Florence (Firenze)

My quick little trip to Florence was nice, except for the oppressive heat and humidity. It about 100 degrees each day I was there. I just heard all my Texan readers laughing at that silly low number, but I feel like I should also point out that I was outside for most of it,and my hostel didn't have air conditioning. Ugh!

Upon arriving in Rome, my travel partner and I roamed around a little bit. The streets of Florence are famously small. The sidewalks are maybe a foot or two wide, a d the small side streets can only hold one car at a time. The streets twist and turn and often change names, so it's easy too get lost (and I did a few times). We got some dinner at a pizza place and then my travel buddy was like, I'm tired, I'm going back to the hostel. It was only 8pm so I roamed around by myself for a while, including a nice walk along the river Arno. A coouple of hours, a gelato, and a glass of prosecco later, I was back in my hostel.

The next morning we got up early for the pret fabulous free breakfast offered by the place. And for the free walking tour around the city. Florence is surprisingly compact, so you can walk to just about wherever you want to go. We schlepped around with our group, saw lots of piazzas and palazzos and churches. It's so amazing so see buildings from the 1200s, still functional and still beautiful. We ate pizza and drink beer on the street for a bit and at around 2, my travel buddy was once again tired. I dropped her off at the hostel and continued to roam around some more. You can not do so much walking, so hopped on a city bus and took it up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a square way up on a hilltop, overlooking all of Florence. Really beautiful!

I'm such a bad girlfriend. Chris had asked for one of the blue Italia futball shirts and I totally got him one.....and then I wore it to go and watch the game. :) We grabbed a bottle of wine from our hostel and headed for a local park where they had set up a giant screen to watch the game. I think we all know how the game ended up! It was still awesome being there for it.

This morning more hostel breakfast, more sightseeing. My travel buddy was still tired, so I went out with two of my dorm roommates. I almost didn't get into one of the churches because of my shorts and bare shoulders, but thanks goodness for the scarf I had in my bag. Yet another glass coffin, but this one didn't even have a mask or anything, so AWESOME. Hello skull!

So right now I'm on the Frecciargento train, headed for Rome. Its my last stop in Italy and, to be quite honest, I'm ready to go. I hear that Paris is supposed to be in the 70s today, so that's more my speed. On one last note...I now totally understand the appeal of Starbucks, McDonalds, etc, in foreign countries. People like to be all, why would you eat there when you're in a fabulous food place?! Well, because you want something familiar. When you've been on the road for a long time, and youve had pizza for your last 6 meals, sometimes all you want to do is order something familiar, and know its going to turn out exactly how you want it to. Chris mentioned breakfast tacos yesterday and I was like, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm tacos. I would almost kill for some Taco Bueno MexiDips right now.