That means: My family went to Florence!
Monday:
After Venice, I got back in time to go to my photography class, and I am so glad that I did. We were going shooting in Bubble Gardens, which was GORGEOUS. I never wanted to leave!
^ That is just one part of the view and it TOTALLY does not do it justice. I couldn't get my family in because it's only free for Florence students and $5 regular students, and $10 for everyone else, but I wish they could've seen. Totally going back. After, we walked to Piazza Michaelangelo and I was finally able to see it on a beautiful day! :D
Tuesday:
I went to half of Italian and skipped the rest of my classes to go on a wine tour with my family. We went to Castello di Verrazzano, which makes Chianti Classico. The bus ride and walk to the castle was GORGEOUS. We got a tour of the whole place and then set down to try the wines and have lunch.
Lunch was also amazing.. among other things we had this pasta with tomato sauce and this hot spice we put on top. MMM soo good. My mom bought some of the spice to have for later :P. We sat at a table with these 2 french guys, one from Bordeaux and one from Paris (ironic much!?). The one from Bordeaux spoke english and the one from Paris only spoke french. Turns out, the guy from Bordeaux's brother owns a wine chateaux in Bordeaux, but doesn't give out tours :-\. However, he did write down his info and tell me places to visit :). I also had a conversation totally in French with the other guy :). My italian started getting in the way... but I guess I'll just have to straighten out my head at some point later on haha.
Wednesday:
We went out to a dinner theater that my brother had been wanting to go to for awhile. It was very cute. You had to apply for a membership card to get in. Once you got in you sat at these small little tables and they would announce when new food was ready (buffet style). There were so many courses! Vegetables, fish, a veal ball with capers, clams (which I had :) ), chicken, and beef. Then there was dessert which were these small little triangles of chocolate cake, one of those large cylindrical wafers, and fresh made whipped cream mmmm :). I was SOO full. So full in fact, that I was full the next morning and could not eat a thing until about 11 am haha.
Thursday:
I found a leather coat! I found one I liked (at the same place all my friends got theirs) but it didn't fit right and there were a few things I wanted changed, so they are having it custom made for me :). Hopefully it should be ready Monday, but if not definitely before I leave for Spring break next weekend :). It's black, and slightly wrinkled with 2 side pockets and 2 small pockets on my chest. I'm very excited about it :)
After, I took my family over to my host mom's house for them to see the place. Anna was very excited to have everyone over :). We then took her out to dinner while Jenna and I translated. I got kind of flustered switching from italian and back to english every few sentences, but I think Anna got everything.
Afterwards, Jenna, Dan, and I headed over to meet up with everyone at the Duomo so we could head to Blob and decorate for Marsha's 21st birthday!! We threw confetti at her from the 2nd story when she walked in, and everyone had confetti all over them. It would NOT get out of Jenna's hair haha. We also gave Marsha a pimp hat which was totally fitting :P
Such a great night. After, when we were ready to leave, Jenna and I took my brother to the secret bakery by Santa Croce. It took some effort to find (we didn't remember exactly where it was- although now we do) but we each got a croissant/ una cornetta. I got mine with cream, Dan got one with chocolate, and Jenna got a plain one. We got back around 4 am and I ended up going to be a little after 5, leaving me an hour to sleep before I had to wake up to pack and meet my parents... FAIL
Friday:
Being a zombie was an understatement. I could barely form sentences. We rented a car to drive to Vignola, the town where my dad lived in Italy for a couple months when he was 17, and I slept on the way there. I was able to form English, Italian, and French sentences when I woke up. I say that because apparently a lot of people speak French in northern Italy. Can you say Fratalian like CrAzY?!?!
We went into this restaurant (which apparently is somewhat famous now) where my dad used to eat dinner every night. He brought this plaque that they gave him before left and showed it to the guy who owns the place now (different guy). He seemed to appreciate that my dad came back about 40 years later with his family. We had lunch there and it ended up being the BEST meal I have had in Italy so far. SO many courses and it was all amazing! We even got a bottle of wine which was a red sparkling wine, which I loved. They gave us this free starter which was a spoon of riccotta and a spoon of fig jam with this piece of toast. AMAZING. Then
I got this ravioli filled with chestnuts and pumpkin and had broccoli on it. The rest of my family got this crepe sort of thing filled with cheese and mushrooms that was amazing. Then my brother and dad got a main course. My dad got veal which was great and my brother got cow's tongue covered in balsamic vinegar. Everyone said it tasted great but I refused to taste something that could taste me back. Then the guy brought me out chunks of parmesan cheese and drizzled balsamic vinegar over it which was DELICIOUS. For dessert, he brought out a tray of little small chocolate and cookie things, vanilla ice cream in a crispy wafer with caramelized caramel coming out of it and put balsamic vinegar on that, mandarin sorbet with strawberries and mandarin slices in it, and this cake looking thing with dark chocolate sauce which may have been ice cream (we still don't know). It was FANTASTIC.
After, we drove to Milan, dropped my brother off at the train station, and headed to a hotel by the airport. My dad had a flight the next morning and then my mom and I would drive to the west coast of Italy (Santa Margherita Ligure) to spend out annual trip together :).
I am currently there now with her, about to go out to what will be an amazing dinner (having a tasting of everything for a set price). I will write about our trip here in a separate post.
A Dopo!
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