Meaghan: We have been told that the best gelato ever is at this little place in Rome called Giolitti Gelato. Today being our last day in Rome, it was high time we go find it. Luka’s gelato in Croatia has been my hands-down favourite gelato ever, so this gelateria in Rome had a lot to live up to. Tobi left early, so Matt, John, Savanna and I embarked on our gelato expedition.

Sav: It was fun doing one last Roman street walk, and we eventually reached our destination. After waiting in the longest gelato line-up I’ve ever seen, we treated our taste-buds to deliciousness. I was very happy with my gelato, as always! It didn’t quite beat out Luka’s though! The search continues, with Croatia in the lead.

Then it was time to head to Florence! I had no idea what to expect so was looking forward to filling in the blanks of my Florence knowledge. After some hugs with Matt, we parted ways and jumped on the train with John. We have been really struggling to keep up with the blog since we are travelling with so many people, and the train provided a great opportunity to catch up. A quick hour and a bit later we arrived in Florence! We walked a half hour to our hostel and to my pleasant surprise it is so far my favourite Italian city in terms of beauty. It is clean and comfortable and there is incredible architecture everywhere. Picturesque balconies, white and green marble churches and wide spacious piazzas were only a few of the things Florence greeted us with.

M: John, Savanna and I decided to dress up for Halloween, so we McGyvered costumes with what we had laying around. We started this creative process with a free bottle of red sparkling wine, courtesy of the hostel in Rome. John went as a mouse, wearing all grey and making ears from a map and one of my shoelaces. Sav and I went as cats, wearing all black and making ears out of our Tower of London brochure. I used my other shoelace as a choker to match Savanna’s as makeshift collars. And you can’t be a mouse or cats without having some quality whiskers, right? Right. So in the interest of bringing the Canadian Halloween spirit to Florence, I sacrificed my black eyeliner. But it was worth it. Savanna’s stellar animal makeup skills and our monochromatic costumes made us look great, and like we hadn’t made our costumes last second at the hostel.

S: In the past few years I have really enjoyed doing animal makeup, so it was fun to challenge myself to makeup with the very few tools I have at my disposal! Johns pink mouse nose was courtesy of my fluorescent pink lip stain.

M: We met Paddy at the hostel, a guy from London travelling around Italy for a couple weeks. Sadly he didn’t want any Halloween makeup, insisting instead that he was dressed as a boa constrictor already because of his green stripped shirt. So John the mouse, Paddy the boa constrictor, and Savanna and Meaghan the cats went off in search of food and some Halloween fun.

S: We found a little restaurant that seemed to be filled with only locals. We happily ordered the most amazing homemade Cream Sage Tortellini ever (Tortelloni?). They really do basic pasta incredibly well here. Not that it’s hard to mess up pasta because it’s all great, but Italy is just on another level. Patty and John at a table together left me in stitches because they are both just one-liner gold mines. It feels like I have spent the last few months just constantly laughing so much. I don’t mean a chuckle here and there, I mean teary-eyed, stomach hurting, can’t breathe laughter and it feels so good. I know I want to be laughing like this for the rest of my life!

One thing I was surprised about was that people outside North America don’t really dress up for Halloween. There were a few very basic costumes here and there but only one or two full on ones. It was funny to see a lot of people staring at us, even though I thought our costumes weren’t too noticeable.

M: Our hostel circled the nightlife area on the map when we arrived, so we headed that way in the hopes of finding some fun. We stopped on the way to have a drink at a bar with some Halloween decorations. John, Savanna and I decided to throw caution to the wind and ordered a mystery bomb drink. We should have known we were in trouble when the bartender said these were the first she had ever made…let’s just say it was not the bomb dot com. Nevertheless, we got through it and took off through the Florentine streets. The four of us ended up at a little place called Viktoria. We were probably the most dressed up crew and we looked good, if I do say so myself. Most other people had some Halloween makeup and normal clothes. This place was a blast and the twin bartenders were easy on the eyes to say the least. The atmosphere was fun too! There was a huge range of people out all having a good time, from the excited young crowd to old Italian men with rhythm and everyone in between. Paddy, John, Savanna and I carved out a little dance floor for ourselves near a table and showed off our moves. It’s been a Halloween to remember.

S&M