Spring is here!

It has been getting warmer in Florence, and throughout Italy, which makes me very happy.  I was not able to handle anymore cold since I am an Arizona girl and there is currently 100 degree weather there right now.  I am so happy I am missing that and experiencing the 70s here in Italy.
Last weekend, I went to Milan with my fashion marketing class.  We got to see all the luxury stores, the design district, and some specialty stores.  It was pretty cool because it was design week when we were there, which is when they have showcases of interior and architecture design.  They are very interesting and modern showcases.  With the class we mostly visited clothing stores though.  First, we went to the Armani mega store, which is 4 floors of clothes, shoes, a restaurant, bar, chocolate shop, flower shop, Apple products, and even a book store. Yes, Armani has all those things in one store.  Plus, there is a home decor store across the street where everything is designed by Armani.  And you thought he only made clothes...
After that gigantic store, we traveled down the street of some luxury, high-end stores.  I went into Dior, Prada, Jimmy Choo, and a few other places.
After this, we went to a more trendy, funky areas called Brera, which is considered the design district.  Here is where we went into the Marc Jacobs mono brand store.  Jacobs is one my favorite designers, so this was exciting.  And we ended the day with another place that was dedicated to more trendy and hip clothes, design, and art.

Chocolate Armani Egg

Chocolates at Armani 

Espresso maker 

Space ships?? 

Marc Jacobs' window display 

After Milan, I went to Rome with Sarah. We wanted to go back because we did not get to go inside Saint Peters when we were there and there were a couple other things that Sarah wanted to see.  So I figured why not since I have my Rail Pass.  We left early Saturday morning and got there in the early afternoon.  We went straight from the train station, heavy bags included, to Saint Peters.  Not realizing that it was the day before Palm Sunday, there were a lot of crowds. I am just glad that we did not go on Sunday in hopes that we could go in because we would have definitely would have not been able to.  We knew it would be busy, which it was, but the line did not take long and it was a beautiful, warm day, so I didn't mind.

The chairs all set up for Palm Sunday

Where the Pope lives 

The Pieta! 

The dome

The altar 

Beyond here and under the dome is where Saint Peters' tomb is 

The rest of the day was spent wondering around Rome, eating a delicious meal, going to San Clemente, and even going to a Steelers bar.  Sarah is from Pittsburgh and is a Steelers fan, so she wanted to go to this one place that was supposedly a bar dedicated to Pitt. It was a really cool place because it had tons of college teams banners on the walls. Even an ASU one...

The next day we went to the Borghese Gallery, FOR FREE! The man did not charge us and it was suspiciously as if he did it on purpose while others were charged.  Either way, I don't care and was more than happy to not have to fork over the money.  When we git into the gallery and saw the all art work, I was amazed.  Some of the most beautiful pieces of art are inside the gallery.  Some of statues were so amazing and looked real.  It is so crazy to think that people were able to create such beautifully done pieces of work at the time that they were living in.  It fathoms me.
The rest of our time in Rome was spent in the Borghese gardens around the gallery, which were so large and very pleasant.  I was able to relax and take in the fresh air.  Wow, I am super cheesy. Sorry guys!

Sarah holding up the very large map we bought.
We definitely looked like crazy tourists!  

Beautiful! 

I fell in love with this tree 

Overlooking Rome!

This weekend, my friends and I are going to Croatia.  We are leaving tonight, to go on an 11 hour bus ride to Croatia.  It is going to be one long ride, but hopefully it will be worth it.  I know it will since we are going Island hopping with a fish dinner/white wine included and we are going white water rafting. I am already smiling just thinking about all the fun I am going to have this weekend!
Look for a new post, the pictures will probably be amazing!