We met at the Florence train station, Santa Maria Novella, at 7:40 am. Well, before that, we tried another one of the cafes that claimed to take meal tickets, and lo and behold, they actually did! Just fyi, Italian hot chocolate is SO GOOD. Kind of expensive, but totally worth it in my opinion.
So anyway, we met up with our two Florence Bus2Alps guides for the day, and I could tell right away that they were much different than the Rome guides--more uptight, and maybe a little bit more organized. They ended up being a lot of fun though, too. I definitely recommend Bus2Alps to anyone planning on studying abroad in the future in Rome or Florence.
Our bus for the day was ridiculously fancy. It even had its own Wi-Fi! First, we headed off to Altesino winery, outside of Montalcino. It was about a two hour trip, so they put on Midnight in Paris for us to watch. I had been wanting to watch that movie for a really long time now, and I was not disappointed. It was right up my English major alley!
We had a nice little tour of the winery, but then they already had us tasting at 10:30 am. You can probably already tell that this day was no joke. Throughout the day, we were mostly given the reds of the region to try: chiantis, brunellos, blends, etc. I usually prefer white or rosé, but the majority of these reds were quite tasty. No complaints!
With all of us already feeling slightly affected before noon, we set off to our second winery, Tenuta Torciano. This one was both a winery and a restaurant (and I think maybe a small hotel), so we got to sit down, taste, and EAT! Finally! Unfortunately, they did not give us anything of real substance (especially the vegetarian option I got...just a caprese salad!), but it was all good wine and good times. The guy running the show, whose family has owned the vineyards for centuries, was pretty hilarious. We lucked out with the table we sat down at, too. We met and quickly befriended Kim and Ali, who go to Marist in Poughkeepsie, and two other girls (whose names I did not learn unfortunately) from Sweden and the Netherlands.
There were lots of random animals around att the winery, and at the end of lunch one super calm chicken wandered into the restaurant area (which was outdoors, but still). This one girl decided to go pick it up, and succeeded. Some other girls were near her petting it, so I went and joined them. It was so soft! And so weirdly calm! After a while, she put the chicken down, and after following it around enough, I picked it up too. I still can't believe I did that! But it was really fun, and made for some excellent pictures.
Now that everyone had had many glasses of wine, they took us over to San Gimignano, a beautiful little medieval Tuscan town. We waited in a long line for what was allegedly the world's best gelato. It was very delicious, but I've had better. It did hit the spot, though, and was a great end to the day trip.
Saw a cute wedding let out in San Gimignano!
On the way back to Florence, which was supposed to be a relatively short bus ride, the bus decided to have a partial breakdown. We still had AC and Wi-Fi while we waited for another bus to come get us, but it was still not super desirable. The new bus, however, ended up being EVEN nicer. It also had Wi-Fi, and so. much. leg room! Of course, we only had about a half hour left till Florence, but I still enjoyed the luxury bus.
Back in Florence, we chilled at the hostel for a little bit before heading out to The Red Garter for dinner. I had heard of The Red Garter as being a super fun American karaoke bar, so I was dying to go there. It's divided into three sections: the restaurant, the bar/DJ area, and the karaoke area. We started at the restaurant, of course. We had to wait quite a while for a table because about twenty Florida State students were there watching their football game. (It was just like being with Will! All of them yelling and cussing at the TV...even though they were obviously going to win). We actually ended up sharing a table with this really nice 40ish-year-old man from Chicago/California. I had a BLT and fries, which, like the gelato, definitely hit the spot.
If you know me, you know I can pretty much own anyone at karaoke. I definitely enjoyed myself at that bar, gracing the crowd with hits like Wannabe, Oops! I Did it Again, and Pour Some Sugar On Me. The mics didn't really work, so that was unfortunate (or maybe fortunate honestly), but I still killed it up there. The crowd was great, mostly Australian and British. One Australian girl, who happened to be an orthodontist, randomly had a conversation with me about my Invisalign. We definitely met some fun people there, too, just like at the wine tastings. I really haven't met anyone I particularly dislike so far while being over here. Good vibes everywhere! (As someone like Shea would say).
On the way back to the hostel, we decided to be giant children and ride a cute little carousel. It was random, but kind of amazing.
Once again, which has kind of been the case every night, I was so, so happy to go to bed. And I slept like a rock.
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