April 30

Tonight, Florence was lit up with the biannual Notte Bianca. The "White Night" is where all stores and bars stay open until 6am the next morning. Most Florentines make it their goal to stay out all night. Because May 1 is Labor Day and most people have off of work for the holiday, everyone is responsibility-free. All of the piazzas have some kind of cool art exhibit or live music. In this photo, my roommates and I are in front of Santa Croce. The entire piazza was filled with these huge paper mache blimp animals. Piazza Signoria had a platform with around 50 (adult sized) swings on it that rung bells as people rode on them. It was like Mardi Gras! The streets were packed with happy (and drunk) people. Italy does not have the same open container laws we have in the US. That means it is totally Kosher to roam the streets while taking swigs from an open bottle of wine. We were laughing at the high school aged Italians out and about. We could tell they thought they were so cool being out late with the crowds. It led to a hilarious conversation about what we thought was cool in middle and high school. Soffe shorts with rolled elastic, Abercrombie "Beach Babe" t-shirts, Juicy sweatpants with writing on the backside, and Ugg boots. It was an awesome night.