Thursday night was one of the best nights of my life. We found ourselves at an American restaurant and bar called "The House of Sizzle" where it was wing night with beer specials. We ordered 120 oz of beer, wings, and burgers. Delish. Our beer was delivered with a firework on top, I guess in celebration of American commradery. And then to top it off, our waitress forgot to charge us for the beer. About 50 Euros of free booze for the table. Thank you, Italy.
After a night out at Shot Cafe and the opening night of Club 21, Friday morning, Keena, Caroline, and I woke up early and headed to the train station for a day at the beach. Thus far, our day trips and activities in Florence have been planned for us through the fabulous Lucca and Milva, but we decided that we wanted a day at the beach while the weather was still nice. So, we planned a trip (on our own) to Viareggio, a beach in West Tuscany, the closest to Florence. Everyone knows that I'm such a planner, with to-do lists always written down or mentally noted. Its tough to be completely planned in travelling, especially in another country. For the first time, I really felt like I wasn't at comfortably at home in the US of A. It was reassuring to have things go smoothly and casually for our first day truly out of our comfort zone. I need things that push me out of my OCD, type A personality. So, Friday morning, we hopped on the train around 9 and arrived at 11:30, just in time for an appropriate American lunch. Obviously not in Italy. Shops were JUST opening up for the day as beachgoers headed to the sea. We walked through the cute little town by the water, stopping in a few stores before finally decided where to eat. We had to wait for the restaurant to open. Our waitress knew zero English, but we managed to order and eat. I had calamari and shrimp with veggies. Delish. And had an awesome view of the ocean to top it all off.
The beaches in Viareggio are all private, so we were expecting to pay a few Euros for a beach chair and an afternoon of sunrays. We asked the non-English-speaking waitress what the protocall was. She couldn't offer us any information other than to just walk out onto the beach and pick a spot. So... we did. An hour later, the beach patrol man kindly asked us to show our ticket. With none, we promptly moved to another beach with some more signage explaining what to do. This beach, we soon discovered, was a topless beach. We saw our fair share of young topless Italians and skimpy bottoms. Caroline and I both agreed that THAT is the only form of culture shock we've experienced thus far. For the most part, Italians are much more in shape than Americans, but they really don't leave much of anything to the imagination, including the men in tight speedos. Another shock of the day: Street vendors selling fake purses, sunglasses, clothes, watches and jewelry moved their jobs onto the sand during the day. The salesmen are not shy either. At first, we thought the notion of these men with obviously fake Gucci purses walking around and badgering beachgoers to purchase was funny... until we became the victim of their harrassment for 5 hours. We must've screamed young American girls (maybe because we chose to keep our tops on?) because every 5 mins or so, we had some display of fake something in front of us. We responded with polite "no grazie, no grazie" but thankfully Keena finally showed some direct sternness and began answering "No." for us all.
We spent the day soaking up some rays and then headed back to Florence for a quiet girls night in. We had an early train to Cinque Terre Saturday morning and after a long day in the sun, we needed the sleep. Even with many a trips to the mountains, I have never had the term nature, granola, organic or the like associated with my name. Not because I dislike nature or because I don't value the beauty, but just because I'm a girly girl. I like pedicures and cooking vs. tents and mosquitos. I did make a valiant display of versatility for all the girly-girls of the world with very few complaints on our hike this weekend -- the view was inspirational. We met the Wells crew at Santa Maria Novella station for a nice commute to Cinque Terre, a cluster of 5 cliffside towns that overlook the ocean with trails between each. We casually strolled the first and most famous section of the trail deemed the "Via dell'amore" (street of love). The views were indescribable (I've added photos to facebook if you want a preview, but they don't nearly do the view justice). I can see why so many happy couples make the trek; Nature can be love-inspiring. The first trail is more of a paved path, so all of us expected the entire day to be easy breezy. We obviously weren't the only American students that decided to go to Cinque terre this weekend because we kept running into students that we had class with, making the train that ran from the 2nd and 3rd town especially crowded. We had no choice but to ride because the trail was closed, so we decided to hike the next 2 sections. The easiness of the first section disillusioned us for the trek betweek the 3rd and 4th. It kicked all of our butts: 4 km of mountain climbing (with rewarding views of the water nonetheless, making us want to jump in it because of the hot temperature). The builders of this trail were obviously not 5'2" women, because the old stairs were steep enough for me to jump down and almost tall enough for me to fully extend my leg, probably explaining why my muscles are a little sore today. The trail was hilly but the most difficult part was finding solid footing because the rocks that once paved the path were unsteady and uneven. Although we bit off a little more than we were expecting with that portion of the hike, the difficulty of the hike definitely made us all feel accomplished of what we had done when we finally reached the beach for the final hours of our day. We spent time in the salty but crystal clear waters of the 5th and final town of Monterosso. We all crashed on the train ride back. Like, unconscious, even amongst loud passengers entering and exiting.
Caroline and I were in definitely need for a relaxing night and day, so that is how we spent our Saturday night and Sunday. It has been a day to catch up with everyone after I've been so busy for the last 2 weeks. The reality that I'll be here until December has really start to hit. Luckily, my grandparents arrive on Wednesday and I look forward to a nice weekend travelling through Tuscany to all of their favorite places. James arrives in Florence the following weekend. I cannot wait to share this city with all of my visitors this semester. Florence has whatever someone is looking for: the slow pace of Italian lifestyle, or the city nightlife and restaurant variety. Its all here. All my lovin'!
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