How is it possible to procrastinate writing a blog?! It's not like it's actual homework or anything, and yet I have been putting this off for SO long! Last time I wrote, I detailed my spring break. So now we will move on to the week after, when Jacob came to visit, we traveled to Prague and Cinque Terre (and of course toured Florence), and UNC won the National Championship!
Jacob arrived on the Thursday after my Spring Break after much stress because a TON of flights got canceled from the Baton Rouge airport. Luckily, I am an excellent problem solver, so I got him a flight out of New Orleans and he made it here right on time! We went on a little walking tour of Florence that afternoon and then took an overnight bus (along with three girls from my program) to Prague. So Friday morning we woke up and immediately went on a walking tour of the city. It was a really great thing to do because we needed to stretch our legs and also because we probably would have wanted to go back to sleep if this hadn't been offered right when we got there. We saw the Old Town Square with the really cool astrological clock that is pictured above, the Charles River/Bridge, the palace, and other random sights such as the old synagogue, Charles University, etc. After a delicious, typical Czech lunch, the five of us did some wandering around in the Old Town square and then went back to our hostel for a little rest before the night. That night we did a pub crawl with most of the people on our trip which was really fun! Although Jacob wanted to stay out later than me, shockingly enough.
The next morning, we got up and went back to the Old Town Square area and just did a lot of wandering around the city. There was an Easter/Spring festival in the middle of the square so we bought a lot of souvenirs and delicious food at that and then we went and relaxed in a park near some beer gardens. That night, we ate at a delicious vegetarian restaurant and went out for just a few minutes. This is because OBAMA was speaking in Prague the next day and we had to be out of our hostel at an EXTREMELY early hour in order to attend the speech.
So after waiting in the European version of a "line" for about two hours very early the next morning, we made it in to the palace area and eventually heard Obama's first foreign policy speech in a foreign country! If you didn't hear it or read some of it, I highly recommend it because it was a great outline of his plans for eventual nuclear disarmament. What a cool experience! After that, we got back on the bus for the long journey back to Florence. We made it home earlier than I expected, thankfully!
The next morning Jacob and I woke up and took a train to the Cinque Terre, which are these five little towns north of Florence that are connected by hiking trails along the sea. They are BEAUTIFUL, and we had such a nice time walking and taking in the beautiful weather and amazing scenery. I was more relaxed than I have been in a long time! Our favorite town was Vernazza, where we ate the most delicious gelato I have had here. After that amazing day, we made it back to Florence in time to eat dinner at one of my favorite restaurants here, Dante's, but that was only the beginning of our night. This is because it was the NCAA Basketball Championship and it didn't start in Florence until 3 am! So we went dancing for an hour or so at a club, then went to the bar that kindly stayed open to let us watch the entirety of the game. We won, as I mentioned earlier, and because we couldn't be there to rush Franklin (which means running to the main street that goes through UNC's campus to have a huge celebration!), we celebrated in the streets of Florence, but since it was 6 am and most of the city's population did not share our joy, we were shushed pretty quickly.
The next day Jake and I tried to catch up on our sleep (and I tried to catch up on my school work), but we did get a nice dinner at a restaurant called Aqua al 2 where there are two delicious kinds of steak- balsamic and blueberry. Then we ate for the first time at my new favorite gelato place, Gelateria Neri. I don't love ice cream, so I had not REALLY enjoyed gelato until that one in Cinque Terre, but this place is amazing and I almost wish I hadn't found it because now I always want to go...
For Jacob's final day here, we had a morning of souvenir shopping and an afternoon of museum visits. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Jake absolutely loved the outdoor market and all of its stands FILLED with little trinkets. We both loved the Uffizzi (I had already been, but I hadn't seen a lot of the rooms) and of course appreciated the magnificence of the David. That night we had a farewell dinner at Il Latini, the great restaurant where Mom, Dad, Emma and I ate that has a million courses and an amazing fixed menu. I have to say I think I liked it better when we went in February because it was far less touristy.
Phew! Now I am only one and a halfish entries behind on this thing, although it will get worse because it's almost the weekend again and I'm going to the beach! Hope the weather is nice!
Getting ready to go cheer the Tar Heels on!
No comments:
Post a Comment