As I sit on my balcony writing a paper, and his blog, I realized that I will never spend another Sunday on this balcony ever again. The sun is shining on a beautiful Mother's Day (Happy Mothers day Mom, Grandma, Bubby, and everyone else to who it applies) and cannot believe that I will be in Israel a week from today. My second-to-last week in Florence was definitely a fun one, highlighted with a trip to Cinque Terre on Friday and my grandparents being here from Tuesday-Saturday. Lets start with Tuesday...After a brutal morning of class and a quick nap, I met my grandparents at their hotel and we proceeded to walk over the river for lunch at Quattro Liones. After a nice meal of pasta, we waled through the Bobili Gardens, which are incredibly beautiful, but unfortunately there were a few too many steps for my grandparents to truly enjoy the full view of the gardens. For dinner Tuesday, my grandparents took me and all of my roommates to La Giostra, which I have to say is the best restaurant in Firenze. After a huge meal and a good amount of wine, it was off to bed, as we were leaving around 930AM for a day trip in Tuscany. After a breakfast of fresh-squeezed orange juice and corn flakes, our first stop was a glass-blowing factory about an hour outside of Florence. It is incredible to watch the maestor's at work and see how talented they are. After gawking at them for a few minutes, it was off to the beautiful Tuscan city of San Gimignano, highlighted by their 500 year old towers and beautiful views. After walking around the city, we went to lunch in a small town before heading to the Antinori vineyard for a wine tasting. At lunch, which our driver insisted was a phenomenal restuarant where the same two ladies have been making the pasta for the past 40 years, I had a phenomenal bowl of ribolitta soup (really going to miss that dish). Touring a winery really makes you appreciate all the hard work and time that goes into the bottles of wine that we drink. After walking through the vineyards and the cellar, we were lucky enough to try 5 different glasses of wine (one of which was from a 200 euro bottle). After a long afternoon, it was back to Firenze for nap time before dinner at Golden View. The name of the restaurant says it all with a few lucky tables (our included) sitting on the window looking out at the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio. Thursday I met up with my grandparents after lunch (couldn't miss the second-to-last Chinese thursday) and walked with them through the San Lorenzo leather markey and we made a stop at the Medici Chappel before calling it an afternoon. For dinner, I took my first cab ride in Firenze to go to Tres Panches (or 3 benches). A small restaurant with just three tables (about 25 people can eat there at once) the food was superb, and after dinner it was off to bed as Cinque Terre was going to be quite a day. The train to Cinque Terre departs from Florence at 7:51, to at 7:20 me and my roommates walked over to the train station, and went back to bed on the 2 hour ride over there. Getting off of the train in Monterosso (the last of the 5 lands) offered me one of the most incredible views that I have had since I have been abroad. After a long day of hiking, and relaxing on the mediteranean it was back to Florence, and we were all wiped out. Getting off the train, we realized that it was the last time we would make the walk back to our apartment, and the semester truly was coming to an end. Saturday morning, I met my grandparents at their hotel for breakfast and to say goodbye, yet I will be seeing them in just three weeks, weird. Well, I have two finals tomorrow, so I better get to studying. I really can't say enough how scary it is that this semester is coming to an end. I'll give my semester wrap up post sometime later this week. Until next time...
A Presto,
JK
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