Well I have not written in a very long time and for that I apologize. I haven’t been doing much since I haven’t been traveling Europe. The last month has been fun but rather uneventful. I have been enjoying my time in Florence by going out, sleeping in and working hard at school. We have celebrated a few birthdays, which is funny because they were 21st birthdays…and how I remember that year, oh so long ago.
After our travels concluded, the first weekend was Halloween! So, we celebrated American-style, by getting dressed up and hitting the town. There were a bunch of us, and we were the cast of The Wizard of Oz. I was the Wicked Witch of the East, you know, the one who got the house dropped on her? It was pretty fun, but it was basically the beginning of the cold rainy season, so the weather was not enjoyable. All in all, it was a pretty fun night, but definitely nothing compared to Halloween in America.
That weekend, was pretty low-key for me, because my roommates were out of town (which was great) and I decided, I needed a weekend to myself and to rest. So, I strolled around Florence, buying souvenirs for people and doing a little shopping for myself. I stumbled upon a great antique market and found 2 vintage Gucci hand bags, which I immediately purchased of course. I also found some cute little dishes that were hand painted and made in Florence, so I bought them as well. How I am going to get them back into the States, I have no idea, but I guess, I will figure that out later. There were so many cool things there that I wanted to buy everything, but unfortunately, funds are limited, so I had to settle with those things.
The next weekend was Ashley’s (one of the other girls) 21st birthday. It was a typical night out until the end, when some girl tried to pick a fight with me. Why I get picked on everywhere, I will never know, but whatever. This girl kept throwing her coat on me (at our table, at which she was not) so I kept removing it from my lap. Well, after a few things had piled up, I asked the owner if he could ask them to move their things, because there wasn’t enough room to sit down with all of their stuff there. So he did, and she of course got a big attitude. So, she threw her coat on me again and I moved it again and she then punched me in the face! I was absolutely shocked, and managed to just laugh. I figure me laughing in her face was a lot more mean than me hitting her and I didn’t look trashy. She definitely didn’t like that, so then she started to yell at me in some language I do not understand. I told the owner again what had happened and he radioed for the bouncers to throw her out. In the mean time she spit her drink in my face, and then when I had my back turned, she raked her disgusting nails across my back. By that time the bouncer had just arrived to see all of this, and physically removed her. She went out with a fight too, I don’t know what her problem was, but I showed restraint (as hard as it was) and feel that even though I now have scars on my back from her, I came out on top by not looking like a piece of trash starting a fight at a club. After this incident, we all decided it was time to turn it in for the night and rightfully so.
Sunday of that weekend, we went to see a soccer game! It was Fiorentina vs. (someone else…) It was interesting to see, but the section we were in was a little boring. We bought jerseys and scarves though so we definitely looked the part of the Fiorentina soccer fans. They won, so it was good…but I must admit slightly boring. Nothing beats American football.
The next weekend we went to Milan. This was a school trip, so we had “school things” to do, but it was still fun! We started out by visiting some notable shops in the area, which were all really interesting. Then we went to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” It was so cool to see in person. It is a huge secco (a different type of fresco) and it preserved pretty well considering its age. It is fading in areas such as the feet and some of the faces, but overall it still looks great. For those of you who have read “The Da Vinci Code” it does look like a woman seated next to Jesus, but with most things, I think the translation is left to the individual viewer and shaped by their experiences and openness. After seeing the painting, which by the way, you get 15 minutes to see it, you are funneled in like cattle and then when your time is up they bark at you over the PA and then you are funneled out. It’s very strange. Anyway…after seeing the painting we headed to our hotel to check in and freshen up. Afterwards we went to the Galleria, which is like a mall but is original to the town. It holds many restaurants and shops and is home to the original Prada store. It was very cool inside; it had many original items and a lot of museum-type pieces. After that we went to the Armani Super Store, which contained every Armani label under one roof. They had a very cute little café/bar so we of course had a cocktail and some mini-sandwiches before heading off to dinner. We found a cute little restaurant which had very interesting food. I had pumpkin ravioli with a cheese fondue sauce with cocoa on top. It was very good, but very sweet and dessert like. Following dinner we walked around enjoying Milan and found a very cute hip bar that we were definitely not cool enough to even be in. But, we managed to have a good time. The next day we scoped out all of the vintage stores and found some very interesting items, but being in a large city, all were over priced so I left empty handed.
That Sunday we decided to go horse-back riding in Tuscany (Ruffina to be exact) it was the perfect day! It was a cool, crisp fall day with the sun shining. Perfect!!! It was a two hour ride through vineyards and fields and wooded areas. It was absolutely beautiful. My horse, Cidia, was a dream to ride. She was very responsive and attentive, she was great. It was probably one of my favorite things we have done in Italy as it was such a great way to see the countryside and enjoy it as well.
The next week, we went to Sienna with school. It is a small town about an hour from Florence and is a very interesting place to visit. There are scenes from the new James Bond movie filmed there during an event they call the “Paolo” which is a horse race through the city. It’s a very big deal to the people of Sienna and they are very divided on it as well. Each person belongs to a different neighborhood in Sienna. There are rivals, flags, mascots, songs and specific areas. They take it very seriously. Our tour guide (who was Samantha Brown’s twin…if you are a travel channel fan…) was an honorary member of one of these neighborhoods and is only one of eleven Americans who hold this honor. She was a great tour guide and was full of interesting facts and knowledge. Sienna was a very beautiful place and I suggest visiting if you are ever in Florence.
This was about all of the fun I had until Ben came to Italy…which was for Thanksgiving break.
Ciao!
