, literally, we ended up on the other side of town. We were fortunate enough to find a bus stop close by and took it right back to our campsite. When we got back, we were all exhausted and hot. I took the coldest shower of my life and then crashed in our tent. When I woke up, I was drenched in sweat. It was SO hot. The group came back from their tour and we all had dinner at the restaurant at our hostel. Pizza, of course, and it was so good. After dinner, we walked up a small hill to the Piazza de Michaelangelo to see the beautiful city of Florence at night. There were street performers, vendors, music and a slight breeze and it was awesome. We tried to go dancing at one of the three clubs that were by our hostel but we totally failed. At one, we were too young, you had to be 23 but I think they lied to us. I think it was actually because we were under dressed but, whatever. We then tried to go dancing on top of this restaurants' roof but we were denied there because we didn't have reservations and it was full. And the other club we tried, we didn't know how to get into the entrance. So it was a big failure of a night as far as that goes. 

"View from our hostel"

"The Duomo in Florence"

"The Ferrari show going on in the middle of the Piazza"

"RAWRRR"

"Photo-Bombed by the Fountain"

"Famous Bridge"

That night, we all passed out and surprisingly, it cooled down to the point where I put on a blanket to keep me warm. The next morning when my alarm clock went off around 8am, I woke up singing because I was so nicely rested. I loved it. 

Pisa and Pizza, Two Different Things

Sunday morning, I woke up to birds chirping and a cool breeze. I felt like Snow White waking up in her cottage in a forest. We packed up all of our things and had breakfast at our hostel. 

"Tent Buddies"

"New H&M Dress"

The girls who went on the wine tour were unable to see Florence so we caught a bus back into the city and did a quick run through of the city again for them.  

"LSH LOVE"

"THE GIRLS"

"ROOMIES"

"Naked Statues"

After that, we caught a train to Pisa. When we got there, we had to walk a little over a mile down a street until we finally came to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be but, it was definitely leaning. It was SO cool and I can't believe I got to see another wonder of the world. I LOVE MY LIFE. After taking all of our pictures with the tower in the back, we stopped in at a cafe for lunch. I had a pizza which was delicious. The thing about the pizza here is that they are pretty big yet I feel like everyone is always able to finish them except me. So, I made it my goal to be able to finish a whole pizza by myself before the end of the summer. Challenge accepted.

"PISA"

"Peace Love Pisa"

"Throwing Up The Peace Signs"

After lunch, we caught a train back to Vicenza and crashed. While our planning wasn't very good for this weekend, it turned out pretty well and we got to see what we wanted too! Next week CINQUE TERRE.