Ok, so I am finally back home after my trip to Florence! I arrived back home yesterday after leaving on Friday. Actually being in Florence was really surreal and crazy, but it’s one of the most prettiest cities I have been in! Italy is so different to England, everyone is friendly, welcoming and just really nice! It’s such a different way of life to what I am used to over here! People just talk to you and are happy because they are, never because they want something from you, I could definitely get used to it! Everything is very laid back and very easy going! The travelling though, that’s a whole different story!
As you know, I was taking a train to London, then the Eurostar to Paris, then a Metro between two Paris stations, then the overnight Thello sleeper train to Florence. It was so much hard work! I really don’t like travelling and this trip was like the mother of all travels so to speak. The underground in Paris though is absolutely awful, I really didn’t like it one bit. The journey on the way back was the worst part. It was like something from a movie where things just go wrong, one after the other. It started out with our Italy train being delayed for an hour, which actually ended up driving slower, so the total delayed time was 2 hours, which meant we missed our Eurostar! I was really really sick on the train though, I barely slept and I was vomiting from travel sickness as well as feeling so dizzy with stomach ache, it was an absolute disaster. I’ve not felt ill like that in ages. It wasn’t helping that I suffer with ear pressure issues and the amount of tunnels the train goes through was making my head swell and ache too.
When we finally got into Paris, 2 hours late, we also got lost in the underground there which was terrible because hardly anyone there is friendly and actually willing to help you out… When we did manage to find the Eurostar section, they wouldn’t exchange our tickets for a later train because apparently the Florence train wasn’t one of their partners, so it’s nothing to do with them that it was delayed, so I ended up having to pay for 2 more tickets which were super expensive! We finally boarded the train and then obviously we were late for our London train, which meant we then had to upgrade those in order to get on the train at that time. After upgrading and having to wait ages for the new tickets, we just about made it on to the train before it left, but there were no seats… We had to stand for ages and then when we finally managed to get a seat after people got off, someone commit suicide under our train! They threw themselves under our carriages wheels (which we felt as it was bumpy and noisy) and that meant the train had to stop for 2 and a half hours while they had to deal with that mess of a situation. After we finally got the all clear from the coroner, we started to move, then 10 minutes later, we had to stop again as something was wrong with the door… We finally were able to go again and managed to get home, really late though and completely exhausted.
The time in Florence was incredible, but the travelling is something I will never ever do again. I’m going to go to the doctors or somewhere similar soon to find out if there is anyway I could fly with tablets or something like that, because it only takes 2 hours to fly! Not 24 hours to train ride it. Anyway, I have all of the photos in here, in order of the time I was there with the text and captions underneath so you can see my journey! Hope you like the photos! I will be posting many many more over the next week or so! What do you think?
We took a nap for a while at the hotel as we were exhausted and then got freshened up and changed to head out and look around.
After walking around for a bit, we went back to the hotel to get changed and ready for the meet and greet at the store. We were greeted by Camilla outside (who is wonderful) and got the chance to meet Andrea, the man who owns the store, he’s also so friendly!
I don’t have many more Instagram snaps from the dinner because I was quite busy, but I do have official photos from the camera and all of these will be uploaded to the blog over the next week or so! We were invited to a party at Roberto Cavalli’s house after the dinner, but we were so tired, we couldn’t make it unfortunately.
After wandering around for a while, we headed to the store to have some lunch and take a look at some of the clothes.
After getting changed and done up at the hotel, it was time to head out to the next dinner. We ate at Museo Del Costume which is a costume museum with some of the most incredible views!
The next day on the Monday was my day for the styling lab where I had to create 3 different looks from the clothes from the store. It took from 10am until 2am, but I had my make up done and we had to find 3 different locations for the outfits as well. The temperature was 38C degrees (or 100F) so I was literally melting and dying in the winter clothes, it’s an experience I will never forget for sure.
I do also have a 3rd look, but as I was getting too hot and stressed from all of the shooting and changing etc, I don’t have any Instagram snaps of it. You will see it later though with the other photos I publish! After all of the styling, we had some lunch and headed back to the hotel to rest and get changed for the final dinner and party!
After the dinner, we stayed for a little while and we ended up meeting Giuseppe Zanotti actually, and Riccardo Pozzoli as well as a few other people. I have official photos of those to come, but not really any decent Instagram snaps. We left the dinner shortly after the rock band started playing as it’s not really our scene, but it was a wonderful evening!
The next day we had to check out at 12pm but our train back wasn’t until 9pm at night, so we filled the day with some sight seeing, sweating, going to designer Patricia Al’Kary’s studio (who we met at the store) and more sweating. I was honestly struggling in the temperature. Usually I am ok with heat, but I guess English heat when it happens is nothing compared to the 38C of Florence!
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Wow looks like you have got lot of fun in this beautiful city ! !Gorgeous pictures Lorna !
XX Luba
Meet Etrala London : the most Optimistic fashion brand today on
http://www.well-living-blog.com
Author
Glad you like them Luba!
Looks like you had a great experience!
You&your BF look wonderful on that picture together! 🙂
http://thewardrobeisnotenough.blogspot.com/
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Thank you kisenaya 🙂
Wow Lorna!! I think that sums it up!!! SO glad you had a great time there (let’s forget about the events coming home 🙁 poor you). The outfits are fab, the settings are fab, the venues are fab and all in all it’s just fab!! Looking forward to seeing the other photos 🙂
Sx
Author
Thanks Saba 🙂 Yeah I would like to forget them, can’t wait to share more photos with you 🙂
Wow Lorna, lucky you, what amazing pictures, what an amazing place to be go to, you look so pretty, and happy xx
Author
Thanks ali!
woohoo…in no time u even made ur trip bk home!..through ur pics i can imagine wat a beautiful experience u had in florence…so sorry to hear about the sad part of the trip…if u can manage the flight next time..it will definitely save you the trouble..look forward to see the official pictures!!!
http://kiyaraartyspace.com/
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Thanks Kiyara! Yeah it would definitely save trouble if I could fly!
Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Sorry for all the stress coming back, I hope your tummy feels better now sweetie =)
I loved the black heeled shoes with stars…so cute!!!! And your dress at the dinner, specially the picture of you with the gardens surrounding you – AMAZING!! I’m so happy you had an amazing time, you deserve it! =D
xoRosie
The Austrian Rose
Author
That’s really kind of you, thanks so much Rosie!
Love the black and gold sandals! And your suitcases 😉
Thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
xx
http://comounaprincesasintonterias.blogspot.com.es
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Thank you Tamara!
Thanks for visiting my blog! 🙂
It looks like you had really an amazing time in Florence! My ‘italian’ advice is absolutely to take the plane next time!
I LOVE Florence, I had great time there, I’ve ‘studied’ softball there a few years ago!
I really can’t wait to see the official pictures of your style lab!
Kisses
http://justsem.wordpress.com/
Author
Thanks 🙂 I am definitely going to look into it! Styling lab images will come soon!
im so happy reading your tour…i also love this city of love 🙂 im glad you had a blast time there lorna…not bad outfits especially ur red dress. so love it 🙂
Author
Thanks kristine! I will have the proper photos of that dress soon, they turned out really pretty!
Love all this *___* and you’re so beautiful 🙂
http://www.fashioncandiesblog.wordpress.com
Author
That’s kind, thank you so much 🙂
oh man, I hoped the traintrip would be more romantic for you. Paris has some snobby people over there (something they do not show in those pretty movies) and the train-illness wasn’t something you anticipated for :(. I am glad you had the time of your life in Florence and you couldn’t have looked more radiant as in the images I saw: Try a good cure and go flying next time 🙂
Author
Oh my gosh I know, it was a total disaster 🙁 It was just one thing after the other with the travel. The time in Florence was amazing though and I am hoping there will be something I can do to fly 🙂
great pics!
last week i’ve been in Italy too 🙂 haha, check out my blog
letjeti.blogspot.com
Author
Oh cool 🙂
Oh my goodness, that’s so, so sad about the person who threw them self under the train 🙁 Hope their families are okay.
And sorry to hear about your terrible travel experience. I know how you feel about traveling- I’m the same way, which is tough because I really want to see the world. These days, travel is just so stressful (Especially with airport security, ugh!)
You look beautiful in these photos and I’m glad the rest of your trip went well! xx
Author
Thanks Victoria 🙂 travelling is always stressful to me, no matter where it is lol, but I definitely need to get used to it!
I don’t want to sound like a smart-ass but the car is not Italian… it’s French. It’s a Renault Twizy and it’s electric…
Cars are more my scene, but I’m still going backwards in time through your posts… 😉 lol
Author
Well, ya learn something new everyday lol! I’d never seen one before, so assumed it was Italian since it was in Italy 😀