When in Florence .... shop in the markets!

How do I even begin describing a city as wonderful as Florence? Well, I can start off by saying that one day wasn't definitely long enough. We started off our morning with a tour of the Medici houses and tunnel – which was cool, but I was so distracted by all the sights and people in Florence that I didn’t really follow as well as I should have … Especially when we got to the duomo. The duomo is the cathedral church, and it is absolutely gorgeous. It is in a popular square where tons of people hang out, and Claire had me so worried about our purses because there were gypsys walking around everywhere.

After our tour and lunch, we had the rest of the day off to explore Florence (aka go shopping in the markets). Ashlyn, Claire, and I made our way to the markets and made our respective purchases. The markets in Florence are so much fun! They have anything you could imagine – scarves, purses, belts, bracelets, antiques, journals, jewelry .. you name it. Florence is known for it’s leather, so naturally Claire and I had to get leather purses.

Our next stop? Gelato. We heard that Grom was the best gelato place in town, and it was. There was a line curled around the outside of the building but it was so worth it.  On our way back to the train station, Stephen suggested we head to a pub and grab a beer to celebrate St. Patricks day, which was the perfect way to end the day.

So if you’re ever in Italy …. Florence is the place to go!

Top of the duomo (you can climb to the top).

Ground view of part of the duomo.

Grom Gelato

A section of the markets.

When in Rome ... do as the Romans do.

"... and I hope that's how they do it!"

On the airplane, Ashlyn and I decided our first mission was to get gelato & pizza - in that order. I looked at her and said, "When in Rome ... do as the Romans do!" and her reply was "and I hope that's how they do it!" It soon became our catchphrase for the rest of our stay in Rome.

Sorry I forgot to post day 2 of Rome earlier but it completely slipped my mind once we got to La Pievuccia. We had another early morning (I'm starting to get used to these) and started off with the Colosseum. They still had a lot of the old artifacts that were there back in the day. It was just so neat being in a place where so much history happened. I also couldn't stop thinking about how it was built. It was constructed so well, is still standing is beautiful, and they didn't even have a fraction of the tools we have today .. crazy! We also got to see the forum, which was the old downtown. Some of the structures are still there, or at least pieces of them. 

Right outside of the forum was the prison where Paul and Peter were held. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. We got to go down to the chamber where he stayed and see the storm drain where he was fed through. I got to touch walls that PAUL touched! It was really moving. Only about 7 of us went down there and we were all silent as we took it in. It's hard to believe that I was in the place where Paul wrote encouraging letters to people, like the Romans, while he was imprisoned. It was really encouraging and now I am more excited to go back and read through his letters.

The prison chambers under the Colosseum floor.

We found A&M carved in the Colosseum wall! (Claire & Sam)

Building in the Forum.

Paul's Prison

Touching things at the Colosseum ... go figure.

When in La Pievuccia ... drink a lot of wine.

La Pievuccia. How do I even begin describing the beauty of that place? I don't because it's impossible, but I am going to try to give it a shot. La Pievuccia is a vineyard resort right outside of Castiglion Fiorentino and is better than any google image or postcard you have ever seen. Not to mention, the hospitality of the family who owns it is just as appreciated. The minute we got there, bachelor jokes started like rapid fire. Can you blame us? 23 girls and 1 boy walking around a Tuscan vineyard as the sun is setting over the surrounding hills ... don't worry, we all got a rose. We explored around the rest of the night and met a very violent hissing goose, chickens, dogs, and four cats which we learned to love for the rest of our stay.

There were little casitas for all of us to stay in and they were all so homey. True to Italian culture, we received three course meals every night - four the last. The food was by far the best we have had yet. Although, on our last full day we only had a two course lunch and by then I had learned to try to ration for the following courses. Needless to say, I regretted not finishing our first course when they brought out the dessert. We all laughed at how back home this would be normal but we had gotten so used to three courses that we were so surprised at just two! Each night, they gave us two bottles of their own wine and a bottle of their olive oil - both to die for. The staff, as well as the family who lives there, really made us feel like part of their family.  I am so excited to go back in May for our last weekend in Italy.

During the two days we were there, we went over all of our lesson plans, had them organized, and presented them to the head English teacher and she loved all of them! We figured out all of our teaching schedules and begin teaching Monday -- I can't believe it!

The casita that Rachel, Kirsten, Delaney, Kelsey, and I shared.

Our first glimpse of the vineyard.

A giant wine barrel we found while exploring.

A small part of the vineyard at La Pievuccia.

Wait, that wasn't the main course?

Alright, so food in Italy rocks. Let me just throw that out there. I'll do my best to not make this entire blog about how amazing Italian food is ... mainly because I have run out of adjectives to describe it, so that could be a problem seeing as it's only day two. Oops?

When we got off the train in Rome we immediately met Jean-Carlo, our tour guide, who we would soon discover to be quite a character. He is a true Roman man - in every way possible. Wonderful, but completely Roman. He led us from the train station to the Hotel Colosseum ... which was a much longer walk with our suitcases than any of us expected but we were in Rome so we couldn't really complain.

Our first dinner was a surprise to us all. The waiters brought out plates of lasagna, and naturally we scarfed them down because, well, we are American, and we had been traveling for a good 15 hours and in dire need of some real food. This lasagna was hands down the best lasagna I have ever eaten in my life. The noodles were so soft and it was just unreal ......... Then, the waiter brings out roasted chicken with salad and steak fries. Clearly, the lasagna was not the main course like we all thought. To top it off, we had a wonderful lemon sorbet. This isn't your standard lemon sorbet though. It was like someone dropped a lemon chill in vanilla frozen yogurt. That might sound gross, but goodness it was so delicious. I was so amazed at just how fantastic the food was. After dinner, we grabbed all of our extra bottles of wine from the meal and took them up to the garden roof of our hotel and talked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery from up top.

This morning we started early (real early .. too early) and immediately started touring the city on foot. This lasted for a good 12 hours. We saw virtually every church in Rome, the Colosseum, the Vatican (including the Sistine Chapel), Trevi Fountain, tomb of the unknown solider and SO much more. We virtually saw all of Rome in just one day. Jean-Carlo was our tour guide for most of the city, with the exception of the Vatican where Carlo took over. Needless to say, I fell in love with Carlo. He was born here in Italy but moved to Texas as a teenager. Unfortunately, he wound up at  UT, but we can work on that later. Nobody is perfect, right?

Every single part of this city is just breathtaking. I will try to post pictures as much as I can! Not to mention, we made two gelato stops ... sorry? Not really. Lunch, as usual, was just as grand and delicious as dinner. I finally got my pizza- praise the Lord! There isn't one single thing NOT to love about this city.

Tomorrow morning we are heading to tour the Colosseum (we didn't get to go inside today) and then a group of us are going to see the prison where Paul and Peter were held. Afterwards, we head to La Pievuccia, a vineyard resort, where we will have a teacher workshop and present all of our lesson plans to the school board we are teaching for. We won't have internet there so this will probably be my last post/internet interaction until Sunday or Monday when we arrive in Castiglion Fiorentino.

This first blog was so long because it covered so many days - sorry! I'm loving every part of this experience so far and still feel so blessed that I am even here. I don't think the fact that I am in Italy for the next couple months has actually sunk in yet. I'll let you know when it does.


My words just cannot do this amazing country justice, and I fear the pictures will not either.

The Colosseum

Jean-Carlo ... words cannot describe.

One of the many beautiful churches we saw.

Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Basilica

Hall of Maps in the Vatican

Carlo (My first real love. Just kidding...........)

Bruschetta & salad appetizer - so delicious