Easter

So sorry it ha staken me so long to write again. things have gotten crazy here lately!

So easter in florence.

Jess and Lindsay got here Friday night, so we of course went out to celebrate lindsay's 20th birthday! I took them to reginella where lindsay had gnocchi for the first time, in the pesto sauce. the guy picked on her a little bit cuz its hard to pronounce but gave her a hug at the end and said happy birthday lol. he also gave her some brandy candy...that apparently tasted ok when you first put it in, but then you had to spit it out when you got to the center...it tasted like brandy.

after we tried to get a hold of brandon, but couldnt...so we just went to his apartment to pick him up and he came with lindsay, jess, and i to festival del gelato! soo good. lindsay loved it and we ate a ton of gelato that weekend! lol. after, we just hung out at my house talking and goofing around until about 3 in the morning.

Saturday we woke up late, had mcdonalds lol, and went to the Boboli gardens! it was beautiful and sunny and we took tons of crazy pictures with lindsay in her neon pink tights! lol. From there we rushed to the food store for stuff for dinner and back to my apartment cuz we were meeting brandon to see the sunset from piazzale michelangelo. so we walked over there and kidna missed it, but saw it actually set. and it was gorgeous! we hung out there for a while an dit started to get chilly, so we went home. hung out and went to bed.

Easter Sunday we woke up early and Brandon, Lindsay, Jess, Kim, Natalie, Cassie, Laura, Traci, and I all went to the duomo to see the festivities. it was crazy! we saw like parades and people playing instruments and throwing their flags and stuff, and the cardinal came and blessed the flowers and eggs, and they handed them out and brandon caught the flower head that was for the next person who is going to get married! so funny. And the oxen pulled the cart out and they hooked up all the fireworks while this was going on and they moved the oxen. and then this dove came out of the church on like a zipline (a mechanical dove, lol). It hit the cart, shot back into the church and then the fireworks began! and it was ridiculous. it went off for a few mintues and then stopped and we were in this thick red smoke. like i could hardly see the people around me! and then that stopped coming adn the fireworks started again (luckily the wind shifted so we could see what was happening the whoel time lol). and this cart seriously exploded for liek 15 mintues. it was pure insanity!

After, we showered and took naps. walked around the market. Went to a park area near my house and saw the cute little ducks in the pond near the fountain and i sketched. then we came back and made lazy man's lasagna for dinner. with bruschetta and lindsay and i had a competetion to see who could eat more. i ate more for dinner, but we did establish that she is in fact, bigger than i am and probably could beat me up. we went back to festival for gelato. lol. that was easter.

Monday we went shopping! and hung out with kim for a little bit. we also climbed the duomo so that was fun and tiring.

Tuesday, their last day, we went to danielle's house to check on stuff for venice cuz thats where they were flying out of. and then we went to the good sandwich place on faenza for lunch. then it was to the market for more gift shopping and a homework assignment for me for my photography class. after that, we walked over to piazzale michelangelo again and saw the half of the sunset we missed saturday night. it was absolutely beautiful. we went up to san miniato (the churhc up there too) and the view from there was even better.

after we waited for kim and then met her at the restaurant next to our house where we had a really really good dinner and some gelato (this was our third time of having gelato that day lol).

Wednesday I had class in the morning and they got up early and headed to venice to spend the day before they had to fly back to ireland.

it was good times and im glad i got to spend easter with some friends... :-)

miss you girls already!