We got up and began our week adventure starting with exploring Venice for the day. After seeing some sites and walking though out the city we were ready to move on. While Venice is beautiful and has a lot to offer it can also be overwhelming and take a lot of energy. We boarded the train and headed back into Florence in the evening.
Sunday morning we got up at 5am to catch a 6am train to Cinque Terre or "Five land" for the day. We got in and took a short walk from the first of the 5 towns to the second. From here we skipped the 3rd town and went straight to the 4th by train (you can hike between all of the 5 towns or take the train). We sat and had lunch and then went out onto the dock to sit in the sun. After some sunbathing we got back on the train to see the last of the 5 towns where we got gelato, walked around and then sat in the sun again. We got on an afternoon train back to Florence. My roommate cooked us dinner with balsamic chicken and eggplant parmesan. Of course after dinner I took Julia to my favorite gelateria, which was conveniently located on my street a block away (this became her favorite spot in the city).
Monday morning I got up and went to class while Julia slept in to catch up on some lost sleep and overwhelming traveling. We met up got gelato (from the same place) and walked around a little bit before Mari arrived. After getting Mari some food we walked / hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo to see the view overlooking all of Florence. Before heading back to meet everyone for dinner we stopped and had apperativo with Belini's. We ended up eating quite a bit for apperativo and weren't super hungry for dinner, but went out and joined some of my roommates anyway.
Tuesday morning we all woke up and got on the train to Milano to meet Ms. Mobley for a viewing of the Last Supper and then an afternoon lunch. Julia and I left in the early evening back to Florence, but had to wait an hour for our delayed train. Being so full from our huge lunch Julia and I decided to get gelato and call it a day.
Wednesday Julia and I got up and walked to school. I had one class and after I took a quiz we headed to the bus station and went to Siena. We met up with Krissy in the main piazza to climb Siena's famous clock tower. Krissy had to leave after, but Julia and I continued to explore Siena walking to the Duomo (which was unfortunately closed due to a ceremony - we did get to see the procession into the Basilica). Before ending our day we went for apperativo at the same place Krissy took me the first time I was in Siena. After arriving back in Florence we went to dinner dinner at "Yellow Bar". We ended up getting two pasta's (a fresh nocchi with a tomato cream sauce and spaghetti with tomatoes and basil) and a side dish of beans, but we decided it was worth it. Florence hosted the MTV TRL awards in Santa Croce so we decided to check it out. We didn't really know too many of the Italian artists so we ended up leaving pretty soon after arriving, but it was still cool to see the piazza all lit up with the stage.
Thursday was Julia's first day to "relax" and stay in the city. I had class all day so I gave her my keys and left in the morning. She had my museum card (which allowed her to skip lines and get tickets for free to the major museums) so she visited the Ufizi and Academia. She also got some shopping in before we met up in the afternoon. We met my friend Libby at my favorite wine bar for tastings along with small corstini before we went to dinner at "Quattro Leoni" (Four Lions). All three of us had a mixed plate of three pastas including my favorite pasta in Florence of Pear Ravioli in a asparagus cream sauce. Of course we ended the night stopping at the gelataria on the way home.
We spent Friday shopping and finding last minute gifts. In the early evening we met up with Libby and her brother for apperativo down the street and had belini's before having dinner at "Aqua al due". We each had a greek salad and shared gorgonzola macaroni and my favorite balsamic steak. Of course after dinner we headed straight for the gelateria to have a final treat before Julia left the next morning.
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