Piazza Michelangelo & Santa Croce Cioccolata Festival

Ciao Tutti!! So I've taken a lot of gorgeous photos since my last post so I will be sprinkling a lot in, yay! 

Since this was my first official week of classes, it was also my first official four-day weekend. On Thursday (my new Saturday, haha) I woke up late and moseyed around the apt for a longg time. Then I decided to be productive and went on a search for some of the bookstores for my classes. I found one bookstore but quickly gave up due to the fact that my photography textbook was actually 2 thousand pounds and was cutting off the circulation in my arm. As I was making my way back to the apt, I ran into Erica and we decided to run to Billa (my fave mercato) and grab some quick things. 

When I finally made my way back, I met Rachel and Ryann and we decided to cross the bridge to go visit Nathalie and Meg on the other side of the river. Their apt was so cute, very Italian, but definitely a hike from the center of the city. It was about five PM when we arrived so we all decided to hike up to the Piazza Michelangelo just in time for the sunset. (Their apt is right at the base of the Piazza's mountain, so the hike wasn't too brutal, except for the massive staircases we had to scale).

We reached the summit right as the sun was lighting up the sky! It was absolutely stunning. We literally all stood up there for a good half-hour and stared out over the city as the sun was setting, just in awe. Then we hiked up to the churches and walked around exploring until the sun had almost completely set, it was amazing! 
So, since the hike up and the exploration around was quite the physical exertion on all of us, we went straight back to Nat and Meg's to make some dinner! I had brought over some chicken and they made up a salad and veggies. We all tried to pitch in and made a delicious feast of our own! We marinated the chicken in olive oil and vinegar, sauteed the potatoes in more olive oil, had a spinach, chickpea and chicken salad and baked rolls with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. It was sooo yummy. After dinner we treated ourselves to more gelato, since we had gotten so much exercise during the day :)

We decided to all dress up and go out after. We started the night at Ryann's apt drinking from her jug of 6 euro vino blanco and ended up going to Astor right by the Duomo. We had wanted to try the infamous discoteca "Space" but realized it was getting too late and Space was quite the walk to make when you're wearing heels and trying to navigate the cobblestone. Instead we made it our mission to find the Secret Bakery. The Secret Bakery is, contrary to its name a relatively well-known "secret" of Florence. There's a small, back-alley way baker in Florence who, every night, bakes pastries, cannolis, pizza, croissants, etc., to deliver to all the city bakeries early in the morning. But every night, between 1:30 AM and 4:30 AM, they "secretly" open the back door and sell pastries to drunken and/or hungry scavengers for one euro apiece. The trick is you have to find the Secret Bakery and after wandering for a little bit, our noses knew. After smelling the gross smells of the city, our noses perked up to the most amazing (and strong!) bakery scents in the world. We turned the corner and saw the door. It's unlabeled except for a sign that says "Please be quiet." A large crowd started to amass and we all knocked and remained quiet for a good twenty minutes before the frazzled baker finally opened the door. You cannot go inside the bakery, you just tell the man what you want, give him a euro, he closes the door and returns with your freshly baked, warm and yummy goods. I ordered a cream-filled croissant and a chocolate-filled croissant and they were to DIE for. So fresh and mouth-watering, I'm never staying out that late without making a stop at the Secret Bakery again.

Today, Friday (aka Sunday in my new four-day weekend world), I slept in once again, which is probably for the best since I've been developing a cough (Dad, don't worry- I went to the farmacia today and got some medicine). Then Rachel and I decided, around 5 PM, to wander down the street to the Santa Croce Piazza where a chocolate festival was being held! Oh Mama Mia, was there chocolate! The piazza was hopping with around 20-30 different chocolate vendors all with different types of chocolate: cioccolata caulda, chocolate fountains, chocolate waffles, chocolate covered fruits, chocolate sculptures, chocolate blocks, fudge, chocolate balls, everything you could imagine! 

Me: posing with my chocolate covered
strawberry stick and my Euro poofy jacket!

Rachel and I both treated ourselves to chocolate covered fruits (trying to stay healthy here!) and she got a chocolate covered waffle while I just got a small shotglass of melted chocolate. It was so delicious!Now, I'm just back at my apt, relaxing. Steph's boyfriend Chris offered to make us dinner and since my cooking skills aren't quite up to par yet, I decided to jump on that bandwagon tonight. Tomorrow we have an early wake up and departure time (have to be on the bus by 745 A) for our weekend trip to Perugia, Assisi, Siena and San Gimignano! I'll update with pictures and stories when I return!