So this weekend was awesome!!!! It started out a little rough, which was basically because of our lame travel planning. We didn’t really understand how to work the regional trains versus the fast trains, so we kind of screwed ourselves over. We went to the train station at eight so we could catch a train to Florence. There were four of us who had eurorails, and two people who did not. So unfortunately we kind of had to cater to them so that we could all try to get on the same train. We didn’t understand though that the tickets the two who didn’t have them were buying were for the fast train, which we would need a reservation for. We were intending to take the regional slower trains so we wouldn’t have to pay for a reservation. So they were buying what we thought was tickets for the regional train, and the earliest one open was two thirty, which I guess we should have seen as weird since regional trains like don’t have reservations, you just buy tickets. But regardless. The four of us with eurorails were a little pissed they were all sold out for that long. So we come back to the train station at that time to leave, and as we go to the gate where our train is supposed to be, we realize that it is a Eurostar, which is the fast ones that need reservations. Sigh. It was such a hastle. Because Kayanne and Michael had already bought the fast train ticket, they had to get on it. We ended up having to figure out the regional trains and getting on those instead. There were more transfers and there were some delays between stops and stuff. Kayanne and Michael had to wait at the Florence station for us for like four or five hours while we took the slow trains. We finally got there around like eight or so. Such a long day. After we all met up in Florence, we had to then take a train to Pisa so that we could stay at our hostel. We couldn’t get there until like eleven o clock, and by the time we walked to our bed and breakfast, it was almost time for midnight. I think it was like thirty after at that point. The lady who we had to call to let us into the bed and breakfast, which was called Welcome Bed and Breakfast, was really nice. She left the party or whatever she was at to check us in (we were supposed to have been checked in at like 2pm originally). She then gave us a bottle of wine and told us we should go to the bridge to watch the fireworks. It was only like a ten minute walk to the bridge from our hotel. People were nuts. I’m glad actually that we didn’t end up staying the whole time in Florence because we saw on the tv at a restaurant the next day that there were like zillions of people there and they were nuts and people ended up like in the hospital. Pisa was scary enough on its own. These punks were like throwing fireworks at people’s feets and like popping firecrackers in their own mouths. Nasty. It was super fun though and the fireworks were really cool. We were all uneasy at first, but we were glad we stayed and grew more comfortable as the night went on. The next day we got up and went to Florence for the whole day. It was such a beautiful city. We saw the Duomo, the church of St. Maria Novella right outside the train station, the square thing with all the statues, and lots of other stuff. I don’t really remember all of the names. But it was amazing. Our group got separated for a little bit, which made everyone aggravated and kind of pissy. But food always makes things better right??? We ate lunch in this little pizza restaurant. It wasn’t the best lunch I’ve had in Italy, but still amazing. This place was so cool. In the basement of it where we went to eat, there was writing on the walls everywhere. Everybody and their mom had signed this wall and put like their names or so and so plus so and so and then the dates it was signed. Every inch of this place was completely covered. It was absolutely amazing! After we ate, we kept looking around at stuff and we went to the old bridge, which is a bridge that has like little houses and shops built into it. It looks so cool. On this bridge, there were tons of people selling stuff. A lot of the shops weren’t open because it was the first, but there were tons of people selling illegally, like knock off purses and wallets, watches, souveniers, necklaces, paintings. Basically everything. I would have loved to get some of the paintings, but I would have absolutely no idea how to transport it. I actually might get one, because I have been regretting not getting it. We went back to Pisa around seven or so and ate dinner. The place we went for dinner was AMAZING!!!!! I got pizza again, and it was the bomb. For 5 euro, I got this like huge huge pizza that was probably the size of like a large from pizza hut. The crust here is a lot thinner though and feels like lighter and less greasy. So so good. I finished the whole thing so quickly and they were making fun of the, the rest of the group that is, not the people at the restaurant. Lol. I wish I could get pizza like that for that cheap in America. That night, Michael Jesa and I walked to the leaning tower of Pisa. Not all of the group wanted to walk there in the dark, but it was completely worth it. We took amazing pictures of it. The tower itself wasn’t as big as I had expected it to be, but it was still of course really big. We took lots of pictures, and it was so much fun! The walk was only like twenty minutes from our hotel thing. The next day, we got up to explore Pisa a little. The learning tower was gorgeous too in the daylight. I almost preferred it at night though. There were lots more people there during the day and it was harder to take cool pictures. Also, the way the light was hitting the tower of Pisa was way more gorgeous at night. We took crazy pictures of holding up the tower and stuff. I loved it. The shopping next to there was also awesome. It was the cheapest souveniers I have seen the entire time I have been in Italy. Thank goodness, because I was able to get a lot more. After we were done with Pisa, which took a lot longer than we thought it would, we went to Florence to go to the Galleria Accademia, the museum the David is in. The first floor of the museum was closed, so the fare was way cheaper, which was nice since the main stuff there is basically the David. We only had to wait like half an hour to get in. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the david, which was super lame, but of course that was only technically. I got pretty awesome pictures throughout the entire museum because I’m just cool like that. We ten had to take the trains home, which again took forever but since we made all of our trains it didn’t take quite as long. We left after four and still got back around eight. Which is two hours less than the first time. Thank goodness. I was so exhausted by the time I got back to my hotel, I about died. Such a good weekend though!
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