Florence-take two + Cinque Terra

Angie, Alicia & I in Cinque Terra
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Although I had already traveled to Florence previously this semester, I wanted to return not only to see parts that I had missed out on during our breif visit, but also to purchase a few Christmas gifts at the leather market.  I rode the train down with two other girls, Brenda and Lesile.  We arrived around 8AM on Friday morning and delayed going to the Florence program house in order to ensure that everyone was awake.  We instead ate breakfast at Cafe Liberte around the corner.  By about 9AM we headed over to the house, and though many of our friends were still asleep we hung out for a while.  That afternoon, as many of my friends had a little bit of homework to complete, I went over to the leather market by myself.  I bought some fabulous Christmas gifts of which I cannot mention right now, but everyone will soon find out!  I planned on goign to see the David as well, but decided that I did not want to try and find it by myself.  Instead I headed back tothe house.  By about 6PM, our friends from the London program arrived.  We all got dressed up and went out for dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant (obviously!).  Afterwards a few individuals got gelato and then we made our way over to the Pontiveccio, the famous Firenze bridge.  It was chilly, but beautiful.  From the Pontiveccio we went to a club called Dolce Sucre.  We received free champagne and "danced the night away" Haha.  All in all, the night was definitely a good time.

Cinque Terra
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Saturday morning we woke up early and took a train up to Cinque Terra, which consists of five cities along the Mediterrean Sea.  While we wanted to hike all five it just wasn't realistic.  Therefore, we walked along the ocean for a while, then trained it up third city for dinner.  The restaurant we ate at was probably the only place in the city, and the woman serving us spoke only Italian!  It was beautiful to sit down for dinner, however, and watch the sun set on the water.  We finally made it up to the fourth and fifth cities when it became dark.  While it would have been fun to see them in the daylight, the night added a sort of mysteriousness to the small fishing villages.  Overall, the day was SO much fun, especially since I had the opportunity to hang out with some very missed friends!

Saturday morning we woke up early and took a train up to Cinque Terra, which consists of five cities along the Mediterrean Sea.

Alicia & I in Cinque Terra
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Sunday morning we woke up early to take the twelve hour train ride back to Heidelberg.  yuck!