An AMAZING weekend in Italy!

WOW!  This weekend was truly one of the best weekends I have had in Italy!  Angela, Juliet (my roommate) and I left on Thursday night for FLORENCE!  I owe Jill Brody for an absolutely AMAZING trip!  She made a google map of everything to do in Florence!  She also has two great friends, Lorenzo and Besi, in Florence that met up with us and showed us all over Florence!  They took us out on our vespas on Thursday night and showed us Florence by night - it was absolutely amazing!  Friday we went to see the David - SO AMAZING!  I seriously don't think I have ever seen something so magnificent in my life!  The hour and a half wait was well worth it!  I took pictures and almost got escorted out of the museum  - opps!  After seeing the David we went to eat at Yellow Bar Pizzeria - one of Jill's suggestions!  After some pizza we went to the Duomo!  None of us had ANY idea we would be climbing 463 steps and going to the VERY TOP of the dome!  The staircases were REALLY narrowing and the winding staircases made me very dizzy!  Well to make it better we get to the first stop and are SO HIGH UP!  I was terrified!  There is a picture of my feet in the album - they were completely up against the wall - it was such a narrow walkway with a huge drop down!  CRAZY!  but then we continued to go up even more stairs and ended up on the very top of the dome (outside) overlooking all of Florence!  It was BEAUTIFUL!  Way worth the scary intense stairs!! You then walk down more stairs and get to see the inside of the Duomo again - it was BEAUTIFUL!  I could have stood there and admired the ceiling for hours...

After our intense workout up and down the Duomo we went back to the hostel for a little nap and then went out for MEXICAN FOOD for dinner!  I have been missing fajitas and margaritas and this place was supposed to be pretty good!  The food turned out to be pretty decent!  I made me miss home though! I think the boys were amazed at how quickly we pounded down fajitas and tortilla chips though!  Typical Texas girls! (well me and Juliet, Angela is from Cali so she is Mexican food deprived too! lol) We then went and walked across Ponte Vecchio and then to Piazza Pitti and sat on the turtle statue and talked for a while.  We then went to Twice (a pretty cool bar) and then to Santa Croce.  There is a big piazza in front of the church and a lot of young Italians gather there at night and have a good time.  There was a group playing steal the bacon and it made me flash back to 3rd grade!!  After a long day we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Saturday morning we were going to go to the Uffizi gallery but they line was too long and we had to catch a train that afternoon.  So we walked around Florence, saw the Ponte Vecchio and the beautiful gold jewelry.  We then went to the Baptistry and admired the ceiling for quite a while! It was amazing! We then grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the train station for our train ride back to Rome!

When we got back in Rome that night we had heard there was a big MTV concert with John Legend and The Cure.  Free MTV concert in Rome - we were so down even though we were completely exhausted!  And the concert was so worth it!  It was so crazy to be at a huge concert right next to a huge ancient Roman church - so typical of Rome!  It was an MTV thing so of course the stage and ambiance was incredible!

Sunday morning I was up early yet again!  I went with my program Study Abroad Italy to a Sagra (food festival) in Monteflavio.  I debated passing up going to get some sleep, but was SOOOO happy I decided to go!  The town was absolutely gorgeous and the people there reminded me of small town Texans!  They were so warm and welcoming and everyone there was having a great time!  The main dish was Polenta - its like a cormeal mush (like grits) seasoned with rosemary and other herbs and then topped with sausage and parmesan cheese - DELICIOUS! We also had spare ribs and french fries and of course a local white wine!  My taste buds have never been happier!!  After eating we walked around the city of Monteflavio and I feel in love with it even more!  The whole atmosphere of the town was so warm!  After exploring a bit we got back in the bus and had a nice hour and a half nap back to Rome- everyone on the bus slept!  Needless to say I am EXHAUSTED after this weekend but it was absolutely AMAZING!  I am officially in love with Italy ...

There are 2 different photo albums - I had too many to fit into just one!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2273931&l=2f504&id=16718104

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2274079&l=a9794&id=16718104