Florence, Italy
June 14th, 2010
After the intense trek over the mountains in Cinque Terre, Charlotte, Natalie, and myself all awoke to sore muscles and filthy clothes. We hopped on the train to Pisa, got our obligatory pictures pretending to hold up the leaning tower, and haggled for another ridiculous hat for 3 euros.
We arrived and checked into our hostel, a killer pad called Plus Florence that has two bars! I immediately headed for the rooftop terrace and was stunned at the view; not three blocks away was the formidable Duomo Firenze. Gorgeous!
After realizing that the drinks here were not going to be as cheap as the 1-euro German lagers which treated me so well in Nice, I met two girls from California, Gina and Amber, who wanted to find some local bars as badly as I did (and who also thoroughly appreciated my hat).
We set out and found a tiny bar with a bartender who looked exactly like John Lennon. And I can say with certitude after bartending for six years that this Beatle lookalike could make a fantastic mojito! He used raw sugar cane and mint that he grew in his own garden. The night was an absolute blast with me dancing like a fool with locals. At one point, me and some Italian guy were writhing around on the ground kicking our feet in the air to the song from Animal House… “a little bit louder now, a little bit louder now!!”
I woke up the next morning hating life, but set out to explore anyway. First stop, the statue of David, which the Florentines literally put on every souvenir… naked male anatomy and all.
I must say that this sculpture is without a doubt the most impressive piece of artwork I have ever seen. I thought he was going to be like 6 feet tall, not 20! The detail is absolutely incredible. Sorry Leonardo, but the Mona Lisa isn’t even in the same league; Michelangelo is the GOAT.
I headed to Duomo, but the line was three hours long and I didn’t feel like sitting in the sun to climb some steps. So I hit up Grom, which is purported to have the best gelato in all of Italy (and thus the world). I took my cup to go and wandered around some more, checking out statues and castles and all the street vendors.
Lastly, I stopped in a pharmacy to grab some prescription-strength nasal spray to combat my allergies which have been destroying my sinuses since arriving in Italy. Well… I guess I misread the Italian directions, and was not supposed to snort as much as I did, because I was high as hell the rest of the afternoon.
I remembered I had to head back to the hostel for the big soccer game. USA vs Britain, and wouldn’t you know… I had been travelling with two Brits for five days! When I found them, they had already painted their faces, and had cut up their bed sheets to make British flags. Natalie and Charlotte would make great Gator fans!
We ran up to the terrace bar, and quickly the fans divided along nationalities. The Americans were about twenty strong, but the Brits rallied all the Aussies to their side. After the Americans scored that ridiculous goal, I thought Natalie was going to jump off the terrace!
Well as well all know, the game ended in a hilarious tie, and the Brits needed to drown their sorrows. We recruited some of the Americans, including Samantha, Maggie, Catie, and the Canadian girls that I met in Amsterdam, Cammy, Krystie, and Soraya. We rolled out to a karaoke bar and got lit while screaming some Oasis songs.
Somehow, our group got divided and I was with the three Canadians at a street intersection, not really sure which direction everyone had went. This is where the night gets super random. Soraya waived down a young Italian kid named Tony, who didn’t speak a lick of English, and in a flash, we were all piled into his car and sped off for a club called Flo Lounge on the outskirts of town. I like to call this club “Goodbye Wallet” because it was 20 euros to enter and 10 euros for a beer. The place was massive, packed with easily a few hundred Italian guys eager to grind all over Cammy and Krystie. We snuck into the VIP lounge, hopped up on some couches, and fist pumped with hundreds of Italians as the music pulsed and pounded. We had an absolute blast, and Tony drove us home later that night. I wasn’t able to say thanks, but if you ever read this Tony, that was badass, and super random!
I was stirred from my coma around 9 am by a knock on my hostel door. It was the Brits; they were packed and ready to catch their train to Venice. I don’t want to say that I am getting better at the goodbyes over here, because that would be a disservice to these incredible girls. The seven days we travelled together were so amazing; I mean we conquered mountains together! I was really sad to see them go. I suppose I was naïve at the start of this trip, thinking I would literally be on my own the entire time. But the best part so far has been meeting these people, and discovering cities together. Our encounter was by pure chance (I asked them at the tram stop in Nice if they were also crashing at my hostel), but the friendship we created was not. I don’t know if I will see them again on this journey, but I’ll never forget you girls or your hilarious British slang words. Be safe on your travels, and visit me someday in Florida! Oh and there is no chance you win the world cup this year… you couldn’t even beat the pitiful Americans! ;)
After the Brits left, I pretty much bummed around my bedroom the rest of the afternoon. Well if I was to be moody on this day, it would be short-lived, because into my life walked two adorable and bubbly American sisters that could cheer up anyone. And just like that, I lose two friends and make two new ones! Daniella and Kaitlyn joined me at the terrace bar for what I hoped would be a beer or two. That quickly turned to four bottles of wine! We met up with Cammy and Soraya again and all of us drank into the late night.
It’s great because almost everyone of that crew is headed to Rome today as well, albeit on different trains. It’s odd because I don’t even feel like a solo traveler anymore; it seems everywhere I show up, I now know 5 people. I have been in Europe for exactly 27 days, but the “Europe” group I made on Facebook says I have made 62 new friends here. I think it’s safe to say I’m doing an adequate job of accomplishing my goal of meeting new people. Ciao!!
-Batty
