This past weekend was jam packed with road travel (a nice break after all these recent train rides..). Alex, a guy I met on CouchSurfing.org, invited me on a quick roadtrip to Florence (which was then expanded with a quick stop in Pisa), and then on an adrenaline-building hike to a gorgeous waterfall just a few hours from Bologna.
Alex, Mayra (a German girl staying with Alex for the weekend), and I spent a good chunk of Saturday wandering FlorenceFlorence was everything I expected- a relatively small city with beautiful buildings and delicious food!
We went straight up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo, where the gorgeous view of the whole city was well worth the steep hike!
Alex, me, and a replica of Michelangelo's David!
First stop down at sea level- Piazza de Pitti, an old Castle
Another European city, another Arc!
lots of tourists and some cool statues
the writer of Pinocchio was from Florence! stores like this were everywhere!
Ponte Vecchio- my second favorite thing, next to Piazzale Michelangelo
A statue in Ponte Vecchio
Santa Maria Novella- I love the combination of the old architecture and the modern glass benches in front!
most amazing pizza I've ever had @Gusta Pizza. the restaurant came highly recommended by a good friend in Berkeley, and I'm so glad I tried it!
Alex & Mayra anxiously awaiting the pizza
new friends! the GustaPizza chefs were so nice and invited me into the kitchen when they saw me taking a million pictures of my pizza
The little note we slipped under the glass of the table! International friends enjoying delicious food!
We only stayed in Pisa for about an hour, because once you get there, you realize there's absolutely nothing to see beside the famous tower and a few souvenir booths. We had a fun time taking those typical leaning-against-the-tower pictures though!
these three buildings are pretty much all there is to see in Pisa, correct me if I'm wrong!
had to capture some of these hilarious moments. do these people know how silly they look?
Alex got creative..
The next day I rejoined Alex, his friend Daniel, and another new CouchSurfing/Au-Pairing friend Rebecca. It was nice being with Rebecca, a fellow native English speaker (but from England), and an au-pair. She had a lot of crazy stories to tell me about her pretty weird host family who has her working around 11 hours a day, and has only given her 5 days off in the past 6 weeks! Her stories made me feel really blessed to be staying with such an awesome family, who understands that I'm not only here to help out around the house and with the kids, but also (and more importantly) to experience the culture here in Italy. Once we got over the Au-Pair banter, Becky and I had a hilarious time making fun of each others accents & national stereotypes. Anyway, here are some proper funny pictures.. Tally-ho!
before we knew how much hiking was ahead of us..
first waterfall! about 1/4 of the way up
second waterfall, where the boys were brave enough to dive in. Alex noted that the water seemed even colder than that of the Norwegian sea!
Finally made it to the top!
dangling on the edge of a massive cliff, risking my life for a cute picture
a funny sighting on the car ride back, but the picture of these German guys offer me a perfect transition.. I'm off to Germany tomorrow! Will be back and blogging next week :)
Miss you all back home, XOXO
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