Ciao :)
-This has been the time of the day trips lately. Because we don't want to pay for hostels or B&B's, we just have been traveling around seeing little cities nearby for the day. Luckily we all figured out how to navigate the train system and we just take a train.
-May 6 Lucca
I went with a classmate from my architecture class to this city for making up the field trip we had missed the weekend before (I was in london and she and been somewhere else also and we had booked those before we knew the date of the class field trip). So we just went there, saw some churches and other architectural sites that the class saw. Got some food, and just walked around! It was a nice little trip, a beautiful city very small but cute. They call the architecture Pisian, which means derived from the architecture found in Pisa, which was good because the next weekend i went to pisa and got to see the similarities.
-May 7 Aperitivo
Our school has a cooking school in it also, which they put on an aperitivo every week. Basically appetizers and drinks made by the kids in the cooking school. It's all really good stuff, authentic Italian food and things Italians would eat at aperitivo. This is a very commonplace thing, done before dinner frequently. We later went out to dinner, and went to a place to dance. It was all very fun, and I had never done any of it before, so that was a fun thing to do with all my roommates and their friends right before finals were going to start.
-May 9 Pisa
We went for the leaning tower pictures of course :) small little city but so fun! Lots of adorable little shops, and actually some high end stuff. The leaning tower is beautiful, so gorgeous. As is the cathedral and the baptistry which are all right by it. and it really was similar to the architecture in Lucca, must have been by the same architect or a pupil. Last day trip we were able to do :/ bittersweet it all came to an end so fast! The next week was finals week.
Ciao
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
London calling!!!!!
May 1-3
-Sorry this is late! Busy busy.
-This was our last roomie trip together so we wanted to do something big. We tried to do Budapest and Prague but it was hard to get there from italy. So next choice was London, because none of us had been there. We took an early bus to Pisa where we flew on an airline called Ryanair- because they are so cheap they don't fly into many large airports but hey, we were going to London so we didn't care :) Finally got to London in a few hours to Stansted airport, where we had to take another hour bus ride to the city center, where we took a double decker bus to a stop near our hostel (finally! It was basically a whole day of traveling).
-We walked around, and saw we were right by king's cross station which happens to be a tube stop, so we bought oyster cards (reloadable cards you put money on to ride the tube) and we went to see some stuff straight off! Saw Big ben, the London eye at night, thames river, telephone booths, we went to starbucks, randomly saw a spanish culture festival where there was live music, food, and other cool stuff. We got dinner in a place recommended to me by some friends that had gone a few weekends prior to us- I had curry which was delicious! We later went to a pub for a drink (!!!) And then crashed in our beds. Our hostel wasn't bad, 4 to a room (so luckily we didn't have strangers) and we shared a bathroom with the hall- so basically freshman year of college communal bathrooms. They were a little strange, because in one stall there was a sink, shower and toilet in that order, separated by curtains haha. But hey, they made the small space work, and it was fine for two nights.
-Next day we got up super early to get our picture at the Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 setup inside King's cross station-- we were first in line, actually there was no line up yet heh heh we beat everybody by getting up at 6 am :) then we ran around all day long! saw the harry potter gift shop, parliament, shakespeare globe theatre, a cool vintage bookmarket underneath the waterloo bridge, an ethnic food festival was going on by shakespeare's theatre so we had lunch there (I had a moo pie which was essentially a meat pie), and kept going and occasionally taking the tube to get us around. The tube is wonderful and very easy to navigate. It was wonderful. we saw tower bridge, london bridge, took cute pictures by the phone booths, st paul's cathedral, westminster, buckingham palace (actually we went there the DAY the princess Charlotte was born :) how cool are we???) Trafalgar square, and we actually found Abbey Road out in westminster and we did the picture in the crosswalk :) we also had afternoon tea in a little teahouse, because that's what you have to do.
-We had dinner in a pub (I got fish and chips of course, what else) and almost everything was going so well, until at dinner my roommate had her purse stolen. So unfortunate and soooo scary- luckily she had her passport, our plane tickets and cellphone back at the hostel. She cancelled her cards and lost some money, but it could have been way worse.
-We had to leave at 3 am, which sucked, because we had to taxi to the bus station, then bus to the airport, go through customs, and then board our flight to a city called Perugia in italy. Then we took a train from Perugia to Florence where we all happily arrived. We were excited with the fun weekend, the things we saw and with our souvenirs we got, but still freaked out from the purse-stealing situation and drained from all the traveling... and yet we all had homework due next day haha. So homework sucked but hey, we spent the weekend in London :) it wasn't perfect, but I was able to do it with my friends and it was awesome.
Ciao for now
-Sorry this is late! Busy busy.
-This was our last roomie trip together so we wanted to do something big. We tried to do Budapest and Prague but it was hard to get there from italy. So next choice was London, because none of us had been there. We took an early bus to Pisa where we flew on an airline called Ryanair- because they are so cheap they don't fly into many large airports but hey, we were going to London so we didn't care :) Finally got to London in a few hours to Stansted airport, where we had to take another hour bus ride to the city center, where we took a double decker bus to a stop near our hostel (finally! It was basically a whole day of traveling).
-We walked around, and saw we were right by king's cross station which happens to be a tube stop, so we bought oyster cards (reloadable cards you put money on to ride the tube) and we went to see some stuff straight off! Saw Big ben, the London eye at night, thames river, telephone booths, we went to starbucks, randomly saw a spanish culture festival where there was live music, food, and other cool stuff. We got dinner in a place recommended to me by some friends that had gone a few weekends prior to us- I had curry which was delicious! We later went to a pub for a drink (!!!) And then crashed in our beds. Our hostel wasn't bad, 4 to a room (so luckily we didn't have strangers) and we shared a bathroom with the hall- so basically freshman year of college communal bathrooms. They were a little strange, because in one stall there was a sink, shower and toilet in that order, separated by curtains haha. But hey, they made the small space work, and it was fine for two nights.
-Next day we got up super early to get our picture at the Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 setup inside King's cross station-- we were first in line, actually there was no line up yet heh heh we beat everybody by getting up at 6 am :) then we ran around all day long! saw the harry potter gift shop, parliament, shakespeare globe theatre, a cool vintage bookmarket underneath the waterloo bridge, an ethnic food festival was going on by shakespeare's theatre so we had lunch there (I had a moo pie which was essentially a meat pie), and kept going and occasionally taking the tube to get us around. The tube is wonderful and very easy to navigate. It was wonderful. we saw tower bridge, london bridge, took cute pictures by the phone booths, st paul's cathedral, westminster, buckingham palace (actually we went there the DAY the princess Charlotte was born :) how cool are we???) Trafalgar square, and we actually found Abbey Road out in westminster and we did the picture in the crosswalk :) we also had afternoon tea in a little teahouse, because that's what you have to do.
-We had dinner in a pub (I got fish and chips of course, what else) and almost everything was going so well, until at dinner my roommate had her purse stolen. So unfortunate and soooo scary- luckily she had her passport, our plane tickets and cellphone back at the hostel. She cancelled her cards and lost some money, but it could have been way worse.
-We had to leave at 3 am, which sucked, because we had to taxi to the bus station, then bus to the airport, go through customs, and then board our flight to a city called Perugia in italy. Then we took a train from Perugia to Florence where we all happily arrived. We were excited with the fun weekend, the things we saw and with our souvenirs we got, but still freaked out from the purse-stealing situation and drained from all the traveling... and yet we all had homework due next day haha. So homework sucked but hey, we spent the weekend in London :) it wasn't perfect, but I was able to do it with my friends and it was awesome.
Ciao for now
Monday, May 4, 2015
Florence cultural events
Buona giornata ragazzi! Sorry this is so late.
I can't even express to you how cultural of a city florence is. I just love it! I can walk down the street and see a painter, or a sidewalk artist drawing a Botticelli with pastels, or a violin player playing excerpts from Vivaldi or from famous operas. They embrace culture here, and they live it. They implement it in daily life, and they let it thrive out in the open for everyone to enjoy. It's not confined in just a museum or just a historical building. They put on events all the time, not just once a year. For example, I did three really cool city events in one day! Thursday April 30th. Things like this go on all the time, and since three somehow lined up all on the same day, I decided to do them all. I LOVE FLORENCE.
-The first cool thing I did was an annual artisan Festival at a place away from the city center called Fortezza da Basso. Literally translated means fort, and when you see it you can tell this is a really old fortification used for war and probably all sorts of other things, but now it is used for large conventions like this. A huge area of building after building, all filled with stuff. Some are food places, one huge area is dedicated to clothing makers and jewelry makers, another is all beauty products, another is all horticulture and plants, another is ceramic pieces, and one huge building in the center was like the world craft fair or something like that. I kid you not, this building is massive. Three floors that spans for ever and ever. I got lost on every single floor! The ground floor was all local italian artisans that produced everything you could possibly want ranging from knickknacks to flowers, to garments to food. The bottom level was the world artisan area- artisans from all over the world, and each section of this floor was separated by country!!!! Crazy! India, lots of countries in Africa indonesia, china, south america, spain, japan, korea, germany, just country after country with clothes, pottery, art, jewelry, just amazing beautiful things. And finally the top floor-- all food. Nothing but food. From any country you could think of! Again segmented by the specific country. So you had crepe makers near france, meats near germany, kebaps near Turkey, meats and cheeses I'd never even heard of, just everywhere. It was literally amazing. I would go back next year for that event.
-The second thing I did was go to a gelato festival up at piazzale michelangiolo. How cool is that??? I went with my roommates and it was awesome! Multiple gelato trucks! And for 7 euro you could get a ticket that got you 6 different kinds of gelato. Kind of large cups too! I think I only ate 5 heh heh. But there was all kinds of delicious flavors, I unfortunately don't remember specifically what kinds besides nutella which was delicious of course.
-My roommates and I also did a bookmaking workshop through school. That was so fun too! The class was taught by a local bookbinder, and they supplied everything for us. The paper, the awls, covers and thread. We got to design our own pattern we wanted on the spine, and then you punch all the holes in the pages, and thread! It was surprisingly simple. And fun :) we all got a really cool souvenir to take home.
-The last one was finally that night. Called Notte Bianca, which means white night. The city basically stays up until 4 am with live music everywhere, artists, restaurants open, shops open, and all sorts of stuff going on. They hand out program guides that are connected to a map, so that you can see what is going on where, at what time, and how to get there. There was about 50 events total! So many, it was nuts. My friend and I just walked around and happened to run into some random music groups (italian heavy metal?), jazz, rock, string violin quartet, and other cool things. We also found some cool street artists doing stuff. Very cool! We didn't want to stay out too late with just the two of us, or else we would have stayed later to see more events. But this was a really cool event :)
Ciao!
I can't even express to you how cultural of a city florence is. I just love it! I can walk down the street and see a painter, or a sidewalk artist drawing a Botticelli with pastels, or a violin player playing excerpts from Vivaldi or from famous operas. They embrace culture here, and they live it. They implement it in daily life, and they let it thrive out in the open for everyone to enjoy. It's not confined in just a museum or just a historical building. They put on events all the time, not just once a year. For example, I did three really cool city events in one day! Thursday April 30th. Things like this go on all the time, and since three somehow lined up all on the same day, I decided to do them all. I LOVE FLORENCE.
-The first cool thing I did was an annual artisan Festival at a place away from the city center called Fortezza da Basso. Literally translated means fort, and when you see it you can tell this is a really old fortification used for war and probably all sorts of other things, but now it is used for large conventions like this. A huge area of building after building, all filled with stuff. Some are food places, one huge area is dedicated to clothing makers and jewelry makers, another is all beauty products, another is all horticulture and plants, another is ceramic pieces, and one huge building in the center was like the world craft fair or something like that. I kid you not, this building is massive. Three floors that spans for ever and ever. I got lost on every single floor! The ground floor was all local italian artisans that produced everything you could possibly want ranging from knickknacks to flowers, to garments to food. The bottom level was the world artisan area- artisans from all over the world, and each section of this floor was separated by country!!!! Crazy! India, lots of countries in Africa indonesia, china, south america, spain, japan, korea, germany, just country after country with clothes, pottery, art, jewelry, just amazing beautiful things. And finally the top floor-- all food. Nothing but food. From any country you could think of! Again segmented by the specific country. So you had crepe makers near france, meats near germany, kebaps near Turkey, meats and cheeses I'd never even heard of, just everywhere. It was literally amazing. I would go back next year for that event.
-The second thing I did was go to a gelato festival up at piazzale michelangiolo. How cool is that??? I went with my roommates and it was awesome! Multiple gelato trucks! And for 7 euro you could get a ticket that got you 6 different kinds of gelato. Kind of large cups too! I think I only ate 5 heh heh. But there was all kinds of delicious flavors, I unfortunately don't remember specifically what kinds besides nutella which was delicious of course.
-My roommates and I also did a bookmaking workshop through school. That was so fun too! The class was taught by a local bookbinder, and they supplied everything for us. The paper, the awls, covers and thread. We got to design our own pattern we wanted on the spine, and then you punch all the holes in the pages, and thread! It was surprisingly simple. And fun :) we all got a really cool souvenir to take home.
-The last one was finally that night. Called Notte Bianca, which means white night. The city basically stays up until 4 am with live music everywhere, artists, restaurants open, shops open, and all sorts of stuff going on. They hand out program guides that are connected to a map, so that you can see what is going on where, at what time, and how to get there. There was about 50 events total! So many, it was nuts. My friend and I just walked around and happened to run into some random music groups (italian heavy metal?), jazz, rock, string violin quartet, and other cool things. We also found some cool street artists doing stuff. Very cool! We didn't want to stay out too late with just the two of us, or else we would have stayed later to see more events. But this was a really cool event :)
Ciao!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Oh my!
Ciao!
I'll try to do this as quick as possible :) Another travel weekend, woohoo! April 24-26
I'll try to do this as quick as possible :) Another travel weekend, woohoo! April 24-26
-We took a high speed train to Naples, and we spent the night there. They took us to dinner, and then we went to sleep. Naples it turned out I didn't really like, it was rather on the sketchy side, more dingy, more impoverished, smelled kind of weird and it wasn't as pretty as other cities I visited. I also didn't feel as safe there. I had heard the south of italy is a little more sketchy, *so if you ever go*, just be very aware of pickpockets and people trying to sell you stuff. Don't stay out too late at night either.
-The next day we did Capri, in which we took a boat out there since it is an island. And then we had free time in which we went to the Blue Grotto, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. So cool! The sand is so white and the water is so clear that when sunlight comes into the little opening into the grotto, reflects it, and illuminates the water from underneath. We took a funicular to the top of the island- incredible view! Capri is GORGEOUS with beautiful shops (most were expensive but so pretty to look at), cute restaurants (food was amazing), and we passed by people's private little villas which looked heavenly. I'd definitely go back.
-Later in the day was Sorrento, which is home to tons of lemon groves, from which they make the famous limoncello (which is gross, I did not like it and trust me, even getting it in the place where it's supposedly the best didn't help). It always looks pretty but it's waaaaay too strong. and grody. We walked around, and it was a very cute little town with adorable little shops. Lemon themed everything and it was so cute. I had limoncello and tiramisu gelato (I know I just said I hate limoncello) but when its inside gelato you can't taste the alcohol. This combo was probably some of the best gelato I ever tasted! Tasted like chocolate and lemon cake kissed by angels.
-We did a walking tour of Naples the last day and although we went to the nicer section, it was still slightly sketchy. We took a funicular to the top of the city and visited some monasteries and churches. Stopped for lunch at a local pizza place- I have to say, some of the best pizza I've ever had. In naples they invented the margherita pizza so we ordered that-- so tasty.
All in all, a good weekend :) I never thought I would go to Capri! That's where rich and famous people go! Definitely one to check off the bucket list.
Ciao xoxo
-The next day we did Capri, in which we took a boat out there since it is an island. And then we had free time in which we went to the Blue Grotto, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. So cool! The sand is so white and the water is so clear that when sunlight comes into the little opening into the grotto, reflects it, and illuminates the water from underneath. We took a funicular to the top of the island- incredible view! Capri is GORGEOUS with beautiful shops (most were expensive but so pretty to look at), cute restaurants (food was amazing), and we passed by people's private little villas which looked heavenly. I'd definitely go back.
-Later in the day was Sorrento, which is home to tons of lemon groves, from which they make the famous limoncello (which is gross, I did not like it and trust me, even getting it in the place where it's supposedly the best didn't help). It always looks pretty but it's waaaaay too strong. and grody. We walked around, and it was a very cute little town with adorable little shops. Lemon themed everything and it was so cute. I had limoncello and tiramisu gelato (I know I just said I hate limoncello) but when its inside gelato you can't taste the alcohol. This combo was probably some of the best gelato I ever tasted! Tasted like chocolate and lemon cake kissed by angels.
-We did a walking tour of Naples the last day and although we went to the nicer section, it was still slightly sketchy. We took a funicular to the top of the city and visited some monasteries and churches. Stopped for lunch at a local pizza place- I have to say, some of the best pizza I've ever had. In naples they invented the margherita pizza so we ordered that-- so tasty.
All in all, a good weekend :) I never thought I would go to Capri! That's where rich and famous people go! Definitely one to check off the bucket list.
Ciao xoxo
Friday, April 24, 2015
Roman Holiday
Ciao!
Here is the quick version of my blog post for my weekend trip April 18-19 to Rome that I did through my school program. I'm not going to write very lengthy anymore because it takes too long :) It was a great trip because my architecture professor was one of the chaperones, and another history professor was the other- so it was educational as well as fun!
-Walking tours of the city over both days in which we saw the Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Trevi fountain (unfortunately under restoration so we couldn't throw the coin :( sad), St. Peter in Chains church, Quattro Fontane, a couple of other churches, Michelangelo's Spanish steps, the roman forum, the pantheon, Piazza navona with the three fountains, and probably other famous things that I have forgotten. Take a look at my Flickr page and tell me if I forgot something!
-Random- but right by the Pantheon is a fantastic coffee shop that everyone must go to sometime in their life. Called "La case del caffe" also "Tazza D'oro" right next to the Pantheon, literally can't miss it, and the thing to get is like a granita iced coffee slush basically layered between two mounds of whipped cream. I believe it's "granita di caffe con pana" is how it is written on the menu. I'd go back just for that!
Here is the quick version of my blog post for my weekend trip April 18-19 to Rome that I did through my school program. I'm not going to write very lengthy anymore because it takes too long :) It was a great trip because my architecture professor was one of the chaperones, and another history professor was the other- so it was educational as well as fun!
-Walking tours of the city over both days in which we saw the Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Trevi fountain (unfortunately under restoration so we couldn't throw the coin :( sad), St. Peter in Chains church, Quattro Fontane, a couple of other churches, Michelangelo's Spanish steps, the roman forum, the pantheon, Piazza navona with the three fountains, and probably other famous things that I have forgotten. Take a look at my Flickr page and tell me if I forgot something!
-Random- but right by the Pantheon is a fantastic coffee shop that everyone must go to sometime in their life. Called "La case del caffe" also "Tazza D'oro" right next to the Pantheon, literally can't miss it, and the thing to get is like a granita iced coffee slush basically layered between two mounds of whipped cream. I believe it's "granita di caffe con pana" is how it is written on the menu. I'd go back just for that!
-Vatican
museum and St Peter's basilica was all in one day, and it was amazing! Vatican
tour was very long, but we got to see everything: the papal apartments, ancient
art pieces like the Doryphoros and the Laocoon group that are displayed there,
through the long halls of tapestries and maps, and at the very end was the
Sistine chapel. We had about 30 minutes inside, and it was spectacular.
-St
Peter's was close by, we got to go inside there (GORGEOUS) and see Michelangelo's Pieta
and the beautiful bronze canopy (ciborium or also called a baldachin) that sits in the middle of the transept. We got to go to Mass there too! Beautiful.
-St. Peter's square was equally spectacular, with the 4 column-deep rounded colonnade that surrounds the entire church and then extends downward, to encircle the people with the "church's loving arms" as Bernini was quoted as saying for the reason for his design.
That's all I can think of for this trip! Ciao
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
French Riviera weekend!
Ciao! I'm so sorry I have been MIA lately, school was getting busy and traveling every weekend didn't leave me time for blogging. I'll update y'all on the Cote d'Azure or French Riviera trip! It was wonderful. I actually went "alone" or I signed up without knowing anyone immediately. Turns out I knew a few people from class and other friends, so I hung out with them all weekend. I am typing this fast, so here it is! I might come back and fix it later.
Eze: tour of Fragonard perfume factory, walk to high point and exotic gardens, giant take away sandwich on a baguette with fresh basil that she picked right outside the shop door. Breathtaking views and wonderful little shops that lined the little hillside that we climbed.
Monaco: bus ride to Monaco, yacht area, Monte Carlo casino, played the slots, guy who laid down €1000 like it was nothing then lost it all, walked along the streets and the coastline, gorgeous pictures, came back on the bus for Nice, had piña colada and tapas for dinner and I had beautiful gelato in the form of a flower
Antibes: we finally found a sand beach, we sat on it most of the day. I also got really sunburnt haha awkward. My skin said WHAT IS SUN AHHH. We also found this huge outdoor market that was AMAZING. So many different kinds of spices, meats, fruits, anything you could possibly want. There must have been 10 different kinds of salt alone! Idk what either black or pink salt are, but I'm sure they are delicious. We shopped in some little outdoor shops, where they had the prettiest jewelry and I wanted to buy everything. I found another printshop! And I bought a pretty little etched print of the beach. We bought lunch at a sandwich stand, and took it to the beach. That's pretty much it for that trip!
Antibes: we finally found a sand beach, we sat on it most of the day. I also got really sunburnt haha awkward. My skin said WHAT IS SUN AHHH. We also found this huge outdoor market that was AMAZING. So many different kinds of spices, meats, fruits, anything you could possibly want. There must have been 10 different kinds of salt alone! Idk what either black or pink salt are, but I'm sure they are delicious. We shopped in some little outdoor shops, where they had the prettiest jewelry and I wanted to buy everything. I found another printshop! And I bought a pretty little etched print of the beach. We bought lunch at a sandwich stand, and took it to the beach. That's pretty much it for that trip!
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Day Tripping and Easter weekend
Ciao Ragazzi!
Buona Pasqua! That means happy easter over here in Italy :) This past weekend has been kind of crazy, we did 3 day trips AND experienced some local culture with traditional easter festivities! I'll try to make this short, but no promises :) as always, check out my pictures! They tell the story of my trips better than my words can.
Friday we day tripped to Siena, Italy. This is a gorgeous little medieval city about an hour and a half train ride from florence. We wanted to go to Verona, because we had just watched Letters to Juliet, but the Verona train wasn't going through florence that day. So we decided to go to Siena instead. Which was just fine because it turns out part of the movie was filmed there too. Tickets are super easy to buy and cheap too. I liked traveling by train! It was fast! We walked a little ways until we reached the main city center and saw the main piazza with the gorgeous clock tower, had some lunch, went and did some shopping, went inside a few churches and then hopped back on the train! Just there for a few hours but that's pretty much all you needed for this city. It was so cute! Our pizza was tasty. It was a nice day, so it was good to walk in the sun and get some vitamin D.
Saturday all four of us had signed up for a school trip to Chianti for a vineyard tour and a wine tasting! Chianti isn't that far from florence, maybe an hour by bus. We toured this spectacular vineyard that used to be a villa belonging to a royal family. They taught us all about their wine, and what makes their chianti different than others. Then we toured their gardens, and the places where they store all the wine... it was all so impressive! The last part was the tasting, and surprisingly I actually liked it! We tried a Chianti, a Chianti classico and then a sweet dessert wine that you put your biscotti in. I liked the Chianti classico that was aged for less time than the other one, because it was lighter and more fruity. I didn't really like the dessert wine, lol. They gave us some bread, cheese and meat to for a light lunch, and it was so fun! Such an Italian thing to do during the day. That was pretty much it for that one too! Only a few hours there, and then they brought us back on the bus. We went to a Mexican restaurant that night for dinner here in florence, and it was actually delicious :) fantastic margaritas, because we are actually closer to Spain than I had thought :) someday I'd like to go there! I don't speak any Spanish though. We went to a late night easter candlelight vigil, which was so cool! They built a fire inside Santa Maria del Fiore, and then the bishop lit the Christ candle from it, and thus all of our candles that we had were lit from the flame of the Christ candle. It was so cool! So many people. There was a choir, and an organ player, and they really pulled out all the stops for this service. Also, it went on for 3 hours. Yeah, it started at 10:30, so we didn't get back to our apartment until around 2, and we were pooped. But we had to wake up early for the stuff on Sunday!
Sunday Easter festivities began around 9:30, a parade started in town with people dressed up in medieval garb and instruments of all kinds. They pulled the cart along behind them, which is rigged with hundreds of fireworks and it is the pride of the city. They start working months in advance to attach all the fireworks. We see flag twirlers and dancers, and so many different animals and interesting things. The main spectacle- called scoppido del carro- began at 11 right in front of the Duomo, which is where the cart stopped, a fake dove with a fuse attached to it was sent down a wire from inside the Duomo, flew into the cart, hit the fuse and started this huge chain reaction of exploding fireworks on this cart. It was cool!!! So many people cheered and screamed. And boy was it crazy trying to get out... only thousands of my closest friends had shown up to watch the show with us. Another easter tradition in Florence is huge chocolate eggs, so of course I bought one, it was about the size of my head. And it was delicious :)
Monday we had the day off, so we decided to go to Livorno, Italy. We again tried to go to Verona, but tickets were really expensive because it's kind of far, so we chose a city none of us had ever heard of. Completely a "zingarata", which comes from the word meaning "gypsy" and it means to take a spur of the moment trip to unknown places, maybe even alone, get a little lost, and there you will find yourself. Italian is the coolest language! Anyway, we get on the train like last time, and its about the same distance but in the opposite direction. This town wasn't as exciting because it was a holiday, and so the town was almost completely empty. Also it was a costal town, and therefore it wasn't in the best condition. But we managed to walk about 12 miles just wandering and looking at random stuff. We had a delicious lunch, and the walked down by the marina that they had. There were lots of boats which was cool to see, and it was nice weather that day. We talked about friends, family, boys and all sorts of other topics which was nice to bond about. And then we took the train home again! Something to do, just for fun for a few hours. We really like traveling on the train, and it is super easy!
Well that's pretty much all for now, until later, ciao ciao!
xx
Buona Pasqua! That means happy easter over here in Italy :) This past weekend has been kind of crazy, we did 3 day trips AND experienced some local culture with traditional easter festivities! I'll try to make this short, but no promises :) as always, check out my pictures! They tell the story of my trips better than my words can.
Friday we day tripped to Siena, Italy. This is a gorgeous little medieval city about an hour and a half train ride from florence. We wanted to go to Verona, because we had just watched Letters to Juliet, but the Verona train wasn't going through florence that day. So we decided to go to Siena instead. Which was just fine because it turns out part of the movie was filmed there too. Tickets are super easy to buy and cheap too. I liked traveling by train! It was fast! We walked a little ways until we reached the main city center and saw the main piazza with the gorgeous clock tower, had some lunch, went and did some shopping, went inside a few churches and then hopped back on the train! Just there for a few hours but that's pretty much all you needed for this city. It was so cute! Our pizza was tasty. It was a nice day, so it was good to walk in the sun and get some vitamin D.
Saturday all four of us had signed up for a school trip to Chianti for a vineyard tour and a wine tasting! Chianti isn't that far from florence, maybe an hour by bus. We toured this spectacular vineyard that used to be a villa belonging to a royal family. They taught us all about their wine, and what makes their chianti different than others. Then we toured their gardens, and the places where they store all the wine... it was all so impressive! The last part was the tasting, and surprisingly I actually liked it! We tried a Chianti, a Chianti classico and then a sweet dessert wine that you put your biscotti in. I liked the Chianti classico that was aged for less time than the other one, because it was lighter and more fruity. I didn't really like the dessert wine, lol. They gave us some bread, cheese and meat to for a light lunch, and it was so fun! Such an Italian thing to do during the day. That was pretty much it for that one too! Only a few hours there, and then they brought us back on the bus. We went to a Mexican restaurant that night for dinner here in florence, and it was actually delicious :) fantastic margaritas, because we are actually closer to Spain than I had thought :) someday I'd like to go there! I don't speak any Spanish though. We went to a late night easter candlelight vigil, which was so cool! They built a fire inside Santa Maria del Fiore, and then the bishop lit the Christ candle from it, and thus all of our candles that we had were lit from the flame of the Christ candle. It was so cool! So many people. There was a choir, and an organ player, and they really pulled out all the stops for this service. Also, it went on for 3 hours. Yeah, it started at 10:30, so we didn't get back to our apartment until around 2, and we were pooped. But we had to wake up early for the stuff on Sunday!
Sunday Easter festivities began around 9:30, a parade started in town with people dressed up in medieval garb and instruments of all kinds. They pulled the cart along behind them, which is rigged with hundreds of fireworks and it is the pride of the city. They start working months in advance to attach all the fireworks. We see flag twirlers and dancers, and so many different animals and interesting things. The main spectacle- called scoppido del carro- began at 11 right in front of the Duomo, which is where the cart stopped, a fake dove with a fuse attached to it was sent down a wire from inside the Duomo, flew into the cart, hit the fuse and started this huge chain reaction of exploding fireworks on this cart. It was cool!!! So many people cheered and screamed. And boy was it crazy trying to get out... only thousands of my closest friends had shown up to watch the show with us. Another easter tradition in Florence is huge chocolate eggs, so of course I bought one, it was about the size of my head. And it was delicious :)
Monday we had the day off, so we decided to go to Livorno, Italy. We again tried to go to Verona, but tickets were really expensive because it's kind of far, so we chose a city none of us had ever heard of. Completely a "zingarata", which comes from the word meaning "gypsy" and it means to take a spur of the moment trip to unknown places, maybe even alone, get a little lost, and there you will find yourself. Italian is the coolest language! Anyway, we get on the train like last time, and its about the same distance but in the opposite direction. This town wasn't as exciting because it was a holiday, and so the town was almost completely empty. Also it was a costal town, and therefore it wasn't in the best condition. But we managed to walk about 12 miles just wandering and looking at random stuff. We had a delicious lunch, and the walked down by the marina that they had. There were lots of boats which was cool to see, and it was nice weather that day. We talked about friends, family, boys and all sorts of other topics which was nice to bond about. And then we took the train home again! Something to do, just for fun for a few hours. We really like traveling on the train, and it is super easy!
Well that's pretty much all for now, until later, ciao ciao!
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