Out and About in the City

Buena Sera!

chocolate shaped as tools...doesn't look as appetizing!

Today was a great day! Although I slept through a museum tour of Uffizzi that I was supposed to go to, I made the most of it by exploring Florence a little bit and doing my two favorite things- eating and shopping :) We set out around 1 to find this great panini shop, Pino's, and ended up doing a little bit of shopping at Zara (which I recently learned is pronounced zah-rah haha) and Subdued, an Italian shop which had some really cute clothing! The whole day was a long hunt for scarfs and hats, but unfortunately none of us found any and will be freezing tomorrow in Venice for Carnevale! :( We also ran into a chocoalte festival going on in the center! I tasted a few different types of chocolate including hazelnut, melon, and wine flavored, and all were delicious!

Typical masks worn at Carnevale

Carnevale, as I learned on Wikipedia, "started as a time for celebration and expression throughout the classes, as wearing masks hid any form of identity between social classes." I don't really know much about the tradition of it but am aware that there are parades, shows, and alot of costumes and mask wearing. I am excited about buying a Venetian mask! I think its going to be really fun and I am so excited to see Venice, especially during these festivities! I recently heard that all of the canals in the city were frozen over- I hope they melted by now, otherwise it would be pretty cool to experience walking over the water in Venice, not many can say they did that! We're going with a group on a bus so hopefully they can tell us the activites for the day so we can get the best experience. Wish we were going for more than just a day but I'm sure this will be fun too!

Kristen, Kelly, and I at Gusta with our heart-shaped pizzas

The food here has been great! So far my favorite pizza place is Gusta Pizza, where they have the most delicious, freshly made dough and toppings. If you go with all girls, which we did the first time, they shape your pizzas in hearts which is really cute! I heard Mount Osuvious, where the Jersey Shore cast worked, had better but we have yet to find out.

felt good to eat some McDonald's

 Although we are all enjoying the great Italian food Florence has to offer, we are getting a little homesick for American food, so we also visited a few American food places. One, called "The Diner", served Italy's version of American breakfast and lunch. I really enjoyed the milkshake and pancakes here, but the bacon just wasn't doing it for me. They like bacon raw here and I could not eat any of it! The Oil Shoppe was great! I would consider this half Italian and half American. They serve paninis and salds and soups, but you can get paninis that were made for Americans, like chicken parm and meatball parm. Oddly enough, you cannot find either of those at most authentic Tuscan restaurants around here! Last but definitely not least, i had to stop in to my favorite place of all time, McDonald's. Call me weird, but i had the biggest craving for a double hamburger and fries and just had to give Italian McDonald's a try. It was a little different from home, serving shrimp and mozzarella burgers and not offering double hamburgers, but i guess they have to change their menu to appeal to different cultures, which makes sense. They also had "American style" burger special like the Arizona Dream, which i found funny. I don't remember what was on it but I'm sure Italians think thats what the food in Arizona is like. I guess its kinda like when we go out for Italian and order chicken parm haha.

great Italian-style paninis

 Well, ciao for now!

Nicole :)