Photo opp

firenze sunset atop piazzale michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo

so remainder of the day we spent shopping. we did finish early enough... well made ourselves finish early enough because we wanted to go back to piazzale michelangelo.


meaning i had to bust out my black friday shopping skills again. quick browsing in each store. if it doesn't instantly catch my eye, not touching it, not trying it on or not going inside the store. i even walked by two kikos!.. okay i lied. i went in one of them, but i just did a quick once around. i was only in there for 30 seconds! i swear! now that's something.
plus i needed to go back to the ovs store, which was not in the main shopping district - though later discovered i might as well have not gone since they didn't have my colour! again! i'm beginning to think i won't ever find this damn coat. 


at the end of shopping i only purchased two items. one was a new tank from H&M. now i don't normally shop there, but the shirt was only 9 euros! it was hot pink with black straps so i was sold. and i bought me some new sunglasses - which i wasn't even looking for. my friend really wanted a pair - like me and the coat. i just like trying them on. i usually grab weird ones to have a laugh. anywhos i grabbed a pair of guccis for my friend. she didn't like them, so i tried them... love at first sight. literally. i had to have them. wished they were a bit cheaper, but anything under 200 euros for (designer) sunglasses i guess is okay. 


anyways...

here are some pics from piazzale michelangelo. we took the bus up. it was a 15min ride from the station and only cost 1.10 euros.



so here's me and the fake statue of david.
i'm yet to see the real one. it just seems to need a lot of planning ahead if you don't want to wait 3 hours in line, but i will try to go next trip out... if there's time (i also discovered a new shopping outlet around florence. looks major.)

it was a really gorgeous view. also made it in time for the sunset so the sky later became all sorts of pretty. i like it up there.

and then, since it's our last night in florence, we're headed back to piazza della signoria to have a delicious italian dinner. the weather is cool and there are a bunch of nice restaurants with outdoor seating. maybe i'll see that gucci dog again!


and of course later tonight - some more drinks at the pub :)

snack time! Gucci style

okay so the only thing i would let myself afford in the gift shop was a pencil case. sounds pretty dinky i know, but i needed something! i wasn't leaving empty handed!

just like i wasn't leaving without ordering something in the cafe...

i couldn't say no. look how inviting the place setting is!

yeah.

uhh... hi! can i steal this please?? 

i'm sure i wouldn't be the first. and i'm sure they have a whole stock!.. because of the people who did steal them. 

unfortunately i was not one of them.

anyways i ended up ordering a caffe latte and tiramisu. yummy.

(also tempted to take the plates and cups, but i didn't... my bag wasn't big enough). 

okay no time to waste. it's shopping time. 

oh what a Gucci-full morning!

i couldn't think of a more fabulous way to spend my last morning in florence. admire all things gucci and then have a little something at the gucci cafe. 

oh yeah... they have a cafe!

so for starters, i actually woke up pretty early this morning - keeping in mind the fact that we did make it to the pub last night. and might i add 5 shots for 5 euros! whaaa? that's a different kind of story though...

anywhos to continue... half my morning was spent trying to figure out what to wear. what does one wear to a gucci museum? i already feel awkward when i go into those high end stores looking like crap, but this is like a fashion sanctuary. i had no clothes for this occasion because i left my heels and summer dresses back in tivoli. though not to worry. when in doubt, 

wear black and throw on some oversized shades à la beckham. 

i was afraid at what the cost might be for entrance. i anticipated like 20 euros, but it was only 6! 
and they gave out these little brown booklets because at each section there was an info card to collect about gucci's life and the history of the brand and all that jazz. very interesting stuff. 

now you weren't allowed to take photos... but i snuck some anyways! however, the whole building was dimly lit and i had to turn my flash off not to draw attention to myself. so make do with what i have. 
enjoy!

    

need to ride in style? 

gucci car!

rims and interior

purses circa 1970s (L)

electric guitar, board games, puzzles... etc. (R)

office or house furniture, including logo ashtray (L)

...now i don't smoke, but i must say that's damn cool!

water equipment: fins and snorkel masks (R)

the dress kate beckinsale wore to the 2010 cannes film festival

the dress hilary swank wore to the 2011 academy awards

and that's about it. there were a bunch of other items in the museum of course. they even had a picnic set, complete with plates and cutlery, and equestrian equipment such as riding boots and saddles. i took a lot more pics, but these few really stood out.

now i know my photos obviously don't do justice to these creations - especially the dresses. the lighting in the dress room was so dim, therefore the pictures turned out yellow. 

but let me tell you... 

like you see these dresses on tv and magazines and you go 'wow that's a nice dress.' no. nice is an understatement. these dresses in person are gorgeous. especially the one hilary swank wore. i really liked the dress when i saw it at the oscars, so i easily recognized it and was very excited to see it on display. it wasn't even behind a glass! so kinda had to touch it... shhh! don't tell!

okay done with the museum part, now let's go see what i can afford in the gift shop!

Museum of what!?

omg just discovered the existence of possibly the greatest museum ever!

*and cue heavenly music now... 

GucciMuseo

si si... it's true! 

i was talking to my dad and he said he saw something on the news about a gucci museum that just opened at some piazza and there was some big festivities and all that. turns out, it was at the piazza della signoria. 

and i was totally there last night! standing in front of it when we were looking for that blasted restaurant!! and the building is totally noticeable because they put on this light show. 

so when we were going to dinner tonight i went to check out the times cuz i'm totally going to this tomorrow! and i knew i was in the right place because i saw this guy...

check out his collar! seriously? i dunno if the owner was purposely advertising for the museum or it just so happens that this dog enjoys chilling around the streets in a friggin gucci collar! 

i just had to dish about this.

but anyways...

on my way out. second attempt at the pub tonight. hopefully we make it there and don't get locked in the damn lobby again!

1 Day ticket of crap!

so we made it back to florence in time to catch the last hop on hop off bus. 

now... my sister and i have done the city sightseeing buses in a bunch of cities. we think it's the most convenient way to see all the major sights if you're only spending a couple of nights at your destination. and it's a pretty good deal since the tickets sell by 24 or 48 hour validity... except in florence apparently. 

we were in the midst of buying a 1 day ticket at a newsstand when the bus came. you can also purchase on the bus and since it was the last one of the day, we ran on. of course after the bus takes off we come to discover that the 1 day ticket is not the same as a 24 hour ticket and we wouldn't be able to use it the next day.

well that's just stupid! 

we didn't complain, but the operator lady was very nice and kind enough to let our tour group stay on the bus for the last drive around at no charge - score!

good thing too cuz the piazzale michelangelo is the only stop i would like to check out tomorrow. it's situated at the top of a hill and overlooks all of florence. really pretty.

and since i just cut my sightseeing in half, i can spend my last afternoon in florence shopping!

Tower of Pisa - holding on for dear life

this morning we all took a little day trip to pisa. it's about an hour train ride from florence and it costs less than 10 euros. so how can you not check it out?

we purchased our tickets at 9:48am and our train was to depart at 9:53am... i told you, it's not fun unless you run... but i'd really much prefer not running. i hate running onto a train. it's always awkward cuz then you quietly try to catch your breath because you don't want to draw too much attention to the fact that you're frantic, out of shape and look like a total weirdo for running in the first place because it turns out the train has been delayed... in our case it wasn't delayed... but i still hate looking frantic! 

so we made it to pisa just after 11am and first thing is to buy tickets to go inside the tower. they have a timed system. we needed to get the earliest one so we make it back to do the hop on hop off in florence. 













tickets were 15 euros each, which is not bad. whole thing lasted about half an hour. doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it is enough to climb all those stairs to the top and down again.

now i'm not that claustrophobic, so the tight space going up the spiral steps didn't bother me. it was the lack of security. and i don't mean big scary security guards with aviators holding guns ready to shoot. i mean security on the actual tower. as in, safety nets and 7ft. fences and the whole shabang!


see here's the thing... i'm afraid of falling. whether it be falling down the stairs or i dunno... off a roller coaster (damn you final destination 3!), but i don't like to fall. 

back story: there was this one time when i was in the library at school. i was running down the escalator - i needed to catch my bus - and i dunno what the hell happened. if some idiot pushed the emergency stop button or the escalator power just magically went off cuz it thought it would be funny to see the running girl fall and bash her face against the sharp edges of the steps... but whatever happened, the escalator just came to a slamming halt and i flew forward. lucky for my face that i wasn't holding any books. so my hands were free and i was able to grab hold of the railing... or they would have been in for one major lawsuit.

anyways...

the tower of pisa has minimal to no security for falling. it's not one big staircase. there are different levels in which you have to walk outside around the tower to the next point (as you can see the tiny people in the picture). it is in these cases where my fear of falling kicks in. because not only is this tower leaning, i am walking outside meters and meters off the ground on practically a 4 foot ledge where the only thing protecting me from slipping and falling off is a fence that is up to my waist. and might i add this fence is not bolted to the ground, so if i did slip and fall, the fence would just fall with me. 

the higher you go, the smaller the steps and it does become a pretty tight squeeze. plus there is no actual hand rail to hold. 

as predicted, the view from the top is nice, but once you've snapped your photos you have to repeat your trip down. there are no elevators for obvious reasons. 

i think i could manage to go up again, but not any time soon... and only if need be... like if mr. louboutin was waiting there to give me a free pair of his unfairly gorgeous shoes... or if johnny depp was stranded and i'm the only one who could save him... but that's all!

photo opp

una notte in firenze

locked in

have you ever been locked in a hotel? and i don't mean inside your actual hotel room or bathroom. i mean locked in the friggin lobby. 

no? 

well after tonight i can officially say that i have... exactly. how in the hell does that happen?

with it being our first night in florence, my cousin, my friend and i wanted to go out. 

now i find florence pretty walkable. and you don't usually run into trouble. (although i did witness someone stealing tonight! never before have i seen someone saw the lock and chain off a bicycle. i thought it would make for a cool photo opp titled, "caught in the act"... good huh? but then i didn't want to be chased down the street by someone holding a saw and riding their newly claimed bicycle. plus i was not wearing the right footwear to run). 

anyways...

we came down to the lobby and the front deskman was not there. now in most europe hotels you leave your key. so we waited a bit, cuz usually they're not too far around. then after a minute of standing we decided to take off. 

however, the lobby doors were locked. it's one of those glass sliding doors. sometimes i hate them cuz they don't always open. but they were fully locked. my cousin tried to pry them open, but that would have ended in disaster with bloody glass hands and an extra cost to our hotel bill. no spanx. 

so we sat patiently and waited... and waited... and waited some more. sat there for 15 min!

then we finally heard someone down the hall... but it was just another couple. so they sat and waited with us... and waited... and waited... and waited some more. now more than 20min!

it was one of those moments where you go okay 5 more min... okay another 5 min... cuz you know the moment you decide to leave, he'll come.  

so we gave it another 5 min and then said okay screw it let's go back to our room. then just as expected when we got up and turned the corner, the front deskman came. so then it was one of those moments where you go okay, now what? should we go back up or stick to our original plan? 

florence by night. 

we ended up taking a little walk. initial plan was to go to this pub my friend and i went to last time we were here, but we figured we probably got locked in for a reason. so we decided it better if we didn't go. 

though one good thing came of tonight... 
i found another ovs store! yay! 
jacket hunt to be continued. 

i'm telling you i will find this coat! 

pizza a la... jersey shore?

we were on the hunt for a certain restaurant recommended to one of our tour group members. though even with a map in hand, we ended up going in circles and couldn't seem to find it. had the right street, but the restaurant decided not to be there.

in turn we came across this pizzeria. kinda funky. looked interesting, but we weren't sure if wanted to eat there. everyone seemed to think it looked familiar, which would be impossible since it was their first time in florence. then of course it all made sense when a worker came out trying to haul tourists in, saying it was the pizzeria as seen on jersey shore.

ohhhhhhh right.

so do we dare give in to this mtv gimmick???

yeah sure... why not? pizza is pizza. and this pizza was pretty good. 
i don't remember what mine was called, but i was craving veggies and it had eggplant on it. yum. though i was only able to eat 1/4 of it. so much pizza. 
my appetite was also kinda ruined because people have major staring problems! that's one thing about italians. they're not ashamed to get caught staring at you. and i can't even describe the kind of stares they give you. i dunno if it's curiosity cuz you're a tourist? or if it's a creepy stare? or some sort of hypnotic stare? but they stare. and it's quite uncomfortable. so what i've learned to do is stare back. though that usually never does anything. and then i end up locking eyes with a stranger for an awkward amount of time, in which i turn away first. i don't want my stare to give them an invitation to come over and talk to me... weirdos. well at least those guys were.


anyway, we ended dinner jersey shore style! drinks and partying!.. 
well, not quite to the jersey shore extent. people ordered beer with their pizza and they didn't finish it in the restaurant so they took it to go - i dunno if it's actually legal to walk around with opened alcohol on the streets, but we did walk by multiple polizie and they never said anything. i guess as long as you're not causing trouble they don't care.
and we didn't go partying per se. 
we did one better... carousel!

oh yeah. 

beer and merry go round. 

great night in florence.

All aboard! - Next stop Florence!

we have now ventured out of tivoli and are currently situated in the lovely florence. it's my first time travelling with a big group - with myself included we are ten. that's practically a tour group! 


so of course this morning was a bit chaotic. with all the last minute packing and checking out and meeting up at the train station on time to make sure we all catch same train to termini. we already bought our tickets for florence, so if we missed this termini train we would have been screwed. luckily that wasn't the case. an hour to kill at termini, we sent another overseas guest off to the airport while we gained another two, who were staying in rome. so that's 
9 - 1 + 2 = 10 people. things did go smoothly, but for some reason even if we're early, i always end up running to catch a train or plane. it's never a complete trip for me unless i'm frantically running with my luggage through a terminal trying to make it before the doors close therefore leaving me stranded. today we made it on the train with 5 min to spare. that's really good!


so 2 hours later, we arrive florence. evenly split between two hotels, we decided to give some time to freshen up before we do a little sight seeing. plus i just really wanted to wash my hair.
our hotel was literally around the corner from the train station. so good location. very spacious room for 3 people. i was bunking with my friend and cousin. the newlyweds were next door. bathroom was nice and it had an actual bathtub and solid wood door! so that's a definite plus with me now. though my shower was frickin freezing! no hot water at all. hopefully that's temporary.


all ready to go, we met up with our other half and walked towards the duomo. the stores were open, but i decided to do some scoping and leave the shopping for another day... 
then i saw the ovs store. 
you know that store in rome with that coat i really wanted but they didn't have my size? yeah. i had to go in. so i said bye to the group, grabbed my friend and ran inside. 
total waste of energy though, cuz this time they had my size just not the colour i wanted! :( people suck. they had navy blue and red. i already have a red coat. and while i do like navy and don't have any jackets in that colour, i really want it in mauve...  jerks. i'm gonna find this coat!

reunited at the duomo, we took some pics and then headed to the ponte vecchio. 

really pretty view. 

and here i am. 
smiling - even though on the inside i'm really sad cuz i didn't find my coat!

...yet.

When in Rome... let there be thunder

went to rome again. shopping attempt #2 = total fail #2. 

this needs to stop! basta.

firstly i had a whole day planned. and it was a damn good plan! now that my friend is here i thought we'd do a little sightseeing before spending. we'd start off at the colosseum then make our way over to the bocca della verita, then to piazza navona and the pantheon, over to the fontana di trevi and then we would commence our afternoon of shopping down via del corso to end the day at piazza di spagna. 

though i should know by now that things never go according to plan... but this time i can actually point the finger - at he who shall not be named... so we'll call him the biggest ruiner of life! oh he knows who he is. 

my initial job of the day was to send off one of the overseas guests. all i had to do was take him to termini station, find his airport shuttle and see him off. this was to be done by 12:30pm which would give us plenty of time to do all the things on my list. 

however... 

the biggest ruiner of life cannot tell time and mistakenly thought his flight was 3:15pm when it really was 6:15pm. major suckage. my instinct was to ditch and run, but i couldn't leave him stranded in rome. 

so i changed my plan. no big. 

brought him to the colosseum since this was a must on my friend's list. it's convenient that this is literally across the street from the metro. 

normally i'd just run around the whole thing taking pictures, but actually went inside this year. 

it was crazy to walk around and think how this arena was used thousands of years ago. hmm... 

on a different note... 

check this kitty out! 

all napping inside the colosseum. must be nice. i was the only one amused by this of course.

and there i am. sitting on some sort of ancient pillar.

and here's what the inside looks like. i'm assuming that part below in the center was underground where they kept the lions or slaves or gladiators hidden. 

what a terrible way to go. lions? bru-tal.

and there are some real life gladiators who over charge tourists for photos. just keep walking!

by the time we were out, we had to make our way back to termini to send off the biggest ruiner of life - for real this time. it was already well into the afternoon so we said screw the rest and let's just go shopping. 

but it couldn't be that simple. cuz after that decision the sister called. the newlyweds were in rome doing some paperwork and so we met up with them and the boys. 

tip: you wanna kill a girl's shopping day? outnumber her with guys... and then add a little rain while you're at it. oh hell... let's make it a thunderstorm!

it never rains on rome shopping days!.. ever! i blame the groom. 

only made it to two stores. two. kiko being one (it's becoming an addiction... it's their damn nail polish i tell you! so pretty) and this other store tally weijl? kind of like a forever 21. cool stuff. in there for a while. 

and that was that. we had to catch the train direct to tivoli - no prenestina today! (stupid fire). had to make sure we were back early since the whole gang has dinner plans. apparently it's pizza and cosmic bowling tonight. OoOOoOoooo... 

i hate bowling. 

villa d'este, rain & karaoke

i spent the afternoon at villa d'este. luckily it was nice and sunny when i was there cuz on the way back to nonna's it started to thunderstorm again! this needs to stop! pronto. 

i'll let it slide since the forecast did call for showers yesterday and that would have been a complete disaster for my hair!..and for the whole wedding i guess... but mainly my hair.

well here are some pics from my day at villa d'este. 

this is the organ fountain... it plays music every so often... 

and that's about all i can tell you... 

yeah okay so i don't really know the history of this place. i just know it used to be some pope's summer home. probably from medieval times or the renaissance or something. the home itself is nice, but the garden is friggin massive. 

wedding photography was done here and i dunno how my sister walked around in her heels. the whole place is cobblestone, mosaic tiles , dirt, rocky ground with stairs and hills. i went to meet her after the church, took one look and went oh hell no i'm not walking this! 

really pretty though and lots to see. so i'll just show you the pictures, but if you really wanna know more there's this great tool called google.

here i am at the hundred fountains. i know that much! the one on the right i believe is the oval fountain.

the courtyard and this other i don't know the name, but it made for a nice photo.

so that was basically my afternoon...

oh yeah and i also ate some moldy pizza... not kidding. the bread was growing mold. the stupid lady thought i was an idiot or something and tried to tell me that this has never happened before and it wasn't mold. it was because they didn't use a normal wood burning oven. and i was like uhh... no. it's mold! i'm not stupid. the bread is green! you suck!

super mad about that. i don't normally like to be rude and complain, but seriously! you're gonna stand there and tell me you didn't just serve me friggin old and rotting pizza?? they made me another one and practically threw it at me without saying anything to get out me of there. i didn't end up eating it since i was already disgusted. of all my years going to tivoli i've never eaten at that place nor will i ever again!

anywhos...

apparently i'm going to a discoteca tonight. aka a karaoke bar. never been to one in tivoli. the whole overseas wedding gang is going. should be interesting!

Wedding DIY's

in order to save money - but mainly because the originals she wanted were pricey - my sister decided to take on some wedding projects. nothing of great importance or a major focal point though... just her headpiece and shoes! 

the one time she wants to get crafty it's for her wedding! and it's the two things that will be seen in pictures. though i must admit we did a bang up job.

the bride didn't want the traditional long veil. instead she opted for a birdcage.

you would think this would be cheap, but a lot of the ones we've seen were $150. that's more than we spend on a pair of shoes! and for what? a headband with some fabric and fake jewels on it? no spanx!

the fabric itself you can find for $1.50/yd. and you only need a yard because you won't even use the whole thing. and for the embellishments we got a bunch of headbands and clips with flowers, jewels or anything else we thought we could use that might look nice.

here's how it turned out...

the one on the left was my prototype and the one on the right was what she wore. unfortunately with all the wedding day chaos i forgot to take a picture of the finished product (seeing as how i only started doing her hair at the time she was supposed to be walking down the aisle). that's the best one i could find.

as for the shoes, well... she was eyeing those swarovski crystal louboutins. yeah... you know the ones that are about $3000?

so again, tg for youtube cuz there are many videos out there on how to diy. the shoe project was easy and fun to do. we made a prototype using fake crystals just to see the process and if it was worth it. at the time we thought the outcome was amazing. so glittery! then she made her actual wedding shoes using real swarovski crystals. my gad did it put the prototype to shame. these sparkled in the dark!

she did it in about 2-3 days. so the making didn't take long. it took longer to actually decide the colours and the pattern and the size and where to order from and all that jazz. thanks to this, i now have the ability to walk into a swarovski store and can name you all the crystal colours. red?? uhh no, that's siam AB thank you very much!

so after seeing her shoes i wanted to do mine, but i wasn't on time to order and i didn't want to spend the money cuz i didn't know what colour would match my dress since i didn't have it yet and blah blah blah...

therefore, i took the even cheaper (but still pretty) route... fake bling and velcro!

i know i know!..it sounds horrible! but they blinged out my shoes just enough. and if i didn't like it, at least it was removable since it wasn't glued on.

below are the finished products...

not bad huh? of course my sister's shoes are gorgeous... but mine turned out decent too!