Italia.

Florence

After an epic 13 and a half hour coach journey from Montpellier (the pillow I had stolen from my foyer in France saved me), I arrived in Parma for a taste of la dolce vita. Impressive!

Of course, the main reason of my visit was to catch up with Sazzle, fellow 'Love-Manorette' a.k.a university housemate. It had been a long time since we had seen each other, so spending time with her was a priority. After a much needed shower (13 hours on a Eurolines coach doesn't bring out the best in me), and some scrambled eggs I was ready to hit Parma hard.

We ended up going to an Erasmus picnic put on by some of the Spanish students living in the city. They'd made sangria and tiramisu (always a winner as far as I'm concerned)- almost as if they knew I was coming really! After trying my best to understand Italian/ eat as much tiramisu as possible, we headed home.

Early on in my visit to Parma I discovered Italians know how to do apératifs, or aperativo. We went out to 'Acquolina Leoni', ordered a cheeky prosecco and helped ourselves to the FREE BUFFET. Pizza, ciabatta, crisps, those Italians knew how to woo me.

My second day in Parma was spent seeing the sights, sounds and smells of the city, namely Il Duomo (church) and H+M (standard). Also learned how to play backgammon in Palazzo, i.e. outdoor public space where you can drink sans harassment! Win! Went for a romantic meal in Trattoria Corrieri, a traditonal trattoria (like a restaurant but less posh and a lot cheaper). Of course this meal was accompanied by a bottle of local Lambrusco red wine and tiramisu. Italy was quickly becoming my favourite country...

Tiramisu, cheers Italy.

As Sazzle had the day off *cough* skived her lectures *cough*, we took a cheeky day trip to Florence! I'd been wanting to visit for years, beautiful city! Especially if you're an art lover (not that I am....). After a quick coffee and croissant pit-stop in Bologna (another city to tick off the list), we arrived in Florence! It's actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be- lots of small streets, cute cafés, bridges with jewellery shops and squares. We wandered around the streets of Florence for a good few hours, admiring the impressive Duomo. Had a meal at a cute little restaurant (crept around for a good 15 minutes trying to snag the first outdoor table that became available) and then climbed up the Piazzale Michelangelo for fantastic panoramic views of the city. The ice cream made it all the more sweet...

Reunited with my love! No bridges in sight!

Sooooo, Florence is beautiful, yes. However the sheer number of tourists can get slightly annoying at times, especially whilst trying to cross the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). You can find quieter quartiers of Florence if you amble the streets, which incidentally is the best thing to do in my opinion. Florence is clearly still one of the places to visit in Italy, just be prepared for a shit-load of whiny American/British tourists.

Florence, Il Duomo.

My trip to Parma had been a great one and marked the end of my epic European travels (for a while, anyway). From Parma I was going HOME. Unfortunately...

HOWEVER

...the end of my journey was quite exciting/stressful/annoying/delete as appropriate. I was supposed to be catching a train from Parma to Milan, then catching a bus from Milan Central station which would take me to Bergamo airport, about an hour away. Was supposed to arrive at Bergamo airport at around 1pm, a whole twenty minutes before check-in opened. Anywaaaay, the Italian SNCF equivalent bodged up the platforms at Parma and blissfully unaware, I found myself on a train heading to Turin. Only realised 70 minutes into the journey when the (surprisingly helpful) ticket inspector came round to check tickets. To cut a long story short, I had to change trains in a dead-end station with a load of confused Italians including a minor Italian celebrity chef with whom I conversed in French. He kept going on about Gordon Ramsay and told me how to make the perfect tiramisu/lasagne. You really can't make this stuff up! I finally arrived at Bergamo airport with 15 minutes to go before check in closed. I was one lucky badger.

I'm taking it as a sign- 'Europe' clearly did not want me to leave.