Buona Pasqua e Buon Giorno Firenze!

Ciao a tutti e Buona Pasqua! Such an eventful weekend I barely know where to start. Probably the beginning....
Getting to Greece took planes, trains and automobiles. By this I mean we took TWO planes, TWO trains and TWO automobiles (not in that order- it was actually trains, planes and then automobiles). It was quite the adventure but when we finally rolled into Rethymno 14 hours after we left Florence, it was all worth it. Crete was absolutely gorgeous and so different from anywhere else I've ever been. It's such a laid back place. Old men sit in cafes sipping coffee at all hours of the day. Young people sit in shockingly hip and chic outdoor lounges that line the streets drinking frappe (essentially iced coffee but it's made with nescaf and is whipped) or beer while chatting and smoking. Always smoking, that was the one thing I didn't love. But the outdoor lounges were amazing- one day we ate lunch in padded, cozy patio recliners! Oh, and the food. Delicious. I ate chicken souvlaki 3 times because it was so amazing! I also tried lamb on Easter (the traditional easter dish) and had grilled octopus that was practically an entire octopus minus the head grilled and thrown on a plate. It may have been the best octopus I have ever tasted. I even had eggs and toast Greek style for breakfast on Easter which was such a treat- veggie omelet packed with tomatoes, onions, peppers and mushrooms with a freshly grilled pita. Started that day off right! And we needed to be eating great food to keep our energy up for the serious beaching we did. I am currently a delicious golden brown thanks to the 2 full afternoons I spent on the beach, basking in the sunshine and occasionally cooling off in the sea. Everyone said the Mediterranean is too cold this time of year to swim, and it was a bit chilly, but swim we did! I only got in half way and didn't fully submerge, but still- it was a great way to spend Easter if I couldn't be home.
And here you're thinking that this was the end of the adventure. However, this is where you would be wrong. Nobody mentioned to us before we left that Easter Monday is the busiest travel day of the year. And that the trains back to Florence might be full. Funny story because they were! We rolled into Rome at 8:30 pm after traveling since 9 am only to find there was no possible way to get back to Florence before 5 am. So, after some deep breathing, we bought tickets for a 6:50 fast train, grabbed our bags and started walking. We stopped at a hotel, convinced the guy that 6 of us could sleep in enough beds meant for 5 (a moot point really, since the 3 of us who slept sideways on one queen sized bed only got 3 hours of sleep anyway) and got us some dinner and drinks. I fortunately had a class this morning that I could skip so I got to come home and eat breakfast and chill for a bit before going to class. But Sam went straight to her site visit, rolling suitcase and all. The wolf pack is pretty hard core is all I'm saying :)
This actually is where this particular adventure ends. No worries- there will be more to come. There's still Kelsey's birthday and Cinque Terre coming up in the next week. But for now I'm pretty content to just be back in Florence finally and have a little time to chill....I have to steal these moments of solitude because there are just too many adventures to go on to have these moments often.
Arrivederci!