Spring Break Adventure Pt.1: Siena and Florence

We finally made it to our Spring Break trip! It was snowing in Germany when we left but when we made it to Italy the sun was shining and almost felt like spring. Sarah, Anne, and Danni arrived in Florence on Thursday night and were ready for dinner after our 13 hour train ride. We found a little restaurant near our Airbnb that had a page full of pastas and pizzas that were calling our name! After dinner we started off to find our first gelato of the trip. Most things were already closed but we found one cute little shop that had some amazing flavors! We all had two scoops and were amazed by how wonderful it tasted. We finished the night off with some Tuscan wine and card games as we prepared for our trip to Siena the next day.

The next day we headed off for a day trip to Siena. We had a little trouble figuring out where the bus station was but after some quick directions we made it to the station just in time to buy our tickets and settle in for our bus ride through the Tuscan country side. We passed by vineyards and rolling hills before we made it to the small medieval town of Siena. The first order of business was to find somewhere to eat. We stumbled upon this cute little restaurant and were greeted by a sweet Italian couple. There were so many good things on the menu that it was hard to decide what to pick. Finally, we decided to share a cheese plate with warm walnut bread and jam spread. We all devoured the cheese and could not get enough of that bread. By the time our main dishes came we were already pretty full from the four different cheeses we had. Anne chose the traditional Siena pasta with pesto sauce, Sarah had grilled beef with roasted potatoes, and Danni picked the grilled pork with potatoes. We all agreed that this was the best meal we had eaten since arriving! We walked off our lunch and found the Duomo which was like nothing we had ever seen before. Both inside and out the church was adorned with black and white stripes. It also had these beautiful tile pictures on the floor that added to the amazing detail of it all.

Next we decided it was time to try out the gelato in Siena! We found a shop in the city square and we all got huge scoops and ate while we sat and watched the hustle and bustle in the square. We walked around the town and did a little window shopping before our bus left. By the time we got back Crystal and Charnelle had finally arrived! That night they got their first experience of Italian food and gelato and fell in love just like we had. That night we found a karaoke bar that catered to both American singers and Italians. It was such an interesting mix of songs and singers because one minute we would be singing along to a song we knew and the next minute someone was belting out an Italian song that none of us knew. As it got busier none of us could work up the courage to try our hand at singing.

The next morning we set out for our first full day in Florence! We found a huge leather market in the center of town that was packed full of purses, bags, and anything that could possibly be made out of leather. As soon as you glanced in one of the booths the sales person would immediately come up to you and try to sell you something. They all claimed that they had the best price and could find you anything that you wanted. Charnelle and Crystal had their eyes set on buying a leather book bag and they soon became expert hagglers. If they wanted to see one of the bags they would go up and ask how much it was and soon they were decreasing the price trying to get the best deal possible. If that didn’t work Crystal would just start walking away till they came down to the price she wanted. They were pros at it! After all that haggling we worked up an appetite! We found a pizzeria close by and had another wonderful meal full of pizza and pasta. Next we found the Duomo, which was hard to miss because it was probably the size of two football fields. After touring around, we stumbled upon a chocolate market that had rows and rows of chocolate truffles, pastries, and even chocolate fountains. We finally found a square full of famous statues (most of them copies) and got to see the statue of David constructed by Michael Angelo. We headed back to the apartment to eat dinner and rest up. Since we had had such a fun time the night before we decided to go back to the karaoke bar. This time Danni was ready and got up to sing! She killed it with her version of “I Like Big Butts” and had the whole crowd singing along! We all had an amazing time in Florence but were excited to get on another train and head out of the city to Cinque Terre.