DAY 10: FLORENCE

Most of today was spent on the coach, with a few stops in between. Around lunchtime, we stopped at Autogrill, which becomes a frequent service stop for our group. I ordered a Rustichella, which was basically a turkey and cheese Panini. A few hours later, we were surprised with a visit to the LEANING TOWER OF PISA!! I walked around with my best buds, Marian and Rachael and took pictures, having fun trying to match up my friends’ hands with the tower to make it look like they were holding up the tower. I was a photographer for my high school yearbook, but it took me a few minutes to adjust my camera. Next to the tower there are shops that sell souvenirs, and there are also men walking around selling fake watches and other jewelry. Many of them came up to me to try and get me to buy something off them, but I just said no and they didn’t bother me too much after that.

After arriving in Florence, everyone was muy hungry and a small group and I went to a small restaurant overlooking the Pecchio bridge at sunset! By far the best food I have had on my trip. The service was also great too. I had noodles with ham, mushrooms, and cream, and a glass of white wine to complement. YUM.

Later that night we went out as a big group to the RED GARTER, which is a bar and karaoke place. This was the place to be. I had tonsssssssssssss of fun. After some red wine (can’t have enough wine in Italy), we danced to karaoke singing, which a lot of my Contiki friends did. A 23 year old Albanian guy named Adrion asked to dance with me which was exciting, but then he couldn’t speak English (or Spanish) so my other friend Alfio, who speaks Italian, had to translate for me. It was good while it lasted. He offered to buy me a drink, but I didn’t want to drink more so I kindly refused.

Later, when walking back to the hotel, we stopped for some gelato. There are all of these dark-skinned men selling fake purses, which are all setup under white sheets on the ground. On the way back, we heard cops coming down the street, and we saw the men selling the purses hurriedly pick up their sheets and hide in some alleyways. It is illegal in Italy for them to sell on the street so they were hiding. Thoroughly entertaining to watch them scramble.