Florence, Part Two

Monday, March 8

At 6:45 am we were up and moving, preparing for another day. We grabbed our last chocolate croissant in Rome and headed to the Termini station once more to catch the 8:22 train to Florence. After a quick bus ride, we arrived on our side of Florence and were set free to find our hostel. Stunned by the incredible change in weather, we walked up and down the same street multitple times before we found our hidden gem of a hostel. Turns out no one really knew where this place was located. We checked in and the man behind reception was incredibly helpful, offering maps and suggestions for sightseeing. The room was very nice and cozy.



Seeing as we were all hungry, he suggested we head to Mario's for lunch, and boy are we glad we listened because it was delicious!

While searching for canolis, we came across a neat outdoor leather market. Vendors from all sides entertained us as they tried to persuade us to buy their artistic creations. I ended up buying a leather belt (to replace my broken one of course) and a scarf!



The leather market was conveniently located next to the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the burial place of members of the Medici Family.




After some shopping and sightseeing, we finally found our canoli from a small shop called Gelateria Carabe.



Credit for our next destination is awarded to Molly who suggested we use this time to go visit the Duomo, or the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore.




We embarked upon another huge climb, and this time managed to conquer all 463 steps to reach the top. With the drop of temperature, we were freezing at the top, but managed to hang around long enough to enjoy the beautiful view.

After the long descent down the narrow staircases, we headed back to the hostel for a tea break to warm up. That night we enticed ourselves with more gelato before we met up with Molly's friend Giacomo from home. He is studying in Florence for the semester and we were fortunate enough to have a local show us around for the night.

Tuesday, March 9

Our 7:30 am alarm alerted us to the fact that snow flurries filled our window. We stopped at a bakery across the street for a quick capuccino and set out for the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge across the River Arno that is filled with little shops.






We crossed the bridge, checked out a couple of the shops, and then headed up up to the Plaza de Michelangelo for another fun view of Florence. Right after crossing the bridge, I ran into Madeline, a friend from high school who is studying in London for the semester. I could not believe it! Out of all of the places in the world and I see a familiar face in the outskirts of Florence. It truly is a small world. We took advantage of the fact that these were "free stairs," as we had to pay for both St. Peter's and the Duomo steps, and we quickly hurried to the top.





As it was snowing in the morning, the high altitude was freezing and our hands were soon numb. We made our way down the steps to the Uffizi Gallery, which holds the painting of The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. While waiting in the hour line, we met three older women from Kentucky who were incredibly fascinated by our travels and wanted to hear all about them. They were so sweet, and the time passed quickly as we made our way to the front. The museum was beautiful and filled with artwork and it took us a good bit to feel as though we had seen enough.



Hungry from our morning's adventure, we met up with Giacomo who introduced us to an unknown novelty of Florence: three euro paninis! These sandwiches were incredibly filling and delicious and cannot be explained properly without a picture.




Next stop was the Gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti, home of the original Michelangelo sculputre, David. We were not allowed to take pictures of the exhibit, but I must say the statue was much larger than I had imagined and was pretty neat to see.

We called it an early night as we searched google for last minute travel plans. Looking forward to the rest of the trip, I couldn't help thinking that I wished the time would slow down. Next stop, Venice!

"When In Rome..." Start of Spring Break

Friday, March 5

"When in Rome," became a very common phrase as we embarked upon our nine day adventure through Italy and France. The trip officially began at 4:00 am and from there Molly, Tara, Meghan, Caroline and I headed to the Dublin airport to catch a flight to the beautiful city of Rome.

After arriving at the airport, we hit our first and only real obstacle of the entire journey: the Ryanair luggage restrictions. Now for five girls traveling for nine days, we had all packed pretty economically and each had only one small bag. This apparently was not good enough, and we were told at the gate that Meghan's bag would not fit and she was forced to check her backpack. (I mention this only because it continues to haunt us throughout the trip, and by the end merely became a laughing matter.)

After arriving in Rome, we took a shuttle bus to Anagnina and then a metro to the Termini stop. My first realization of language differences came when I was corrected with my very incorrect pronunciation of Anagnina. Overall, the language barrier throughout the trip was not a significant problem. Most people were able to speak English and Molly was a huge help with her impressive Italian skills.

We checked into our hostel and found that our room was beautiful, complete with our own bathroom! By this point we were all very hungry so we set out for some pizza and sightseeing. With map in hand, we headed to our first destination: the Colosseum. Stopping only to have my first taste of real Italian pizza and to double check the map, we managed to find our way, only getting lost for a short time.


As we made our way inside, it started to pour! After living in Ireland for two months now, you would have thought we would have been prepared for such weather, but the blue skies that had welcomed us to Rome had caught us off guard and we were soon soaked as we explored the Colosseum.






At this point, entrance to the Roman Forum was closed for the day and we were all soaked, so we decided to head back to the hostel to dry off and take a nap.

We did not leave without trying an interesting Italian pastry, what Molly and I referred to as "the brick." Not my favorite piece of Italian cuisine, but an interesting one nonetheless.

The rest of the night consisted of our first delicious Italian meal. We found a very cute restaurant, the Ristorante la Tavernetta, near the Trevi fountain and I enjoyed a meal of lasagna that literally melted in my mouth. With this meal behind us, we could not comprehend how the Italians were not all overweight, for we had instantly fallen in love with this food.



We visited the Trevi Fountain and threw in our three coins. Catherine informed us of the legend of the coins. One coin means you will come back to Rome, two means you will fall in love in Rome, and three means you will get married in Rome. Hopefully three is good luck, because we threw in these coins before the explanation, but I'll see how it all plays out.





The night ended on a sweet note with Gelato.
This Italian ice cream captured my heart and my stomach and provided extra incentive to take the stairs when at all possible for the rest of the week.

Saturday, March 6

We were delighted to see the sun shining bright and early as we prepared for another busy day in Rome. We each grabbed a croissant (with nutella) from a corner bakery for breakfast and I had my first taste of cappuccino. Delicious. Now, I had been in Rome for almost 24 hours and was feeling completely out of place because I had not seen Catherine. (Catherine is my roommate at Pitt and is studying in Rome for the semester). Our internet place happened to be closed that day, so I had come to the conclusion that if I was meant to find her in this big city I would. It could not have worked out better. Five minutes outside the Vatican, I see a sign for an internet cafe! Long story short, I was able to get in contact with her and we reunited inside the Vatican Museum. My heart continued to pound after she arrived; I was just too excited.

With my great luck, I had the most informative Vatican tour guide that I could ask for. Catherine took us all through the museum into the Sistine Chapel. Words can not describe how beautiful the inside of the Chapel was, and with Catherine's help I was able to understand the beautiful Fresco style paintings that covered every inch of the room.



Outside the Museum.


One of the many beautiful hallways leading up to the Sistine Chapel.

We had a quick stop for Gelato at what Catherine deemed to be the best Gelato she has tried. I trust Catherine's judgment, and quickly realized why she had fallen in love so quickly.


Next stop was St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.








We then headed back to the Roman Forum in time to use our 24 hour tickets which we had bought the day before. We had just enough time to walk through and see the remains of some incredible ruins.





Slightly exhausted by this point, we climbed the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuel for a break and a fun view of Rome.





After, the group went back to the hostel and I followed Catherine back to her apartment to see where she has been living (because I just had to know!) and meet her roommates. It was so refreshing to catch up with her, even if it was just for a short time. When I returned to the hostel, we changed quickly and headed out to Trastevere, a very charming area of town that gave us a true sense of the Italian culture. We were lucky enough to meet up with Catherine, Mary and Daniel.


Sunday, March 7

We had quite the surprise on Sunday morning. I received a text from Catherine when we were inside St. Peters, informing us that the Pope was outside speaking to a huge crowd. We quickly ran to join and were able to hear him speak in English. It was quite the experience and I feel fortunate that the timing worked out so well. Following this excitement, we stayed for the Italian mass at St. Peters which was beautiful, even if I could only understand about five percent.


Our next adventure was climbing the 551 steps up to the top of St. Peter's. Quite out of breath by the time we reached the top, we stopped for a break as we took in the beautiful view from the top.






After a quick stop from Catherine's famous gelato stand, we headed off for some more sightseeing. Next stop was the Piazza del Popolo.




followed by the Spanish Steps...


and the Pantheon! (Which, by the way, I was able to find using the map! My first time with a map in Rome and I was successful.)




After such a jam packed day, we were all pretty exhausted and ready to relax. We decided to head back to the Trevi Fountain where we sat and chatted as the sun went down. A perfect ending to our time in Rome.



We all looked with excitement to our next adventure: Florence!

Back in Dublin

This post should have been written last night, but when we arrived back in Dublin at 11:30 pm local time, my mind was too exhausted to articulate all that we had done. After a refreshing night of sleep, I am on the path to recovery from the nine day adventure and will be recapping our journey very soon!

For now, reality seems to have a hold on me as I realize that we do not have any food in our apartment. Plans for the day include grocery shopping, unpacking and some intense blogging. I start my internship tomorrow morning so things are happening quickly, but I am looking forward to recapping our travel experience.

"Sounds Rather Good"

I am very sad to report that we had our last music class tonight. The past seven weeks have flown by as we've dabbled in the art of Irish music. Now ready for the professional life, or at least that of the pubs, we played as a group for the last time. The night did not proceed as usual; we were blessed with the opportunity to play with some real live Irish musicians! Our teacher invited three guests who played the accordion, fiddle and guitar and he took his turn on the banjo. To say we had a blast was an understatement. Huge smiles were plastered on everyone's faces as we had the opportunity to participate in the unique and lively style of music. When class was nearly over, we had the group play one last song for us, which I recorded! I will post it soon! It was neat to see the expression of the other musicians as they watched us play our Bodhran's; you could tell they were impressed! I saw the one woman say to the other, "wow, only six weeks!" Overall, a wonderful experience and one that I am very sad to see end so soon. We are all hoping to eventually purchase a Bodhran to take home with us so we can continue playing after we leave.

Reality hits once the Bodhran is put away because it's time to study for finals. Here is a quick run down of the week:
- Wednesday: History Final
- Thursday: Sociology Final
- Friday: start of Spring Break and off to Rome!