A walk in Fisole

This week, the little girl that I nanny for is at riding camp- thus leaving me a week off.

The first few days I was recovering from Rome and my shit-show experience at the Bulgarian

Embassy trying to get my visa. 

Plus- it was hard to do anything because it has been 102 degrees everyday.

Today, however, I decided to go for a day trip to a nearby town, Fisole, for a hike.

View from the top of the mountain

Took a break at a cafe to journal and draw

Graveyard at St. Dominic's 

Monastery at the top of the hill

Tuscan meows

Overlooking Florence

Off to pack...Germany in the morning!

Rome

This past weekend, Annette and I took a trip to Rome.

We stayed at the cutest hotel- small and family run. Close to everything.

Friday:  

Vatican Museums. St. Peter's Basilica, Bourghese Museum

In St. Peter's

Saturday: Coloseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon.

Roman Forum

Pantheon 

Trevi Fountain

Sunday: Jewish Ghetto, Catacombs

Filling up our water and taking a break on our 2 hour walk to the Catacombs

I liked these guys

View From our Hotel 

Milano!

Sorry it has been a while... I have some solid updates.

Milan

Annette and I had a day trip to Milan on Saturday.

Our first stop was DaVinci's Last Supper. 

We couldn't get a picture inside, but here is one of us outside the gallery. 

 They always say something like, 

"Even though you've seen it thousands of times, nothing compares to seeing the Last Supper infront of your eyes"

Truth. 

Lunch

Ham, Brie, Tomato-Mayo and Artichokes....

(remember when i was a vegetarian?)

Milan Duomo

This was easily my favorite part of Milan. 

You could climb to the top!

Inside the Church

Galeria 

This place was great. Famous for its architecture and famous-fancy shops.

And a super-fancy McDonalds.

Annette is here, the apartment is no longer lonely! 

Well, thats a lie. She works all day and I've yet to start so I still wake up to an empty apt...

I figured I would post some places of our apartment and where we live!

   We're on the third floor

View from our kitchen

Aparatifs (sp?)

In Italy they have this happy hour-like event called the aparatif (I tried to find spelling online but it kept correcting it to 'apartheid'....)

 You usually pay 5-10 euro and you get a drink and a buffet of snacks. 

The one we went to last night was at a culinary school.

It was 6 euro for a drink and unlimited food prepared by the students. 

We had pesto gnocci, fresh fruit, couscous, bruschetta, grilled chicken, lemon rissoto... etc 

You can just keep filling and refilling your plate...

Okay. I'm off to buy coffee. 

A short ride on a Vespa...and more food

I was about to post some pictures of what I ate today but my landlord called me and said he was trying to figure out the internet and that i needed to come over right away.

I was kind of pissed off because I had just bought something at this cafe to use their internet and had only been online for about 10 minutes. Now I had to leave and probably come back and buy something again if I wanted to keep using it.

I showed up at my apartment and he said we needed to go to the hardware store to pick up the internet box. Hopped on his vespa (what!?) and bopped over to the internet place. No box. Another day without internet in the apartment. Thats okay, I got my first ride on a vespa. 

On to what I ate today.

Hit up this panini place. A bit expensive but worth it. 

Got the brie, turkey, sweet onion and hot sauce panini.

Then obviously I needed desert. So I walked along the river and across the Ponte Vecchio. 

I hit up my gelato place and got a banana Nutella crepe. Then ate it on the wall overlooking the river. 

(That's me)

Saw this guy on my walk home. 

Gelato...

First: I should learn Italian. It's getting pretty embarrassing.

Second: I should stop eating Gelato. But really. I can't stop.

I love this place. 

A friend suggested it and I am obsessed. How to tell good gelato from tourist gelato? The stuff in the windows piled on top of each other is fluffed with air and artificial flavors. Go for the stuff inside and in a freezer. 

This is Dark Chocolate, Cafe and Nutella. 

Nom nom nom. 

Then I may or may not have gone to this place Grom twice yesterday...while i think it is more famous than Gelateria del Neri, I like del Neri way better...

Annette comes tomorrow... but since I've been exploring by myself most of the time, I've spent a lot of time doing this...

Wine + writing. 

How liberal arts of me. 

Also- I have yet to see any cats. except this meow.

I'll be spending the rest of this monday in an internet cafe planing my trip with Annie... thoughts on where we should go? 

First real day...

After waking up at 11am, I started my first full day in Florence. I have a few recommendations from a friend and tried to hit up as many places as she suggested as possible. I'm still waiting for my roommate, annette, to come so I'm waiting to do much of the true sight seeing until she arrives. 

This is the sign outside of our apartment: Vie de Laura 5

So I've just been wandering around the city. Not too sure of what I've seen but I'm obsessed with what I've eaten. 

I had lunch by myself. A treat to me for walking so much. 

No suprise, the whole menu was in Italian so I just ordered what other people were eating around me. This is what came for my appetizer. 

Om nom nom. Fried bread with spreadable cheese and prosciutto

Then I ordered risotto, but this came instead

I wasn't upset.

Finished my night off with some Gelato (okay actually I went twice), but i'll post those later. Now i've settled in a bar to use their internet and enjoy their sangria....

. 

Safe Arrival!

After almost 24 hours of travel, I've finally landed in Florence! After taking a cab to our new apartment, I was blown away by how adorable it is. It's a short walking distance from the Douma and all sorts of other cute cafes and shops. I'm exhausted and havent done much, but tomorrow will be a first real day of adventure!