whatta weekend

friday- fiesole. sole in italian means sun. and seriously sun. 65 degrees and sunny. it's basically a hill overlooking florence. beautiful. warm. happy. we toured around ruins built by the etruscans in 100 bc. now THAT is nuts. it linked to a lot of things i'd learned in my roman archaeology class i took last spring. crazy how old everything is. we walked a lot but it was such a lovely day i could not care less. and then lunch. holy crap lunch. it was a feast. so much food. sooo good. we are all fully committed to the no-carb-left-behind diet. and trust me we're succeeding. went back to the city and walked around a bit. wandered into this fabric shop looking for yarn and the second we walked in we were greeted by these two older men. romano and his nameless brother. spoke english pretty well and decided to grant us a lesson on florentine history. and fashion. the man has a lifetime of knowledge that's for sure. we seriously sat in a circle and romano talked. and talked. for two hours. it was awesome. you can't pay for experiences like that. sweetest old man. he showed us some poems he'd written. we didn't even buy anything or find yarn. but we spent two hours in a random store with a random man exposed to more italian culture than we could on any tour. and we are quite emotionally attached to romano. we will go back. we promised.

etruscan amphitheater in fiesole

a feast of epic proportions

romano reading our entry in the guestbook

ragazzi e romano. tutte amore

aaand friday night consisted of lots of dancing at the red garter. real fun club. apparently italian men love my eyes, they just walk up to me and say "occhio occhio" and touch my face. uncomfortable. julianna's blonde hair is also a fan fav. and actually just all of us in general because we're american. they just stare. and sometimes touch. nono

saaaturday- sleeping late is so wonderful. we shopped all day. like seriously all day. and if you know me you know that is something i just do not do. we walked around the whole city and just got lots of things done. so many accomplishments. and interactions. oh and gypsies. alllll around the duomo. gypsies galore. sly lil minxes but we're quicker. julianna tried to steal my bag when i wasn't looking and i just about socked her in the mouth. basically we're on our game. pick pockets beware. probably the best part of the day was the chocolate festival held outside santa croce. a huge, once a year chocolate festival with parades and free samples and everything good in life. i got a brownie with chocolate icing and hot fudge dripped on top. italian chocolate which i swear is better. overwhelmed by chocolate. not a bad thing. we decided not to go out at night and just had a chill dinner/pride and prejudice watching night. OH. and learned to crochet. not easy. but a good feeling. i made a headband! i become more of a woman every day here. so fun. i guess looking back saturday doesn't look like that great of a day when i write it out. but trust me. it was.

one of about 27 chocolate booths

my brownie. obviously i'm in love

pretty chocolatey faces

my headband masterpiece. the green thing is supposed to be a flower. i kind of made up how to make it so work with me here.

and sunday- a seriously chill day. not much to write about besides church and dinner. we went to st james evangelical american church. borderline catholic. but at least it was in english. pretty interesting. sweet gospel choir. several funny things about italian church: dogs in church. foreign concept to me. and prosecco (champagne) at the after service reception. learning experience. we talked to the priest and some random italian men afterwards. very welcoming. not my style of church but definitely an experience. chilled all day and then dinner. oh dinner. went to ristorante teatro. we got three courses with our vouchers. so much food. so good. inexplicable. you just have to trust me. teatro is where it's at. and unlimited water. which is great because wine is literally cheaper than water here no joke. church and food. a good sunday.

i realize you probably didn't need a rundown of every single thing i did this weekend. i just wanted to convey my feelings. this city is amazing. absolutely where i am supposed to be right now. i am full, tired, and happy. life is good.

"when you write you weave words"

- romano romoli