Spring Break...

So this is the third time I am attempting to post about spring break, so it may not be as long or as good as the first two were...sorry guys, tired of typing, and tired of this internet. lol.

so thursday i finished my midterms which went smoothly enough for being midterms...all of my housemates left thursday night, so what did i do with myself? 5 loads of laundry, cleaned everything i could get my hands on, had a quiet dinner, read a book, and slept. it was beautiful.

Friday mom called to tell me Aunt Sharon got in and had been trying to reach me, so i called them at their hotel...i like to call it a villa cuz it was that nice..dont know if it was or not, but thats what we're going to refer to it as...so she told me to come over, so i threw some clothes in a bag, literally...i ended up forgetting pajamas cuz i was so excited and in such a rush to get there. i got on the bus and asked the girl next to me where fiesole was...she said it was the last stop, so i got comfortable for the twenty minutes bus ride. lol. well its a good thing i didnt take out my book because i saw the sign for their villa, and we werent in fiesole yet! so i got off the bus and walked down this curvy crazy street. it definitely should have been a one-wayer, but it wasnt. lol. so i see another sign, so i start walking down this crazy steep curvy driveway...it was really long! so im thinking to myself, this better be the correct because 1. i didnt want to have to walk back up that hill for no reason, and 2. i didnt want to waste time. but as iwas about to walk over to this old man who was like pruning a tree or something, I hear, "ciao bella!" and look up to see Aunt Sharon and Erica and Rachel in a window. so as i wait for uncle bob to open the door, I hear a scream and turn to see a dog sprinting at me. there were three dogs there...all nice ones, and ive basically gotten over my fear of big dogs being in italy.

so we went to fiesole where i passed as an 18 year old (big surprise, right?) to be a part of a family discount to go and see this old theatre..it was awesome. like an ampitheatre. and then there were all these things..like the pool and the hot, warm, and cold baths, the toilet, the ovens. it was just interesting. like roman times an dstuff...we ate there, walked around and went back to the villa. had dinner there. it was good.

saturday we decided to go to siena for the day, so we went to florence, bought the train tickets and then killed the hour wait by going to my apartment to get clothes for me for the next day and for pajamas, which i ended up forgetting again. lol. anyway, we went to siena. we saw piazza del campo, where they race the horses while we were looking for this restaurant to have lunch at. we ended up asking an old lady for directions, and she walked us there. up the hills and steps. cane and all. aunt sharon tried to tell her that she didnt have to walk us cuz we felt bad, and the woman didnt speak english so she didnt understand and thought we were asking about the horses that race in the piazza. lol. i laughed pretty hard at that one.

we ate near st. catherine's house. it was good. then we were heading to the bus station and past st. domenico's. so i went in to show st. catherines head to aunt sharon. then uncle bob came out, and couldnt find it, so i went in with him to see it and he showed me the finger he found in there...hers. gross. so then we came out and then aunt sharon wanted to see the finger. we're freaks. i know. lol. it was pretty funny though.

we got back to florence, then to fiesole. and then started walking to this restaurant we had reservations at which was supposed to be right up the street, but totally wasnt. so we're walking on the same street i described earlier, only this time in the rain, in the dark, with little hungry kids in strollers. we got to what we thought was the restaurant, but wasnt. tried to call and get directions, but couldnt figure it out, stopped a car, and the guy happened to be the owner of the restaurant (not the bus driver aunt sharon ;-P ) so he gave us a ride! and then he translated the entire menu for us, and the food was divine! i know im always talking about how great the food is, but this was seriously the best meal i have eatten since i got here in italy, and i told him that. so its official. i had gnocchi in a cheese sauce. delicious. oh, and we had some bread and chicken and a dessert sampler. they should have them in the US,. forget appetizer samplers...dessert samplers are so much better! so we asked about a taxi, and hes like, no! that iwll cost 15 euro...i'll drive you back. so he did. nicest man alive.

sunday we woke up and forgot about the time change and i ended up being late to the bus station to pick up the rest of my family...but they called from the hotel, so i met them there....then we went to my apartment. they took naps. we went to the duomo, piazza signoria, and the ponte vecchio. oh! and by the duomo, we're wlkaing away and im like, "is that drums??" and we turn around and theres a random parade....still have to research what that was all about. lol. we ate at reginella's. i got a heart shaped pizza. the food was good, they liked it. but it was salty. so we didnt go back. they've got salty food there...but i like salty, so i like it there.

after we went and got gelato of course. it was great seeing efrens face. i think it was the best. we went to festival of course, and everybody had a hard time picking from the 74 flavors. bed.

so monday, we decided we'd go to the uffizi..its closed on monday. plan A. (and take 1) then we were like, ok boboli gardens...closed the first and last monday of the month. plan B. piazza le Michelangelo for lunch at the nice restaurant...closed. plan C. go back tot he hotel to see if aunt sharon and uncle bob arrived...ran into the by the duomo, never made it to the hotel. plan D. climb the duomo....line was too long. plan E. so plan F finally worked and we climbed the bell tower instead. and of course, we're almost at the top, and right on the other side of the wall of the staircase we're in is the bells, and they start ringing. pamela and i both jumped and flew into the wall. it echoed and was so loud in there! if you want to have a taste of what it was like, dad has a video of it on his camera....lol. there was also a lil merry-go-round action in there somewhere.

we had dinner at my apartment. awesome huge dining room was finally filled! bought some sandwiches, cut them up, some bruschetta, and pasta. and gelato and snacks from the snack fairy (my dad lol).

tuesday we went to venice, but the ride there was so long and we decided to walk to san marco (where all the pigeons are), that we got to see that, the grand canal, eat by the grand canal and then walk back to catch the last train home. oh, funny story. we were eating outside and there was a finch on the umbrella above efren and pamela was like, that bird is going to poop on you, and he leans back and opens his mouth, and the next thing we knew, there was poop falling onto his coat. all this happened in like a split second. it was hysterical. he was so lucky...a few inches over, it woulda been in his mouth and if pamela didnt say anything, it coulda been on his head. lol....oh we laughed. got back, and had gelato of course.

wednesday we went to pisa. climbed the tower. that has to be one of the bizarrest things to climb on the face of the earth. we putzed around, goofed off, took lots of pictures, had lunch. it was fun. rachel and erica and caitlyn got to run around on the grass so that was good too :-)
got back, and had baci mcflurries!

Thursday we stayed in Florence. we went to the boboli gardens. i love it there. definitely will be spending more an dmore time there as the weather gets better. after we tried the uffizi, but the line was ridiculous and we wouldnt have gotten in before it closed, so we left (take 2). so we shopped instead. oh, we ate at this place. so funny. aunt sharon found it in a book, so we go and its the tiniest thing ever. i was at the head of the table and didnt have room to take my coat off, and there was some random drunk guy at the other end of the table for the first few minutes. the food was decent and came out ridiculously fast, but the waitors didnt seem to like us. i dont know if it was cuz we were tourists or american, but either way, if you dont like them...you should get your restaurant out of a tourist book. gelato.

friday we went to rome. went on a tour of the colosseum, which was really interesting...better than the last one i had in there...then the roman forum. then we went to the trevi fountain and threw coins in. then the pantheon, which we ate near. fettucini alfredo! which turned out to pe spaghetti in a butter and parmesian sauce. lol. we got fries too. random, but not bad. then the spanish steps. i think the italian universities were on spring break too cuz there were a ton of college age italians there, singing and stuff. random. we climbed the steps. managed to get on the last train to the station in florence we needed after some interesting experiences trying to find the bus to the train station lol. no gelato that night. too tired and late.

saturday morning we climbed the duomo! awesome. same view as the bell tower only higher. and the climb is never dull with the random walls jutting out at your head when you are in the actual dome part. at one point we were stopping on this spiral staircase for a good ten minutes or so. no clue why. you could only see th etwo people in front of you, and the two behind you. turns out there was a guy up there directing traffic between the people going up the dome, and down the dome. it was cool. after we tried the uffizi and the same thing as thursday happened (take 3) and no, we never got in it. sorry mom :-( but we went shopping instead :-) we had dinner and gelato and said goodbye ...it was sad.

saturday night i did get to have dinner and gelato with aunt sharon and uncle bob and rachel and erica, so that was very nice. then it was back to classes. kinda boring. nothing is really going on. i dont even have any homework. so i have read two books since my family left. lol. va bene. i have friends coming on friday who are studying in ireland, so that will be nice to celebrate easter with them....alright, well thats all for now. i'll write if i think of anything else....or after i see the exploding cart outside the duomo for easter!

miss you all and love you.

see you next month!

baci!