Florence and Milan

We made it through out first trip together! And we're still talking! Yay us.

Thursday- Got a train out of Bulle and took lots of stops (3 in Switzerland, one in Milan) before finally arriving in Florence. We took a taxi to our hostel, and arrived there around 11pm. The hostel was basic. My mom would have freaked at the shower (some serious mold growing), but that's ok. We got what we paid for. It had a "king" bed (2 double pushed together with king sized sheets) and a single. The first night there we all slept in the king. It was cozy :)

Friday- This day was spent exploring the incredible city. The morning started off rainy, but when you're only there 2 days, no weather can stop you. We walked around taking pictures, and our first stop was the Uffizi Gallery. It was so amazing... but after a while, all the art starts looking the same. They had a patio on the 2nd floor, and when we got there the sun was out! Left there and continued walking. Stopped in the Piazza della Signoria where one of two replicas of "David" is, along with the Palazzo Vecchio and some famous fountain. Next was the Duomo, which is the third largest church in the WORLD. It is an absolutely breath-taking building. We went into the cathedral, then walked up to the top of the dome. Wait, I mean we CLIMBED to the top of the dome... 450-something steps! I was freaking out the majority of the time. But the view was INSANE. Wanna see it? Well, it's at the top of the post. It's not letting me move the picture down here. Anyway, then we went trying to find a local food that our friend suggest. Tripe? Trype? Yea. All I know is that it's some foreign animal body part that I was NOT about to eat. But she was adverturous. Go her! ANNNND while Caitlyn was pumping herself up to eat it, we ran into our friend from UNH!! So random. But awesome to make a connection to someone from home. Made it seem like we weren't the only ones gone from UNH.

After that we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia. That's where the "David" is. It was HUUUUUGE. I had no idea. It was really incredible to see it in person. There was other stuff in the galleria, but nothing worth seeing after that. Then we headed back to the hostel to hang out for a little bit. The owner suggested a restaurant for dinner across the street, so we went there. It was reeeally good. It was our "splurge" dinner. After dinner we decided to test out the night life in Florence. We had planned to meet up with our UNH friend, but things didn't end up working out. We went to a pub and I met a girl from Framingham! (UNH people, that's the town next to my hometown, and where I work over the summer) She goes to Endicott, and is in Florence for the semester. We hung out with her, Suzy, and her friend Katie for the evening. Next we went to a dance club down the street. It was super crowded but fun. And there we saw ANOTHER UNHer!! Our friend Juliet was there and seeing her was equally amazing! We think that we also saw 2 other UNH girls, but no one we really know.

Saturday- Left the hostel with all of our things to go shopping in the market. Obviously we all bought leather bags. Duh, it's Italy! But we haggled!! I was very proud of myself. After walking around a little more, we headed to the train station to get a train to Milan. Arrived in Milan and took a taxi to our hotel. It was a little bit in the ghetto, but nicer than the hostel. After checking in we got on the metro and explored Milan. Saw the equally amazing Duomo there. Along with a famous fountain and a famous arch (no clue what they're called or why they're famous). We cruised the shopping section, of course, because we were in Milaaaaano. Dinner time finally rolled around and we asked a doorman at a hotel for a suggestion (very Rachael Ray or Samantha Brown). He directed us to this restaurant which was absolutely amazing. I had some sort of pasta with pesto that was ALMOST as good as Mrs. Wyant's. After dinner we were way too tired to go out, so we went back to the hotel. Got in our PJs and "watched" italian TV while chatting. A nice, relaxing night.

Sunday- Checked out of the hotel, but left our bags so we wouldn't have to schlep them around the city for the day. Took the metro to the Piazza Castello. The castle was so beautiful. There was a huge park behind it, and at the end was another famous thing in Milan. I feel that really all that matters is that I know it's famous... I don't need to know the names :) After strolling through the park, we went back to the Piazza Duomo to find lunch. Got lunch at this random place that was like an a la carte restaurant, but exactly what we needed. Went shopping after lunch, and totally lost track of time. We basically had to run back to our hotel to get our stuff and run back to the train station. But we made it!

All in all, a very successful and fun weekend. The next few weekends we'll be staying around here. Lynn and Brett come on the 17th!!!! Can't wait for that. I think our next big trip will be Paris in early March when Caitlyn's sister and cousin come.

As always, all of you are MOOOORE than welcome to come visit me. Bulle only has a day's worth of things to do, but Geneva is fabulous. Get crackin on those plane tickets!!!

.love and chocolate.