Carnival Carousel in Florence

We arrived in Florence in the evening and when we got there I sent a message to my aunt telling her that we had arrived. I had also texted Emily telling her the same thing.

From the train station we took a taxi to our hostel. The hostel was really nice. Free wi-fi, a café/restaurant, a kitchen, a pool, a sauna, and so much more. And yes, I won't forget to mention that everything was from IKEA - the bunk beds, the dishes. Name something from IKEA, the hostel had it. j/k.

Once we got ourselves situated, we went out to explore Florence. We only had a few hours of sunlight and then it quickly got dark. We tried finding Michelangelo's piazza, but we couldn't find it. We did find the old part of Florence though. We entered from what seemed to be the back entrance of old Florence. Buses and cars were driving through the gates and it really cool seeing old and new coming together.

We walked and walked and walked. Florence is a rather small city compared to Rome, so we walked everywhere. So as we walked, we passed by the closed Pitti Palace, the church with the gigantic dome, all the shops, the river, and the bridge with the jewelry shops lined up. They were all closed and the cover that closed the jewelry stores were treasure chest like.

We finally reached an open square and we saw another carousel. I think we also saw a carousel in Rome too. (Later I would learn that those carousels were for the carnival or carnaval, however you spell it.) After we had our fill exploring the city we headed back to our hostel. Luckily we didn't really get lost. We just followed the map and we found the hostel easily.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention at the beginning that we met this guy from Chile and Alicia really connected with him. They spoke Spanish with each other and I would listen in. I would have to say that my Spanish comprehension hasn't gotten better after spending so much time with Alicia. She speaks Spanish with everyone if we need help. haha.

So yeah, we then had dinner. I had to eat the bbq from the night before. I didn't want to waste them so I went to the kitchen to warm it up. Alicia went to the restaurant and she met her Chilean friend and they had dinner together. Me on the other hand met some people from Malaysia. The girl spoke English really well and the guy just ate. They were really nice and it was nice to meet some Asian people doing some traveling.

After dinner, I wanted to go swimming, but the pool "closed" at 10pm and it was well past it. So I just went outside, sat a cement bench thing for a while, and then walked around the corner. After thinking and watching the people pass by, I decided to go back in and get ready for bed.