Green Beer, Funk Bands and Boboli

I'm finally caught up on sleep/work/laundry from our epic 10 day spring break so I figured I'd go ahead and do a quick post about what I've been up to since I've been back!

St. Patty's Day was, as I'm sure you are aware, this past Thursday. Back at UVA and in other parts of the world, this holiday is a huuuge celebration, so I was anxious to see what Florence had to offer! Much to my chagrin, I quickly learned that Italians don't celebrate St. Patty's Day. Wish I had known that before getting dressed that morning, as I proudly strutted the streets donning everything green from my wardrobe. After class, Devon, Brigid and I went to a local American bar and purchased some green beers! So while the holiday wasn't exactly as 'crazy' as it is in America, it was still really fun.

Don't think for even a second that I missed out on anything, though! This past week also happened to be the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, which was certainly reason enough to have a celebration.

The Ponte Vecchio was illuminated with green,white and red lights, which matched perfectly with the other festive lights and decorations strewn all over the city. All of the state run museums [think Palazzo Vecchio, Piti Palace, etc] opened up their doors free to the public until 1 AM! BINGO! Also, there was a great funk band that performed live in Santa Croce for about an hour..it was so much fun getting to celebrate with Italians and Americans. Italians have so much pride - it blew me away! In the days leading up to the anniversary, almost all of the shops hung Italian flags in their window displays and even had special sales in honor of the big day. It kind of reminded me of a really huge 4th of July celebration except infinitely cooler!

palazzo vecchio decorated with Italian flags

Hot Air Balloon in Santa Croce

And just when I thought things couldn't get any better, fireworks were sent off from the Piazza del Duomo. Red, white and green flashes filled the sky as Devon, Brig and I walked along the arno back to our apartment.

On Friday, we woke up and decided to be adventurous and try a new restaurant that a friend of mine had recommended. With a name like Pizza Man, I was a bit concerned that we might be walking right into the the tourist trap of the century. But, much to our surprise, Pizza Man lived up to it's rep and prepared us some of the best pizza we've had since being here. I got the Margherita DOP, which uses Buffalo mozzarella instead of regular mozzarella [side note: my palette must not be refined enough because I still can't taste the difference between regular mozzarella and the much more expensive and rare buffalo moz...oh well]. Devon got the Caprese pizza, which more or less fits the label of an American margherita pizza. Needless to say, we left VERY satisfied and have added Pizza Man into our rotation of restaurants 

margherita pizza 

caprese pizza 

After pizza we headed to the Boboli gardens to spend this gorgeous day wandering the Piti Palace.

As we had hoped, some of the flowers in the gardens have started to bloom, so we spent a good 30 minutes frolicking in the grass and taking photos of/with the foliage. Since we didn't go inside the palace on our first trip, we decided to check out the costume gallery inside this time. It was great! Sadly, photography was not allowed, but the dresses that were featured were utterly beautiful. Also featured in the gallery were actual remnants of clothes that Cosimus de Medici wore himself! For some reason, looking at his clothes left me with a very eery feeling...but I still though the whole thing was very cool, nonetheless.

It's officially Spring and with it has come some great weather. Today was a glorious day: high 50's and not a cloud in the sky...Bellisimo! Devon and I are continuing our adventures this weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark so I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to blog about upon our return. Until then...Arrivederci! 

Edin-burra

Edinburgh is fantastic! Definitely the most 'exotic' of my three spring break destinations, I've also fallen in love with this beautiful city. We arrived in Edinburgh around 9:30 AM and began the trek to find the hostel. We ended up having to take a bus to the main bus terminal and then walk up a mountain [who knew Scotland was so mountainous]! Just when we thought we'd never make it, we finally saw signs to the famous Grassmarket area and new we had arrived! Art Roch Hostel was the best! Unbeknownst to us, we had booked a 4 person private SUITE [which was actually cheaper than any of the other hostels we had frequented] which turned out to be great. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We dropped our bags off with the ineffably handsome receptionist and headed straight to the castle, conveniently located straight up the mountain from where we had just come! When we first arrived, the weather was great! Not a cloud in the sky and a brisk 30 degrees. Well one important thing to know about Edinburgh...the weather is VERY bipolar.

on the way up!

view from the top!

By the time we climbed to the top of the hill, the skies were a dark grey and the clouds looked as though they could burst at any moment. Undeterred, we spent about 2 hours wandering around the massive grounds of the castle. Sadly, there were no free guided tours here, so we were left to create our own historical encounters [some were quite hilarious if I do say so myself]

grey skies...go away!

After the castle, we wandered back down the mountain to the Grassmarket area and our lovely hostel. Realizing it was only noon and check in wasn't until 3, Brigid and I decided to explore the market while Devon took a nap in the hostel lounge.

We headed to a vintage shop that was written up in my tour book called Armstrong's Emporium. It was fantastic! Filled with clothes from as early as the 1930's, we had such a good time looking at all of the period pieces and were left wanting more.

After we realized the prices were a bit out of our price range, we headed back to our hostel, eager as ever to take a quick nap [side note: I forgot to mention that our flight from Dublin to Scotland departed at 6:50, aka we had to catch a bus from Dublin to the airport at 4 AM! By this point in the day, we were all fading very very fast]. As 3:00 finally dawned, we took our keys, said goodbye to our new reception friends and caught some shut eye. Once we were all a bit more refreshed, we realized just how awesome our room was [insert shameless plug for Art Roch hostel...here]! We were in heaven! We quickly changed and headed to dinner, eager to try to Scottish cuisine. While the haggis was oh so tempting [NOT], I settled for grilled chicken with potatoes and was extremely happy with my decision. After dinner we ran back across the street, changed again, and went to a local pub called The Queens Arm. This place was really neat, with an eclectic mix of people and really cool decor. We ended up spending the whole night talking to this guy named Tony Stone, who as it turns out is the CEO of a famous food company in Scotland called Stoats! He was really nice and we were sad to say goodbye to him at the end of the night. 

The Queens Arm

DAY 2:

Everyone had recommended that we take a bus tour of the city so we decided to do it. Not only did we finally get a chance to ride on one of those fancy double decker busses, but the tour explained so much about the history of Edinburgh and about the prominent buildings in the city. 

We drove by the Queen's Palace,

Parliament 

and many other interesting buildings. At the conclusion of the tour, Brigid and I decided to visit another museum that was recommended in my tour book...the Surgeon's Museum! It was so interesting to see the evolution of medical practices and techniques in Scotland [dad, you would have loved it]! It had some really neat exhibits, including this real human face which shows a gun shot wound from around world war 2. Talk about some heavy duty preservation...I was in shock!

By this point, Brig and I were starting to feel a little woozy from all of the blood and guts, so we headed to a place we knew would comfort us...Starbucks! After we each had our coffee, we wandered around the city a bit more and then took refuge from the rain in a restaurant called The Candy Bar. Only slightly disappointed to learn the building wasn't actually constructed out of candy, we ventured inside and were pleasantly surprised by the eclectic and cool atmosphere. The decor was, once again, fantastic and the food was even better. Devon, Brigid and I all got fajitas, which turned out to be KILLER! I've never been so happy to have mexican style food before and boy was it a nice break from italian. 

The Candy Bar

mmm fajitas!

After stuffing our faces with food, we walked back to the Grassmarket area and made Devon come and check out the vintage shop from the day before! As expected, she fell in love too and Brigid even purchased some fabulously retro sunglasses. 

On the final walk back to our hostel, we stopped at a convenience store and were lucky enough to find a Stoat's bar! We bought a few and made sure to take a photo to send to Tony. 

Later that night, we packed everything up for the last time and decided to go out for our last night of Spring Break. As long as we were back by 3:30am to catch our bus to the airport, everything would be fine! We headed to a club called The Liquid Room and it was awesome! At around 2:45 we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to Art Roch for the last time. 

Devon, Brigid and I

We checked out, thanked the staff, and began the long trek back to the bus station...in the SNOW! That's right ladies and gentleman...in true Edinburgh fashion, it was snowing. Everything was going smoothly until we arrived to the airport and Devon realized....she had forgotten her Blackberry at the Hostel. Surprisingly calm, we used a pay phone and contacted Art Roch who said they would ship it to her once she sent them her address. Still waiting to get the phone back, but at least it's in transit!

What a successful spring break vacation we had! We did basically everything we had set out to do and had so many unforgettable experiences along the way. Dublin was definitely my favorite, with Edinburgh coming in a close second. I've been back a week now and I'm finally fully recovered. It's nice to be back in Florence and traveling through so many different countries really made me appreciate both Italy and America so much more! Thanks for reading my novel posts and Happy Purim to all of my fellow Jews out there!!

Heaven on Earth...or should I say DUBLIN

dublin. 

I actually fell in love with this city in three short days. I'm already planning my eventual return. I'd been told that the city is incredible but boy oh boy was that an understatement. Everything from the nice people to the green grass to the extremely attractive men...I've never felt so welcomed and important in a foreign city before.


MONDAY MARCH 7TH:

Dublin! A bridge over a sea of...Guinness?

We arrived in Dublin circa 10 am with absolutely no travel mishaps! We went to our hostel, dropped off our bags and then headed straight to the Guinness factory. Being a huge fan of this dark beer, I was incredibly excited to check out the famous factory that I'd heard so much about. The factory was more like a museum, with 7 floors of Guinness everything. There was one floor dedicated to the production and the breakdown of the special recipe and, my personal favorite, an advertising exhibit. Famous for their very popular ads, they had a large collection of past advertisements, including tv commercials, audio, and large posters. I really enjoyed watching the evolution of their marketing ideas!

As we approached the Gravity Bar, aka the top floor and location where you can redeem your FREE pint [well it's not exactly free since you technically pay for it when you buy your admission ticket, but still], we decided we should probably fill our increasingly empty stomachs before indulging in a whole pint of beer. The restaurant in the factory was highly recommended so we decided to give it a go. GREAT LIFE DECISION #1. It was absolutely delicious. They had a lunch special which consisted of "Cottage Pie" [basically Shepherd's Pie but made with beef instead of lamb], a side salad and a raspberry and hazelnut dessert. 100% satisfied, we said goodbye to our adorable ginger waiter and headed upstairs to redeem our pint. The panoramic view from the top of this bar was unreal. Semi reminiscent of the London Eye view, we were able to see the entire city in all of its glory. 

After about 2 hours of relaxing and enjoying our Guinness pint[s], fatigue began to set in and we walked back to the Hostel for a much needed power nap. We woke up, had another delicious meal at a local restaurant called Quay's bar and then decided to check out the night life at the "Temple Bar" located conveniently right next to our Hostel! GREAT LIFE DECISION #2. The place was incredible. Live music, lots of locals, REALLY attractive bartenders and we were actually able to communicate with people! We stayed there until they closed and then made the long 20 second trek back to our Hostel. We got back to our room and met our other roommate, a guy named Matt who is from Australia! He's been traveling for the past 6 months and had some realllly crazy stories. Good thing he was so nice and friendly because take a look at our cramped quarters: 

TUESDAY MARCH 8TH:
We awoke at 6AM [and dragged Matt with us, in the process] for a day trip to Galway and Cliffs of Moher! Although we once again almost missed our bus, we made it just in time and were off for an amazing day.




We made a few stops at overlooks and scenic areas along the way, which was a nice way to break up the 4 hours of driving it took to get there! We stopped at the Castle of Dunguaire and were lucky enough to see a rainbow [cue cheesy grin..now!]

We stopped in Galway for a traditional Irish meal. I ordered beef guinness stew, which came with a side of 'brown' bread, and of course...a Guinness. It was absolutely delectable and arguably one of the best meals I've had while being abroad.


The weather was a bit sheisty once we finally made it to the Cliffs but it didn't put a damper on anything. We explored for about 2 hours, trying to take in every ounce of beauty in these magical cliffs. Photo credit goes to Brigid, as her artistic bone is about 100 times as big as mine is :)

Our bus driver Desmond warned us to be very careful if we decided to venture to the top; apparently 14 people died just last year because they tripped on their way up and the wind was so strong that it picked them up and they flew off of the edge [don't worry mom, I stayed far far away from any cliff tops]. After we finished exploring we loaded the bus and started the long trek back to Dublin. 4 hours, a few scenic stops and lots of Irish music later, we finally made it back safe and sound around 9pm.

 We took another crucial nap and mustered up just enough energy to explore the nightlife, hoping for a repeat of the night before [spoiler alert: it was great!!] 

WEDNESDAY MARCH 9TH:

Eager to take advantage of our last full day in Dublin, we were ready and raring to go come 9 AM. On our way to St. Stephen's Green, we stopped at a little cafe called Lemon for what we hoped would be a nice midmorning snack. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I got the 'salsa sandwich' which consisted of an assortment of cheeses, salsa and tomatoes. It even had a side of pepper and onion salad, aka I was in heaven! 

After finishing up our meal, we headed to our original destination...St. Stephen's Green! This park brought new meaning to the word green! The grass and trees were an unbelievable shade of green and I could have plopped myself down on a bench and spent the remainder of the day just relaxing. The weather couldn't have been better and I, along with my friends, were completely euphoric.

Sadly, we said goodbye to our new favorite park and made our way towards Grafton Street, a street famous for its shopping! I exercised great material restraint and the only purchase I made was a shot glass to add to my collection. As the sun started to set, we began to realize our Ireland adventure was coming to a quick end. To say we were sad was quite an understatement. With tears in our eyes, we headed to O'neills pub to enjoy our last Irish meal and authentic Guinness. I ended the trip on a high note, ordering what turned out to be a VERY hearty serving of Fish and Chips. 

Completely stuffed and beyond satisfied, we spent our last night back where we started - The Temple Bar. Devon, Brigid, Matt and I sipped on Guinness and reminisced about our trip as the night drew to a close. We made the long trek next door to our Hostel to finish packing up our stuff for the next leg of our journey...EDINBURGH! 

Lost quite a few pounds in LONDON

warning: long post[s] ahead

*in the best interest of my audience, i will break up my UK getaway into 3 posts. hang in there...this could be a long ride

REWIND TO THURSDAY MARCH 3RD:

Travel Itinerary: Walk to train station --> train from Florence to Pisa --> Plane from Pisa to London --> Bus/Subway from London to Hostel. 

Seems simple, right? WRONG. Where shall I start....So normally it takes about 30 minutes to walk from our apartment to the train station. I guess we got a bit caught up in the excitement of our future adventures that we didn't think to factor in how long it might take to walk there with an additional 30 pound suitcase. Needless to say, we BARELY had enough time to buy our tickets and, in the process, the machine decided to malfunction and shortchanged me 7 euros [which, at the time, I thought was awful but just you wait]! We ran to the nearest attendant to ask where our train was and he directed us to the track at the end of the station. Relieved to finally be on our train, we peeled off all of our layers [hey, when your suitcase can only weigh 15 kilos, you find yourself wearing all of the extra clothes that wouldn't fit in your luggage] and sat down. About 5 minutes later, and about 2 minutes before the train was supposed to depart, the man frantically ran onto the train and began yelling at us in Italian "2 2 2". Confused and startled, he grabbed my arm and nearly pushed me and all of my belongings off of the train and redirected me to the correct train which wass on the other side of the station about to depart. Needless to say, I'm sure my friends and I looked like a bunch of chickens with our head's cut off as we sprinted towards the correct train and hopped on just as it was pulling away. CUE SIGH OF RELIEF HERE. About 30 minutes into the ride, the conductor comes through to collect the tickets. He looks at the ticket, looks at me, and then begins to shake his head. "Do you speak English, Signora?"...."Yes...Is there a problem sir?" He proceeds to hand me a piece of paper which, as I read, causes a wave of nausea to sink over me.   In accordance with Italian law blah blah blah failure to validate train tickets blah blah blah will result in a 40 Euro fine per person. With tears in our eyes, we gave one last ditch effort to pull at the heart strings of the conductor but finally surrendered our 40 euros. He snatched the monies, wrote us each a yellow demerit and continued down the aisle looking for his next victim. 

Me and the most expensive yellow piece of paper you will EVER find! 

If you thought I was defeated after my shortchange at the ticket machine, you should have seen me then. We sat in silence for the remainder of the train until we finally arrived in Pisa, eager as ever to be done with traveling. Luckily, we didn't have any issues with our flight to London and we arrived in London Stansted at approximately 8pm, right on time. We claimed our bags, went through Passport control, gawked over some English accents and then headed straight to the nearest ATM to take out pounds. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the ATM promptly spit out my card with the accompanying message "CARD REJECTED". card rejected?! Time to get down to business. After a few frantic phone calls with Bank of America and my Mom, I finally realized that my account had [once again] been locked due to suspicious activity and they were able to remedy the situation instantly. Luckily things went pretty smoothly for the rest of the evening and we made it to Astor Hyde Park Hostel around 11:30 pm, sufficiently exhausted and defeated. After a first day like that, I said a little prayer that night and hoped that things would only get better [spoiler alert: THEY DID]

FRIDAY MARCH 4TH:

Eager to turn over a new leaf, we woke up early and headed out to explore the city. First stop was Buckingham Palace! Sadly, we didn't get to see the famous changing of the guards, but we still saw a procession of horses and guys wearing cool hats! 

After that, we continued wandering towards the Big Ben and famous Parliament building. Big Ben is surprisingly not that big! Maybe it's because I'm jaded by the Duomo, but I was thoroughly unimpressed. We also stopped at Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's Church. Due to the ineffably long line, we didn't get the opportunity to go inside, but it's really neat to think that in just a month, the ROYAL WEDDING will be held there. 

After we got our cathedral fix, we headed towards the outskirts of London to visit the British Tate. This eclectic museum was filled with an assortment of neat exhibits, ranging from modern and funky to old fashioned and just strange. I thoroughly enjoyed the contemporary art part of the museum and I explored my inner artist as I gazed at the solid black canvas and questioned its true meaning (??). Another notable piece was the canvas on which someone literally wrote the entire script of Topgun. Artsy or just weird...you decide!

After the art museum, we started wandering towards the London Eye! For those that don't know, the London Eye is an incredibly large Ferris Wheel that takes 30 whole minutes to complete ONE rotation! It costs a pretty penny but the view from the top is unbeatable. It was awesome getting to see the whole city from a different angle and I am so glad we waited in the incredibly long line to get on!  Additionally, the stars finally aligned for us and it turned out to be an unbelievably gorgeous day! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we couldn't have been happier.

London Eye

After our relaxing ride, we were on a mission to find a Starbucks to satisfy Devon's withdrawals. Seeing as how I'm not a coffee drinker, I couldn't really relate, but I've never seen someone drink 2 Venti coffees so fast in my entire life. Pretty sure the barista may have questioned her sanity, but she was inexplicably happy after. Next we wandered around the city and visisted Trafalgar Square where, coincidentally, there was a big book festival occurring. Brigid, a HUGE Harry Potter fan, thought maybe J.K. Rowling might be there, but we didn't see her sadly.

After more wandering, we headed towards Oxford Street for some much needed retail therapy [why not soften the blow of losing 40 euros the day before by spending even more money!!]. We found a really authentic London pub to eat in for dinner and it turned out to be delicious. Whoever gave London a bad food rep is crazy - I enjoyed all of my meals and welcomed a break from pizza and pasta. Later that night we went out with some friends we made in the Hostel and it was quite disappointing. I guess we got sucked into the tourist bar because we found ourselves on a packed dance floor, fending off foreigners left and right. Needless to say, we ended the night at a reasonable hour and got some sleep for the next day. 

SATURDAY MARCH 5TH:

We awoke Saturday morning to find that we had a new roommate! We asked him when he got in and he told us that he climbed in through the window [sketchy] and that he was an assassin [even sketchier]. Needless to say, we didn't stick around long enough to find out if any of the aforementioned was true. We promptly locked up our bags, said our goodbyes and caught the tube to the...LONDON TOWER! 

With an entry ticket, we also got a free guided tour [which we obviously took so we could learn a little bit more about the place]! Our tour guide was AWESOME. He was engaging and loud and absolutely hysterical. Beyond that, he was also incredibly knowledgeable on all things Henry VIII and I enjoyed every moment of our 1 hour tour. A few highlights: 

This was the execution site of Anne Boleyn! There was a public execution site that was across the street but there was also a private execution area that is pictured to the left. Only 7 people were given the option to be executed here, one of which was Queen Anne. Apparently, the executioner did such a good job that after she was beheaded, her mouth and eyes moved for a whole 25 seconds after! There were already rumors that she was a witch and I'm sure after seeing this strange display, they were even more convinced! 

After the Tower tour, we headed over towards Notting Hill and Portabello Road! This block was reminiscent of beachy towns- all of the houses were painted a beautiful pastel color. We also saw George Orwell's home (the house with the blue circle on it). 

The whole street was basically an outdoor market, with street vendors selling everything from sewing machines and dresses to books and antique rugby balls. Sadly, we got there with about an hour to spare and most of the vendors were closing up shop by the time we came through [probably a good thing...my wallet thanked me later]. Still, it was a really neat area and we all really enjoyed looking around. If I ever decide to move to London, I definitely want to live on this street. It was so pretty! 

SUNDAY MARCH 6TH:

Conveniently located about a block away from our hostel, we decided to check out the famous Victoria and Albert museum. This museum was a smorgasbord of interesting things! From a whole wing dedicated to jewelry to a middle eastern exhibit, this place had at all! It even had a theatrical section, which was full of original costumes from shows, movies and plays.  Additionally, there was a dress up section which we [of course] took full advantage of! 

lion king costumes!

After this adventure, we headed to Platform 9 3/4. Now as most of you know, I'm not a Harry Potter fan at ALL. But, luckily for me, I was traveling with 3 of the most avid fans out there. On the tube there, they explained to me all of the background and history associated with this famous platform and I was only mildly confused by the time we got there. 

After our Harry Potter re-enactment, we decided to indulge in MY personal craving...CHIPOTLE! We spotted one on the first day [conveniently located next to TK Maxx, not to be confused with TJ Maxx] and I was set on going there since. Devon is to Starbucks as I am to Chipotle. I didn't eat 2 full burritos, but I definitely ate every last ingredient that was on my plate. After we refueled, we headed to another Tate...the Tate Modern! While I'm not an art buff like some of my friends, I thoroughly enjoyed this museum. It had some really famous pieces by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, and Pollock. Additionally, there was this crazy installation that spanned the ENTIRE bottom floor. Imagine: over 500,000 hand crafted and painted porcelain sunflower seeds covering the floor. Having trouble coming up with a mental image? Let me help you out [see above]. It was NUTS! 

Jackson Pollock!

After we had had our fill of modern art, we headed to the one and only...ABBEY ROAD! Beyond excited, I sprinted down the street and stood anxiously in line to get my very own Beatles photoshoot. I guess we didn't have the stopping power that the Beatles did because we couldn't catch a break, literally! It took us about 20 minutes to finally get a break in the traffic long enough to take the famous photo! And even then, the photo is a bit off center and a bit dark/blurry. It was still satisfying enough for me and I am still SUPER excited

Due to an incredibly early flight the next morning, we spent the rest of the evening packing and getting ready for our next leg of the journey, Dublin! Overall, I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed with London. While the people were incredibly friendly and the city itself is bustling with things to do, the nightlife was pretty boring and I didn't enjoy how large the city was! That's one of the things that I really do love about being in Florence - I can walk/run/bike anywhere I want to go. No wasting money on tubes or metros or trains. 

So for now, Cheerio Darlings! I'll update with Dublin as soon as I finish my entry!