aaand it continues

So. Friday night. St. Patrick’s Day. We finished up dinner, went back to our apartments, put on some green, and met back up at my apartment to finish getting ready. It was quite an interesting night–not necessarily of my top 5–but we finished with pizza slices by the Duomo and I’m happy I went.

Saturday was another work day, and Zoe, Kenyon and I told ourselves that if we got enough done, we would treat ourselves to Beauty and the Beast that night at the English movie theater. Zoe and I spent the entire afternoon on the top floor of the public library, which overlooks the Duomo, met Kenyon for a late lunch, and then we all parted ways, planning to meet up in an hour for some Emma Watson.

An hour later, Kenyon could not make it out of her bed, but my friend Olivia took her place. Liv, Zoe and I stopped for some movie necessities at the supermarket–aka a lot of chocolate–, and then made our way to The Odeon. Zo and I each got some beer and popcorn, and we all sat in the balcony of a movie theater that still has its original, yellow velvet seats from the 1920s. It was incredible. And the movie was even better. I would recommend it to anyone who asks.

Sunday morning, Kenyon, Zoe and I woke up fairly early, and met at the bus stop to head out for a morning hike. The number 7 bus was supposed to take us to a small town outside Florence, but it hit the brakes and turned around about 10 stops before it was supposed to. We must have looked very confused, because a kind man explained to us in broken English that there was an antique car race and the bus could not make it up the hill. “It is only an hour walk, though!” He assured us.

We were not about to give up on a beautiful day of hiking, so we adjusted our backpacks and headed up the winding road. About three quarters of the way there, a policeman ushered us to the side of the road, and explained in Italian that the race was starting. We understood enough to know that we could not continue walking. And so the three of us stood on the corner for about thirty minutes and watched antique car after antique car whizz by. It was pretty unbelievable.

After it ended, we at last continued on and made it to our destination–the top of Monte Ceceri, where Leonardo DaVinci worked on his flying machine. The views were amazing. We quietly sat for about an hour, just doodling and chatting, and taking pictures.

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset

Afterwards, we hiked back down to the little town, and caught the number 7 bus, which was thankfully running again.

Zo headed home, and Ken and I went to our school’s library, where we worked on papers and internship applications and Italian essays, and all that fun stuff. For a little taste of America, Ken and I treated ourselves to some onion rings after the library closed, and then we both headed home.

And that was my weekend.