Parents and Eurotrip

After arriving back in Firenze Sunday afternoon, I met up with my parents who had arrived in Florence the previous day. After having a drink outside their hotel (which was right across teh street from Piazza Republica, a block from the Duomo) and relaxing for a little bit it was time for dinner at La Giostra. After a phenomenal meal of Ravioli, appatizers, Veal and Red Wine, it was time for bed after the end to an extremely long weekend.

I took off class Monday morning to walk around Firenze with my parents. Despite waking up earlier than usual on Mondays, there was no complaining to be done as the breakfast at the Hotel was my first in a long time. Since my parents had been to Florence before and had toured all of Saturday and Sunday, we took it easy on Museums and Churches and just walked around the city. The first stop was the San Lorenzo leather market where my Mom had a field day (new jacket and gloves, Jon got a wallet) before heading to Piazza Michelangelo for my favorite view of the city. Before I went off to class we went for lunch to a pizza place right down the street from me and had a nice quite meal outside. Dinner was another phenomenal meal at a restautrant that someone had reccomended to my parents where we had ribolita soup(a tuscan vegetable soup, very good) fried artichoke, and great chicken for dinner.

Tuesday morning after I had a presentation in my 9 am class we left Florence on noon with a tour guide (great reccomendation by the Marder family) for an afternoon driving through the hills of the Chianti region and other Tuscan towns. It was the first time that I had been out into that region, and I am really dissapointed I forgot my camera as this was some of the more beautiful land I have ever seen. After a great lunch at a famous vineyard, stops at 2 other small Tuscan towns, and a beautiful drive it was back to Florence where we went out to dinner with my roommates. We went to a restuarant called Il Latini, where you have to come starving or you will not get your moneys worth. After plates of ham, salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, pasta, and soup, they brought out the largest platter of meat we had ever seen. The plate was filled with Veal, Lamb, and steak and was accomponied by some brisket-esque meat on the side. After a great meal, it was time to say Ciao to my parents after a wonderful three days.

After getting a little rest on Wednesday, Marc and I left Florence at 6am Thursday to meet up with a bunch of our school friends who were on their spring break. The trip, which was organized phenomenally by Josh Feiger and Matt Kogan, started in Prague or Rome, then they all went to Munich and Salsburg before we met them Thursday in Vienna. After a long travel day, it was great to get to Vienna and walk around before finding a park to relax in for a while. After a great Austrian dinner and night on the town, we left Friday around noon for Bratislava (Slovakia). Now most of yu onloy know Bratislava from Eurotrip, and I was kind of hoping that a dollar would buy me the city, but that wasn't the case. Fortunately, neither was their depiction of the city, as it was one of the more beautiful cities I have visited. The city's square has streets of beautiful, trendy cafes and no cars can drive through the streets. After touring around and having a nice dinner at the cafe, we were happy to see that all these nice cafes turned into nice bars at nice. After a making it to quite a few of them, it was off to bed as we were leaving for Budapest early the next morning. After my first true European train experience with the 6 person cramped cars, we finally arrived to Budapest, where we would spend the final two days of our trip. Saturday, we explored the city and loved what we found. For lunch we found a little wine tasting and local food and music festival that kept us entertained for a few hours before we continued walking the city. After walking for a while we arrived to the Terror Museum, which dealt with the Nazi and Soviet impact on Budapest. After the interesting tour we returned to the hostel to clean up for a great authentic Hungarian dinner complete with matzah ball soup. Sunday, after taking a walking tour of the city, we hit up a great Budapest Bath house where we relaxed in their 12 different pools at different temperatures. After another good dinner and hanging out with my Illinois friends for the last time in Europe, it was off to bed and back home the next morning...What a crazy week!