San Valentino in Italia!

Happy Valentine's Day!....ugh....

After a late start to the day, I talked to Mom and Dad on Skype for about an hour before Julia and I headed out....yup shopping again. But today, was a little different: the city was PACKED....I mean, it was CRAZY. We kept trying to figure out where all these people were coming from- seriously, there was like no room on the street to walk- then we remembered it was Valentine's Day, so everyone had probably come to the city for the day. Ugh...

We started out at H&M, which as we should have guessed was ridiculously crowded. As if there weren't enough ladies out shopping, almost all of them had their boyfriends/husbands/dogs (yes, dogs) with them.

So let me take a moment to comment on Italian couples, especially in the shopping scene. As my friends and I have observed, Italian couples are really obviously, genuinely, and at the same time sickeningly in love. The couples out shopping were all touchy, holding hands, arms around each other, little kisses and hugs. SOOOO romantic...in the most disgusting sense. And even more ridiculous- the Italian men are almost as into shopping FOR THE GIRL as the girls are!! Ridiculous...And they were so cute holding the girls' purses, the dogs' leash, etc. while the girls were in the dressing room, helping them pick out clothes, holding up things that they thought the girl would look good in- UGH...seriously?! And the couples walking around the city were just as cute, sauntering along, holding hands and just enjoying the city and each other.....I think I just threw up in my mouth a little....(and on top of being so romantic, of course, they are all beautiful and stylishly chic! I mean, seriously?!?)

So, after H&M, Julia and I went to Guido's jewelry shop. I immediately went for the bracelet I had seen in the window, which I don't want to say too much about, because I got two more as presents for friends who may or may not read this blog! haha! But it was really interesting to hear Guido talk about how he made each piece that we looked at. I had liked the bracelets before, but then hearing how his friend in the Tuscan countryside made the glass stones, and how each bead on the necklace Julia bought was unique because he had painted each one by hand, and he even showed us how he made the earrings Marla bought, because he was making a similar pair when we walked in. SOOOOO cool.

We headed back to the apartment to get ready to go out for dinner. The four of us had decided to go to Andrea's for our Valentine's Day dinner. We headed out a little later than we had planned- we didn't get to the restaurant until almost 9! Oops. Because we were kind of late, the reastaurant was really busy! I guess people eat a lot later in Italy because it was like peak dining hours when we arrived. We had to wait for a few minutes for a table to clear, so Andrea's uncle (his actual uncle) gave us each a glass of wine (the good stuff!) while we waited. We had a really fun, laid back dinner; I got risotto with artichokes, and the others got pizza again. And once again, we spent almost 3 hours at the restaurant.



We got back to the apartment around midnight, and I cooked up the Valentine's Day surprise I had planned for my roommates: Nutella fondue....oh yes- it was amazing. I cut up some pineapple, bananas, apples, and cookies and we had fun dipping them in the melted fondue. It was DELICIOUS, but after finishing off a whole jar between the four of us in one sitting, I don't think I'll be eating any more Nutella for a while. haha!

We turned in a little early (around 1 haha) because Julia and I had made plans to go to Pisa with Ari & Co the next morning, but overall, Valentine's Day in Italy was molto buono!