Masks and Sunsets

Earlier I set a goal of one blog post per week but I may need to update that since it’s been less and I’m already struggling a bit to remember everything. Oops.

Wednesday night was Michelle’s birthday so a large group of us had dinner at Il Gatto e La Volpe to help her celebrate her 21^st! As we finished eating, the restaurant turned out all the lights, sang happy birthday, presented Michelle with cake, and then smeared chocolate on her face. Shortly afterwards, 2 of the waiters came and kissed some of the chocolate off of her face!!

Thursday I had my wine tasting class! Evidently there is a LOT more to learn, but so far I was briefly introduced to the topics of tannins and acids as well as the basic difference between red and white wine. Each week we will taste 4 different wines and learn about the process of making the wine as well as the different characteristics and how to determine a good quality wine. Sometime in April we will take a field trip and take a tour of a winery in Chianti!

Friday was Nadege’s last day in Firenze, so before she left we walked around the city a little on Thursday afternoon and then said our “see you later”s around 1 on Friday. She has invited Jackie and me to stay with her at her home a little later in the semester- she lives about 30 minutes away from Paris and would like to show us around the city!

Later that afternoon, Jackie and I met up with Deanna and a new friend- Farrah- and walked to the central market. I was able to get a genuine leather wallet for 15 euros and Deanna got some gloves! We also stumbled across a chocolate fair/event going on and got to try several free samples of chocolate which I definitely didn’t mind. :)

I had dinner (pesto pasta and the Italian version of fried meatballs) with the Ricci’s and Jackie, before meeting up with other friends at Emily’s apartment and socializing/watching Mean Girls.

Saturday I went to Venice!! My day started at 7 AM with a shower and then 7:30 breakfast with multiple small cups of expresso. I met up with Deanna, Shelby, Marina, and Madeline to walk from the duomo to Burger King (our bus stop). We were supposed to leave at 9, but we probably ended up actually leaving around 9:30 or 9:45. The drive took about 3 and a half hours, not including a 30 minute stop for a bathroom/snack break. We arrived in Venice around noon-ish and then boarded a boat to take us directly to St. Marc’s Square.

After seeing a very short glass blowing demonstration, we found lunch and wandered around a little. Venice was very crowded since the Carnevale festival was in full swing. There were many people in traditional costumes and masks (as well as some dressed as other characters such as spiderman and smurfs), and we also got to catch a small glimpse of the parade going on that day!

Around 4,many people opted to take a Gondola ride, however since I did that the last time I came to Venice I decided to spend my time on land exploring something new. I walked around the Academia section of Venice with Margaret. I think this was my favorite part of the day, as it was the most unstructured and we were able to just wander and truly enjoy the beautiful city. We stopped for cappuccinos and also postcards. We even ventured as far as the Ponte Realto (the famous bridge of Venice that allows you to cross the Grand Canal) before running back to meet everyone else.

Even though we were only given about 45 minutes for dinner we still managed to find a nice place with excellent pasta (although slightly pricy) and get back to the meeting point on time. However our one mistake was not using the bathroom at the restaurant. I (and a couple others) ended up having to pay 1.50 euro to use the public restrooms. :(

To return to the bus we ended up walking about 40 minutes instead of taking the boat- I think they may only run during daylight. After we got back to the parking area, we got on the bus and drove back to Florence- finally arriving around midnight. Needless to say, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn’t wake up until 11 or so the next morning.

On Sunday, Jackie and I had a nice cup of coffee with Deanna and then lunch at a different store. While lunch wasn’t necessarily bad, it also probably isn’t a place I’ll return to. I had a plate full of vegetables that I felt had been missing from my diet the past week or so. Jackie and I then returned home to help Sofia bake a cake! Or…rather, to watch her make a cake. We were slightly useless as the recipe was fully in Italian and most of the words were unfamiliar to me. 

Later, we met up with others from HPU (most of the interior design class of 2016) and walked up a giant hill to Piazza Michelangelo to view the sunset. Wow. Such an amazing view of the entire city of Florence, as well as the surrounding area!

Dinner was at Gusta Osteria; I had my favorite pasta here: gnocchi. When I returned home I had planned to skype with various friends, but the internet was out. :( It hasn’t returned today, so I’ve been kind of camped out at the library which works, but certainly isn’t ideal.

This morning/afternoon I also met up with a new friend- Angie. We had lunch and then we finally made it to News Café to get the famous cappuccinos with drawings on the top. Mine was a bear and Angie got a replica of a Picasso painting!

Fingers crossed that the wifi signal is working when I get home tonight!!