day thirty-two; july 25th
Had a great sleep, still short of breath but yesterday’s rest inside seems to have helped a lot. Meet with Emilie around 10.30am as she and another girl from her class were going out to La Cascine, a large garden and parklands out of central Florence to a pool. Didn’t know what to expect but it was in avery nice setting, at the back of what once may have been a villa, not sure. There were a lot of people there, all on lounge chairs so we naturally got our own but were stopped because you had to pay a ridiculous amount per chair. So we resorted to sitting on our towels. I have to say, there wasn’t much I like about this place at all! Although the pool was very nice (and it was great to finally have a swim!), the people, especially the men, were not very nice and the atmosphere made me feel uncomfortable. Mainly the fact that we were there to have a nice time and were not being left alone by very unappealing men (I know, I know, it’s to be expected in Italy!). And then when we left they would not tell us where the exit was! Interesting people. So Em and I were happy to leave there and we had a nice walk through the park before waiting for a tram we had been told about which took us right to the train station. We walked back to her apartment that she shares with Cheryl and talked for a bit before I went home and got ready to meet them after dinner.
We met at the carousel in Piazza Repubblica and as Emilie and her friend were to there yet, Cheryl, Liz and I all went on the carousel! Why not?! It looked fun! :P It was surprisingly very cheap too considering it’s a major attraction in Florence for it’s position and features. We had great fun! The others had turned up by then and we made our way to Carabe again for gelato. A really sad goodbye to Liz and Cheryl as they were both leaving early the next day - I’m going to miss them a lot! I feel so lucky to have met them and I’m not sure how the rest of my stay alone would have panned out if I had not met them and Emilie.
