SATURDAY: A semi-productive day. I went to the markets and bought a piece of salmon. The rest of the day was spent eating gelato and working on my papers. Two finished! Yes! Then I made myself salmon and it turned out delicious! Another success.
SUNDAY: Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter! The roomies and I woke up early to go out into Florence and watch the show of events. We went to Piazza della Republicca for the parade. Then we followed the crowd to the Duomo to get our spot for the show. Every year on Easter day, Florence has "El Scoppio del Carro" or "The Explosion of the Cart" where they light fireworks off of a huge giant cart in front of the Cathedral. We got a close spot and waited an hour and a half until 11 am for the show to start.
Wow! It was pretty impressive, as it was certainly not what I was expecting. The "fireworks" were little baby ones, but there was a lot of them. It was SO loud, which I also wasn't expecting. The entire show was fast and slightly frightening but awesome to witness. There was a huge cloud of purple, red, and white smoke too!
After the festivities, we went to Astor's for iced coffee then the diner for burgers. We even got little Easter candies. It was fun.
Later that day, Rachael - the chef she is - cooked us a fabulous Easter dinner. The four of us sat down to a feast of cooked ham with pineapples, string beans, and potatoes. Good work Rachael! Then the rest of the night was spent work work working! Lame!
MONDAY: I deemed this day "Christine day" and spent the day completely on my own. I went out in the morning to wander through Florence. I treated myself to a kebob, went grocery shopping, and then proceeded to get gelato (of course). I grabbed my work and headed down to the river to the patch of rocks where people sit and lay out. I sat down there for a few hours just enjoying the beautiful weather, which certainly helped to brighten my mood.
For dinner, Rachael and I went on a date to Acqua al 2 - FINALLY! We got the pasta sampler, which turned out to be four or five pastas, all delicious. I drank my bottle of wine with my steak. How do I describe this steak? HEAVENLY. It's their infamous "blueberry steak" that all of my friends had talked up and rightfully so. It certainly looks deceiving but it tasted incredible. I didn't want it to end so I ate extremely slowly. Sadly, I ate all of it. That's okay, though, because Rach and I caved in and split the dessert sampler as well. SO DELICIOUS. Four different desserts that made us very very happy diners. Yum!
TUESDAY: Classes and classes. The highlight of this day was going to Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe for family style dinner. There was eleven of us that went and it was a fantastically fun night. We got an array of appetizers and then three different pastas. SO DELICIOUS. There was a green tortellini one filled with spinach and ricotta that was my favorite by far. We all were stuffed to the brim, but decided to be adventurous and headed to Naima's for "Girl's Night." We all got one "Girly Drink" which was really 90% juice - but still delicious. A great night with great friends.
WEDNESDAY: My final soc class - THANK GOODNESS. I had loved that class when it first started but then it became a struggle to understand what Pierluca was even talking about. In Italian we had exit tests for the school. Afterwards, Kaila, Ann and I went to the Oil Shoppe for lunch. So delicious. Then Ann and I got chocolates to nibble on from one of the best chocolate places in Florence, right near Lion's Fountain. SO GOOD. Then it was time for our last class with Simon. The lesson was interesting and he was extra funny today. He was probably really excited to be done with us! Ann and I gave him his chocolate after class (maybe he'll give us both A's after all....).
THURSDAY: Last art history class. We had a field trip to the Bargello - again - but this time Franchie managed to get us a private tour into rooms that aren't open to the public. It was actually really cool. THANKS FRANCH!
Then it was time to end my Italiano stunt. Took my final in Italian and I'm pretty sure I messed up big time, but that's okay because I'M DONE WITH IT! Actually, I'm pretty sad. That was probably my favorite class. I loved my teacher and the people in it.
After Italian, I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get my life together. Eventually, dinner-time rolled around and Allie and I met up with Julie, Diana, Ann, and Sammy at Il Latini for dinner. The restaurant is notorious for it's incredible (and pricey) family style dinners but we decided with one week left in Florence, we deserved it. It's also right under Palazzo Rucellai so we always get the wonderful smells from below. Such a tease!
I loved the atmosphere as soon as we walked in. The owner was extremely funny and joked around with us. To start off our meal, they gave us unlimited wine and told us they'd come back in an hour to look at our faces. So sassy! We each got prosciutto and melon, mozz & tomato, liver crustini, and bruscetta. Then they brought out 2 types of pasta and 2 types of bread soups. Next was the infamous tray of meat. I'm not entirely too sure what meats I ate but they were divine. I loved the beef one. To finish, the staff brought us dessert trays, biscotti and vin santo, and limoncello. It was a fantastic dinner.
The girls and I all came back to my apartment to hang out for a bit and eventually we all headed out to Kikuya. Kikuya is a bar near Santa Croce that has these beers called Dragoons, which are 20% alcohol. So we all hung out there and by accident, kind of, I had two dragoons. Poor life decision on my part but it was a very eventful night! After Kikuya, Annie, Diana and I went to the secret bakery. We knocked and no answer. Then a group of Italians walked up to the door and did the secret knock, apparently, because the baker opened the door. We told them what we wanted and we got pizza and cornettos FOR FREE. Yes! Best. night. ever.
TODAY: Today I struggled. It was a lazy day and the weather was eh all day. It rained in the afternoon, which made me even lazier. Now it's dinner time so I think Ari and I are going out for some pasta! Yes. I can't believe I'm counting in SINGLE DIGITS now until I fly to the United States. So weird. Time flies.
I can't wait to see all of my friends and family, though, as I've missed everyone terribly! Updates to come soon!
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