I left my apartment at 4:15 am on Thursday to go catch my bus to the airport at 5. My flight was on ryanair at 8:00 and so you have to catch the bus out to Girona about three hours before hand so it was a rather early morning. Once I landed in Pisa it was only 9 so I decided that I would go venture out and try and find the leaning tower on my own. Well when I got off the plane I asked the information desk and they said that I could catch a bus to take me to the leaning tower, then catch the same bus but opposite direction to take my to the train station, where I could then take a train into Florence. Well the lady failed to mention any bus stops she just said that the leaning tower was about a 10 minute bus ride. After being on the bus for about 15 minutes I had no idea where I was and I hadnt seen any leaning towers yet. I saw a hotel at the next bus stop so I decided to get off there and go and ask for directions. The hotel was located in a little square that had a huge wall behind it with arches leading to something. Well when I asked for directions to the tower and if I was close the lady must have thought I was crazy. The leaning tower was located just on the other side of the wall. Should have looked a little harder I guess. Well I walk through the arches and see the tower and the two other buildings that are by it. There is really nothing in Pisa at all. By the leaning tower there were so many tour groups of asians who were all trying to take the standard picture of them pushing over the tower or kicking it or leaning against it. I decided against those pictures since I was by myself but I did ask some people to take a few solo shots. By this time it was only like 9:45 and I didnt really know what else to do. I didnt need to be in florence til 12:15 so I was going to catch my train at 11. I went to see how much it would be if I was going to walk to the top of the tower and it was 15 euro so I said no thank you. I just walked about that area for a little bit, bought so postcards, and just people watched. After awhile I decided to try and figure out the bus and head back to the train station. Once again I didnt know what stop to take so after what seemed like a long time I got off to ask another hotel for directions. Well once again I was just around the corner from where the train station was. Once at the train station I bought my ticket for the train that left at 10:54 and it was about 10:53 so right when I walked on to the platform the train was leaving. Thankfully there was one leaving at 11:05 which was perfect. Well I guess you are suppose to stamp your train ticket which I didnt know and I thought I would get comfy on the train and put my feet up which is strictly forbidden. If you get caught doing it it is a 40 euro charge. Right when I put my feet up of course the conductor walked by, but he just looked at me and gave me a bad look and kept going thank god. Made it to florence all in one piece and found krissy. Krissy had class at 4 so we walked to her apartment set my stuff down, got some gelato, went to the best sandwich place ever and everything was so cheap, and then we went to Katie's apartment while Krissy went to class. At Katie's I just rested a little bit since I had a pretty long day. That night Krissy made us dinner and it was delicious and then we went to a bar did some karaoke. It was fun and I actually sang, but that is because we didnt have to stand on a stage just in the crowd hah.
Friday Krissy and I headed to Siena. It is a little over an hour train ride away from Florence. My friend Laura studied abroad there last semester and so I really wanted to see it. Siena is soo cute, but super small. I fell in love with the city immediately though. When I think of Tuscan Italy that is what I picture. Cute little houses with the green country side. It was so beautiful and quiet. There are barely any cars in the main part of the city. It was a nice be in a quiet city and get a break from the busy city life of Barcelona. We spent a couple hours just wandering the streets of Siena. I visited the Duomo in Siena which was awesome. It was one of the coolest churches I have been in because it is so different than all the rest. It wasnt the boring gothic cathedrals that every city has. It was blue and white stripped on the inside with dark blue ceilings that had little gold stars. After a few hours we headed back to Florence because Courtney was coming in and I needed a nap before we headed out for the night. That night we went to this restaurant called Dantes. It was great because they have a student special where college students get free wine all night long. We stayed there til 1:30 am just hanging out, eating the greatest bread ever, drinking wine, and enjoying everyones company. We went to dinner with Katie, Krissy, Courtney, Jacey, her roommate Blair who is from WSU also, and then Blair's friend from home(mercer island) was visiting from Paris with her roommate, and then Alex Bernasconi came down for the weekend also so it was just so fun all hanging out. By the time we left there wasnt much going on so we all just headed home and got a good night sleep.
Saturday was our day to tour Florence. Our first stop in Florence was Pitti Palace. It was right by Krissy's apartment which was nice and it was also really cool on the inside. We started off at the gardens because the weather was really and we werent sure if it would have changed by the time we were done on the inside. After walking through the gardens we went inside and looked at the costume collection. It was a collection of all different gowns dating from like the 1800s to the 1900s. They even had some of the original clothing from the Medici (spelling?) family which were the self-imposed royalty in Florence. It was really cool seeing those because they were so old. So old that the material on the clothes has actually started disappearing and so the outfits werent complete. After the Pitti Palace we met up with Katie and some of Krissy's friends and headed to PT. Michealangelo. We hiked up a million stairs but the view from the top was worth it. It over looked all of Florence and the countryside. It is so nice to see green grass because we never see that in Barcelona. Florence is such a beautiful city. We sat up there ate some bread and cheese and then after went and got some gelato. SOOO GOOD! after a little gelato we went to San Lorenzo which is a big area of people who try and sell you stuff like purses, italy shirts, bracelets, scarfs, leather jackets, and so on. I got myself two pairs of sunglasses and a black scarf. Krissy got a real Italian leather jacket. She really wanted one so that was exciting for her. After shopping we headed to the duomo. I was rather let down by the Duomo. The outside is so pretty but the inside sucks. The one in Siena is so much more beautiful. Next to the Duomo is this tower and so we decided to climb up it since it was cheaper than climbing up the dome and they were about the same height. Well 400 and something stairs later we made it. Boy was it a hard walk too. The higher you got the narrower the stairs got and there were people going up and down. It made me a little nervous at times but we made up and down all in one piece. The view from the top was amazing! you could see all of Florence. Its cool because there are no tall buildings in Florence really so the things that stick out are all the churches and important buildings. You could see forever up there minus it was a little hazing out. Once we trekked down all the steps we went to go see the David. The building that David is in is nothing special and I surprised they put him in such a boring building. You walk in and he is just right there. It is so awesome. I just stood and starred. he is so much larger than I imaged and it is so amazing. The detail and everything makes him look so life like. its kinda creepy. on his hands you can see vains and such. After a long day of sight seeing we went back to the apartment, rested, regrouped, and then went out to one last dinner. It was everyone who was here for the weekend and Krissys friends from Florence so I think there was about 12 of us at dinner and the food was good. All I ate that weekend was pizza but its just too good not to eat it. After dinner we went back to Katies apartment and hung out a little bit. When everyone was going to go out I was so exhausted and so was Jacey me and her decided to go and have a romantic meal at Mcdonalds and then go to bed. This girl I know from home was coming to Florence for spring break so my mom met her in Seattle and gave her my computer. So I stayed with Jacey Saturday night because she lives right by her.
Sunday morning, Me and Jacey went and got my computer!!!! headed back to krissys I packed up all my stuff and then headed to the train station. I needed to catch the train at like 12:30 so we just hung out at the station for a little bit, I headed back to Pisa somehow got on the right bus, made it to the airport all in once piece got on my plane and made to Barcelona with no complications. If you ask me it was a very successful weekend and it was great to see my friends and see where cara, kristen, and laura all studied.
This weekend Krissy, Katie and Courtney are all heading out to Barca so we can show them our city and its crazy lifestyle. I cannot wait! It will be so nice to be with all our friends, minus they are staying in our apartment so it may be a little squished but well make it work!
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