Time for more gelato? Always.

Florence was absolutely beautiful. I paid the few extra euro to get a single room which meant that for the first time in months I could close a door and be alone - that in and of itself was enough to make me the happiest person alive. I woke up, printed out my Rick Steves map and listened to his walking tour podcast (I'm too cheap for a real tour). Rick and I enjoyed a lovely 45 minute walking tour during which I savored the 1st of 3 gelatos of the day (tiramisu and cinnamon). I did my two favorite things - walking, eating, and people watching. It was a wonderful.



Molly's travel rule #1: always go to a food market because there will be free samples and delicious food - in Florence, I got a delicious mini sandwich and saw a whole lot of tripe (apparently it's a big deal here).

I don't know if I'd be able to do it for weeks but for two days, traveling by myself was, if I haven't said this enough, the greatest thing ever. I took a million pictures, I went into every shop I wanted, I stayed as long as I wanted in some places and skipped others entirely. I treated myself to a lovely Florentine leather wallet and some earrings. I didn't have to worry about what my fellow travel buddies wanted to eat. I had a wild boar and truffle sandwich and there was no one to give me a weird look, it was great. Let me eat my boar! (This is a good time to mention that the whole vegetarianism thing has not been applying in foreign countries, that would be a culinary sin).

Molly's travel rule #2: Don't pay for public restrooms, an espresso is 1 euro, why would you pay for a 1 euro potty break when you could get espresso too?

Anyways, after a beautiful day in Florence during which I soaked in my vitamin D and wandered the streets of Tuscany all day (in my defense, I did try to see Michelangelo's David but the museum was closed due to a strike), I headed to the Piazza de Michelangelo which is on a huge hill and is supposed to have a gorgeous view of the city. I helped a French family catch the bus up the hill and was there by sunset. I eventually made my way back to the hostel to pick up my suitcase for the journey onward to Siena. (On the way to the bus station, an old man started speaking to me in Italian and pointed me in the direction of the "stazione." I have no idea what he was saying but he gave me a wrapped up package that, as I walked away, turned out to be a ring - have I mentioned how much I love this country?)


I made my way to Siena where I was reunited with one of my best friends, Eve! We made quite the scene when we saw each other but it was great. We grabbed some delicious pizza and took the bus to her host mom's apartment who is adorable and doesn't speak a word of english but she cooked me breakfast and kissed me a lot - it was very Italian.



I made Eve do some touristy things with me but for the most part we ate delicious foods (I tried some Siena speciality - panforte which is a good version of fruit cake), pizza, and of course some more gelato, this time in hot chocolate. Ginna also goes to Wooster and shares a host family with Eve so we all hung out together. Siena is gorgeous! This is the view from Eve's school - what?!

It was so great to be with Eve and we had a lot of "oh my god, we're in Europe!" moments combined with some "how are we going to survive going back to Ohio" moments. After some delicious pizza and some wine, we were ready to head home to take a bath and go to bed (Carla doesn't have a shower, just a bath - I'm really living the life over here in Italy).

A sad goodbye and a 5 hour bus ride later I made my way to Milan where Meghan and I reunited,  checked out the Milanese sights for about 2 hours, decided we were exhausted after a week of traveling, ate food and watched Netflix in the hotel which her mom was nice enough to treat us to. I took a bubble bath, lounged in a robe, and enjoyed the free mini bar - once again, living the life.

This is me, so happy to be in Siena and so happy to be in the sun! Fun fact from information lover Molly: the Copenhagen city hall was modeled after the city hall in Siena. Full of facts, that's what I'm here for. 

Well anyways, I'm back in Copenhagen and after sleeping all day yesterday I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm sitting in an adorable cafe, listening to Danish, enjoying the candlelight and trying to pretend I'm a Dane (someone just thought I was - win!) I'm determined to enjoy my last month here so bank account, get ready.