Spring Break...Part One: Firenze, Italia

Departure From Venice

When our class trip in Venice ended on Sunday, April 13, everyone was released for Spring Break. Since the hostel we were staying at was paid until Monday, Shelby, Kait and I didn't check out until Monday morning. Our train for Florence didn't leaven until 8:45am, so we headed for the train station at around 8am. However, from the train station in Venice, we had to hop on a train that would take us to the mainland, Mestre, which is where our main train for Florence was heading out from.

So we made it to the Venice train station, purchased our Mestre train tickets, and found our platform. The train was scheduled to leave at 8:27am and it was only about a 5 minute ride to Mestre so everything seemed to be on track. However, the train didn’t take off at 8:27am like it was supposed to. Instead, it took at 8:35am.

Needless to say, we were all freaking out! Our train from Mestre left at 8:45am and we still had to get there and find our platform, which can sometimes be tricky. The train finally took off at 8:35 am and we made it to Mestre with 3 minutes to spare, found out where our platform was, and sprinted to it! Thankfully, the train was still there and one of the train employees directed us to our cabinet

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I can’t even tell you how relieved I was. I honestly thought we were going to miss our train and the simple thought of that depressed me to the max! Good thing it was just a close call.

Anyways, the train ride was lovely even though I dropped my tweezers while plucking my eyebrows and never found them again. L

Arrival to Florence

We arrived to Florence at around 10:30am. Check in at our hotel, Together Florence Inn, wasn't until 3pm. However, we weren't exactly sure how to get there. All we knew was that it was about 30 minutes away from the center, so we decided to go to McDonald's to use the Wi-Fi and find directions.

Once we got a general idea on how to get there, we decided to just hop on the next bus that would take us there, even if we arrived a little early for check in. I mean, they would at least store our bags if anything. That’s all I really wanted because my bag, which is a duffle bag but I've been using it as a backpack, was killing my back. I just needed it off ASAP.

Finding Together Florence Inn

So let me just tell you how finding our way to the hotel went down because that was an adventure within itself.

First, we had to buy a bus ticket to get on the bus. We had no idea where we could find these tickets, so we literally asked about four different places before someone could finally direct us in the proper direction. Apparently, those types of tickets are normally sold at the stands that sell newspapers and stuff like that. That was good to know for future reference.

Second, once we had our bus tickets, we went outside at the stop we THOUGHT the bus would come to. After waiting and waiting and not even seeing our bus number announced on the board, we figured we were probably in the wrong area. So, we crossed the street…that always seems like a good idea, right? Well, nope. It wasn't there either.

At this point, I was literally dying of back pain! That’s when I saw a little touristic stand so I went and asked them where our bus stop was. Turns out it was just on the opposite side of where we were originally waiting for it.

Side note: If there’s one thing I've learned from being abroad, is to ALWAYS ask for help. Otherwise, you might be waiting at the wrong places for hours, going the wrong direction, or just doing something flat out wrong.

Third, our bus finally arrived! Hurray…finally a seat to sit on…yeah, not so much. That dang bus was so packed, we pretty much stood the whole ride to the hotel and that was more than 30 minutes! Talk about physical resistance.

Fourth, we weren't really sure which was our stop, so we stayed in the bus until it went to the last stop. Then, we were pretty much forced to get off because it was just going to head right back to the train station. It was all good though. I mean, we had to be somewhere near our hotel. We had already ridden the bus for more than 30 minutes and that’s what directions had indicated. However, the hotel was nowhere in sight!

Fifth, we decided to walk a little bit…maybe, just maybe, we would stumble upon it. Nope. Definitely not the case; so we went back to where the bus dropped us off. I was so done with being lost at this point, I just stopped some random lady to ask her for directions and for the first time ever, I engaged in an Italian-Spanish speaking conversation. Don’t ask me how it worked, but somehow it did.

Still though, we didn't find the hotel. We then decided to ask some elder men that were standing at the corner of the bus stop. Best decision ever. One of them not only told us how to get there, but he walked us part way there. Apparently we were just right around the corner. I felt so dumb yet relieved and happy at the same.

Experiencing Florence – First Day

We went it, and to our pleasure were able to check in right away. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful too and the hotel was just beautiful! Not to mention, we had free breakfast and a Jacuzzi we could use and also Wi-Fi. When you come to Europe, having free Wi-Fi is kind of a big deal.

One thing that was different about the Wi-Fi here though, was that you had to get a new username and password every 24 hours from the reception. It was just a bit strange but I’m sure they had a reason behind it.

Also, in Italy, they have a system for saving electricity. It’s quite smart actually. So, once you get your room key, which is a card, you must insert the card to this little slot on the wall of your room and that’s the only way the electricity will work. When the card is taken out, you no longer have electricity. Smart, I know.

Anyways, that day we decided to have a late lunch at one of the restaurants the receptionist recommended. It was not only delicious pasta, but it was cheap too, AND right across the street from the best gelato place I had had in Italy. It was pretty great.

After lunch and gelato, we decided to go for a hike on one of the mountains that was right down the street from our hotel.

That was probably my favorite part of the trip. The view we got from the top was absolutely breath taking.

We got to see the Tuscany lands and took tons of pictures!

It was just incredible to be surrounded by nature.

At one point we saw a little deer just jump out of nowhere and began to wonder whether there were wild cats and if we should leave. We stayed.

In the evening, Shelby was extremely hungry! So we headed out for dinner at around 8pm in search of another restaurant the hotel had recommended. Unfortunately, when we finally found it, it was closed. That actually wasn't so bad in the end though, because we found an AWESOME little pizzeria called Giglio’s Pizza. They had every pizza your little heart could ever imagine and they were all super cheap and delicious. Not only that, they had cute little beers that were really good too! With 16 euros we purchased two pizzas and three beers.

We were all pretty excited about that because Italy is not a cheap place at all.

Florence – Day 2

The next day we headed for the center to see the Statute of David. Despite getting there fairly early, we stood in line for over two hours just to get into the Academia Museum and be able to see David. It was definitely worth the wait. The statute itself was HUGE and so humanly-like. You can literally see veins popping out, muscle indentures, and so much detail it’s hard to believe it’s not a real human being. My mind couldn't even process that Michael Angelo created this masterpiece from just a large chunk of marble and a chisel. 

After staring at David for about 20 minutes and sneaking some pictures of him (pictures weren't allowed in the museum), we decided to head for lunch and explore the center.

For lunch, we went to this sandwich place that is apparently number one on Trip Adviser and is supposed to be like really good. We were all really excited for our meal, but it turned out to be not that great. I've had better sandwiches made by myself.

After lunch, we did some exploring and a little shopping for leather goodies because Italy is known for their amazing leather. It was definitely a good shopping day for me. I found lots of leather treasures that I absolutely fell in love with. Not only that, but at one of the shops we also met the most awesome Italian ever. He was actually an employee there, but extremely honest when it came to their products. I loved it! He was also super hilarious, and even knew some typical Mexican phrases. It was pretty awesome.

The center was GORGEOUS! The Dome Cathedral was incredible!

The whole place was just so lively. There was music playing, people taking pictures, and good vibes were in the air. Everything was astonishing.

For dinner, we just grabbed some Giglio’s Pizza again and went home to pack because we were leaving for Pisa early morning the next day. I was super sad to be leaving Florence because I truly enjoyed my time there, but I was excited to go experience yet another city in Italy.