Boboli Gardens and enjoying the Tuscan sun

After a long day yesterday, I needed to get out of the apartment today and enjoy a beautiful day in Florence! I woke up this morning and made pancakes for a special weekend treat (I've mastered the art of homemade pancakes using Italian ingredients... they only sell vanilla flavored baking powder here so that's been an interesting adjustment).
Kenan, Julia, and I left the apartment to go explore the Boboli Gardens on the other side of the river. They are the grounds of the Pitti Palace (of the Medici family) and the museum card we purchased covered our entrance into them. That museum pass was definitely a great investment, because I can't wait to go back! The gardens are just breathtaking and surprising large! We were there for over two hours and I don't think we saw everything! There are also really great hidden nooks for picnicking so we decided that has to happen sometime on a pretty day. Plus, being able to hear the birds chirping and smell trees and plants is something we definitely miss living in the city.
Each area of the park is unique so I put up a few pictures to show some of my favorite parts:

After we got back since our washing machine has been broken Kenan and I did a little washing in the bathtub... studying abroad is teaching me all kinds of skills let me tell you!

We're off to Rome very early in the morning for two jam packed days of sightseeing! Since it is a school trip, I'm pretty sure it's going to go basically exactly like this... watch here