Hiiiiii!!! Long time no post! Sorry about that; things have been crazy travel-wise. I’m finally finding a little bit of this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in Lausanne to tell you about it.
So the weekend after London we went to Florence, Italy. It was so amazing and full oh history on literally every corner. First of all I got to ride in my first sleeper train. It was so fun, like having a sleepover where you wake up in another country!! We arrived in Florence at 6:30 am. Since we got into Pepperdine’s house there, Pepperdine fed us breakfast every morning. We had all-you-can-eat passes to the most delicious Café ever! The chocolate croissants were my downfallJ. After breakfast we needed to walk it off a little, so we started walking around the city and made our way to the Duomo. The Duomo in Florence is so cool. We got to walk in and take pictures, and admire all the architecture of the old buildings that we just don’t have in the states. So after that it kind of started to rain, so we went somewhere inside. We went to the Galleria Palatina, aka the Medici Palace. We saw all the old art works and the old palace which was so neat. By the time we were done with that the rain had stopped, and the weather was still warm compared to Switzerland and had that beautiful “after rain” feel to it, so we went right over to the Boboli Gardens. The Boboli Gardens were enormous!!! They were so fun to explore and had so many places where we could overlook the whole city. The Italian food was, of course, to die for, and we, no doubt, indulged in gelato a time or two.
On Saturday we got an early start and went to the Accademia to see many of Michelangelo’s works, including the David. The David was magnificent. I was not expecting it to be that amazing, but it absolutely took my breath away. We then moved on and went to the Ufizzi. The Ufizzi is a famous galleria in Florence filled with renaissance art. The Ufizzi has in it many famous paintings, including the Birth of Venus. It was so neat to be able to see everything that I had learned about in all of my history and humanities classes, it really made things come alive. We spent so long in the Ufizzi admiring all the art so by the time we got out my tummy was about to die. We went searching for this little American diner for lunch. We got lost eight times and finally found it. It had pink walls and a little fish tank, it was so cute. It also had the best bacon cheeseburger I have ever consumed. I totally miss American food, so that was really fun. When we tried to go back to the house there were blockades across every street to our street. The police were everywhere and told us that there was a communist rally/ demonstration going on and that it wasn’t safe to be there. We were so confused and finally gave up and had to wait out the rally. It was a little scary and there was kind of mayhem every where after a little while. When they finally let us back to the house it was time for dinner. We went looking for a little Italian place and I had pizza, typical, I know. The pepperoni there is just so so so good though. I loved it. That night back at the house I was humming “Sing and be Happy” in my head and this girl that I didn’t even know too well came up and stared singing the also part. Before we knew it we had like ten of us at an impromptu worship session till 1 in the morning. We finally got a little sleep and had to wake up at 6ish to catch our train back to Lausanne. Our trip back to Lausanne consisted of 3 train changes and a McDonald’s stop in Milan! It was such a fun trip. I would LOVE to go back to Italy!
So the weekend after London we went to Florence, Italy. It was so amazing and full oh history on literally every corner. First of all I got to ride in my first sleeper train. It was so fun, like having a sleepover where you wake up in another country!! We arrived in Florence at 6:30 am. Since we got into Pepperdine’s house there, Pepperdine fed us breakfast every morning. We had all-you-can-eat passes to the most delicious Café ever! The chocolate croissants were my downfallJ. After breakfast we needed to walk it off a little, so we started walking around the city and made our way to the Duomo. The Duomo in Florence is so cool. We got to walk in and take pictures, and admire all the architecture of the old buildings that we just don’t have in the states. So after that it kind of started to rain, so we went somewhere inside. We went to the Galleria Palatina, aka the Medici Palace. We saw all the old art works and the old palace which was so neat. By the time we were done with that the rain had stopped, and the weather was still warm compared to Switzerland and had that beautiful “after rain” feel to it, so we went right over to the Boboli Gardens. The Boboli Gardens were enormous!!! They were so fun to explore and had so many places where we could overlook the whole city. The Italian food was, of course, to die for, and we, no doubt, indulged in gelato a time or two.
On Saturday we got an early start and went to the Accademia to see many of Michelangelo’s works, including the David. The David was magnificent. I was not expecting it to be that amazing, but it absolutely took my breath away. We then moved on and went to the Ufizzi. The Ufizzi is a famous galleria in Florence filled with renaissance art. The Ufizzi has in it many famous paintings, including the Birth of Venus. It was so neat to be able to see everything that I had learned about in all of my history and humanities classes, it really made things come alive. We spent so long in the Ufizzi admiring all the art so by the time we got out my tummy was about to die. We went searching for this little American diner for lunch. We got lost eight times and finally found it. It had pink walls and a little fish tank, it was so cute. It also had the best bacon cheeseburger I have ever consumed. I totally miss American food, so that was really fun. When we tried to go back to the house there were blockades across every street to our street. The police were everywhere and told us that there was a communist rally/ demonstration going on and that it wasn’t safe to be there. We were so confused and finally gave up and had to wait out the rally. It was a little scary and there was kind of mayhem every where after a little while. When they finally let us back to the house it was time for dinner. We went looking for a little Italian place and I had pizza, typical, I know. The pepperoni there is just so so so good though. I loved it. That night back at the house I was humming “Sing and be Happy” in my head and this girl that I didn’t even know too well came up and stared singing the also part. Before we knew it we had like ten of us at an impromptu worship session till 1 in the morning. We finally got a little sleep and had to wake up at 6ish to catch our train back to Lausanne. Our trip back to Lausanne consisted of 3 train changes and a McDonald’s stop in Milan! It was such a fun trip. I would LOVE to go back to Italy!
Wow Jenn,
ReplyDeleteWhat a weekend. I love the pictures.I am totally jelous about the train ride but even more were the chocolate crossants. You have got to bring one of those home in April.
Have fun. I love and miss you. Mom
HI Jenn - i finally figured out this blog thing! I am so excited for you and all the places you are seeing - Don't you just love the food! Sounds like you are traveling a lot and seeing some of my favorite places. Loved the food in Italy and yes I am sure by now you are hungry for American food - I know fully how that feels. It does not look like I will be in Europe before you come back - budget cuts - but you never know things may change but not looking likely. DId you go the Westminster Abbey when you were in London? Or out to Windsor Castle? I saw Mamma Mia when I was in London - it is fun to do the theatre there - did you get a chance to have tea? Oh I wish I could get there before you come home!! We love you and miss you. Linne and Thomas (Thomas says Hi)
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