Florence

The next day I went on my boyfriend Rick Steve's audio guide tour through Florence. It is such a great idea to have his tours on a podcast for FREE! It explains so much and it's like having your own personal tour guide. It ended at the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio. My dad told me before I left to look for a bridge with lots of gold. Ponte Vecchio was it because store after store was gold jewelry shops. It was quite glamorous and of course I took a peak at a few stores. I bought myself a present and got a pair of beautiful gold knot earrings. If you see me wear them, you know where I got them. After my tour, I headed to the gardens to walk around. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of plants and flowers but it had nice views of the center. I then went back to the hostel where I met up with the Australian girls and a new girl who moved in from New York (just moved from Seattle). She lived in the hostel when she studied abroad for 9months. We all went out to dinner at a place she said was a hot spot. It most certainly was with the crowds and pictures of celebrities who have eaten there in the past. I shared with my new New Yorker friend a truffle pizza and truffle sauce ravioli. If you can't tell, I LOVE truffle sauce and can eat it for days. Then she took us to the best gelato spot in Italy. GROM gelato. We knew it was popular with the line out the door. I tried Melon gelato since I was full and it was hot that day. It was fantastico. We then ate it in front of the Duomo and it was great realizing how nice it is to meet fellow travelers and learn about them. Another great day.

The next morning I met a girl who just moved in from Brazil who just moved to New York for Film School. We only met maybe an hour and we exchanged numbers so we could go together to Pisa for the day. We took the train around noon and it took an hour to reach the town Pisa.

I was told by other fellow travelers that the only thing to see in Pisa was the leaning tower of Pisa. Other than that there is nothing. They were right. The town was dirty and nothing but tourist traps. We just walked straight to the L.T.P and took the cheesy pushing pictures in front of it. It was a lot of fun actually and I dont care if it's unoriginal. :)

We then headed back to Florence and ate at the famous Italian restaurant again. This time I did not get truffle ravioli (surprise surprise) but I got seafood spaghetti. I have a new appreciation for seafood from living in the Czech Republic because we are SO far away from the ocean, you don't trust any seafood there.

It was really delicious with a nice glass of white wine. We then of COURSE went to GROM and got some amazing gelato. I think I ate my body weight in Gelato in Florence but they say it's the best in the world so I took advantage.

That evening Livia (girl from Brazil) and I bought a nice bottle of wine and wine glasses and wanted to drink it by the river during sunset. (How romantic right?) but one of the best things is the unexpected surprises. We stumbled upon a FREE classical concert in the Plaza Square. We took a seat with the large crowd, opened our Chianti, and sat for a couple hours listening to classical music with the Florence Orchestra.

After the concert ended, we went to a bar across the Ponte Vecchio and had a Brazilian cocktail. Knowing Livia, it really makes me want to visit Brazil one day! I was so happy to meet her and all of my hostel buddies, it made my trip to Florence a great great experience.