He is Risen!!!

We got up early to go to church, which meant that we were going to one of the catholic masses in town.  We went to Basilica di San Petronio.  The church was FREEZING and of course it was all in Italian.  Now, this would not have been such a problem if 1. so many people had not been continuously streaming in 2. the speakers were not so echoey  3. If I were a bit more fluent.  This all being said, I at least knew what the message was about!  The message??? My savior is ALIVE...he's not dead...He is ALIVE and therefore I can face tomorrow!  I worship and serve a living God who sent His only Son to die for my sins so that I might live a life full of hope, joy, worship, happiness, etc.  I know that no matter what I face, my God is alive and He is there with me...at all times!

When the service was over, Nick wanted to show me a painting in the church where Mohammad is burning in hell, which cause some Muslim extremists to try and bomb the church at some point in history.  The lady was charging 2 euros to go in and see it, which REALLY irritated Nick and so we did not.  I have to agree with him; charging to see something in a church is a bit extreme.  So instead we went outside to get warm because it was super sunny outside.  We still had not heard from Mattea, so we figured that she must have overslept!!!

We decided to just walk around and Nick wanted to show me some areas of Bologna.  The sun was shining and so it made for a gorgeous walk around the town.

 

I was feeling tired, so I asked Nick if we could stop and split a cappuccino somewhere, and he reminded me that he did not drink coffee when he lived in Bologna, so he did not know of a place.  Therefore, we started just searching and came across a place that looked decently busy, leading me to believe that it was probably a good place.  So, we went in and ordered our cappuccino and also split a baby cannoli.  The cappuccino was DELICIOUS...a great one I'd say!

Then as we were making our way back towards the hotel we saw this guy (a few guys??) playing music in the piazza.  So, we stopped to listen. The sun was SO warm and the music was nice, so Nick sat on a post thing and I had to sit on his lap because otherwise...we would be standing...a questo non va bene per me! We just sat, listened, talked, laughed, and took some pictures...

 

There were some kids nearby blowing bubbles, so we also got to pop some of those...made me miss playing with bubbles and children!  After a bit of music, and after the quality of the music declined, we went back to the hotel to use a clean bathroom and wait to hear from Mattea!  We decided to go check out the advertised terrace with a view at the hotel.  

It really was a beautiful view from the terrace so we stayed up there for a bit talking and looking at the city!  Naturally, we also took some pictures...I cannot tell you how gorgeous of a day it was! Bologna looks different than others cities I've been to, but that is one of the wonderful things about traveling in Italy; none of the cities really look the same! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous right?  Mattea called while we were up on the terrace and said that they could meet us near the "two towers", which is a meeting place in Bologna and conveniently located near our hotel.  So, we grabbed our stuff and headed out to meet them!  We were headed to eat lunch with Mattea and her friend Elizabeth.  

I was sooo excited to see my Mattea love.We started walking towards two restaurants that they knew were open.  The first said that if we came back in about 15 minutes we could have a table, but did not want our name; therefore we headed out and went to another place.  The second place was crowded, but not too bad.  While we waited patiently we got a pre-lunch show.  This man came in demanding a table in the inner room of the restaurant and then demanded that he be brought coffee outside while he had to wait for a table.  His wife came up and said something, but he barked at her too.  Then he went back to demanding things, and saying that he did not understand why they said they could not provide him with coffee when they serve after dinner coffee.  The waiters were getting pissed and annoyed...in America, this is when your food would get some extra "flavoring" (spit).  He was being so ridiculous and rude...then he decided he needed his cigarette fix, but at first I did not realize it was one of those electronic cigarettes...ughh even still...how rude!  We ordered an appetizer of fried polenta and then their speciality meat and fried dough thing appetizer....the food was incredible!!!  FOr my main dish (well, in Italy it would just be considered my first course) I ordered tagliatelle con bolognese.  The others all had pasta dishes as well; Nick got more lasagna, but it still did not beat the first place we ate in Bologna.  We all shared food and had some red wine!  We talked about teaching, law school, life plans, etc.  The food was delicious, the atmosphere was nice, and the company was wonderful!  Nick and Mattea are two of my fave people ever, and it was great to meet Elizabeth, Mattea's good friend who is studying abroad in Bologna this year. 

We all walked around together for a bit just exploring the town! 

 

These three know it really well, and of course I was just taking it all in!  We went into a beautiful church, and then walked back towards our hotel.  We were going to go to Mattea's favorite gelato place, but we decided to do it later and/or tomorrow.  We then parted ways to go take naps, per Mattea's suggestion! Nick and I walked around a little bit more and then went back to have tea and relax.  We had tea from the hotel, which means they were providing hot water all day long with different types of Twinings tea- MY FAVE!!

Much later Nick and I decided to go grab something "small" for dinner!  We went to a place near where we had lunch.  I ordered pizza with brasaola, parm. reg., and rucola.

Nick ordered this amazing chicken and we basically just split the food!  The food was amazing, the place was nice, but the waiter clearly hated his job!  It was actually quite comical to watch him! 

We walked back to the hotel and Nick had a brilliant idea.  We went to the room and grabbed his mp3 player and speakers and headed up to the terrace again!  We danced to our Gubbio playlist (the one he played when he gave me the T&Co bracelet.  It was a little cold outside, but it was so much fun to dance with him!  Someone who would randomly dance with me...something I ALWAYS wanted!  It was so much fun!

When we went back downstairs we sent our April Fool's email and then went to sleep! 

Today He is Risen!  My savior Jesus Christ is risen and is a living savior!  I am so blessed to know Him.  Romans 5:1-11

5 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. ² Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

³ We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. ⁵ And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
⁶ When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. ⁷ Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. ⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹ And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. ¹⁰ For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. ¹¹ So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Thank you Fulbright

It was really hard to get up so early, but we did it...had our breakfast, and tried to get to the Uffizi as early as possible.  We were there about 20 minutes after it opened, and we still had to get in a line that was expected to take an hour.  Nick went to ask about using our museum passes, and the guy was super impressed that we had them, especially being Americans, and he told Nick that they could let us in right away!  THANK YOU FULBRIGHT FOR OUR MUSEUM PASSES...so, not only did we get into the Uffizi for free, we got to jump the line and go in right away!  At this point, between the two of us, we had saved about 80 euros just in Florence with these museum passes; not to mention the things we have done in Rome!!

So, we got our free tickets and started our tour, and by tour I mean that NIck started giving me his tour of the museum.  I LOVE that he is so knowledgeable of these things, and that he is so excited to share them!  I am not a huge museum person, but he makes it fun because he has background and history about some of the things.  Otherwise I would have just walked through and been like, "well, that was nice...".  We looked at all of the statues, busts, paintings, etc.  He was excited to show me all of the Roman Emporors, and even more excited that he could name almost all of them in order; dork?? Yes!  My dork?? Yes!  :)  He told me about a lot of things, and I'd be lying if I said I remembered them all, but in the moment it was fun to listen to him talk.  He also knows A LOT of Greek Mythology, so he was able to tell me about a lot of the statues and the stories behind them.  One area of the museum has fantastic views of Florence and the Ponte Vecchio, so I stopped to take pictures!  You were not supposed to take pictures in the museum, but it seemed to be okay that we were taking pictures from the windows.

 

It is INCREDIBLE that these museums, etc. were once homes; people lived there...ate there...slept there...etc. It is so weird and so cool all at the same time!  It is strange that people needed this much space.  How did they really use it?  How did they keep warm?  How did they not get lost in some of them??
I love this kind of history; the history that you can put your hands on and experience....not just reading about it in a text, but walking where these people walked, etc.  We had some good laughs at the Uffizi as well- see this picture of translation at its best.

The final thing we saw in the Uffizi was a portrait that had my "homepope", Pope Clement(ine) VII in it.  I was bad and snuck a picture of my "homepope"...I've never seen what he looked like!  Nick blocked me from the security camera, and here I present you with a visual of my "homepope".

Pope Clement(ine) VII is the one on the right!!!

When we left the Uffizi, we headed to the market Lindsay told us about to find the tea shop that the other people told us about.  On the way we stopped in a leather shop that we looked in yesterday, but I was being indecisive, and glanced at the purses again.  I decided that last time I did not buy myself anything leather from Florence, the leather capital, and this time I might want to invest in something nice.  Well, today I found a beautiful, crimson bag that I decided might be worth the investment. Sneaky Nick took the bag from me while I walked around, and then insisted on buying it for me!  He said, "happy Easter!!"  Despite my protests, he bought the bag for me!  I have to say that the bag is BEAUTIFUL and I love it, and now I suppose it is even more special because he bought it as a gift for me!

Then we found our way to the tea shop and as luck would have it...THEY HAD MY ROMEO E GIULIETTA TEA!!!!! I was ecstatic!!!!! This was also a really cool place that I would not mind coming back to one day!  It was a gorgeous tea shop with a million different kinds of tea!  She offered me the little bag and I said no...I needed the BIG bag!  I also discovered that you can order this tea online, but only within Europe, so I'll have some delivered to Nick's apartment so I can bring some home!  SHe told me that I could get a container to preserve any leftovers until I got to the U.S. in a few months!  I was soooo excited to have my tea!  It cost me 10 euros, but it was a ton of loose tea, so it should last a while!

We were getting a little hungry, and so we decided that we wanted to get another sandwich from the focaccia place.  We split a sandwich that had tacchino, mozzarella, pomodori, e rucola on it...it was INCREDIBLY GOOD!  It was similar to my regular lunch, but in sandwich form!  We ate it as we walked and headed back to the hotel to check out!  We glanced in the leather market again, and then went to the hotel.  We gathered the last of our things and headed out.  I wanted to leave a few minutes early so that we could go by the farmacia where Guenda works for two reasons: 1. So Nick could see this beautiful, old, famous pharmacy 2. See if Guenda was there.  Guenda WAS there, and when she spotted me she waved and smiled!  She was helping some others, but when it was "my turn" she came around the corner and gave me hugs and kisses and we started talking (mostly in Italian!!!).  She was disappointed that we were on our way out, but she was really sweet!  She recognized Nick from my facebook pictures! :)  She was really sweet and it was fun to see her!  I showed Nick a few of the rooms in the pharmacy and then we headed to the train station! 

We waited for a few minutes at the train station and saw Lindsay for a few minutes before we all boarded the same train, but different cars!  She was headed to Verona to see Andrea and Zeno!  THe train ride was good.  It is only about 30 minutes from Florence to Bologna, and the other two people in our seats let us sit next to each other instead of across from each other.  It had started raining and was colder, so we took a taxi to the hotel instead of walking the 20ish minutes.  I talked to Mattea for a bit and we made plans to meet later!  Nick called and made reservations at his favorite restaurant for later, and we took a nap!  We also ate our mini colomba that Nick's teacher gave him!  It was basically a chocolate muffin!  It was actually really good! 

We walked to dinner and it turns out that it was the place that Mattea had tried to make reservations at for Easter lunch, but they were going to be closed.  We decided to do this thing where you got 3 small portions of their top 3 pastas.  They were incredible, but the lasagna was like no other lasagna I've ever had in my life...it was INCREDIBLE...the flavor was amazing, and it was just perfect...yes, it was PERFECT!  We split a 1/2 bottle of wine and it was delicious!  This cute older couple sat down next to us and they were VERY American!  We started making bets on where they were from...clearly the south....Nick said Texas and I said Georgia!  We could not help but hear some of their conversation regarding our food, what they should order, etc. etc.  Nick and I had amazing conversation and enjoyed our time!  Then Mattea text us and was on her way to meet us!  It took longer to get the check than expected, and Mattea called from outside the restaurant!  I ran to the bathroom while Nick went outside to meet her.  When I came out of the bathroom I HAD to talk to that couple and settle the bet that Nick and I had going.  They were from North Carolina.  I was closest!  They were just on vacation and said that Italy is their favorite place!  They were really sweet and really impressed that the three of us were Fulbrighters!  I will have to admit that it is exciting when people know what we are talking about when we say Fulbright.  

Then I went outside to hug my sweet Mattea!  I was so excited to see her and hug her neck!  Her and Nick tried to trick me into believing that Mattea was on Nick's side of a bet we had made.  Haha..Nick, I know you set her up!  We went to Mattea's fave place to split a bottle of prosecco.  We had a great time just talking and being with each other!  I love being with these two!  We are never lacking for conversation, laughs, etc.  We eventually started walking towards our respective places.  Mattea ended up walking to the hotel with us.  We made plans to meet for church the next morning and then have lunch!  With that, we went to bed!

P.S. at some point during our Florence trip I took Nick to the tiniest Tiffany & Co. ever...the one in Florence!  He was equally as disappointed in the size, etc. 

I LOVE FLORENCE

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel, naturally!  We then went out to walk and once again glanced at the leather market again for a few things!  I had a few ideas of things that I might want to get! We spent some time just walking around, which was nice because the weather was still not too bad.  It was not sunny, but it was not raining or anything!  We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and looked at the shops on the other side that we did not look in yesterday!  A lot of those rings and diamonds and such are not the best of quality!  They look shiny under those lights, but upon closer look, they are not what you would want them to be!  You can also tell by some of the prices that the quality must not be as great as they would want you to believe.  Then we started making our way towards the Uffizi to try and visit.  We came across a piazza that I never noticed before, Piazza del Pesce.  So naturally we had to take pictures:

 When we reached the Uffizi we came upon a ridiculous line; a 2 hour wait just to get in.  So, we decided that we would try to get a reservation for the next day OR just to really early tomorrow morning.  Next we went to the caffe across from the school to get Nick a cappuccino, and it was just as good as I remembered it (my first one in Italy).  Then we sat in Piazza della Repubblica, and watched the weird garbage trucks transferring trash from one to the other.  We joked about people asking us what we did today in Italy and having to tell them that we watched garbage trucks...haha...the variety of things you do in Italy!  We went to try to get tickets to the Palazzo Vecchio, but I was not feeling well so we went back to the hotel for a little bit!  We stayed there for about an hour and regrouped for what we wanted to do with the rest of the day.  Reservations for the Ufizzi were all sold out for a few more days, so we planned to just try REALLY early in the morning. 

One thing I really liked about this hotel was that they had little chocolates for you in the room, and in the lobby.  The best part was that they had chocolate fish!  Nick grabbed two and a heart and when we left the hotel, he had me take this picture! It was even more appropriate that one of the fish had to be upside down in order to kiss the heart, so it was an upside down Pinna (Nick).

We walked for a bit and headed to the sandwich place that Lindsay showed us.  First we stopped in the Medici chapel (free, thank you Fulbright), and Nick was able to teach me more about his historical knowledge! Then we headed to get lunch!  We waited in line for a bit, and realized that they were these huge focaccia sandwiches.  We chose roast beef, mozzarella, rucola, and tomato.  We then each got the 2 euro self serve glasses for wine (unlimited).  We split the sandwich so that we could have some gelato afterwards and not be TOO full.  We sat down on the curb with everyone else, but an Italian truck almost hit us...we had to get up and move and then sit back down to eat.  The sandwich was really good and we each had two glasses of wine!

Once we finished we walked down the street to get our gelato.  I do not remember what kind we each had, but I do know that it was nowhere near as good as the gelato from Emilia in Reggio Emilia. 

Silly Boy!!

After this we went back to the hotel to drop some stuff off and go to the bathroom.  THen we started walking towards the neighborhood where the apartment was that I stayed in during November.  We stopped in the park to sit and talk.  It was nice to have someone to sit in this park with.  I came here quite a few times to just people watch or do Bible study; it was nice to return with someone.

 As we got up to walk I remembered that there had been a Russian Orthodox church nearby; well, I thought that's what it was...so we walked there because it was not too far away!  When we got there, it was in fact a Russian Orthodox church.  Nick was excited and happy to send the pictures to his mom later! :)

We kept walking so that I could show Nick where the apartment was, and I was excited that I remembered exactly which one it was!  The following pictures happened (including Nick documenting me crossing Cosentine style): 

 

 

Then we started looking for the store that I KNEW had the Romeo e Giulietta tea that I spent a whole year looking for in the U.S. When we found it, the lady had never heard of it, and she was not even the same lady that was working there last year.  Then I also remembered that I should buy some of my fave jam that I had in Florence and also took some home with me and finished there! 

 

We didn't see any other tea shops, but we did find a grocery store that had the jam that I was looking for, and they had Lady Gray Twinings tea, which I cannot really find here in Cosenza.  I bought two jars of the jam and we left.  It was starting to rain a little bit, but then we spotted an herbal shop and here in Italy they usually have tea.  The two men in the shop said that they did not have it, but they started trying to sell us some other teas and then Nick became engaged in conversation with them!  I could understand most of what they were saying, but per the usual found myself unable to actually communicate.  Then a woman came in, who worked there, and she looked up the tea in a book and found it!! It DOES exist...I KNEW IT!!

Then she suggested a place in the market that Lindsay told us about and said that we should be able to get it there.  The men kept talking to us and telling us about the English language and where we wer efrom, etc. etc.  They were really sweet and I think they were just looking for people to talk to!  It was fun though...I was just excited to follow most of the conversation. 

At this point the rain was picking up and we started heading back towards the hotel via a different route that I knew!  I LOVE FLORENCE... Earlier in the afternoon we had made reservations at a place Lindsay told us about and was literally just around the corner from the hotel.  So, we went back to the hotel to drop all of our purchases and rest some.  We took a few pictures:

One in a series of silly Pinna pictures

 

How gorgeous is that face???

 

Dinner was really good!  I was excited that this restaurant had ribolita, which was one of my favorite things Signora Gabriella made....this was really good, but her recipe is better, so I will make it one day for myself!!  Nick had some delicious meat in some sort of cheese sauce that was incredible.  We also shared a bottle of wine.  It is nice to just sit and be for 2 hours; it is totally acceptable here, expected even. 

 

Once we finished, we headed out to walk around Florence at night.

Piazza della Repubblica

We have claimed Piazza della Repubblica as, "la piazza florentina e' nostra" and then when a guy tried to sell us a rose Nick said, "no grazie, siamo parenti", which means, "no thank you, we are related!"  Haha..we laughed for a while...this has now become our standard line. 

Then we rubbed the boar's nose...and I could not remember what the significance was, but I'll look it up.... Boar meaning. 

 

Then we walked to the Ponte Vecchio.

To say that I have fun with Nick is an understatement, and I was really excited to share Florence with him.  We made our way back to the hotel, saw the Duomo at night again


and went to sleep!