Day 29: FIRENZE by Nicole

This morning, we woke up in BEAUTIFUL Riomaggiore about 20minutes before our train left. We are so excited for the rest of our trip, butat the same time, we did not want to leave our apartment and this town!Especially after the traumatizing events of two nights before, we felt likethis place was a getaway, a safe haven, and a home. It was absolutely magical.But, we didn’t have too much time to wallow, so we packed up as fast as wecould and sprinted, literally sprinted, to the train station. There we were,booking it through the tunnel, panting, backpacks slamming the backs of ourheads and sweat starting to break. And STILL, the Italian guys were makingkissy faces at us and saying “ciao, bella” to us. WHAT? The tivas and thegreasy hair must really get them here. We took a train to La Spezia and thenran, yet again, to the train to Florence. It was a local train, so there are noseat reservations. It is first come, first serve. We barely made it on thetrain and walked in to find hundreds of school children swarming everywhere.There was not a seat in the house! We squeezed by a bunch of the carts butended up standing in the middle of the isles with all of our stuff. Eventually,the other three girls got a seat, but I just plopped my bag down, willy-nillyand sat on that thing and wrote in my journal. It ended up being a hilarioustrain ride. Kendall looked up to see Riley sitting by this very portly Italianman, eating greasy bread with plain marinara sauce on it. She began to eye it,thinking, and I quote, “what in the world?” But apparently, he mistook thatglance as “me licking my chops with lost and wayward puppy eyes, dreaming ofhow good a delicious slice of pizza would taste.” Being the jolly, kind manthat he was, he extended the pizza over the Asian girl’s head and insisted thatshe take it, even though “I insisted that he keep it!” But finally, realizingwhat a nice gesture it was, “I took it, closed my eyes, and took a bite intothe bread and tomato sauce. It actually wasn’t half bad. I just had to gratifyhim by eating the pizza, followed a smile and thumbs up.” This is just a sillystory to explain how kind everyone is here! We seriously have been so touchedby the fact that besides a few (who happened to be extremely rude or scary),everyone here is so loving and genuinely kind-hearted. There is just such anamazing air to the people here.

When we got to Florence, we were actually stranded with ourbackpacks. A couple days before, when we had WiFi, we found a hotel, right indowntown Florence, for just 4 Euro a night! It was too good to be true! Webooked it, and…it was too good to be true. They emailed us the next day, sayingthey made a mistake and that the room is actually 70 Euro/person/night. Whoops.Well, considering our lack of WiFi for the next couple of nights, we decided tocross that bridge when it came. Whoops again. It came. And here we were, inFlorence, with nowhere to go. We decided to take a gamble and walk to the Hotelafter all and at least use their phone to book another hostel. When we gotthere, we explained the situation, and they ended up letting us stay here foronly 20 euro each! What a miracle! We dropped our bags off, booked a differenthostel for tomorrow night, and went on our merry way to romp around Florence.

First things first: food. We had heard of this Panini shopthat was organic and fresh, and supposedly, amazing. We walked through Florencein awe at the architecture, and of course, the vibes. We were already in love.Little did we know what was in store for us. I am literally salivating justthinking about it. THAT SANDWICH! We found the place, ‘Ino. It was just alittle tiny shop and all of the items on the menu were in Italian. The man atthe cashier was so welcoming and nice, you would never guess that he was anaward winning, New York Times-honored chef! There were awards and articles allover the walls. Unable to read anything on the menu, besides Pesto (buthonestly, that is the only thing I need to know), we asked him what he wouldrecommend. Avery, Riley, and I got the daily special. Kendall asked him tochoose something for her with ham. We watched them slice the fresh cheese andtomatoes and LATHER on the pesto, and I honestly cried when I got that Paniniin my hands. We were overwhelmed. It was the best, most savory sandwich I haveever had. In fact, it was the best thing I have ever tasted. I cannot evendescribe the joy I felt as I ate that sandwich on the bridge by the river. RealTears.

We sat by the river for a long while, before continuing toexplore the city. We were all in awe as we admired the statues in the plaza andthe Duomo and all of the architecture and history that fills the city. I couldhave looked at those statues all day. Eventually, we decided it was time forsome gelato. We walked to another place that Kendall read about. I got thecoconut almond flavor and the dark chocolate hazelnut. It was, yet again, mouth-watering.After continuing to explore, the other girls got more gelato (probably a good20 minutes later). Then, we walked to the leather market, where we boughtjournals and whatnot. Kendall also got a great bag and Riley bought thegreatest red leather backpack that was ever made. After the market, and lotsand lots of walking around, we went back to the river to relax for the besttime of day (about an hour before sunset, when everything glows). It wasbeautiful. I walked like an Egyptian on the bridge (in honor of Zoe Hart) andwe laughed as we tried to wave at the row team. After the sun began to set, wewalked to a restaurant overlooking the square and got some more food. Kendalland I kept trying to imitate the short, evil chef from Ratatouille… “LINGUINI!!!!!!” It is still stuck in my head, Ican’t stop saying it. I got ravioli with creamy nut sauce…it was delicious!Then we went back to the first gelato place and got more! Don’t judge us! Gobig or go home. We’ve got on more week to live like this. We’ll all behospitalized by the time we get to Dusseldorf. Then we got lost on our wayhome, but got some more good walking in, so that’s always a plus! Bottom line:Italy is good to us. We love it here. Pesto is the best thing that has happenedto me...The end.