Hands down the best weekend of my life to date- in Florence, Lucca & Pisa.

Frequently the girls at home point out how often I say that things are the best time of my life- or the funniest. Which is so true. I always do say that it was the best weekend of my life or the best night. I can't help it! This past weekend is no exception. It was hands down the funniest, best weekend of my entire 20 years. I can't remember the last time that I laughed until I couldn't feel my face, breathe, or talk. Yet I could not even count the number of times that happened this weekend. I certainly have hilarious friends at home- made evident by the group message Emma, Cosmo, Kyle, David and I have maintained since we have left that often prompts the people around me to ask what I'm laughing at when I'm looking at my phone- but there is really something else about traveling with people that just gives you so many more new experiences to laugh about. This list includes but is not limited to the bus driver leaving us in the middle of a highway roundabout, taking the train home for free, celebrating our free ride with McDonalds, almost buying a homeless man a train ticket, getting slightly electrocuted, and staying in an unheated hostel.

I traveled with friends- Kelly, Meghan, James, Paul and Hunter to Florence, Lucca and Pisa. Coincidentally, all 6 of us are Marquette students although none of us, with the exception of Kelly and I, knew each other prior to this trip. After all the time we spent together this weekend we did put together that we in fact do have a few mutual friends who never did us the justice of introducing us to each other, but other then that we really did not know each other at all. Suffice it to say "WE ARE MARQUETTE" was said about 100+ times this weekend and we all regretted not having brought along one of the cheesy flags they asked us to bring and post pictures with. I mean not really regretted- since we chose to write it on a finished wine bottle and take pictures with that instead. Seemed more fitting. I am so grateful to have met these new friends on this trip. Not only because we had a great time together traveling and will continue to do so this semester, but also because I can look forward to more years of time with them when we do, sadly, return to Marquette. It makes so much sense to me now while so many older Marquette alums I know still hang out with other alumni, even ones they did not know while they were in school. There is just some kind of unique connection to us that allowed us to click so easily in spite of not knowing each other in the least.

We started off the weekend by leaving early Friday morning for Florence. I should start by noting that my friend James is actually from Florence. He spent most of his adolescence living in Florence which not only made him an awesome tour guide but his fluency in the Italian language was about as vital to our trip as Paul's cooking. Upon coming up to a "Firenze 6 KM -->" sign, the bus driver calls out "FLORENCE?!" and asks us to get off the bus. In the middle of the highway. Needless to say he didn't need to speak English to see that we were confused. While he pulled our luggage out of the side of the bus he explained to James in Italian (I mean seriously it's an invaluable ability) that we would have to walk up the highway and take a bus to Florence. Entirely not part of the plan, but we've quickly learned that Italian bus drivers are on their own schedule and aren't as tied to a route, times, or a drop-off location as American ones are. Ultimately we walked behind an actual hitchhiker up the highway to wait for a bus, practically in tears from laughing so hard that we had been dropped off on a highway roundabout.

I kid you not.

We spent the rest of the day touring Florence- and the best way that I can describe it is that it felt like you were looking at one of those pop-up picture books you had as a kid. The detail on the Duomo and the Baptistery is so intricate that it looked like a storybook. I lack creativity as well as artistic talent- therefore I left the picture taking to Meghan and Paul, both of whom are quite gifted. So these pictures of the sights are really taken by them. 

The first one is the top of the Duomo, the second the Baptistery doors that are the Gates of Heaven, and the third is the picture that I think best shows the storybook quality to the structures. I loved it so much. 

So of course we also went in to see the David. I could not say enough about it. Even knowing to expect it to be immense and impressive I was still utterly blown away by how big it is. We actually stood there just looking up at it for about 25 minutes before I finally nudged the rest of them to say we should get going. We didn't. We stayed there 15 minutes longer. We were truly just marveling at it- Paul actually captured the look on mine and Meghan's faces pretty well as we looked up at it. He also was brave enough to take a picture- where as I, a rule stickler by nature was much too scared. Even if the only consequence was a somewhat small woman yelling "no picture" moderately harshly. Paul also came up with the best interpretation of the David's face- we all agreed once he said it that David is asking God, "Did I do the right thing?" It seems ridiculous to think that marble eyes could show you a soul but really that's the magic of the David.

We also went to the Ponte Vecchio. My parents had told me about the newlyweds that go there and lock a lock around a certain part of the bridge then throw the key into the river. It really is an adorable sentiment to lasting love. What was especially cute was the differences between locks people had chosen. One couple had locked their $2 Target padlock right next to a Chanel one. It was too funny. My personal favorite was this one- and again have to thank Paul for taking an adorable picture of it when I asked him too. God never fails in surrounding me with amazingly talented, kind people.

We were at the bridge at right about sunset- could not have asked for better lighting as it was gorgeous to look out over the water. The bridge is also lined with jewelry shops- something the boys loved as much as the girls. Hunter picked out a $79,000 dollar watch while the three of us girls just stared at all of the jewelry. 

That night we went to an incredible dinner at one of James' favorite places. Never have I ever laughed so hard. Some of the highlights other than the food were Paul proclaiming "I'm not really a wine guy" as he literally empties a bottle. Or sarcastically turning to Meghan and saying, "I don't have a sassy face." This picture was taken at that exact moment..

Meghan and James' faces say it all. Not only does Paul have a sassy face- it is the only face he has. And he is a wine guy. 

We went out to the pubs that night and actually just sat around a table for a few hours laughing and talking. I can't say it enough- never have I had such a good time with people. I can't even stop laughing at things as I sit here trying to type this. 

Florence was the time of my life. So many great memories from just about 24 hours. Whatever they say in life about doing things with the right people, it's completely true. 

The next morning we went to Lucca on the train. Lucca is a very small town that is best known for the fact that it is essentially a walled fortress. In the past the town continued to build walls of various consistencies and sizes in order to protect themselves against enemies. Despite their heavy layers of defense, they have never once been threatened by an enemy. As it stands, Lucca is the kind of place that builds walls against people that have no intention or desire to hurt it. Some metaphor huh? So anyways- it was very quiet and didn't have as many of the renowned sights that Florence had. Rather we spent the day bicycling around the ramparts on top of its walls appreciating the view. Breathtaking really. The Apennine mountains were snow-capped and we spent about two hours biking around just marveling at how beautiful they were. The bike ride also affords you a better view of the small town. 

So. Much. Fun.

We had a hostel to stay in for that night too- and given the small amount of nightlife Lucca had to offer (looked to be about one bar) we decided it'd be fun to cook dinner and then just stay in. We really decided this would be fun given the discovery that Paul is an incredible chef- officially deemed Paulatouille. We went grocery shopping and I kid you not he cooked a delicious 5 course meal. The rest of our contribution was mostly eating it whenever his back was turned. So unbelievably delicious. So much was eaten before and during this meal that we did not even get to the ratatouille he had made. And I can genuinely say that I have never had so much fun cooking a meal either. If these pictures can even give you the slightest indication of how much fun we had then I'll be happy.

The second picture is all the food we had bought- all of the girls had our tote bags filled with food. Too cheap to buy the bags to bring them home which nearly caused James a panic attack that we would attempt to bring home groceries without bags. Ultimately it was the funnest night of my entire life. 

Annndddddd still the weekend wasn't over. Hard to believe with all that we had done but the next day we headed to Pisa. I wasn't expecting to be impressed by the Leaning Tower in the least- in fact it wasn't until we got there and saw it that I realized I had pretty much been expecting to see the CatDog house. Which goes to show that a pricey education can't buy you common sense. This also proved to be true about Push/Pull doors that designated Push in English.. Right Meghan?! We walked around there- had a hilarious time laughing about the Asian tourists that were taking the typical Leaning Tower picture on the Baptistery- went to church right next to the Tower which also happened to be incredibly beautiful on the inside- grabbed some pizza and headed back to Florence to try to make it back home to Rome.

For a funny final story about our attempted return to Rome. So Kelly and I actually did not have tickets for a Sunday night bus, ours were mistakenly done for Monday night. However- we were kind of planning on winging it and hoping that James could argue our way on given the casualness of the buses in Italy anyways. We figured the only way it wouldn't work out was if the bus was completely full. However the other four did have tickets for that night. So we made it back to the highway roundabout and were standing in the dark.. flag down the bus as it gets off the ramp and what do you know - the bus is full. And also does not have four seats open for our friends who did have legitimate tickets. Long story and lots of rapid Italian yelling between James and the bus drivers later- we ended up in a free taxi headed back to the Florence train station for a free train that would get us back nearly two full hours before the bus. We celebrated with McDonalds. Perfect weekend.

The length is extreme I know- if you made it to the end then you are probably either one of my Grandma's or my Mom- so in that case- I love you! I miss you! This week is almost over already- we have no big plans for this weekend other than trying to get ahead in some homework because I will be heading to Dublin and Galway the following weekend! And so begins about two months of nonstop travel. Sleep is for the birds.