marvelous misadventures

as another weekend comes to a close, i am sitting on our terrace wearing leggings and a sweater watching the sun set over the rooftops of florence and enjoying the chill in the air (cold weather: brought to you by russia)

THURSDAY: i spent the afternoon at the uffizi. so cultured, i know. i had not been yet--crazy, i know. so i just decided i would go. i walked around, admired the art, and just took it all in while also dodging tour groups with earpieces. bonus: i even stumbled upon some attractive american boys.

in the evening, our whole group had aperitivo together. afterward, margaret and grace said they had "a surprise" for me. we invited everyone to "the surprise" and they proceeded to tell everyone but me what it was...while frustrating, i know that they did this out of love because they know how much I LOVE SURPRISES. seriously, can't get enough of them. if you love me, surprise me. in any form. it felt like my birthday. so off we went to "the surprise." but here comes the catch: they couldn't remember exactly where they had seen "the surprise." so off we went, parading through the city looking for said surprise.

after a long but enjoyable walk, many turns, and even more debate, we arrived at "THE SURPRISE."

drumroll please...

that's right, folks: crepes!!! nutella crepes, to be exact. YUM. i have been wanting to try them (i realize that they are actually traditionally french but i'm in europe, so that's close enough for me!

spotted: tiny cones!!! this was for you, @lizfix

the conspirators/fearless leaders

nutella crepe in all its glory

with crrrr

bonus surprise: the place is also a delicious gelateria! i will be going back.

our main goal for the night was to make it to the "secret bakery," which opens at 2 am supposedly. so we had some time to kill: the next few hours consisted of more walking/wandering, watching youtube videos, stumbling on a fireworks show over the arno (casual.)

of course they were celebrating us, according to caroline...after we caused a bit of a scene about the surprise fireworks show on the ponte vecchio, it was off to do some karaoke and dancing before heading to the secret bakery...so it is basically a bakery that sells fresh, hot, delicious pastries out the back door in the wee hours of the morning.

here's how it works: basically everyone in florence knows about it but no one really knows what's going on. do we knock or do they just come out? do they open at 2? or 2:30? or 3? will they not open if we are loud? do we get to order or do they just bring things out? they have pizza?!?! the whole block was abuzz with these questions. so a line forms outside this sketchy door and everyone (at least 50 people on this particular night) waits, wondering, for the possibility of piping-hot pastries.

we were toward the front of the line because we got there about fifteen minutes before the supposed opening time. then people trickled in. we waited for about an hour and a half. we laughed. we cried. (just almost). amy almost fell asleep against this truck. 

"be quiet please"--they really laid down the law with this sign. PSYCH. there was a lot of shushing going on (which p.s. is just as loud as talking) in the waiting process. let's just say that people were hungry and tensions were high. but at 2:45 they finally opened the door! (note to self and people of the world: things in italy never run on time--i know what you are all thinking. this is the perfect place for an ivy. specifically mary raine. in this case, i was not particularly pleased with the delay...but i was definitely pleased with the outcome!)

we ordered our croissants and the man emerged with two bags, which he exchanged for four euro (the plural form of the word actually does not have an "s." fun fact.)

then we unwrapped the hot pastries. and our marvelous misadventure ended in a delicious victory. they were divine. fresh out of the oven cannot be beat. end of story. definitely worth the wait.

FRIDAY: we slept in after a late night and spent the day relaxing, doing laundry, and organizing. the ragazzi of borgo san jacapo hosted us for a lovely dinner of pumpkin risotto (YUM. except it got a little burned. partially my fault: i was in charge of stirring for a while. but it was still delicious. it's hard for anything pumpkin to not be delicious if you ask me.), grilled vegetables, and crustata, an italian pastry with jam. it was a lovely dinner with lots of laughter. good for the soul.

SATURDAY: the misadventures continued. got up at 7:30 to catch a train to verona, the land of romeo, juliet, letters, and love. once we had arrived at the train station across town, we found that the tickets we had planned to buy two-for-one were only available for purchase a day in advance. so...it was going to cost a lot to get there or take a lot a lot of hours. we sat debating for a while in the train station and came to the conclusion that we would do verona another time. the question became what to do with this very long day we had ahead of us. then caroline had a brilliant idea: san gimignano! it's a place outside siena that you can get to relatively easy by bus. so we took a train back across town to the other train station and caught the bus. plan b turned out to be just what we needed: a beautiful quaint medieval town where we could explore, eat, and shop (hard life, i know).

 

beautiful views of the city!

 casual nun-chucks, throwing stars, and knives for sale...also a cute tiny converse keychain.

 owls galore!

my store!!! if you can't see the sign, it says MR. 

 lunch complete with rose!

 with margaret and grace

after lunch, we shopped around and amy accompanied me to the torture museumS (yep. we went to two. there was actually another one in the town that we didn't go to. like what? i don't get why it's there but i went...) it was an eye-opening experience. but sort of scarring. i did some screaming and slight squealing but i did not pass out. mission accomplished. don't be deceived. that's caroline in the picture. this was taken in shock upon our arrival in san gimignano. before i realized we would actually be going in.

 post-torture museum. we needed a pick-me-up. our solution: world famous gelato! apparently, celebrities have raved about this place. we obviously had to go. i got cinnamon and tiramisu. it was delicious. with margaret and amy. 

 then it was off to the bus station to head home. or so we thought...we waited at the bus station for a few minutes, then 30 minutes passed, then an hour passed, then an hour and a half...was the bus coming? we wondered the same thing.

spotted: gamers at the bus stop (caroline and a stranger) and a studious american taking refuge on a nearby park bench (amy)...just waiting for a ride. we contemplated hitchhiking but decided that might be a little dicey. luckily i have sudoku on my phone. so i played a little, we looked at passing cars, discussed the italian bus system, pondered what we would do if trapped in this town over night, and then after several false alarms and inquiries at the ticket office, the big blue bus came rolling over the hill. we boarded with all the other tourists attempting to make it back to florence before dawn. the bus was so packed that we had to stand on the way back. but once again, we brought the party to this preposterous position. we rocked out to some 90's jams and danced in the aisles. casual. we were back in florence by 6 and ready for a shower and a good night's rest.

while generally i like to stick to my own agenda (whatever it may be), it seems that italy has other plans. all i have to say is, bring it on! i'm lovin' it!