Florence/ Volterra/ San Gimingiano/ Pisa

So, I'm not too good at keeping up clearly.... We have done so many things lately!
Florence.... We had a short trip to Florence (1 of 3 trips there) We climbed 414 stairs to the top of the bell tower and after the burning in my calves settled I got a chance to enjoy it. It was a phenomenal view over all of Florence! Going to the top was so worth it! We also went into the baptistery and the Duomo when we were there and they were all so beautiful! The shopping is CRAZY there! Leather everywhere.


Volterra: Unfortunatly there was no twilight sighting..... :( I was half hoping Edward would find me. But the trip wasn't a lost cause:
<---- We captured this precious moment! haha This is Mckelle and I. We are trying out for the new national geographics cover..... We went into the church and baptistry and an etruscan museum. They we're all great!




San Gimingiano: Definatley a favorite! The view from the top of the bell tower could take your breath away! We also went through the church and museum along with climbing the bell tower. One of the things San Gimingiano is known for their gelato. There's a gelateria there that has been awarded 4 years in a row as the best gelato/ice cream in the world! That's right, the WHOLE world and It won the title! It was phenominal! The fruit ones tasted exactly like frozen fruit! MMMMMM! So yummy!


Pisa: While Pisa is known all around the world for the leaning tower..... There are a total of 3 things to do in Pisa. The church, pretty cool, the baptistry, pretty cool, and climbing the tower, AWESOME!
BUT! we were finished with these 3 by 12 and had about 4 and a half hours before the train ride..... After hitting up an alamentari for an amazing panino! we quickly realized that there was only one thing to do besides shopping....
Take ridiculous pictures of yourself with the tower.... so thats what we did!


I did, however, find an adorable bag that was much needed! A great black purse!
Note to potential Italy bound travlers: Plan no more than 4 hours in Pisa for yourself....


Ciao!

<3 Siena <3

We have made it to Siena! After a long bus ride we are finally here. My room mate is amazing (her name is Julia and she is from Chicago) and our host parents are so great!(Paula and Marco) They speak zero english and we have a hard time communicating but it is so fun! We live in an adorable town home with 2 gardens, where we eat our meals when the weather is good. Siena is more than I ever could have imagined! I feel like Im walking through modern Excalibur with the stone streets and hardly any cars drive inside the walls of siena. There are thousands of Vespa's everywhere. On days when there are soccer games the entire piazza Gramchi is filled with them and it looks like a liquidation sale. We are heading to Florence on Thursday and Volterra on Saturday (shout out to all the Twilight fans)

Well, Im off to take my morning run that looks over all of Siena Ciao!

Amalfi and Minori

Amalfi and Minori are so beautiful! They are small little beach towns on the coast of Southern Italy. We spent the few days there shopping and on the beach and it couldnt have been better! We stayed in Minori but to get to Amalfi you take a 10 minute boat ride. The view was AMAZING!


Meet Pablo.... Pablo worked on the boat that took us to Amalfi. I asked him to take a picture of some of us girls and after taking it, he wanted to be in one, following the picture he turns and says in some form of english "now find me on faccia book (facebook)" We died! As I was getting off the boat he said , "when you come back? I wait here." Remembering the advice of my mother (give Italian men the "face") I just laughed to myself and said Ciao! (we took a different boat back to Minori and I never saw Pablo again) hahaha. Oh Italian men sure are..... well, confident? Until next time
Arrivederci

It's finally here!

Caio!!!!

Hi Everyone! I finally have had a minute to rest and get on the internet for a bit. The past 5 days have been CRAZY! So here is what’s been on the agenda:

· Coliseum

· Spanish Steps

· Vatican

· Pantheon

· Trevi Fountain

· Borgesee Museum

· Herculaneum and Pompeii

· And so many other things

I got in on Friday night and after 10 hours next to a rather broad man who smelled of feet and curry, a 5 hour lay over in London, and a 2 hour plane ride to Italy, a taxi ride, 30 minutes of getting lost on the way to my Bed and Breakfast, and 2 hours of waiting before getting in my room. I finally made it to my room. I spent the evening with a few of the girls on the Spanish Steps eating ananas gelato. (pineapple) Simply heaven! We’ve been so crazy busy and haven’t stopped going since I’ve been here. I have had so much fun! I’m a little homesick, mainly because I have hardly been able to talk to my parents but I finally got to talk to them today! We have made our way from Rome to Pompeii to Minori. Rome was great, Too much to do for my jet lag to enjoy 100% but it was so fun still. We are now in Minori which is a gorgeous beach side town with houses on the cliffs and small beaches with small fishing boats all around. Tomorrow we are going to a market in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Friday we are off to Amalfi to see the city. I probably wont update until Siena but I’ll keep you updated!

Ciao!