Castles!

Saturday — April 14

Today's plans had to change because it was supposed to be raining all day again. We were originally supposed to go to Positano and relax on the beach all day, but mother nature didn't want that. 

I decided not to get the free breakfast today and just eat my strawberry jelly on bread. I met Lydia and Michelle upstairs and checked in with our tour guides. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I was told we were going to the Versailles of Italy, which I thought was pretty cool, and we were also supposed to get really good pizza somewhere after. 

We walked up to where the busses were parked and all piled on in. The bus ride was about an hour, so I relaxed and dozed off and on listening to my ipod. When we arrived we were in a parking garage. We followed the leaders upstairs and starting walking towards this magnificent-looking palace. 

It reminded me of the palace in Madrid, except this one wasn't all white. It was called Reggia Di Caserta, and boy was it beautiful. 

Florence For Fun organized a tour for us to take, which we didn't have to pay more money for, which was extremely nice. The tour lead us throughout the palace and told us about different rooms and what they were used for. There was a statue of Marie Antoinette's sister because she was here before, which I thought was fascinating. I have always been in love with this time period, so it was amazing to walk through this beautiful palace knowing all of these people walked through these halls and it was their home. I couldn't imagine living in a place this big, although it would be a great place to play hide and go seek. 

My favorite rooms were the bedrooms. The beds were so antique looking, just like I've seen in the movies I watch. Considering my favorite movies are Pride and Prejudice and Becoming Jane, no wonder I was in love with this place.

I also really liked the dining rooms because the chandeliers were so magnificent. 

-view from one of the windows-

-chandelier made of Morano glass from Venice-

-library-

After the tour was finished, the tour guide left us at the entrance of the gardens. The gardens are supposed to be really famous because it is three miles long, which is incredible. It was still raining outside, so we didn't want to walk the three miles in it. The Florence For Fun tour guides said to meet at the front of the palace in 15-20 minutes. Lydia and I went outside in the gardens to see some of it. Since it was raining, the gardens looked even more green, making it look even more beautiful. 

Dan also had found a dog laying in the grass that he went over to pet. It was precious and seemed so comfortable laying out in the rain.

We met everyone in the front of the palace and we were led to the busses. I thought the ride to the pizza place was going to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being an hour. I was thrilled when we got there because I was starving. 

The place we went to was called University Pizza. This place very well-known in Italy because they serve pizza by the meter. We walked inside the restaurant and thankfully it was a very big one because there were probably about 100 of us coming in to eat. 

Michelle, Lydia and I found a table to sit at, but Dan, Ryan and Ryan went to another table with other people. 

We were each going to get our own mini pizza, but then we figured we could just get the meter and split the price and get more for our money. A waiter came up to us and he didn't seem to speak much English. We tried speaking to him in Italian. We were trying to ask him if a meter would be okay for three people because it says it's enough for five people. I asked, then Lydia and when Michelle asked, the waiter rolled his eyes and walked away.

We were SO confused as to what had just happened. Was he coming back? We didn't know. About 10 minutes had passed and he kept walking by our table not coming back. Everyone else already had their drinks at this point and others were already getting their pizza. 

So we asked the Florence For Fun leaders sitting next to us how we were supposed to order. They said to just flag down a waiter and they would help us. So we did that and we had more luck this time. The waiter thought we were ordering a meter for six people when he took the order. We tried telling him it was just for us, but he didn't understand.

Ryan, Michelle's boyfriend, came over to ask what we were getting. We told him we ordered a meter pizza. He said he and his two other friends got the same thing. After he left we said, if three boys can eat a meter, we can surely do it!

I splurged a bit and ordered a coke, which came in the glass bottle — only the best kind. 

I was hungry, so I figured that would help too. We were all incredibly hungry. Michelle ended up pulling out her sandwich she had packed and ate that while we were waiting. I asked her if she was sure she wanted to do that since she was about to help eat a meter pizza. It didn't help when everyone else was getting their food because it smelled SO good.

Finally, ours was rolled out to us. The waiter placed 6 plates down and we told him it was just us. He had a sort of shocked look on his face, which made us laugh. "We can do it!"

The pizza was delicious and it was definitely helping to cure my hunger.

I was doing pretty well, but towards the end we definitely started slowing down. We only had a piece left for each of us and we said if they guys can do it we can! So we finished it. 

I sat in my chair and felt like I needed to unbutton my jeans. Ryan came over to see how our pizza was. We said it was really good, but we were full. He was pretty surprised we had finished it already. We asked him how his was. He said it was good, but the guys didn't know if they would be able to finish it. When he said that, Michelle, Lydia and I bursted out laughing. We finished an entire meter of pizza because we figured if they could do it, we could, and then even the guys were too full! 

Thankfully, all we had left to do was hop on a bus back to the hotel, where I planned on taking a nap until dinner. We were only 20 minutes away, so when we got back it was around 5. We had two hours until dinner. We all ended up falling asleep and when we woke up, of course we weren't hungry.

However, dinner was free and we felt like we should eat something. We went upstairs and ate with Ryan. Michelle and Ryan couldn't get through the second course and left. Lydia was going to go back, but she was curious about what the dessert was. I somehow mustered my way through dinner and ended up nibbling at the dessert, even though it was fantastic.

When we were done, I seriously felt like I needed to be wheel barreled to my room. I don't think I have ever felt so full in my life. If someone poked me, I think my stomach would have exploded. 

I was thinking about going out for a few drinks, but after being so full, it just made me way to tired to do anything, so we just stayed in and watched Crazy, Stupid Love again. The movie never gets old!