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.