The parade began at 12:00 and we arrived just in time. We didn't get the best spot but we stood behind a group of kids so I could see over their heads. The parade was fantastic! There were marching bands from all over the world and local bagpipe bands. I really loved it. Rain was on the forecast for that day but thankfully it didn't start to rainuntil right after the parade ended.
Early Saturday morning, I got out of bed and got ready for the day. While my roommates were still asleep, I left our room and went to get breakfast. I had a yummy breakfast of eggs and toast before hopping on the airport shuttle. I quickly got through security and found a comfy seat at my gate. I FaceTimed Simone for a few hours and she helped me pick out a few good snacks for the plane.
I boarded my flight on time and was sitting next to a mother and daughter duo, Susan and Juliet. They are both so wonderful! Susan is Irish but has married and Italian man and they live in Italy with their 3 daughters. Juliet's first language is Italian but is learning English from her mother. She and Juliet were visiting her parents for the holiday weekend. Juliet is 6 years old and wears the cutest pink glasses. She also happens to like One Direction. That's actually how we started talking. She has a One Direction suitcase and I couldn't help but comment on it. She giggled when I told her I loved One Direction to and asked how old I was. I told her she had to guess and she guessed 11.
We taxied on the runway for about 40 minutes and during that time Susan and I talked while Juliet entertained herself with who knows what. Susan and I talked about her struggle to learn Italian, my study abroad experiences, where I've traveled, her year abroad, how she met her husband, and so much more.
We were finally up in the air and Juliet had exhausted all her toys and was being to whine of being bored. I asked her if she knew what I Spy was and she did. We played I Spy for our entire 55 minute flight to London. It was tremendously fun! If Juliet didn't know how to say something in English she'd whisper to her mom in Italian, asking how to say it. We went back and forth spying things until we were waking off the plane. We said our goodbyes and went to find our gates for our connecting flights.
I had a five hour layover so my gate wasn't announced until 45 minutes before my flight. I sat in the lounge area, charging my phone and FaceTiming Simone. In the middle of telling Simone a story, I see Susan and Juliet out the corner of my eye. I call their names and they smiled. We chatted for a little longer before they needed to get to their gate to catch their flight back to Italy. We again say goodbye but before they left they recommended a pizza place in the food court to me. I decided to go there for dinner. The pizza was really good and they had Lagunitas IPA! In London, I found Lagunitas. How crazy. While waiting at my gate, I chatted with my mom. I boarded my flight and was beyond excited for who I would see once I landed in Milan.
My plane landed 30 minute early and I rushed off. I went through customs faster than I've ever before and basically ran out the door to the terminal entrance. I walked from one end to the other and saw the best thing I've seen this entire trip. My sister sitting on a bench, waiting for me. I ran up to her and hugged her and cried a little. I've missed her so very much. The only thing that could have made it better was our other sister being there as well.While we waited for our hotel shuttle, we talked and goofed off. Our shuttle arrived on time and we hopped in with a couple. Abbe and I were talking in the backseat and the girl turns around and asks us where we're from. We tell her California and she said "us too, where?" I tell her Sonoma County and her face lights up. She ask what town and I say Santa Rosa and her boyfriend and her freak out just a little bit. They're from Santa Rosa AND they both go to the SRJC. What a crazy coincidence. Abbe and I checked into our room and went right to bed.
We checked out of our room a little before we caught the 11:00am shuttle back to the airport. From the airport we took a bus to the train station to catch our train to Florence. We arrived in Florence at 3:00pm and headed straight to my apartment. With no extra blankets and a rule for no overnight guests, Abbe and I are staying in a B&B on the top floor of my apartment building. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to explore!
Our first stop was gelato with my roommates. We all got gelato and then went to Santo Spirito expecting there to be just a few locals. Instead, if was filled with a farmers market. We walked around and looked at all the little stands before parting ways with my roommates and headed across the Arno.
I gave Abbe a walking tour of most of Florence before we headed back to our place to relax for a little before going to dinner. I took Abbe to a local restaurant by Santo Spirito for dinner. She got pasta and I got a chicken and pesto dish. We walked back to our place and almost immediately fell asleep.Today was my first day of classes after Spring Break so we had to get up bright and early. We stopped for a pastry at a small bakery on our walk to school. My two back-to-back classes for today were International Business at 8:30am and Intro to Business at 10:45am. My teacher was excited for Abbe to be in class and here in Italy with me.
After my last class, we went to a very popular sandwich shop for lunch. Pinos is delicious and Abbe loved it! We stopped for gelato on the way to the grocery store. Since my apartments just downstairs, we bought enough groceries to make lunch and dinner until we go back to Milan on Thursday. After we put away the groceries I cleaned my room while abbe relaxed as she's still jet lagged.
We packed a picnic dinner once I finished cleaning my room and we headed up to Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset. From Piazza Michelangelo you can see the entire city. We ate and chatted as the sun went down.We stopped at a graffiti artist's shop on the way home. This artist modifies the street signs in Florence and across Europe. They are all really cool designs.
Now we're back in our place in our pjs watching a movie before going to bed to be rested for tomorrow's adventure.
No comments