Venezia e Bologna

Ciao tutti!

We have now returned from this weekend's travels to Venice and Bologna! It has been an exhausting, but exhilarating trip.

We started out early Friday morning and took a train into Venice...well, not directly to Venice because our hostel was located in Maghera, a town on the mainland of Italy. We stayed at the "Nice Hotel" and well, let's just say it was nice. We then had to figure out how to get off the mainland, and get into Venice. After a few minutes inside of the Tabaccheria (kind of like a drugstore...it's a place where you can buy stamps and bus tickets), we were directed "Italian-style" to a bus stop. It was a rather confusing ride because we weren't quite sure how to use our bus-tickets. Nevertheless, we made it to Venice without any questioning form the transport authorities...

The minute we got off the bus we became aware of the hustle-and-bustle once again. Venice is full of all kinds of tourists and the narrow alleyways and streets don't help. The girls decided to take a boat ride over to Murano, the island that is known for making colorful and unique glass. John and I decided to stay on the mainland and explore Venezia a little more. We saw a lot: the Rialto, the Basilica of St. Mark's, Gondola's. After walking around all afternoon, we were in much need of a break and so we sat on the steps that line the Venetian coast. While waiting for the other girls to return from Murano, nostalgia got the best of us and so we found the Hard Rock Cafe of Venice. There is so much to see in this city, but after passing store after store after store, we needed a different scene.

That night, we walked off the beaten path and found a nice little restaurant along the water to have dinner. It wasn't anything to rave home about, but it hit the spot after all the walking we did that day.

The Rialto; Me & John on the Rialto; Gondola's near the steps.

In front of the Basilica di San Marco!

The next morning, we went back into Venice. Our original plan was to go to the Galleria dell'Accademia, an art museum in Venice. Yet, on our way over there, our attention was caught by something else. In front of the Basilica di San Marco, there was an Italian flag ceremony setting up, in order to honor the Vigili di Fuoco (firemen). We decided to stay and watch the ceremony. To give you an idea of what it was like, I've uploaded a couple of videos.

Italian Flag Ceremony

That afternoon, we hopped on another train and headed for Bologna. Bologna was much less touristy--and much more of a college town. Bologna is home to the first university in Europe: La Universita di Bologna! Thus, there are students everywhere and the city has got a hip-scene. I almost felt as if I was in the Boston of Italy! Aside from the University, Bologna is also known for it's Basilica di San Petronio. This Basilica was originally supposed to be bigger than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but the Pope stopped it's construction before it became to big. Although most of the Basilica is finished (and beautiful), the outside isn't much to look at, for they never finished sculpting the outside facade.

During the late afternoon, we walked around for awhile looking for a good place to eat. Bologna is known for some really great restaurants. Unfortunately, we were out of luck because none of the restaurants open before 7-7:30. This is common in a lot of Italian cities, especially those that are less touristy. After looking and looking and looking, we finally found a casual "Ristorante Bolognese" near the train station. Again, nothing to rave home about, but our hungry stomachs were satisfied. Exhausted, we made our way home to Florence by 9 o clock that night.

Beware: City-life may run you down.

I learned today how overwhelming living in a city can be. Everyday requires patience and tolerance for the Florence's hustle and bustle and let's just say I'm exhausted! I hope I do not sound as if I hate Florence, for that is certainly not the case. It is a beautiful city with so much that I have yet to discover. Yet, it is the discovering part which requires so much effort. To get anywhere in this city, you must be willing to push your way through throngs of people (many of which are tourists!) and be able to overlook the many, many tempting shops, bars, and restaurants you may pass along the way. Let's just say this: to travel in Florence you must be very focused on where it is your headed. Otherwise, beware: you might get run over by a Vespa, lured into a leather store, or tempted by one of thousands of Gelaterias.

Well, at least tomorrow I get to experience the hustle and bustle in a different city: Venice. Updates coming soon...

Cinque Terre

This past Friday, we set out for another exciting adventure in Italia! Cinque Terre, which means "Five Lands" in Italian, is one of the most unbelievable sights you can ever imagine. It is 5 towns spread out along a mountainous coast which meets the clear blue waters of the Ligurian Sea. We began in Monterosso and hiked to the next town over, Vernazza. The hike took 2 hours long and every minute of it was breathtaking (physically and mentally!). Most of it was uphill, through the vineyards and around the mountainside. Some parts were rather narrow and steep, but it was reassuring to be able see those ahead of us, across the valley and on the other side of the mountain. 

Italian man selling grapes on the mountain.

The sight of Vernazza from up above filled us with excitement and relief (we were all hungry and exhausted!). Once down into the town, we sat down for lunch at a ristorante tucked away on a small street. Every single one of us ate a big bowl of pesto pasta (Cinque Terre is known for its pesto and foccacia) served by an Italian waiter wearing flip flops and jeans. I am pointing this out because it just goes to show how laid back the towns are. It was almost as if we were on a tropical island!

Vernazza.

Lunch: Pesto Tortellini

Amore :)

From Vernazza we took a boat to the second to last town, Manarola from which we walked through Via dell'Amore (Tunnel of Love). This romantic tunnel is filled with grafitti, couples names engraved together, and locks with thrown away keys. My only wish was that John could have been there with me!

Outside of Florence

I have neglected to fill you in on perhaps the most beautiful places I have been to so far. I promise you, I am trying to write as often as I can, but internet access around here is scarce, as my other 2 roomates and I have been sharing one computer for the past three weeks. Finally, I have found some time to share the details of my travels. 

Two weekends ago, we traveled to Assisi, Perugia, Siena and San Giminagno. However, on our way to Assisi, we experienced a major delay. We had only gotten about 10 minutes outside of Florence when all traffic came to a dead stop. After a few minutes of not moving, people began to turn off their cars. Then people began to get out of their cars and walk...down the highway. It was only about 20 minutes later that we had learned that a giant meat truck had completely tipped over and was blocking the entire side of the highway. Amazingly, the truck driver was okay and nobody else got hurt. Yet, the crash created a huge mess. All kinds of salami and prosciutto were strewed about the road, not to mention the truck was completely totaled. So, here we are, all 80 of us on 2 coach buses, simply stuck on an italian highway, anxious to make to Assisi. It was about 10 a.m. when we were told that the mess would not be cleared for another 4 hours. Luckily, there was a huge rest stop about 1/2 a mile down the highway which we able to walk to. Never in my life did I think that I would have the such an opportunity to climb over a crashed Italian meat truck. 

Bus boredom & Highway tour

After sitting at a rest stop for 4 hours, we finally were on our way to Assisi! Around 3 o clock we were standing in front of the Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi. I can't really say anything else except that it was beautiful. We were able to go inside the Basilica and see Giotto's (and many others) famous fresco paintings, as well as the tomb of St. Francis. I think you can imagine how unreal the entire tour felt. 

Basilica di San Francesco.

 The temple where St. Francis stripped completely naked and vowed a life of poverty.

Giotto's Preaching to the Birds. This was my favorite fresco we saw in the Basilica. 

After the Basilica, we walked up through the town center. There, we saw the temple where St. Francis stripped completely naked and gave up all his possessions to follow a life of poverty. At the top of Assisi, there is another Basilica, the Basilica di Santa Chiara, where the body of St. Claire is preserved. 

Originally, we were supposed to tour Perugia as well, but because of our delay, we had to skip this and go straight to our hotel for the night.

Sunday morning, we woke up early to travel on to the next city: Siena. Siena is a very unique city. Divided into 17 different "contrade", or provinces, the city looks very Medieval. Each contrada has their own symbol, which is displayed proudly on their flags within their province. You can always tell which part of the city you are in simply by looking at the flags that hang above the street corners. Siena is also home to Il Palio, a horse race that occurs that occurs every summer in the town center. 10 of the 17 contrade compete against each other in this race. Unlike the winner of the Kentucky Derby, the winner of the Palio is the horse, and only the horse. The jockey doesn't receive much credit. 

The city center of Siena, which also makes up the track for Il Palio.

The last city we visited that weekend was San Giminagno. I was so toured out by the end of this weekend I honestly don't remember anything too interesting about this city. It was beautiful, of course, with a beautiful view. I will let the pictures do the talking...

City center of San Giminagno.

Il mio amore, Giovanni :) Can you tell he's happy?

The girls! From left to right: Me, Brooke, Maura, Christina, Marissa, Vanessa, Alexis, Clio, Caroline & Claire.

The view from the top of San Giminagno.

Just a little update

Ciao amici!
I don't have too much time to write right now, but I'd thought I would fill you in on what it is that I am studying here and what the classes are like.
The university that I am attending is called Florence University of the Arts, or FUA. I only have classes three days a week! On Mondays, I have Religion and Women and Italian. Tuesdays I have Foundations of Painting from 9-2:30 (yup, 5 1/2 hours of painting!) and then Food, Culture and Society from 3-5:30. Wenesdays I go to Ethics in a World Context and then Italian again.

Can you guess which class is my favorite? If you know me, then you know that anything to do with Food fascinates me so yes, Food, Culture and Society is my little afternoon in heaven. The first class we got to make Crepselles alla Fiorentina, a dish that was actually introduced by Catherine de Medici, a woman who loved food and who practically introduced the French to Italian ways of cooking. Crepselles alla Fiorentina has 3 basic parts: the crepeselle, or pasta shell (which is made in the same way that a crepe today would be made), the filling made of ricotta and spinach, and the bechamel sauce, a creamy sauce spiced with a little bit of nutmeg. After making the crepe, filling and sauce, you stuff the pasta, pour the sauce on top, and bake it....Bon Apetit!
This past week, we had a "market" tasting. We learned about several Italian cheeses and cured meats which you can find at the local fresh markets. Out of the 4 cheeses we tasted, I thought that Taleggio was the best. It is a soft, rich cheese, that his rich in fat but absolutely delicious! Of the meats, Finocchiono was my favorite. Finocchiono is a salami that has been spiced with fennel (finocchio means fennell in Italian). Least favorite meat: Lardo, or LARD. Italians actually eat it by itself sometimes, although they use it for cooking as well.
As far as my other classes go, surprisingly painting is the most difficult so far. It's pretty exhausting, not to mention time consuming. One small piece of work can take 5-6 hours, especially because I am so new at this! I've never really painted anything before in my life and it is taking some time getting used to how all the materials work. I guess that is how a lot of things are here. It takes practice, patience and an open mind to really grasp something you've never experience before whether it be something like painting or living in a whole new environment. 

A whole lot of Italy

So, incase you haven't noticed, the past few posts I have been trying to play "catch up". The dates on the blog don't really match up with the day that I actually wrote the post because I haven't been able to post right away due to the lack of internet access here! Yet since today is a rainy day and I have a few hours to kill before my first class, I think I will try and fill you in on the past week and a half in one giant posting. 

For our first weekend in Italy, our school program (Fairfield) took us on what I would call the best field trip ever. Saturday evening all 80 of us hopped on a coach bus, rode through the tuscan hillsides surrounding Florence and arrived at Villa Medicea di Lilliano, now the home and winery of the Malenchini family. We got to tour the Villa, sample the wines and learn about how the wine and olive oil are made. What's more is that we got to eat dinner on the rooftop of this villa, which overlooks the tuscan hillsides. There was music (even some beautiful Italian karaoke by our group leader, Chiara), dancing and absolutely wonderful food. The weather was perfect, the sky was clear and there was even a beautiful, glowing moon hanging above us. I won't try to say more because I think the pictures can tell you more than I can...

La Villa Medicea di Lilliano.

      The view from the rooftop.

L'antipasto and wine tasting.

 

            Risotto and Pasta Primavera.          

 Grape cake and Tiramisu.

The following morning (sunday) we woke up early, hopped on a bus again and went to Pisa! And yes, we got to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. There were two things that surprised me most about Pisa though. First, it is not exactly the nicest little town that you would expect it to be. It seemed very run down and poor. The second thing that I never realized about Pisa was that the Leaning Tower is actually part of a church. Believe it or not, the tower was meant to be the bell tower, or campanile. Every cathedral was supposed to have three parts: the baptistry, the campanile, and the cathedral or "duomo". 

Unfortunately, this tower was built on too soft of land and was poorly designed. They think (but aren't sure) that a man Bonnano Pisano designed the tower and ran away after he realized it was sinking. For a long time, the tower sunk 1 mm per year, but now they have done reconstruction to try and save the tower from toppling. 

John and I infront of the La Torre di Pisa!

That afternoon, we went to our first Italian beach in a place called Viareggio. Although absolutely beautiful, it was also very different from the beaches back home. The water is cleaner and clearer and the sand is soft. If you are facing the water and you turn to look behind you, there is an entire mountain range which forms a beautiful (and strange!) skyline. There was, of course, some other not so beautiful sights to see. Old men in speedos that look waaaay too small?!! Still, the scenery was breathtaking and the afternoon was relaxing...

That is all I have time for now. There is still more I need to catch up on, but for now I think I've given you all enough to read :) 

Culture...and shock.

Just when I thought our little Italian apartment was perfect, I am proven wrong by some of God's most wonderful little creatures: cockroaches. Thankfully, there was just one of these little beauties in our room. After spotting it's presence on the wall in the living room, a fit of fearful shrieks broke out. It took several agonizing minutes to decide who would have the honors of putting the thing to its death. Being the only man in the room, Meaghan, Christina and I convinced (forced?) John to kill the little monster. Several hits of a rolled up magazine only brought cockroachzilla to the floor. It's final end came from the smash of a rather large and heavy book--smush! May we all rest in peace tonight.

For obvious reasons, the lifestyle in Italy is very different from the life we live in the United States. Still living in Florence, a city bustling with life and tourism, makes living here an even more challenging and new. One must get used to the constant noise--sirens, cars, music, people and there is an overwhelming amount of street stands, stores, restaurants and cafes. And although living next to the Duomo is  definitely something to brag about, it can also make day to day life quite difficult and overwhelming. Every morning, there is a long line of tourists visible from our bedroom window, all waiting to go inside the cathedral. Just outside our front door is a bus stop, which means that getting out our front door requires several "scusa, scusi..." just to get through to where you are going. Being a tourist hotspot, this also means that all of the shops and restaurants are way over priced and not all that great or authentic.

 

Even though most of the Italians that live here travel by cars, Vespas, or bicycles, navigating around Florence requires a lot of traveling by foot. In just the few short days of living here, I have only walked to where I have absolutely needed to go and I am already exhausted. Part of the reason for this is because every little thing must be bought from a different store. There  is a store for electrical appliances, a store for the internet, a store to buy meats, a store to buy wine, a store to stationary and nothing else! There is no one "stop and shop" place to buy everything you need at once. Needless to say, I have had to learn my way around the city quickly.

The First Day

It is absolutely beautiful here!

There is so much I could say about the past 24 hours, but I think, for now, I will try my best to describe the beautiful things that I am surrounded by.

Imagine waking up every morning only to look out your window to see Il Duomo and La Santa Maria di Fiore. Although there is an ongoing bustle of people always outside our front door, the back patio overlooks a quiet little courtyard, which is cornered by the hodgepodge of little tuscan apartments and buildings, each made unique by its size, color, and structure. Our kitchen is small, but quaint and colorful and we have one of the few apartments in the building with a patio. 

In many ways, Florence itself is like our little courtyard. It is a blend of new and old, and you will find quiet streets crossing over into loud and busy ones. Every building and sculpture has a history (some very longs ones!), but you will still find new and

 modern places among the old. The streets, though  made of uneven cobblestone, are filled with cars, vespas and bikes (which do not like to stop for pedestrians!). Nothing and nobody is too fancy or glamorous yet they have style and class and are most certainly not cheap. Life moves much slower, without a plan and still, it is never boring, just savored a little more. 

Traveling Thoughts

After several long hours of soaring across the big blue sea, I have finally landed on solid ground. I am in Frankfurt, Germany now, waiting for the last part of my trip to begin.  Still, somehow I felt more comfortable in the air, sitting in a comfortable seat without having to think about where I am going and what I need to do. Even though many people speak English here and are able to direct me when I ask a question, I am still unsure of where I am and can only hope that I have made it to the correct connecting gate. Furthermore, I feel as if my American presence stands out and that one wrong move may offend someone or make me inadequate to be here. Despite these insecurities and the tired state that both my mind and body are in, I am anxious and excited to be landing in Firenze in just a few short hours. It is all still very surreal and I do not think that it will really sink in until I set my eyes upon the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and all of 

the red-roofed houses that color the city beautifully. 

Flying over the Alps. E belissima!