La Spiaggia

So we took an adventure and went to the beach at Viareggio on Wednesday!  Jess and I were hungry for some sun to hopefully get some color before it starts to get cold and the paleness sets in.  We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day to go to the coast and the coast itself was surrounded by mountains.  It was in the mid 70's and not a cloud in the sky.  Beautiful.

mountains surrounding the beach

So when we got to the beach we knew they were all private and we would have to pay, but there were no signs as to where to do this so we just sat down and waited to get in trouble.  It happened in about 15 minutes, but we were pointed to the office and then were legal and good to go!  Our chairs happened to be right near this, or what I assumed was a, 15/16 year old German boys soccer team.  They were pretty loud, as adolescents will be, but I forgave them once they started to play a game of beach soccer and they were actually pretty good!  It was fun to watch and made me miss playing :(  But then I rolled over and got over it!

We left the beach burnt and hungry, but didn't have time to grab anything since our train was coming.  Since we were so tired we of course passed out on the train, but before we did we were treated to a lively conversation with an older Italian woman who, after talking to us for maybe 5 minutes in Italian, finally asked us something and realized we had no idea what she was saying.  She was super sweet though and we struggled through a conversation during the first part of the ride.  Later that night I met Kate, Jess, and Giada at our usual pub where we had a pretty chill night, thank goodness.

On Thursday we met Kate for lunch in between her classes and Jess, Court, and I headed to check out some Florentine stores!  We were looking for boots, but settled for new shoes for Jess and new dresses for Court and me.  That night we made a big dinner for Kate and Jess since they made one on Sunday.  Court made baked pasta and I made bruschetta with spinach and cheese.  Everything was delicious and then we sat down to watch GLEE!!  It was great and we are super excited for the Britney episode next week.

Oh and sidebar - Courtney and I went to a nice dinner on Tuesday where I had one of the best meals of my life.  We were first given a squash soup which just tasted like fall in a bowl and was delicious, then an antipasti of prosciuto, cheese, and fried bread.  After I had spaghetti alla vongole and it was absolutely amazing.  On top of that they had oil infused with red pepper flakes, so good!  Our nice waiter Marcos from Brazil saw me almost putting cheese on my pasta and promptly told me that real italians don't put cheese on seafood dishes...lesson learned!  He also taught us some other Italian nuances and he offered to take us out on the town whenever we want.  Super nice.

Friday was another day with the girls, shopping and meeting for lunch with Giada and Melanie to go to their friend's restaurant outside of the city center.  Then we went out for another night on the town, probably the most fun night out I've had yet!  Tonight we are heading to have dinner near Santa Croce and then to a beer festival called Che Birra in the piazza.  You can get tokens to try all sorts of Italian beers, very exciting!

It should be a low key night since tomorrow Courtney and I are heading to Sorrento and then on to Rome to pick up Caroline!!!  I won't be able to check back in until Friday so I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

ciao xo