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 :)