Firenze e Siena

So this past weekend Maaike, Barbara, and myself went to Florence. Even though our train was two and a half hours late, the trip was well worth it. Sitting on the train as we passed through Tuscany we could still see snow on the ground from the previous week's snowfall. It was beautiful seeing all of the hills from the train.
We checked in at this quaint little hostel right near the center, and set out for dinner. We decided to go to one of the recommendations in Lonely Planet, and came upon a sweet looking little restaurant with three people running the whole place. The wine was good and the food was incredible. We started out with bread that had tormino cheese and honey. This was an interesting combination, the cheese was not very strong but the honey added just a little something extra to it. Then the peppercorn beef stew came and I thought that I had just discovered a fine treasure hidden in the restaurant. The beef was so tender it fell off of your fork. We quickly devoured that and sat for a while talking about our studies and how we were excited to be in Florence. The waiter came over and immediately poured us more wine and also brought to the table hot apple cake. Needless to say our first evening in Florence started off with amazing food and hospitality.
The next day we went and saw all of the sights, like the statue of David by Michelangelo (which was beautiful and giganctic), the ponte vecchio, the Duomo and my favorite, the Piazza del Michelangelo. This spot was truly the most beautiful part of Italy that I have seen so far. We were treated to a panoramic view of Florence. Words can not even describe how amazing and content I felt seeing such a beautiful city from high above. It was truly something magical. Almost like being in a movie. We grabbed dinner at a local pizzeria and enjoyed listening to All Saints play through the speakers. We decided that since Tuscany is famous for Tiramisu, we had to have some. After a desperate search we finally found this upscale restaurant and believe me, the tiramisu was well worth the search.
Sunday morning we headed to Siena which was also incredibly beautiful. The weather was wonderful and we walked around and sat on the steps of the Duomo for some time. Maaike and Babsi decided to head up and see the view of Siena but I was perfectly content on just soaking in the sun. After some time I saw a violinist start setting up. As he started to play I was immediately put into a dream. The romantic songs he played and the way he played made me wish that my someone special was there with me to share this little secret by the church. I felt as if I was the only one who could hear the sweet notes being played and the music made sitting at the duomo that much more serene.
We walked around for a little longer and then got on the train for the 4 hour ride home. All in all Firenze and Siena made this past weekend something truly amazing and that I will never forget this special part of Italy.

Ciao Ciao
Elle

An adventure

Ok so today started off as any other day. Got up and went to school had a break and then met up with my friend from Holland to try and find an aperitivo. We were on the metro and this guy was singing at the top of his lungs to the song "I Wanna Know," by Joe. This made me super happy and I, being the singer that I am, joined in. Many people stared and some even smiled and were slightly entertained, unfortunately our mood was quickly changed.

As we were leaving the metro my dear friend had her wallet stolen. I debated on chasing after the guy, but for fear of being stabbed and or punched, we decided to go to the police station. After waiting for a while we were getting very hungry and noticed a pizza delivery guy dropping off some pizzas to the officers. I then approached the man and ordered a margherita pizza. All of the officers found this very amusing and when our pizza arrived they all wished us a happy meal.

My friend finally finished her paper work and we began our walk back to the metro/ incident site. As we approached the area I noticed that my tram was slowly pulling away so I had to sprint to catch it. What a way to end the evening.

Ciao Ciao
Elle

Barcelona

So literally just got back from a wonderful weekend in Barcelona. We left Friday and arrived in Spain around 5. After an hour long bus tour Mary, Jordain, and myself headed to the hostel. It was much nicer than I thought it would be and it was only 14 euros a night including breakfast. We met up with our friend Sarah and headed out for some dinner. We decided on a little kebab place, which was decent. We walked around the streets for about an hour looking for a bar called "the black sheep". It was well worth the wait because they had the best Sangria I have ever had. Along with a dungeon type interior, the place was interesting to say the least. I would guess it was similar to any type of Spanish pool hall. After walking the streets a little bit longer we decided to head home.

The next day we all got up and ate breakfast and headed to go for our bike tour around the city. After meeting our guide JJ all 20 of the group started the 4 hour long bike tour. It was a really fun and great way to see the city. We got some good exercise in but we learned about the most famous places in Barcelona. My favorite was seeing Gaudi's fountain. It was beautiful. All of the different details and golden structure was incredible. After the tour, we got some good suggestions of where to go for tapas and drinks and we headed back to the hostel to rest. We then went walking and saw an electronic bubble thing where everyone in the crowd was using their remote controls to change the colors of these balloons. After we went to this little place called Ryans. It was an Irish style pub and they were playing the Barcelona soccer game on TV. That was exciting in itself. Then we headed to a club called Roxy and danced for the rest of the night.

Yesterday we went to a park that had many Gaudi architectures. It was amazing to see the whole city from the top of the hill, not to mention seeing Gaudi creations. We walked Sarah to the bus stop and people watched for the rest of the afternoon. We decided we were in the mood for something sweet so we stumbled into what we thought was a bakery. Turns out it was this beautiful little dessert/tea place. We walked down into the cellar where every table was filled with candles and dimly lit lights. There was a soft music in the background and the cinnamon cake was just what I needed to wind down. We headed back to the hostel for a little siesta and decided to try a little Mediterranean restaurant recommended to us by a friend. It was far more delicious than I expected and the tea there was hand picked, which made it even better. The place was ran by two people and it was the perfect last meal in Barcelona.

Coming back to Milan was certainly harder than what I thought it would be, therefore I have made the vow that I will be back to Barcelona again before I die.

Ciao Ciao
Elle