Ahh. The craziness that was opening tour is finally over and school has begun. I'm sitting in my pensione after the biggest lunch of amazing italian food made by my pensione mother Manola. It was delicious. My pensione mates and I may be biased, but we really do think that we scored with where we are living. It is this awesome pensione called Hotel Nazionale and is run by Manola and Matteo. It the farthest from campus, but it has proved worth the walk. Our rooms are awesome, albeit a bit tight, and we all have our own bathrooms which is key. They even include views of the Duomo, I mean who wouldn't want to wake up to that everyday. The food, as I said, was delicious and keeps on coming. I guess the walk will prove handy for avoiding the Florence forty.
Now that I am somewhat settled in Florence, I can relive the end of opening tour. Prague was amazing. At first I didn't think I was going to like it all that much but it ended up being a blast. Everywhere you look there is something to take a picture of and some new sight to see. The atmosphere was just fun. The last night my friends and I walked back through the castle to take picture and just walk along the river for a place to get dinner. Needless to say we walked for an hour and a half exploring and looking for somewhere new to eat, but ended up back in Old Town at the same restraunt we had lunch the past two days. It was delicious and cheap and we felt accomplished for finding this restraunt on our own. I mean who wouldnt want to pay 40 Euros (1100 crowns) for dinner for 5, 2 big bottles of water, drinks and a dessert. It was amazing. If I ever head back to Prague, I know where I'm going. We just walked around a bit after, heading back via subway.
The next day we traveled to Vienna and were all exhausted. I was so excited to get there but have to admit it was a bit of a let down. It was very city, which I loved, but it didn't feel as cool as Prague, Dresden, and Berlin. This could also be because I was exhausted from traveling a week straight. The tour of the city was fun, but not as good as Berlin. There wasn't as much to see and felt a bit forced. The entire program had the grossest lunch of boiled meat, which I didn't touch. Afterwards some friends and I walked around the city center and found the coolest old baroque church to look around and some good European stores. That night we headed back to the city center for dessert and drinks out on the Patio, a European favorite it seems. The next day we went to the summer castle of Maria Theresa which was amazing. It was beautiful and preserved. The gardens were amazing, we even hiked up the hill to the Gloriette for the view and lunch at the little cafe. Afterwords my friend Katy wanted to go to the hotel where the Sacher-torte was invented at the insistence of her mom. It was amazing and rich, and we even got to hit up the best H&M I've seen yet.
Yesterday was a long travel day, beginning with the bus to the airport at 2:30, the flight to Rome at 5:30, the 4 hour bus ride to Florence, and the 10 minute walk will all of our luggage to our Pensione. Sleep was very much needed before we started class today. As fun as opening tour was, it sure is nice to begin this adventure in Florence!
Music Guide: "Vienna" by Billy Joel
No comments:
Post a Comment