Once I leave Florence I’ll truly be sad. So far, I’ve had such a great time here not only due to the central location to all the Tuscan hill towns but also because the hostel we’ve stayed at is so great.

I’ve met countless people in this hostel and because of the great atmosphere here, I’ve managed to from some solid friendships that will definitely last long after I leave Florence.

The day before yesterday we visited Lucca which is 1 hour west of Florence by Train. Lucca is a cool town, but definitely has become a tourist destination. i blame it on all the guide books! We rented bikes and rode around for an hour around the city and the medieval walls, definitely a great time.

We then took a train 30 mins south to get to Pisa. Let me tell you, Pisa is pretty much a dump and a disappointment as a city. But the leaning tower is breathtaking. When Colene and I emerged from one of the alleys, it was so funny because we both said “Holy sh*t” at the same time. The tower is in fantastic condition and is really a sight to see. After the obligatory tourist photos, we left after about 2 hours for the 1 hour train ride back to Florence.

The next day, we ended up taking a bus to Siena, which was definitely the highlight of all the Tuscan towns we visited. The huge tower we climbed (500 steps!) was well worth it due to the view you get of the Tuscan hill side. According to our guide books, Lucca is the best view, but after visiting both, Lucca has nothing on Siena. If you are to pick one Tuscan hill town to visit, make it Siena. Our time in Siena was pretty leisurely as we had espresso (of course!) at an outdoor cafe in the piazza del campo while we read and wrote in our journals. At about 4pm, I saw dark rain clouds and said “wouldn’t it be funny if it rained?”. I shouldn’t have said that because within 30 mins it was pouring, torrential rainstorm noah’s ark style. We hid out in an alcove for 20 mins hoping it would subside, but it didn’t. We managed to take a bus back to the train station after speaking to some locals so we avoided getting completely drenched.

After getting back to Florence, we hung out again with a bunch of the other hostelers. For some reason I expected each night to be pretty lowkey, but so far we’ve been having some drunken debauchery of some type. It’s been great to sightsee during the day and follow it up with heavy partying at night!

Today we ended up heading out to Greve in the Chianti region for wine tasting. According to 3 different guidebooks, wine tasting in Chianti is one of the top 3 things to do while in Italy. Well mark that off on the life goals list! We spent 2.90 euro to get out to Greve and another 20 euros on wine tasting, cheese and olive oil at the Le Cantine wine museum. Probably the best 20 euros I’ve spent so far in our trip. By the time we finished, I polished off probably 8 glasses of wine (I’m becoming such a lush on this trip) and had like 1/2 a liter of some of the best olive oil that has crossed my lips.

When we finally returned to Florence we, yes you guessed it, had some more drinks. Marco, the hostel owner, is absolutely a riot. We went out tonight drinking and at some point ended up just the 2 of us at this local bar having a german beer and in the park eating peaches. His english is very good and we discussed his love of Chinese women. Thankfully he’s realized I’m not japanese. I’m sick of people greeting me with “Konicheewa”! To their surprise, there really are Chinese people from Canada
 
Tommorow is likely going to be pretty lowkey again since we’re trying to save our hardcore sightseeing of Florence until Gillian and crew arrive. Luckily they arrive tommorow night, so we’ll be able to get our party on tommorow night then visit all the Florence sights like the Galleria degli Uffizi.
 
We’re hitting day 10 now and work is such a distant memory for me. I haven’t checked my work email at all and I’m so glad. Last thing I was it to triage my email while in Europe. I’m having such a great time here I’m considering extending my trip by another week so I can visit either Edinburgh or Dublin but at this point I’m still not sure since the weather in the beginning of October will be the completely sh*ts with all the rain. I’ll probably make a decision within the next 5 days.. wish me luck!