Weekend Trip 1 - Florence

Oh, where to begin. So, we decided to go on this trip super last minute (as in the night before) and didn’t secure everything before we left. We went through a lot of difficulties this morning.

Missing the train

So. First, we thought the train ride we booked at dinner was the train station close to where we stay (about a 20 minute walk). Haley and I were up early and going ahead of Oliver and Evan to get espresso, and then standing at the coffee bar about to order, we realized that the train station was not the one we thought it was and was actually 1.5 away. What a joy! Yeah, so we ended up calling the boys, also on our always half-working cell service phones, and told them. Not being discouraged, we rebooked another train over coffee!

Getting lost in a parking garage

Next, I was leading the pack to this train station we have never been to in a still unfamiliar city and followed my Maps into a parking garage so different than one in the US. Before this, we hiked up probably the steepest hill I’ve seen in Rome yet. The parking garage only went down and did not connect to the main road above it, which when we entered was 5 stories above us. We literally had no idea where we were going and climbed to the top only to go all the way down to an even lower level than where we started. It was unbelievable. On this bottom floor we found a ton of buses and a guy who didn’t speak English, but led us toward the station. We ended up coming out of a tunnel at Saint Peter’s Square. It was a great surprise!

Day 1

Finally, we made it to Florence where we saw and did everything we could in a day. We checked into a hotel set for 2 people for the four of us. It’s confusing, but basically it was in a great location and we knew we could figure something out (and we did). We immediately went for paninis at I Fratellini after getting situated. They were great!

Later, we walked around some to see the free monuments. Then we to the Gucci museum obviously and to the museum to see the David and all the other beautiful art work.

When we were looking at everything, it was crazy to imagine how people spent such attention to detail and how beautiful it all was. Since I have a love of sculpting myself, I know how hard details can be and when I see statues like the David, I am in awe. I couldn’t help but think about how much detail God thought and put into us during creation. It’s hard to even comprehend how impressive and loving God is. To create a human to also have the ability to create art for so many enjoy is such a gift. To God goes all the glory.

For dinner, all of us split two Bistecca alla Fiorentia. Gosh, it was great.

Then, of course, it was gelato time. I, however, decided I was going to try a cannoli and I have no regrets. I discovered they’re great.

We ended our night hanging out and going in and out of bars where other study abroad students suggested we go. The image below is from a rooftop bar we went to solely for the view and it was gorgeous. They were all pretty fun and different from one another.

We struggled to get the key open on 1/3 of the doors at the hotel, almost to the point where we were going to call the hotel manager and risk getting in trouble. Then finally Oliver, I think, got it open.

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Day 2

Up bright and early trying to hopefully not get in trouble for having 4 of us in the room. Haley and I ran out first and went to the cafe we were meeting for our grand tour. We got there and had a good small breakfast. Meanwhile, the boys were in the hotel getting free breakfast on their way out. On their jolly way to the pick up spot, they end up following directions to the wrong place. Once they got there they realized it was the wrong place and came to meet everyone a little late. But don’t worry, we ended up being fine because they ran (as seen below).

We had no idea what to expect on this tour because we got horseback riding, a 3 course lunch, tour of San Gimignano, and wine tasting for a cheap price.

When we got there after a 50 minute drive in a stick shift minivan (which our driver drove quite well), we were amazed by the view. It was crazy. You can see San Gimignano off in the distance on the mountain. For the most part, it was an untouched town since it was created. We got the "best gelato in the world" and heard some history about the town.

We went horseback riding all over the winery. If you know Evan, you should ask him about how his horse ride was. If you don’t, basically his horse didn’t like listening to him and preferred running him into everything. You can see in one of the photos below where he’s all the way on the side of us trotting along. How sweet!

The truffle lasagna they gave us at dinner had to be one of the best things I’ve ever had. Our tour guide also has great music and was super funny so he made the tour even better.

Once we were driven back to Florence, we had a 2 hour wait for our train ride of course only to miss it. We were already at the train station just waiting for the train and it ended up being on the other platform. We ended up seeing another train going to somewhere in Rome so we hopped on that. Its our first day of school tomorrow, so I’m sure you know how we would feel about getting back at 11:30 now.

Overall, great trip with this group. They're all great people and I'm blessed to have such great friends. I am not sure if we would have survived some situations if it wasn't for Haleys courageous personality. She is always the first person to go ask someone a question if we are confused, which ended up being so helpful. Oliver and Evan are always entertaining to be around because they're both so funny.

I’ll let you know how school goes, if I make it there. Haha, laugh a little.

♡,

Monroe (almost) in Rome