I should have known that even the difficulty in getting a train ticket to Florence was a sign that this might be a challenging trip. One of the girls on the trip, Michelle, suggested an awesome website where we could get a round trip ticket to Florence for 34 Euro (which is incredibly cheap). The only catch was that we would have to leave at 6:45 AM Saturday morning and return at 1:00 AM Monday morning and the train ride was 4 hours long as opposed to the typical train of about an hour and a half. No big deal, we all thought, that gives us plenty of time to explore the influential city. Booking the ticket was excruciating. The website was a mess and only after what seemed like the millionth try did we see any progress. In addition, The website was not compatible with PNC. So at first I thought my account was frozen and was freaking out because it is my only card. So I am trying to call my bank panicking to my mom all over sees, which is an unsettling feeling, you out of control and helpless. Come to find out that 6 other people in our group were dealing with the same issue and our cards were not frozen.
Train ride wasn't bad I slept the whole time and was made fun of for bringing a neck pillow. We arrive in Florence and attempt to find our hostel. I forgot to mention that the group that was going to Florence was about 40 people. So try and imagine 40 bewildered college kids in Florence trying to find a hostel, it was a little crazy. We get to our hostel, Florence plus, which is really geared towards young travelers. It has an indoor pool, a rooftop bar, and a computer room. So the image of a hostel from the movie Hostel was debunked.
Once we arrived we were informed that we could not check in till 3 PM, however they had a luggage room for us to store our stuff. So we dropped our stuff and proceeded to take on Florence.
Our hostel was in a great location located in central Florence so the first thing we did was see the Doma and the church. We also found the leather markets where we spent the greater part of the afternoon.
I dont know if you were aware but the Jersey shore cast was also in Florence so of course we had to see the pizza shop where they worked, O'Vesuvio. So we walked past the shop and Pauly D runs out and grabs my two roomates Ashley and Lauren and pulls them inside the shop. We tried to go in after them but the camera crew wouldnt let anyone go in without signing a waiver. About 10 minutes later the cast Pauly D, Vinnie and Sammy leave the shop. So my other roomate and I go in trying to get the scoop of what just happened. My roomates explained how they were forced to buy hats and pizza and Pauly asked them where they were from what they were doing here and a series of other questions before he INVITED THEM TO A CLUB THAT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! Mission accomplished, get asked put by Jersey Shore and the pizza was actually decent.
So after that ordeal we walked around Florence and were planning our day and what we want to see tomorrow, the statue of David, go inside the Doma, and get those things we had been eyeing up in the market. So we head back to our hostel around 7 PM were take a quick recovery nap and get ready for the club.
Club Space was the sickest club I have ever seen. It had 3 floors, 5 bars it was nuts. Well about an hour into it in The Situation, Sammy, Ronnie, Dena, and Vinny arrive. No Snooks or J Woww, not sure why. So anyway a huge mob swarms them and its like a stampede rushing towards them. So they are on stage dancing and getting the club pumped the situation and Pauly D are inviting girls up to dance, it was really surreal. there were cameras and people everywhere, it was a great night.
We had to be out of our hostel by 10 AM the next morning, this was a real struggle considering that half of us didn't get back till just 5 hours before check out time. So we had an agenda and a day full of things to do first on our list climbing the Doma, which has the most beautiful view of Florence. We approach the piazza (or square) were the Doma is and its closed, ok so we cant do one thing no big deal. Then we go to the markets to get gifts and what not, success. We then proceed to go see David and the clouds open up and downpours. Im not talking about easy rain that wouldn't bother you I'm talking about hail and huge rain drops and you would probably catch pneumonia if you went out there kinda rain. We quickly took shelter in a shore store for 2 hours before it even lighten up for us to walk in. So we head back to get our luggage and hang out at the hostel, even though we checked out, because all the museums were closed by the time the rain let up.
Jersey Shore + Rain =Florence.
No comments:
Post a Comment