Italy! Part Two

The next morning, we drove on the bus from Venice to Florence, which took about 2 hours. We passed snow on the way there, but the weather in Florence was good. In Paris, before I left, I had bought a black cardigan with rabbit fur collar (15 euros!) and a blue leather jacket which I ended up wearing all over Italy because it was stylish and kept me warm. I'm wearing them in many of my pictures...

I loved Florence, it looked the way I imagined Rome would look. The shopping was pretty good, but it wasn't the only thing to do there, the way it was in Venice. When we got to Florence, we went to the hotel which was right in the center of the city, and immediately went to a leather demonstration. The guy was telling us how to tell real leather from fake leather (he said don't go by smell because that can be faked, and fake leather can feel just as soft as real leather. Check the underside of the leather to see if it's suede. Fake leather will just have fabric.) I made him inspect my jacket, purse, and boots afterward. Only the purse was synthetic, which I had expected because it was inexpensive. Two out of three aint bad...

The store was overpriced, so Emily and I went off on our own to shop and explore. There were lots of cheap stands everywhere around the city. I bought a leopard print belt that I was strangely drawn to. I don't even wear belts, but I'm going to start. I was also compelled to purchase this belt in Rome later; it was dark brown Dolce and Gabbana knockoff and had a D&G buckle. 10 euros each.

We also went on a walking tour through Florence. The city is very small and charming with narrow streets. We went past the outdoor replica of Michelangelo's David. Supposedly, Michelangelo and DaVinci hated each other and were very competitive with each other.

After the tour, we wandered more. Emily really wanted to get a gold ring, so we went to a bunch of jewelry stores. I wasn't even looking to buy any jewelry for myself but I ended up seeing this silver charm bracelet for 30 euros and bought it for myself. It looks like it has coins on it. I wore it all through the next week in the hostel because I didn't want to take it off because it might get stolen.

The Duomo, a big cathedral:

This is a bronze pig. Rub its nose and you'll return to Florence. So of course, as soon as the tourguide told us that, we dashed over and rubbed its nose.

Florence was a city of gelato! Oh, who am I kidding? EVERY city was a gelato city!

Eventually, we ate pizza and went back to the hotel. That night, we went to a discotheque called Space Electronic and I got a Pina Colada. The club was fun in a dorky sort of way. It was mostly all American tourists and people from our tour and not very crowded since it was a Wednesday night. We passed a sportsbar on the way home and went in for a minute. There were a bunch of drunk Italians singing in the streets because Rome had beaten Madrid in soccer.

The next day, Emily and I strategically planned our last day in Florence. Up at 7, hotel breakfast at 7:30, then we went to find the Galerie del Academia (aka the real Michelangelo's David). The museum was a bit hard to find but it was empty since we got there so early. We weren't allowed to take pictures but Emily secretly took a picture of me with the David that I posted earlier. We then went to the Uffizi museum, although along the way we were distracted by Italian Cosabella underwear.

At the Uffizi, there was a big crowd of people. It took about 30 minutes to get inside, but we stuck it out because I really wanted to see The Birth of Venus. I think that was my favorite piece of art I saw in Italy. We walked through the museum in about 45 minutes and then felt like we'd seen everything. Ooh, and Emily and I got in for free! Entrance was supposed to be 10 euros, but since we're art students in Paris, we got in for free. I had to argue with the guy a bit, but it worked.

After the Uffizi, we went to a few department stores. See, I had had a dream the night before that I bought a fake red leather wallet. I was looking at the stands and saw a fake red leather "Valentini" wallet for 30 euros. I passed on it, and went to a department store where I bought a beautiful red leather real Valentino wallet for only 25 euros! I think the dream was a warning not to buy the fake one. It was also fate, because my change pouch that I'd been using as a wallet fell apart the day earlier.

So that was Florence (aka Firenze). The only other dramatic thing that happened was that we thought we were supposed to meet the rest of the tour at 12pm to leave, but it turned out we were supposed to meet at 11:45. When we got to the hotel at 12, everyone was gone and we freaked out, grabbed our bags, and ran with them to the Duomo where we thought the bus was. Emily called our tour guide on the phone and we eventually found them, very out of breath.

So we drove from Florence back to Rome, which took a few hours with stops. Once we got to Rome, we walked around a bit around the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. It was raining lightly, but Emily and I stayed on our own after the tour left to have dinner (pizza, what else?) by the Trevi Fountain. The pizza place had pictures on the walls of the movie La Dolce Vita, including the famous scene where the woman splashes around in the Trevi Fountain in a black dress. It was then that I first formulated my plan to fall into the Trevi Fountain.


This plan was carried out a week later! I would post video, but I need to find my camera cord.

So the next day in Rome, it rained again. We went to the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain again and threw coins in. You're supposed to throw them in with your right hand over your left shoulder. The first coin means you will return to Italy. The second coin means you can make a wish. The third coin means you'll marry an Italian. So Emily and I sealed our fate, threw in 3 coins, and took video of us doing it.

We went back to the hotel and had one more surprise. Serena was there when we walked in! I had expected her to arrive the following day and so had she, but she apparantly booked her ticket for one day earlier than we had thought. It turns out everything was pushed up a day from what I had thought. I expected Emily to stay one more day, but she left the next morning. And Serena apparantly had an insane time trying to catch her flight. Her plane left at 7am, and she didn't realize that she was flying a day early until the night before. So she got stranded on the last metro, wandered through a dangerous area of Paris, hitchhiked to the train station, and slept outside until the station opened. Then came to our hotel, wandered around and waited for us to get back. She was exhauusted, and very on edge.

So the next day, Emily left really early in the morning and Serena and I checked into our hostel!