Day trip to Siena

1. One of the gates to the city.

2. View from within the walls.

3. There are 17 contrade, or 17 districts within Siena, each with their own mascot (usually an animal). Each area is clearly marked by colourful lamps, flags and plaques depicting that contrades symbol; the lamps above are meant to be dolphins.. I don't know about you but they are not dolphins.

4. Somewhere.

The most spectacular Duomo I've ever seen

1. From the back.
2. 3. From the front.
Who knew that I would find the most gorgeous intricately detailed Duomo in the small walled city of Siena?

Gelato adventures continued.. a coconut (for Jordan) and watermelon cup in hand. Other food related escapade included trying ricciarelli; small scrumptious biscuits made from almond meal then buried in the softest icing sugar.

FIRENZE pt 2

2. 3. Sparkling water, that comes out of a tap, in a wall.
4. The home of our beloved gelato adventures.

Medici Palace

Piazzale Michelangelo

1. 2. Sunset views from the Piazzale Michelangelo.
3. Picnic! Definitely worth the ruthless trek up to the square (we had 2 more bags full of food too).

The Italians take their food seriously, so we treated ourselves and ate at Il Santo Bevitore one night. It really doesn't help that I'm really hungry at the moment, but the show must go on! Italian food, and wine, is mindblowing in general. However the moment bubbles in my glass of prosecco hit my lips, the second the fresh riccioli pasta landed on my tongue, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I think I died for a second. God I love food.

Above: all dolled up, first time in heels in two months!

I have to admit that I watched Jersey Shore religiously at one point in my life, and I know well that they had a season in Florence. I have no idea how the hell they ended up here because I can’t even imagine them in a city that possesses class from its beauty and its history. However, after miraculously running into a friend off the M/S Plomin, Mark, Chelsea and I decided to go out and make a night of it (like in Croatia).

Now there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that we managed to make it to Space Club, drink in half an hour (it’s illegal to serve alcohol after 2am in Florence) and dance like crazy for the next hour and a half (all clubs close by 4am). The bad news is that we had to wake up at 8am and lug our bags to the train station through the pouring rain and ended up on the train soaked to the bone.

Verdict: never leave on a Sunday morning.

FIRENZE

Arno River

Firstly, Florence was HOT. And when I say HOT, I mean a little less than unbearable. Our little apartment had no airconditioning so two little fans were on the second we walked into the apartment and then all night pointed directly at the bed where we slept.

Duomo di Firenze

The outside of the duomo in Florence is no less than magnificent; marble left, right and center. However, the inside sadly didn't quite live up to its exterior..

Before arriving in Italy, especially Florence, I was warned of THE GYPSIES(!!!) countless times.
Sadly, my expecations of the swarms of rogue nimble-fingered long-skirted long-haired gypsies were nowhere near fulfilled when I finally arrived. If you can remain aware of your possessions there's nothing to worry about... just don't walk around with your bag hanging open and a paper bag over your head.

Bonjourno Italia!

1. Duomo
2. 3. 4. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; spinning around on the bull's balls for good luck.
5. My first taste of italian gelato.

I had many firsts over my first couple of days in Italy. As well as my first taste of gelato, I had my first glorious encounter with italian pizza at Rosso Pomodoro in Milan; the tomato base was actually made of tomato, the mozarella cheese was copious and fresh, and the dough was just DOUGH and thin and incredible.

FAHshion dAHling

My second day in Italy marked my first (of many) unfortunate encounter(s) with Zara in one of the fashion capitals of the world.

The day I nearly died

The morning I left Croatia marked the beginning of one of the most horrible days of my life. Sleep deprived, and still drunk, Chels and I painstakingly made our way to Milan. I was semi-comatose at Split airport and had a incessant urge to spew all through take off, and then burst into tears when I turned the water on in our Milan apartment to have a shower and continued to sob in self pity for about half an hour for absolutely no reason.

The photo above is of the bush fires that were raging across some of the mountains in Split on our way to the airport.

Day 7: Omiš, Split

I woke up in Omiš on my last day in Croatia with a big ass mountain looming from the coastline.

On an expedition to find water, Chels and I decided to try and find the huge Fortica Starigrad at the top of said mountain. The day before, Duayne had said that every week he takes up a group of people at 8:30 in the morning. So we spontaneously decided to attempt to climb up to the fortress in our thongs, and without any idea where to go.

We got about halfway, I think. We had to turn back when it got close to midday because we were afraid the boat would leave without us, our feet were covered in dust (thongs are definitely not meant for hiking) and we had essentially turned into puddles of sweat.

1. Wizard who is actually the guy who first translated the Bible into Croatian.
2. Inez bartending in Split.

There's a great little group of bars in the old town of Split that our guide Duayne took us to (even though he wasn't supposed to). I have no idea where they were all hidden but if anyone manages to go please locate them on a map for me! The back room in Ghetto club was eerily lit and we drank absinthe poured for us by an evil pixie-looking girl sitting at a table in the centre of the room.

I was devastated that it was our last night in Croatia, but no one was leaving without with a bang.

In brief, no one slept. Chelsea and I went home 'early' i.e. got back to the boat at 3am and had an hour and a half's worth of 'sleep', then caught a shuttle bus to the airport at 5:30 to get an 8:00 plane to Milan.

These 8 days in Croatia, on the M/S Plomin with our very own busabout family, turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life and I hope I never stop missing the boat, the people and (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Day 6: Recovery, Pučišća

Today I woke up and found

• Inez in men's clothing, still drunk, traumatised by Adrian and Danny's stories and afraid to go back into her room.
• Willy bent over the side of the boat dry heaving after going out despite having a stomach bug.

Everyone spent the entire day immobile, under the sun.
It was the first time no one picked up a drink all day, not until at least after dinner during happy hour.

That night everyone dressed up as pirates and invaded a bar frequented by 16 to 18 year olds. Sadly this is the only photo I took that day..

I never want to leave.