Once we left Cinque Terre, our next stop would be a night in Florence, briefly stopping in Pisa to see the leaning tower and take The Photo.

It was pouring rain when we arrived in Pisa, but it didn’t matter. We all excitedly took our obligatory Leaning Tower photos and then ran back to the bus to continue our journey.

Once we arrived in Florence, we were given some time for lunch before a walking tour of the city centre.

A couple of the girls and I went to a smoothie restaurant for some drinks and avocado toast – we didn’t realize how rare healthy bites to eat would be on this trip. But when you’re in a bus all day and eating continental breakfast every morning, you end up eating a lot of junk food.

So we enjoyed our smoothies and then headed to meet the rest of the group at the Piazza della Signoria.

*Mock Statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria*

In the square, there were groups of beautiful statues but the one that stood out was obviously the mock Statue of David (the real statue being held at a museum a little bit of a ways away). We met our walking tour guide and tried to follow her through the crowds of people. Even though it was spitting rain the whole time, the winding streets were full of people and it was hard to keep up with our guide.

During the tour, we saw a lot of gorgeous architecture – buildings and bridges, all lovely – and we also ran into a bunch of cool street art. My favourite pieces were done by Blub, an artist who recreates pieces as if they’re underwater. So neat.

Street art by Blub

Our last stop on the tour was the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which was gorgeous on the outside. But there was a long lineup to see the inside, and honestly, over a week in Europe, I’d definitely already visited my fair share of beautiful churches.

So a couple of us decided to walk back to get a better look at the statues in the square where we’d all met.

Eventually the wandering group had dwindled to two, so me and the friend I’d hung out with in Monaco went for a walk and when it got too rainy, ducked into a cafe for a hot chocolate. Afterwards we continued to waste time wandering Florence, talking about real life in ways I honestly hadn’t done in weeks.

It was nice to feel like I could be myself with someone and not have to try too hard to be likeable. Making friends on this trip was something I was really worried about, but to put that anxiety on hold for a bit and just have some real conversations rooted in real life was just nice.

*I will go back to Europe purely for the hot chocolate*

That afternoon we reconnected with the group and got on the bus to the hostel – it was time to get ready for our beautiful Tuscan dinner night! Everyone got dressed up for a night of fun and we were driven to the restaurant where we would be having classic Italian food.

The best part of that dinner was that I don’t even really remember the food. I remember the flowing wine and getting to spend a night eating delicious food and hanging out with all my Contiki besties.

The other best part was that near the end of the meal there was music playing, so when ‘Dancing Queen’ came on, everyone had to respect ABBA and get up and dance to the anthem.

Following dinner came another night at the Red Garter – karaoke night, Florence version! This Red Garter location was a lot bigger than the one we visited in Barcelona with an upstairs balcony where a bunch of us grabbed a table to watch the performances unfold.

I didn’t get up on stage that night, but it was just as much fun to sit with my friends and sing along.

When it started to get late, my friends and I found a couple cabs and got back to the hostel for a decent night’s sleep.