An exciting Saturday!

Yesterday was an extremely success shopping day! Anna, April, Jen, and I started the day at the San Lorenzo market which was much more crowded then the first time Anna and I went.  The shops were all the same so I thought it would be easy to find the coat I liked last time I was there but of course nothing is as simple as it should be.  We wandered the market and made a few small purchases but then decided we were all starving so we headed toward the Duomo to grab a quick lunch.  On the way we spotted the jacket I wanted so we went inside the shop to try it on and it looked awful.  We were about to leave when I spotted another jacket figuring what could it hurt just to try it on?  I loved it!  Its a black pea coat with double buttons up the front, its perfect to replace my other jacket plus it was only 30 euro!

We stopped at the most crowded pizzeria in Piazza del Duomo figuring if it was crowded it must be good!  Jenn and I decided to split a piece of pepperoni pizza and a ham and cheese calzone.  Well the calzone was cold, and the pizza ended up being priced according to weight so we paid 4.50 euro for a slice of pizza.  Not good.  Fortunately the taste of the pizza made up for the expense and the crappy calzone.

Next we went to a book store so I could buy the rest of my books then went to get gelato at GROM only a few doors down.  It was delicious and they had flavors I had never seen before like apple, pear, and caramel.  Unfortunately its frowned upon in Italy to request samples of the flavors so I just played it safe and ordered a hazelnut and chocolate chip mix.  I didn't like that the chips were dark chocolate but once I got past them, the hazelnut was unreal.

We walked with our gelato to the chocolate festival in Santa Croce and were greeted with a giant marching band dressed up as jokers.  We wandered the festival looking at all the crazy creations people can make out of chocolate like roses, shoes, and tools! 

I bought two truffles, a Fragola filled chocolate lady bug and a Fragola and champagne truffle.  The lady bug was amazing and its still saving the other truffle for another time.  Of course I still hadn't had enough unhealthy foods for the day and ordered a cup of strawberrys and pineapples covered in melted chocolate.  I feel a bit repetitive but DELICIOUS!  

Around this time we were all feeling stuffed so we walked off all our calories along the Arno in the sunshine.  We made our way all the way past the Ponte Vecchio where we had never been before to find an H&M to shop at but when we got to the address there was no H&M.  April asked a taccachi stand and the owner told us haccha a emme (apparently italian for H&M) doesn't exist there, its really across town.  Fortunately Jen had to walk down designer row for her class so we went in shops like Gucci, Prada, and Roberto Cavalli before making our way to H&M.  We finally got there and I was in heaven, its massive!  Four floors of all my favorite clothing!  I ended up buying 2 shirts, a skirt (so I can go to church since you aren't allowed to wear jeans), and a purse.

We all went home got ready then headed out to dinner.  Shelbi and Jen were both meeting friends so dinner so Anna, April, and I ventured out to find a restuarant that had good reviews from one of my travel guides.  It wasn't a far walk and the atmosphere was cute and the waiter even cuter.  Too bad when I had questions about the menu we realized he barely spoke English.  I ended up ordering beef tortellini in a meat sauce and it was delicious!  Along with dinner we shared a bottle of delicious white wine.

After dinner we met back up with Jen and her friends at our new favorite bar, The Lion's Fountain.  The crowd is a good mix of girls, guys, locals, and students and the ceilings is covered with American university t-shirts signed by students.  The music is a good mix playing, Sublime, Bon Jovi, and Black Eyed Peas.  We stayed for a little while then headed to another pub for some drink specials.  The Fish Pub can't be described as anything other than creepy. The people, the decor, the drinks.  We stayed for one drink then headed to another pub to check out their specials.  The Old Stove was packed with locals watching a futball game and sharing beers.  We stayed for one drink then moved out of their view of the television.  We decided to go back to the Lion's Fountain since we liked it and met some new friends.  We stayed at Lion's Fountain until it got pretty crowded and then decided to go with some locals to a 90's and 80's bar.  We wandered the streets before coming across the discreet location of The Blob.  The music was all of the 90's and 80's and the place was filled with locals.  We mingled and danced the night away.

Today Anna, April, and I ventured down the street to the Wash and Dry since that washing machine still hasn't been fixed and we were getting down to our last pairs of socks!  The washers and dryers were surprisingly large and efficient, too bad its 3.50 euro per wash and dry.  It was worth the money to have some clean underwear though!  For the rest of the day all the roommates worked on homework and researched what we are doing about our trips and spring break.

April is working on making her delicious cheesy cream sauce and Anna is washing some dishes in preparation for dinner tonight.  Since its the Superbowl, I looked around a little and made reservations for all of us to watch the game.  Shelbi goes to school in Philly so shes rooting for the Steelers and Jen is a die hard Packers fan, sooo tonight should be interesting!

Love and miss everyone! xo