La Vie de Deux Mademoiselles a France

June 19^th

I arrived in Florence around 5pm, quite hung over and sleep deprived from the previous night in Rimini. While checking out the fab hostel (complete with gym, sauna, pool, and rooftop terrace) I ran into Ben!! I met him at the hostel in Positano (my most favourite place so far, and everyone else’s who has stayed there). I was so shocked and happy to see a familiar face, I nearly cried!! This night I took it easy, and after hanging on the terrace for while, I headed back to my room to go in the sauna.  Back in the room (8 person female dorm), I met Holly, a lovely girl from Australia who I just clicked with!

June 20^th

The previous night I had signed up for a wine tour through the hostel in Chianti. Funnily enough there were about 7 Vancouverites on the tour, and no Americans!! First we stopped in a little town called Greve to browse around and shop (btw it was blue skies and about 34 degrees this day!). Afterwards we headed to Lorenzo’s villa (an Italian count), which was passed down to his family from the Puccini’s.  Lorenzo is about 26, has big blue eyes, is loaded, can cook, and lives in a Tuscan villa, oh btw, did I mention he’s single!? We had an amazing lunch and tasted 2 different glasses of red wine (both from Lorenzo’s vines). After we moved on to a Grappa tasting (40% alcohol) and were lucky enough to have the guide give us extra alcohol in the form of various Italian liqueurs. What a great day, and by the end I was definitely tipsy.

Once I got back to the hostel, Holly and I met up as planned to go into the sauna. After we got back to the room we met two girls from Texas who had already been in Florence for about 7 nights…they have us the low down on where to eat and go out afterwards. Right before leaving we also met a girl from Ottawa, who I invited out with us as well. We headed out to Acqua al Due (recommended to us by about 4 diff people), which the Texan girls had gone to previously and loved. Unfortunately, it was packed, with over a 2 hour wait, so we went to another restaurant nearby. It was great, but we were all quite disappointed to have missed out on Acqua, so we made a reservation for the 5 of us the following evening. After dinner and wine we headed to Naima’s (bar/lounge) which the Texan girls had been going to. 1 euro shots and free alcohol made for a good start to the night, not to mention a drop dead gorgeous bartender. After Naima’s we bar hopped a bit, before coming back for closing, more liquor, and to hit the clubs with the owners and bartenders. Went out to a club called twice, and then when that closed, back to Naima’s for the after party. Surprisingly the funniest part of the night happened when we all arrived back at the hostel room… Where we found an extremely intoxicated drunk girl sleeping in Holly’s top bunk. We woke her up and she promptly began gathering Holly’s belongings in attempt to take them with her to her bunk (I suppose she thought they were hers in her drunken stupor). At this time, I am keeled over on my bottom bunk below, unable to stop laughing. The entire room was woken up, but for good reason!

The next day I found out the person who carried her up to our room ironically was Ben!!

June 21^st

Quite tired as per usual by now. Another super hot day in Florence and my first day walking in the city sober. Walked all around while Holly and Melanie waited in line to see David (girl from Ottawa), went to the market and had about 10 different kinds of biscotti. Determined to make use of the hostel’s sauna, after a nap, I rejuvenated once again in there with Holly. Then we all (2 Texan girls, Holly, Melanie, and I) headed out to Acqua al Due for our 9:30 reservation. Wow, what an amazing meal. Holly and I shared the steak sampler (balsamic, rosemary, and blueberry steaks)…and everyone else simply ordered the blueberry steak (the famous award winner)…whew, so damn tasty. Once again after our dinner and wine, we headed out to Naima’s, after we bar hopped, then went straight to twice. Well Twice was packed this night, impossible to move around too much. We did end up meeting 2 extremely nice (and chatty!) Polish guys. Turned out to be an awesome night.

June 22nd

The next day Melanie and I were unable to check back into the hostel as it was fully booked and we were a little late, so I decided to catch the next train to Grenoble. Wow…never moved so quickly in my life.

The train from Florence to Milano was your typical super nice Italian fast train, but when I had to switch in Milano to the TGV from Milan to Paris I was shocked. Clearly the train had not been cleaned before the trip and half of the seats were falling apart. Luckily I was sitting in Car 8 (the last car) and apparently there is a private section at the very back reserved for the Italian police (i.e. mafia). Anyways, I guess the Old Italian sitting back there with his 3 hot business women, overheard me complaining to this French guy about the French trains, and invited us to join him. I got so lucky as I really needed some sleep, and in the other cabin there was a baby = nonstop noises. I got to relax in probably the only nice cabin in the train! Arrived in Chambery a little late, and somehow managed to make it onto the bus to Grenoble just in time. On the bus I met an American Mormon…who would have thought! Sort of bizarre. Anyways, it was quite bizarre to come home to a stormy Grenoble, as when I left it had been sunny and hot for about 2 months straight, but now, 2 days since I’ve been here it’s back to that smoldering heat and sun!

Got to maintain my tan before I come back to Canada! Only 5 more days and I am home…honestly I cannot wait!