Pensiero (pen-see-err-O) – Thinking

thanks for the assistance today :) cant wait to see you in 2 weeks :)

So since I am facing the last 17 days here in Torino….(I know I am excited to go home and see my family and friends, but I am totally and completely heartbroken to be leaving here…..) I decided the blog needs as many more posts as possible….so I am going to try to post everyday (I say try because well finals are coming up and they require studying…bllleehhhh)  about something or anything that occurred…..

So Today…. I sat down to work on a paper for my Italian Culture class….the topic?

“You have been given 10 million euros from an unknown source…the only catch is you must use the funds for the betterment of Italian society, particularly Torino.  Explain in detail what you would create, its main focus, clientele, and why you chose it.  How does it positively influence Italian society? Why does it work here? What do you see as the future of you creation? Turin in a paper carefully researched and referenced, including a basic budget outline.”

I originally was planning that I would add another line to the metro system (we only have 1)…but well when I started that “careful research” I found out that there is no way I could ever afford it…..so I sat and sat thinking, wanting to start my research,…watched a talk by the man who started Humans of New York…..still couldn’t come up with anything…..so how did I clear my head?.....i went for Gelato and shopping J….

…which of course just meant a bee- line for Gianni’s for some gelato…..seriously it’s the best in the city, he has finally opened the whole case and filled it with soooo many flavors! Yesterday I had violet (yes the flower! One of the best flavors ever) and Apple Pie…..those are my new two favorites…..but I needed to try the Pear so today I had pear and strawberry J love loved it….i will miss my daily gelato so so much…

            …and afterwards I was off to H&M….thinking thinking the whole time…..thought of a Juventus shuttle, because lets be honest, the bus to get there is ridiculous to try to get on to go there and back…but then I thought, I don’t know really how well that could do but it is an option…..then I was passed by some English speaking tourists, and like always it jarred me to hear it (seriously going home is going to be so hard to hear so much english haha) and then I remembered the talk I had with Ely last night about how both of us were going to have to keep up our languages when I went home and she was telling me about the Tandem partner over skype which apparently is a very popular thing here….you pay 5 euros an hour and have a tandem English speaking partner over skype…..and then it dawned on me….what about a tandem program here in Torino…..

            …lets be honest…no one here speaks conversational English, if they understand it at all….it jars me to hear it here because I know pretty much all the English speakers in this town of 1 million I think….since there is so little tourism to Torino (which I don’t understand because there is so much here!) no one has reason to learn it….especially because most people were born, and raised here, and then married and had kids of their own here…so people don’t speak it….which is great for students studying here because we have to learn how to speak it in order to survive…..

            …but I also have found that many adults I have met here wish that they could speak more, or kept it up after what they learned in school….so I thought, Tandem program, like the one we have at the school!....now how do I spend that 10 million euros on starting this program…..hmm….looks like I have more research to do……but see shopping pays off! If I hadn’t decided to go, I would’ve stayed home all day and never heard those tourists, and then never gotten the idea…..thanks mom for the help in getting to go get great ideas, and some new leggings J

Canonizzazione – (can-O-neat-zee-own-A) – Canonization

            ..this is the post that will be about the whole adventure of the canonization at the Vatican because truly there was no end and subsequent beginning to Saturday and Sunday….this was the most incredible, inspiring, awesome experience, and I cant believe that I was there!....

            …our Saturday started late morning….we knew we were camping out for the canonization and so we probably wouldn’t get much sleep, so we were taking advantage of the beds at the hostel….when we finally did wake up and get ready, we left our bags for the day with the hostel and took off to find ourselves some cappuccinos and pastries….

            …then were off on a kinda odd adventure, when we were in St. Peter’s Square on Friday, Kaitlyn had seen a hill really close with a church at the top that would be great for taking pictures so we were off to find it….it would be on the other side of the Vatican from us so we just took off walking the wall…and walked….and walked….all the way around the Vatican City…only to find out that was part of the University of the Pope and it was closed to the public during this weekend because of the busyness Id assume….so we just headed back into the Square…..but on our way inside we were stopped by a police motorcade taking like 6 or 7 cars into the Vatican, so apparently some great dignitaries, there were supposed to be dignitaries there from 42 countries….

          …but once inside we went around to buy our gifts of rosaries and such and then were off to the nearest grocery store to buy food for dinner and breakfast, then went back to the hostel to drop it all off with our bags…..then it was off for our 2pm entrance into the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel….unfortunately the tour itself was much more expense so my friends decided to do without so I was very thankful that I got to do that the last time I was in Rome….but again we got to skip the incredibly long line….and were in….we took our time and I basically told Kaitlyn everything I remembered about my tour from 3 years earlier which wasn’t much….but we had a lot of fun…..Kaitlyn isn’t Catholic but she is just the kind of person who finds it interesting so she kept asking questions just like the weekend before when she came with me to Easter Vigil at the Duomo in Florence…..so I think I told her the simple version of everything I think I learned growing up….it was really fun actually  J….we got to see so much, I truly think that this museum is one of the best ive ever been to because they have such a collection of everything, and then it culminates with the Sistine Chapel and lets be honest that place is amazing….

       

     ….we some how left through the groups only exit and ended up right at the steps of the Basilica, and got to see the changing of the Swiss Guard which was pretty cool…..but then it was time to head back to the hostel, grab our bags and some paninis and go find where to start camping out…..

            …we had been asking just about every officer we had seen all weekend long when the square was closing and opening and where and where we could stay….and we kept just getting different answers, and people were already camping out in the square…..so we decided to ask one more guy and he was the best, spoke perfect English and told us just exactly the answer to our questions…..he told us they were closing the square at 7pm and opening it at 5am Sunday, and that then end of the street were the only gates that would open and there was where to go camp out…..so we set out down the street with all of our things….and then we hear some American English from this guy in a Seahawks shirt so I stop him and ask if he is (because my mom told me to talk to people and hear their stories this weekend) and come to find out he is a news producer for a news station in Miami…..so they interviewed us for TV it was so so so cool!!!

            ….after the interview which they said were some of the best soundbites J (im still looking to try to find it online, so ill post a link if I can)….we were off to the end of the street which was filling fast and it was only 6pm….eventually we found a place and sat down to set up a bit….the wind was picking up so we hurried to put down our trash bags then the sleeping bag I brought to sit on, then put our bags into plastic and then had just enough time to sit down and get out umbrellas up before it started to sprinkle and we could start to hear the thunder and see a few flashes….we were worried that it would be like this all night but no one else was moving so we knew we were fine….

            …we started talking to the people around us and met a really nice couple from Yorkshire, England, Isabel and Ted, and a younger man (about 5 years older than us), Oliver, from France….they were all so nice and ended up being out little “group” for the night….we just sat and waited out the rain, which did end up stopping about 7 or 7:30/…..so then I decided it was a good time to head off to the bathrooms…

            …as I was heading back I heard this older Irish lady saying, “excuse me, sweetheart”….i turned around to realize that she was looking at me…and she continued to ask me if I would walk her back to her seat….i giggle to myself and did….but man she was like the Irish Jimmy Broyles…she had soooo many stories! She spent most of the walk telling me about working at the Plaza Hotel as the owner’s assistant….and so many others….when I got her back to her seat and met her friends, I told her I was going back to mine and she said oh just one moment ill walk a little with oyu I have one more story…she continues to tell me that one of the ladies I had just met, Olive Watson, was astigmatist, she hadn’t eaten food or drank water in 15 YEARS! She had been solely living on the blessed sacrament….i was floored….if that isn’t faith im not sure what is….so that was an amazing person to me…..Eilen Sweeney J

            ….when I returned, Oliver got back and said that people were starting to pack and we were going to have to move soon….see in situations like these you want to be in the front 1/3 not only to get into the square but mostly to stay in the safe zone and keep from getting trampled by the sheer incredible number of people….so at about 9pm we were up packing into the street…..but after a bit we realized we weren’t moving anytime soon, so we sat right there for another 2 or so hours…..while we were sitting here Isabel and I started talking, she told me that 9 months previous she had been told she had terminal liver cancer, with 95% of her liver riddled with cancer….they started attacking it with radiaton but eventually she stopped and said that wasn’t how she wanted to spend her last 6-12 months….she started praying instead, and in 1 month she went back for a scan and suddenly the cancer was gone but replaced with 2 big tumors that when biopsied weren’t cancer but weren’t fine either…..no one knows what they are but she doesn’t have cancer anymore J…..so then I told her my story, and then we found out that Oliver had also had testicular cancer…..what were the odds that 3 cancer patients met up for this…..and 3 of all numbers……it was then oliver said that we would get into the square J

            ….at about 11pm everyone started moving and we packed in so so tight…..to the point I wasn’t holding my body up at all, just being held up by the people around us….and we continued to stand like that for the next 2 hours….until they finally opened the gate to the first cross street at 1am because it was so dangerous how we were…..and honestly im so surprised no one died when they opened those gates….because it was all we could do to stay together and go in…..we lost ted and Isabel amongst the 10s of 1,000s of people….but we all got stopped at the first cross street until about 2am….standing of course…..then they let us into the 2^nd cross street and stopped us…and thankfully we had enough room to sit and sleep a bit until 4am….when someone start clapping so everyone got up and pushed together again and we stood that way until the gates to the square opened at 5:30am…

            …from then on it was extremely slow going because they would make a string of about 100 big guys who would snake through the crowd across the street in order to divide us into groups of about 1,000 or 5,000 I guess. I didn’t really pay attention to the numbers…..but then once we got to go in with the group we thought that was as far as we could go….but the police kept telling us to move around the square so we did and realized they were pushing us to the explosive detectors to enter the square!....i was so so so excited…..we made it into the back right quarter (facing the altar) about 1/3 back from the barrier at about 7am…..after 12 hours of waiting, standing…we made it…..

            …thankfully we were able to sit and sleep until about 9am…something really only the 250,000 in the square had enough room to do….the 600,000 in the street behind were packed much too tightly…..so we took advantage…until it began at 9:30…

            …this part wasn’t showed on tv but they started the “pre celebration” which was made up of prayers, singing, and 5 moments from the lives of the two popes. 3 passages from homilies of JP II and 2 from homilies of John XXIII…..then the real deal began….and it was amazing

            …I wish there were better words to describe it all….but as soon as the parade of saints started and it clicked where I was what I was seeing I was getting choked up just trying to get out “ora pro nobis”…but then Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI came out and the tears started to flow….and then when Pope Francis came out I couldn’t even kind of contain it….i was just so moved to be there….to see all the flags and hear people praying in every language I knew, and even more I didn’t….and realize that the million people there and the other 500,000 scattered at the 17 screens around Rome were mostly all Catholics…..it gave a whole new meaning to the Universal church….it made you so so proud to be a Catholic….

            …Francis started with the canonization and it was sprinkling a bit, but after he was presented the relics, kissed them, and as soon as he said, “we from now on will recognize Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII as Saints and part of the Holy Catholic Communion of Saints…” …the rain stopped and the sun came out…the kind of sun you can feel before you can see…..it was amazing! You could hear everyone around you say the same thing too “the sun is ot”…..i just turned to Kaitlyn, and said, how can people not believe in something bigger than us…..it was so so cool….

            ….mass then continued as a normal one, just in Latin, it was wonderful, but then when communion started, I was standing up after the consecration, when I see all of these yellow and white umbrellas coming my way….no one in the crowd thought we would receive the sacrament…but sure enough it was hundreds and hundreds of priests coming to the people….we made our way to the barrier and received the body of Christ as consecrated by the Holy Father Pope Francis…..it was the best moment of my life….scratch #1 off my bucket list (it makes me teary just remembering as I write this)….

            …at the end of mass, we all found out that during the Apostolic blessing all the rosaries or reglious tokens on our person had been blessed….that was so so cool…thankfully after mass Oliver told us we couldn’t go yet, and sure enough as I looked up front, I saw the Pope Mobile roll up…..we stood some more, waiting for him to finishing saying goodbye to the dignitaries before he got in the car and drove right by all of us….i was about 10 feet away as he looked at us when we drove by….it was absolutely amazing….my experience at the Vatican was perfectly complete….

            …after we made our way out, it hit us how much we wanted to be separate from the masses of people and how badly our feet hurt from 12 hours of standing and how badly we needed a bathroom after not being able to go for 14 hours….so we stopped a few blocks away for some lunch and then went straight to the airport….we were there 6 hours early but it didn’t even matter because we were able to just sit and rest….eventually our flight left and we were home in a few hours….it was one of the busiest, but best weekends ive ever experienced….from saying I was going to go the day the date was set almost 9 months ago to actually being there, it was such a blessing and something I will never forget….it has all come full circle…..God is good and life is beautiful  

La Cittá Eterna – (la – chee-ta – E-tear-nah) – The Eternal City

          Well the weekend  that I had been planning for the past 9 months finally happened…..started with an overnight train to Rome….we left Torino at 10pm and got to Roma at 6am…..immediately we found our way into the city and were off to find the hostel to drop off our bags….so back when they first announced the date of Pope John Paul II’s canonization I knew that I would go, so I emailed my cousin pat to help me find where the best hostel to stay for the week would be and booked whatever he sent back to me….this was in October….as we got closer to the hostel all of a sudden I realized where we were….because I saw the dome of st. Peter’s Basilica….literally we were staying across the road from the wall of the Vatican, it was as close as you could get and completely perfect, we loved it!

            …we got in dropped our bags and went over to see St. Peters because we figured that since there were only a few thousand people there it would only get busier the longer we waited….we waited in about a 15 minute line to go through the metal detector and head in, and it was just as completely amazing as I remember…it was really cool to be back in St. Peter’s now just 3 years after my first time and to feel how much has changed between then and now…..3 years ago, Pope JP II had just been beautified and I had been just diagnosed with thyroid cancer 9 days before, and now at the Vatican for his canonization and 1 month away from 2 years cancer free….it was an overwhelming and amazing feeling to be there again……..as we continued to walk around I kept seeing masses being held in the side altars, and then I realized it was in EVERY side altar, and I was hearing different languages too….it was so cool, probably about 20 masses happening simultaneously!...

            ….over the course of this weekend I saw so many priests, nuns and monks it was absolutely incredible….after we were done walking through the Basilica, we were off to find the house of one of Erinn’s friends that was studying in Rome since that is where she was staying…..we were able to drop off her back and actually meet up with another of Erinn’s friends that was finished studying in London and was now in Roma to tour so she came with us….

            …and we were off, I don’t really know if we planned to do it all on Friday or if it just happened but we actually basically did all the big attractions in one day….we metroed and then got out and started walking towards Piazza Navona….we stopped along the way for some paninis along the way and then later some gelato, before finally crossing the street and walking the last few minutes into the Piazza…..it was so so so busy (as to be expected I guess), but we found a little shop to get my Rome scarf and sunglasses for those of us who had forgotten them for the day because man was it gorgeous outside!!!

 






         …after walking through the piazza and watching all the performers and artist, we were off toward the pantheon….and man this whole walk was just filled with memories from the first time I was in europe with the soccer team….Rome was the first place that we went in Europe and I think that is probably part of the reason it is my favorite city….i simply adore it….

           ….after the pantheon, it was to the exact spot of my favorite place in the whole entire world…..La Fontana di Trevi……the Trevi Fountain…..it was the top of my bucket list before my first trip so I came, saw and tossed my coin to wish and ensure my return to rome…and here I was, back again…..i cant believe this life that I get to live….i never really dreamed I would be back to Roma….but after this trip, I tossed my coin knowing that I would be no matter what….i will return to that amazing place… 

            …after the trevi, it was towards the Spanish steps, but obviously it was CRAZY with tourists, like you couldn’t see any of the stairs….so we just took the metro from there in Piazza Spagna, to Colosseo…..we arrived and I lost my breathe again when I walked out of that metro station and saw it…..im not even really that in love with the Colosseum, but it’s the fact this was the first thing I saw in Europe and its what started my love of international travel….thankfully we had our tickets to get in, and got to skip the 5 hour line, hooray for the internet J….we took our time walking around, and taking lots of pictures, before heading out and over to the Forum….

  

          ….then it was finally back to the hostel for naps….unfortunately Erinn and her friend weren’t allowed in our rooms (I don’t know it’s a odd rule Italians sometimes follow) so I sat out with them in the lobby while the other two took naps…..after about an hour or two, we had a plan to meet up with the other friend for dinner…..after walking around to 57 different bus stops trying to find the best one, we finally just got on and hoped, and thankfully we were right! But man did that bus get so so so crowded! We finally just got off kinda close and walked the rest of the way…..it was in a cool district of Rome that I don’t remember the name of haha, but dinner was really really good…..finally had that carbonara that dad told me I would like and should eat at lunch in Rome our first day that I turned him down on….silly silly me…..

            …after a good 2 hour dinner full of fun, stories and laughs, it was back home to the hostel….i was so tired, I was even falling asleep on the bus!....but we were getting a good night of sleep tonight because it was the only one we were getting in Rome J..

(PS HUGE! thank you to Kaitlyn for all of the Photos of this weekend....shes the best :) )

Siena (see-N-ah) – the perfect Tuscan tourist town….or Perso (pear-so) – Lost

            ….day in siena started off awesome! We got up and we out of the hostel and off to the train station with all of our things nice and early….we were even able to change our train tickets to an earlier train like we were hoping! (we had booked them so that we would have all the tie possible to see siena, but we forgot that we were coming home on Monday which is the day that the metro closes really early, so we were able to change the tickets to get in a bit earlier so that we could take the metro instead of a cab…)….it was great J…

           …we got on our 1.5 hours long train ride to siena, and were off as soon as we got there….grabbed a map and just really started walking….siena is really a pretty little town, right in the heart of Tuscany so it was really hilly but beautiful….it was so steep that to get from the train station to the main walking street we had to go up 5 escalators and 2 uphil walkways…it was really on the verge of ridiculous actually….

            …but when we finally got up to the top….we had no idea where we were so we just started walking until we could find a sign pointing us to the main piazza….took a bit of a walk but finally we walked and the street opened up into Piazza del Campio….this Piazza is so cool because it isn’t flat, its more like a shell shape….and the coolest part is that this is where the Palio is….that is the big horse race every year between the original families of Siena….this town is so steeped in history, I would have loved to take an actual tour of this place!....so we sat and had a snack and just took in the sunshine and the mass of the square and then I decided that I wanted to climb the bell tower there so I went to go check it out….come to find out you have to buy tickets for a certain time, so I bought mine for a couple hours later and we went to find the Duomo…..

          ….which actually is really close!...just about a block or two….and trust me you know it when you see it….and actually as soon as I saw it, I thought, “oh this is why my mom loves this place”….the entire thing is black and white striped….and im not talking the outside is painted….no the entire building inside and out is black and white striped marble….it is completely unreal!....i paid to get my ticket to go inside and that is completely amazing as well!....I was just in awe the whole time I was in there….so so beautiful….

            ….when we were done there, we got our siena souveniers (kaitlyn’s shot glass and my scarf) and went back to the Piazza so I could climb the tower…..and sheesh was that a workout…..i think I counted about 400 steps….which were even more tough after hiking Thursday, climbing the Tower of Pisa Friday, and the Bell Tower in Florence Saturday…..my legs were feeling it….but I got to the base, stored my bags in the locker and headed up…..and as soon as I started I figured out why you couldn’t take your bag, the stairwell was so small some people had to walk sideways!....literally only a bit wider than my shoulders!....and up and up and up we climbed to the very very tip top and the view was worth every step and more!! It was the most beautiful, most perfect view of Tuscany I could have ever imagined…..i wish I had the pictures! Though they wouldn’t do it justice one bit!...but man it was amazing and it felt like I could see all the way back to Torino, I could see for miles!! It was awesome!!!...

            ….we could only be up there for 15 minutes, so eventually I had to come down, and so I did and found Kaitlyn….we went off to grab a snack and walk our way back to the train station…..and that’s where the story explaining the subtitle comes from…

            …well we got to the train station and since we had an hour and a half train back to Florence then 3 hour train back to torino we were just changing into yoga pants to get rid of our sweatiness and be more comfortable….so we went into the train station bathroom, and I set my phone on the toilet paper holder (also thinking to myself, sheesh hope I don’t forget this here)…changed and then gathered my things and walked out….right as a couple other people we were walking in….then we went to the bar for a caffe then to our platform, when I thought, oh no where’s my phone??....bathroom!....so I sprinted there, and it was gone….i went to check the bar, ticket office, custodian, even the police officer there….no one had turned it in, so I am assuming the people that walked in behind us saw it and took it, because they would have seen it immediately and could have ran out and asked if it was ours L…..totally sad about it, mainly just because it was my camera for this trip….thankfully because of my blog I dump my pictures everytime I write….so I only lost the pics from this weekend, I have the rest….and thankfully it wasn’t something worse like my passport or wallet….still just sucks….guess I get a new phone when I come back to the states! But that is why none of the pictures from these blogs are mine and why I don’t have a phone J….my own fault….blehhh I guess it was about time I lost something with all the traveling I have done….

            ….but all in all Siena was awesome…..after we trained to Florence, we grabbed some McDonalds, which is fun because we never get it!....i used Kaitlyn’s phone to lock my iphone and remotely erase it, and we got on a train back home to Torino…..aside from a couple mishaps, it was a truly fantastic weekend…..its amazing tho to think that tomorrow I get on a train bound for Rome J until Monday friends! Buon Weekend!!! J

Firenze (fear – en - zay) – Florence

          ….so it was an early morning in Pisa to get up and on a train bound for Florence, and I was totally excited because it was the first city of the break that I hadn’t been to…and it is one of those that everyone always talks about going to see, its beautiful and classical Tuscany and Italy in general….and yes I really did like it J….

 J…

           …after an hour long train ride, and having the train break down at one of the stations and having everyone on it get off and have to change to another 6 platforms away (that was an adventure!)…we finally pulled into beautiful Florence, and it was raining….actually pouring by the time we were off to find our hostel…..so needless to say we didn’t stop to marvel much, mostly just put our heads down and took off….and of course it was about a 20 minute walk away…..but it was actually in a beautiful part of the city, literally just about a 5 minute walk over Ponte Vecchio from the Duomo…..really perfect location….we were also able to get our own private room which was nice too….the hostel was in a little, but tall building with an elevator like the one in the Lizzie McGuire Movie, where you open one door, then two little ones, and then have to close all of them to make it move….it was really cool

            …so after we got to our hostel and changed into better shoes for the trip we were off….since it was Easter Saturday the city was absolutely PACKED!! Literally at points you could barely walk….we started on our way heading back towards the Duomo, and started immediately shopping for our leather purchases the whole way…right before we got to Ponte Vecchio we found a little panini shop and decided that would be good for lunch, and oh my dear goodness it was one of the best things that I have ever eaten in my whole entire life…..all of ours were, mine was really delicious pork, with mozzarella and tomatoes….Kaitlyn had turkey with pesto and mozzarella, and Nat had prosciutto crudo with mozzarella (I think) and arugala….they were all so so so good (im hungry just thinking about them)….they were so good I looked at my plate when I was finished saying, “aww its over”L…..perfect lunch….i think I fell in love with Florence for the food J…but the best part of this whole meal?? The little Italian man who came in and asked us if we liked it and I replied that it was sooo good, and he laughed, asked if I was Italian and I said that my family is, and that I was just studying, to which he said, “ah well you look Italian, and you eat like an Italian…” LITERALLY MY WHOLE TRIP WAS MADE COMPLETE!!!! I wanted to cry I was so happy…..to eat like an Italian, ok life complete J

            ….after we continued our way down to the Duomo shopping our whole way….we found this awesome shop (that was recommended by a family friend of Kaitlyn because it was good stuff for good prices)…I ended up getting my leather wallet and a couple gifts there, and we ended up going back to it a few more times over the next few days J the owner loved us I think…..we had a ball…..

 J….

           ….when we finally got to the piazza, I saw that the line to go to the top of the Duomo was only open for another hour (because of Easter) so I got in line to go up to the top of the Bell Tower instead….thankfully we had looked into these things because everything was closed for Easter the next day so I am so glad that we did it while we were able to…..i sent the girls off to continue shopping while I stood in line for the next hour and a half or so….but after a bit the guy in front of me (in a michigan state jacket) turned to me and started chatting with me…so we continued chatting, I talked about studying here and he told me about the vacation he was taking his kids on soon….and then when we finally got to the front of the line to buy tickets, he turned to me and nat and told us that college students got in free that day and bought us our tickets, that were good for the tower, the museum and the baptistery…it was sooo cool, like absolutely the best thing

            ….so we started climbing up the 414 steps to the top and I literally thought that I was going to die…thank god for the breaks in the structure where there are landings with views so you can stop and catch your breathe…and after a few of these pit stops we were finally at the top and man was it spectacular! (wish I had my pics of them, thankfully nat went up this one with me)…you had the duomo dome right in front of you and felt like you could literally see all of Tuscany! I loved it J….we spent a good long while up there, taking tons of pictures….before heading back down to meet up with Kaitlyn to make a plan for the rest of the night…

            …when we met up with Kaitlyn, we decided that we all needed a nap, but Nat and I had the tickets still for the Baptistery and the Museum, so we made a meet up plan and headed back to our hostels to nap (Nat was in a different place because of when we booked)…so Kait and I wandered back…finding a fantastic paper shop on the way J and then headed back for a nap before I took off back to the Duomo to go inside the Baptistery with Natalie, which was so pretty! The entire ceiling was mosaic depicting stories of the bible….they were stunning….after this visit we headed to the Museum, unfortunately most of it was closed for renovations, but we were able to see the “Gates of Paradise” which are golden doors again depicting scenes from the bible but they are amazing and we got the exhibit showing and explaining how they restored them from their black dirty state back to their gold…it was really really cool!

            …when we were done we still had about an hour until we were going to meet up with Kaitlyn so we just walked off and started exploring….it was really fun, we found some great shoe stores….a bunch of beautiful churches,…and a ,99 euro store! It was like a dollar tree J I loved it!....and then we found a great big basilica and out front of it was a little craft fair with about 10 or 15 artisans, so so cool, I bought some great leather for mom here too which was fun J…

            …after that it was time to meet up with Kaitlyn so we headed to our spot then took off to find some dinner….by way of shopping of course haha….we wandered a good ways from the Piazza del Duomo, and found a cute little trattoria that ended up being one of the best meals I have had in Italy…..seriously it was that good! I had pasta with a sauce made from Wild Boar….and a glass of Chianti….and we shared bruschetta….it was so so so good….i was so sad when I was done eating, I wanted to eat it everyday for the rest of my life…..

            …after dinner we walked Nat back to her place and then Kaitlyn and I went off to the Duomo at about 9:30 to wait for 10:30 easter vigil mass…..first of all oh my goodness definently no central heating when they built that place because I think we froze during it….after waiting for an hour, it was a 3 hour mass, with literally all 7 readings, and the new testament reading, each with a responsorial psalm and prayer after every single one….then the gospel, then the 45 minute homily…then baptized 7 people, confirmed 3….then the Eucharist….which you didn’t even walk up to, you just went to the nearest barrier to the aisle to wait for a priest to come to you….it was totally wild…..also this whole thing was being said by the archbishop, but also had 3 cardinals, 2 other bishops, and 24 priests present……literally there were so many priests that they weren’t allowed to all be in vestiments…absolutely the biggest mass I have ever seen…..adn the whole cathedral (that only had pews halfway back) was packed!! That means half was packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder for 3 hours!!! It was totally amazing and inspiring!...

            …after mass it was back to the hostel to warm up and head to sleep….the next morning we kind of slept in but we were still out the door and headed to the Duomo by 9:30 for the exploding cart…..and the piazza was PACKED!!!....the exploding cart is a really old tradition, like back to the first crusade!....it used to be that during the Gloria on easter the priest would light a type of firework that would shoot into a cart out in the piazza, now it is just lit by the priest and the entire cart is fireworks that go off for a solid ten minutes….unfortunately we found out that we should have showed up much earlier and so we could really see a lot of the cart but it was still really really cool thing to witness….

            ….after standing there and then trying to make our way out of the packed square…we were off to find a Florentine institution for lunch, a small sandwich shop that has been around since the 1800s….I Fratelli….literally two brothers just making sandwiches…oh and serving wine…it was awesome I loved it J  definently go, food is delish J love me a good panino….seriously Florence was stealing my heart with the food…

            ….after lunch since all the touristy attractions were closed for Easter, we just set off to go find some cool churches, saw a beautiful synagogue….and some other really neat sites….before we went back to the piazza to do what? Of course more shopping, this time for natalie….she was looking for something specific for her brother so we literally spent a good while looking all over Florence until we found it…..seriously I bet ive been to all the leather shops in that area about 3 times each haha…it was a lot of leather for 2 days J…

            …we broke for a nap at our hostel in the afternoon before going back out for more wandering….then grabbed some more paninis for supper on the way to the train station….Nat was heading back to Torino for some other plans that she had for Monday, and Kaitlyn and I were off to Siena in the morning….so we saw her off, and then stopped at the ,99euro store on the way back to grab some snacks and breakfast for the next day….before heading back to the hostel to get an early bedtime before our last big day of the trip…..

            …it was a busy 2 days in Florence, and I didn’t get to see all that I wanted to because of the holiday, oh well..i guess that just means I have to go back J  J J J