Elba

I kinda forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, just before I started my stage at the hotel, Lorenzo and I made a trip to Elba Island - the biggest island in the Tuscan Archipelago - for 2 days. Unfortunately most of the fist day was pouring with rain, but we made up for it by eating ourselves into near coma states with delicious fresh seafood, and by the next day the sun was out and I was able to enjoy beautiful Elba as one should.

We may have also taken a super fun train ride with the kids... you're only as old as you think you are!

Keeping Occupied.

With working at the pub, my new stage, a friend coming to visit and my school friends leaving town, this past week I have definitely been keeping busy.

My good friend Jenna, who I used to work with in Brisbane, has spent the last 3 months travelling around southeast Asia and the UK and has now made her way into Italy, so for the past week she bunked with me. We took a trip up to Fiesole, drank in some of my favourite bars and I managed to give her a quick tour of the city, but unfortunately I was working a fair chunk of her stay so she had to entertain herself. I must say that she is a must more motivated tourist than I am and I think she has now seen more touristy things in Florence than I have!! Even though it was only a week It was so nice to have a friend like Jenna come and stay and she even cooked us dinner!! Thanks JJ…

I have officially completed the first week of my stage with Hotel Brunelleschi. I am holding my opinion for now because I know that this is one of their slowest months and until the 16th of August the head chef (who I organised this whole thing with) is on holidays. So I my update is that I have survived the first week and that there is a lot less to do than I was expecting… other than that you’ll have to check back in after the 16th!

We may be a little crazy...

After 6 quick weeks, my Italian class has come to an end. I don't know how much I learnt, but I certainly made some good friends... They are almost as crazy as me!!!

  

So now that school is finished, and somehow everything has once again fallen into place after 2 and a half months of trying, I start my stage at Hotel Brunelleschi on Monday!! 3 months of fulltime, unpaid work to learn some Italian cookery- mainly sweets (like tiramisu and gelato.... need I say more!)

Beachy beach

Since I have been in Italy I have SEEN the beach, but I haven't actually had a day AT the beach. Saturday was finally my day. After working until 3am Friday night. waking up at 8am to go to the beach was hard, BUT my willpower came through and I managed to get out of bed! (Proud or what!) After picking up the car and driving to Giorgio Patisserie (necessary stop for coffee and pastries- the best in Florence I will have you know) we were finally on our way to Viareggio by 10am.

In Italy, the method of beaching is quite different to what we're used to back in Australia... At Viareggio there is only one section of free beach, the rest (and more popular option) is that you rent and a piece of beach, umbrella and chairs for the day and that's where you base yourself. And despite being at the beach, swimming is very much a secondary activity for most (and the colour of the water at viareggio confirms why for me) whereas tanning and looking beautiful in your new swimwear is a must.
 

A beautiful, relaxing day on the beach, equipped with large amounts of seafood pasta and sun, but this style of going to the beach makes me feel like I'm in a kind of well manicured umbrella farm, and makes for a rather expensive day! None the less, it was a great day and I'm already looking forward to this weekends prospective beach trip...

Bianca's new colours

So through the chaos of school, work and of course socialising I completely forgot to show off Bianca! I posted a while ago that I was painting my bike and I have indeed finished her (a good month ago… oops, sorry!)

She is still silver but now has white wheel guards and chain cover and is decorated with the badge of Florence- a red giglio (also known as Fleur-de-lis or Florentine Lily) and the name of my new blog “Gelati Days” (which is another reason I haven’t rushed to post Biancas new colours, the blog wasn’t ready! Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to show you! Either way... I cant say it will be all that interesting for you at home considering it is a site aimed at helping foreigners here in Florence, but if you are finding work really that boring…!)
 

Permesso to stay

Just a quick update to let you know that FINALLY, after 4 trips to the Questura and around 10 hours of waiting in queues, I have my permesso di soggiorno (in other words, I have a permit to live in Florence until the end of February!) Hooray! Unfortunately I'm still getting the run around from all different offices who know nothing about working with my visa. Some say it's not possible to work at all (which would be strange considering it's a WORKING holiday visa...) some say only part time work is possible and others simply don't know. When I finally do know however, I should be able to start working (for free as a stagiare for now) at a really nice hotel here in Florence, working in their patisserie section. Until then, I'm off to work at the pub.

Cooking lessons with Nonna.

Lorenzo's Mum and Nonna fit perfectly into the Italian "Mamma" stereotype. They fuss over you, feed you til you pop and of course, are the best cooks you know.
Lucky for me I've somehow managed to weasle my way into the family and have started getting pasta lessons from Nonna. Last night we made Tagliatelli.

When I arrived they were already waiting to start, I was handed a cutle little white apron (which I found out later was Nonna's mothers and is "proprio antico") and we set to work. She showed me how to mix and knead the dough and how to know when it's ready. To rest and roll the dough and to make sure it's a little dry before cutting. Then to cut, cook and of course eat the finshed pasta.

I thought I'd made pasta before, but I have to admit this was really special and was by far the best pasta I've ever made. Thanks Nonna!