The last week

The last week started with Darcy. Like a lot of time with Darcy. We wanted to hit all of the places we had yet to have gone to. We started by going to the San Lorenzo chapel. It was beautiful although it was truly unneeded for all that stuff for just a few people. Next we went to the San Lorenzo market. There was so much food! It was crazy:

Next Darcy and I headed to the cloister of San Marco. It was very peaceful and so pretty:

This clouster is well known for its amazing frescos (unfortunately they don't like it when people snap a picture of them):

All that I could say was "wow":

The most famous fresco in the clouster. It depicts Mary being visited by the angel who told her that she was to give birth to baby Jesus:

Afterwards, we went to the ox and rubbed his snout. If you rub his snout then you will come back to Florence:

This was the showing of justice that Florence tries to follow:

This is the great church known as Santa Trinidad. I didn't go in because it was closed but it was so nice:

Of course I had to pack and one of the wheels had already come off of my luggage so that was kind of depressing and would be terrible when I go to leave:

I don't remember where this was but I know this was gnocchi with bacon. I also know that this was the night that Kathleen's parents came out and bought us all the wine we could handle. We were all talking a little slower at the end of the night and laughing a little harder with a fave that was a little redder:

Those were just the beginning because afterwards we just sat around the table and talked. It was so much fun:

Then we went out for the night because I think it was twice Tuesday. We had a great time:

After our finals we went to grab some food from the Golden View. I got the vegetable risotto. Amazing:

Then of course my French chicken came out and was amazingly scrumptious. Again I ate with Kathleen's parents and I also got a chance to eat with the Hagens family:

I took another trip up to Fiesole, this time with just Jon-Paul. We went to park and walked all the way up it for an amazing view of Tuscany:

We saw the rock memorial:

After my Italian final I got a picture with my favorite Italian teacher of all time, Linda. She was great:

Then we went out for a huge feast at Il Teatro, my favorite restaurant. It was so great. Paul's family joined us, for a really good time:

The family picture:

A creepy alley on the second to last day:

One last picture in front of Santo Spirito:

Darcy and I went through to the last spots before my parents came. It was so sad but I did get to see a lot of things. Perhaps something I loved so much, The Bardini Gardens:

The view from the gardens:

Cinque Terre

So for those of you whoever heard me talk about Italy or the awesome places I've ever been to, you probably know my favorite of all the places in the world is the cinque terre. It is stunning. One might sob just looking at its beauty and no picture could ever or will ever be able to capture even 100th if it's beauty. It is 5 cities all by the sea on the northwest coast of Italy and it is really just 5 small villages built into mountains and cliffs overlooking the sea. There is a path called the Lover's walk where you can walk from the first city, through all of the other ones until you get to the last. It's actually a really long walk but the views are great. Unfortunately the path was closed due to landslides in the area. Luckily there is a train that goes through all 5 cities. It's much faster and much safer and that is the type of transportation we took. As soon as I got off the train at the first city, I took a nice long look out at the sea and I immediately got a picture: 

I've been there 3 times and it just keeps getting better. This is from the same ledge but in the other direction:

We decided to go down to the water and just relax. John Paul put his feet in because he's a beast:

Then we were moving on because there are 5 cities to see and only one day to see them:

This was the fourth city and we went through a little cave to get to this deserted beach:

This was the little cave we went through:

I was the only person that swam after I got a nice slice of pizza:

Some of the big rocks there:

Me sitting at the mouth of the cave:

The next city we went to was the fifth city. It's the largest and has a real sand beach. It was kind of chilly and cloudy there but we hopped on it and laid out. I of course jumped in and Lauren and Darcy came out to join me. It wasn't too bad and swam pretty far out.

We stopped at the second city which is called manarola. It's personally my favorite and I've swam at it twice now. I showed off my David stance there:

Of course my casual pose:

My sexy male model pose:

So many shots of me:

This is the view of Manarola from the water, I'm standing on the rock in the middle of the water:

I was so excited I decided to just jump right in:

Soon I was filled by Darcy and Kathleen. We began to jump off the rocks and into the water:

Darcy doing a backstroke back to me:

We swam for about an hour and it was so much fun! I jumped off the giant rock about 5 times and the barnacles cut up my feet and both my knees and they bled quite a bit. Luckily all of the girls had first aid kits on them so I was able to disinfect and bandage it. Then I put back on my shoes and headed to the third city which was our last. The last city had a really long walk up to it with a ton of stairs. It was the only place where we couldn't find the beach. But at this point I didn't really mind, mainly because my foot was so cut up. When we did finally get up there the views were great:

John-Paul and I walked up the stairs faster than everyone and we had time for a quick picture:

The water was so blue:

This was from the top of the town:

We ended up getting a crepe with some fruit and it was so good. So good. Cause we were really hungry. One last view at the Cinque Terre, and I can't wait to go back to it.