Day Twenty-Three - Florence, Italy

Day Twenty-Three – Florence, Italy

Well the past 24 hours have been something to remember, that’s for sure.  Last night after I blogged, we did indeed go out to get some more ice cream (it’s pretty much all I crave at this point) and watched the sun set over the Alps. Yep, never gets old.  Hopefully you all are enjoying the sunset pictures – just imagine it being about 100 times more beautiful in person!

Then, we went and played “I Bet You Won’t” around Vevey, Switzerland. This game is basically truth or dare minus the truth element. I loved playing it in Disney World with the five benches Senior year (shout out to Ana, Elizabeth, Jacqueline, and Sydney) so I suggested this game with everyone else… cause it’s much more fun when you do it away from home. And oh what a night it turned out to be…possibly my favorite night on the trip so far! Mom, Dad, and Austin keep laughing at me because I say everything is my “favorite” or the “best one yet” but I just admit that I have a problem deciding when things are my favorite...so sue me. It’s the same way I have multiple best friends…they’re all the best in different ways haha.

But anyways here’s what ended up happening on “I Bet You Won’t”…it started with Caleb swimming out in the freezing cold Lake Geneva water to touch the giant fork that stands up in the middle of it (see pictures) – then I dared Alyssa to say the pledge of allegiance as loud as she could on top of a ledge – then she dared Tyler to do the single ladies dance in front of a hotel – then he dared Caitlin to talk only in song form for the following 15 minutes – then she dared Emily to sing “I’m a little teapot” in the middle of a park – then Emily dared me to profess my love for a trash can Romeo and Juliet style – then I dared Ari to sing Gospel music all the way down a walkway  - then she dared Marley to act like a cat the rest of the way back. Haha I know we sound crazy but these are the funny moments that I love about trips…all the bonding. I know I said a couple of days ago we were all starting to get annoyed with each other but things are coming back around full circle and really getting along great. I guess we’re like a family at this point – we’re going to have our ups and downs but at the end of the day we do love each other. We’re one crazy mix of a family, I’ll tell you that!

And don’t worry, we captured all of the “I Bet You Won’t” moments on video J

After that, we packed up for a long day of travel.

But we had no idea exactly how long this long day would be. First of all, can someone just please explain to me why traveling makes you so tired? Even though you’re just sitting there in a car or a train, it absolutely exhausts you! I’ve yet to figure that one out. But anyways, here’s how it all went down…

We left our hostel at 7:30 AM. Got on a train and headed to another town in Switzerland (and I’m really missing London’s efficient transportation system at this point). From there, we got on a train that we rode all the way to Milan. We’re quite a show with all 21 of us racing through train stations with all of our luggage…and it’s no secret that we’re American. A lot of us were feeling sick and tired this morning and my right eye was swollen and red…a potential style or maybe pink eye? Not sure. Either way I’ve been firmly instructed not to touch it haha….so that was fun to travel with. Well, our train to Milan arrived an hour late so we missed our connecting flight to Florence. We weren’t sure what train we would be able to take from there so we had the most stressful hour of the trip yet trying to figure it out…it was horrible. We literally hopped on one train with all of our luggage, got kicked off, ran down the train station, got put on another train, rode that train to Venice, couldn’t get the door to open on our car, had to travel all the way down to the next car to get off….gosh I can’t even describe it all and I’m not even sure I want to relive it. It was a travel nightmare but it was kind of comical I have to admit haha. Anyways, after all of that we finally arrived in Florence.

Or should I say heaven? Originally, some of us had thought about taking tomorrow to travel to Venice but after spending a couple hours in this dream city I’m kicking Venice to the curb for the time being and spending as much time here as possible! We went out and got pizza and gelatos tonight and walked around the city a little bit and this is by far the best shopping I’ve seen yet. I already found the most beautiful dress that’s like one that Kate Middleton has and I’ve got my little heart set on it. It’s mine. Tomorrow I’m going to shop til I drop!! No holding me back now! Haha.

Anyways, until next time,

MC