Ciao all,
It's offical, I am terrible at keeping a blog haha. Time has flown by and I have three weeks to catch up on! The weather has been so nice here that it's hard to find time to actually sit down and write because in those rare times I'm usually catching up on homework.
Three weekends ago the weather really took and turn and we were lucky enough to spend the weekend in Florence enjoying the sunshine. After traveling so many weekends, it was really nice to have a weekend at home to sleep in and catch up on school and enjoy the sunshine on our neighbors patio. We spent most of the days laying in our swimsuits and soaking up the rays because the city center has become so crowded in the height of Europe tourist season. It is unbelievable how quickly Florence changed from a quiet city to roads packed with tour groups here for a weekend or a short day trip off a cruise. We also shopped in the leather market because although we walk through it everyday and often look at the many gifts we want, we rarely commit to shopping in the stands because it requires commitment to barter and deal with the vendors who are more interested in practicing their English flirting phrases than selling us purses and wallets.
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| View from a class field trip to San Miniato Church |
Although we are lucky enough to have girlfriends with a patio connected to their apartment downstairs, laying on the cement without shade or water nearby gets exhausting and laying in the city parks in a swimsuit is completely unacceptable. So we decided to take a short hour train ride to the beach, Viareggio. Traveling by train here is so quick and easy, I wish I was able to do it more at home. They have the convenience of airplanes without the hassle of security, plus the scenic ride is much more entertaining. We spent the whole day at the beach, having pizza and beer by the water while making friends with some of the locals. By the time we finally left to head home almost everyone had gone, leaving only the Americans to enjoy the sunset.
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| Viareggio |
We also visited another beauty of Florence I hadn't seen yet, the Boboili Gardens. The massive park is located behind Pitti Palace and stretch on for miles. It reminded me of the maze in Harry Potter, the Goblet of Fire with paths linking together in all different directions. This is one of the few places in Florence I have seen so much greenery as well as people laying out in the fields with blankets and picnics. It was incredibly quiet all through the gardens, we felt like we couldn't speak over a whisper. Not all the flowers have bloomed yet so I hope to go back soon to see it again and maybe bring a picnic myself this time. On top of the gardens there is a porcelain museum featuring a bunch of hand painted china from tiny teacups to vases.
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| Boboili Gardens |
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| Siena |
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| Thermal Baths |
The following weekend was my 21st birthday celebration! We had a planned trip with our program in Tuscany. After the beach day in Viareggio Friday, we left for Siena saturday morning and Cortona on Sunday morning. In Siena, we went on a walking tour of the city and visited a spa with natural thermal hot springs. Although it reeked of sulfur, the mineral water was supposedly very good for your skin. There was a ton of different pools with lounge chairs out front and the opportunity to order spa treatments. The city of Siena was a hilly, Tuscan town with beautiful villas. We ate lunch in Piazza del Campo and visited many of the cities churches. After our Tuscan day, we stayed in a hotel in the middle of nowhere between Siena and the hill town of Cortona. We had originally planned to go to a bar at midnight and have a drink to celebrate my birthday but considering there were no bars in sight, we found a cheap appertivo and got wine to take back to the hotel for a night in celebration. I couldn't have asked for anything more than to be with close friends enjoying a weekend in Italy.
Sunday, on my actual birthday we took buses up the winding hills to Cortona, the city where "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed. I had little expectations for this small town, but I was pleasantly surprised. Its shops and villas were so far removed for the touristy areas of Italy which made it beautiful. After leaving the city, we went to a Tuscan castle outside the city on a vineyard. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and I could not have asked for a better location for a wine tasting event on my 21st birthday. After touring the vineyard and cellars, we were brought to the wine tasting room which was gorgeous. I was picturing my wedding reception in the room after a perfect outdoor ceremony outside of the castle. Unfortunately, the family that owns the castle does not host weddings there haha I guess I will be attempting to recreate a Tuscan wedding in Seattle one day. We were given 4 different wines to taste along with a dessert wine that basically tasted like whiskey. With each wine came different meats and cheeses and spreads.
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| Cortona |
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| Cortona |
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| First Legal Drink in Cortona |
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| Birthday Cake After Wine Tasting |
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| Wine Tasting |
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| At the Tuscan Castle |
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| Birthday Girl |
We had planned to go to my favorite restaurant in Florence that evening after we got home but after all the food and drinks at the tasting we came home fat and happy so we postponed dinner for the following night. My roommates, Tara, Kayli and Kari, and I went with some of our other close friends here, Jaden, Sydney, and Caitlin. At my favorite restaurant, Acqua al 2 we had a pasta sampler for the table which comes with five different pasta dishes that are determined by the chef. They bring each pasta out one at a time so the dinner is really long and you have time to taste and enjoy each one. After the first course pasta sampler, we ordered a steak sampler which comes with a blueberry steak and a balsamic steak. I am not a big steak lover at home but these unique marinates are to die for, the restaurant is known for its speciality blueberry steak. When Andrew visited me last month, we discovered this gem and I am so happy I got to go back. We also enjoyed the dessert sampler and several glasses of wine. Even though it was different from any birthday I've had at home, I felt so blessed to be where I was with the people I was with. I look forward to celebrating all over again this summer with my family and friends.
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Birthday Dinner in Florence at my favorite restaurant, Acqua al 2
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Last weekend, we returned to Rome for the weekend. It's crazy to think Rome of our first trip of the semester and now it was one of our last. I remember being in Rome thinking I have to come back, I'm in love! And I am so happy I did. This trip was a lot more relaxed than the first visit there because we had already done tours of the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. Instead of stressing about seeing all the sites in a short period of time, we were able to enjoy the city and the friends we were with. Tara, Kayli, and I stayed with two of Andrew's close friends in his frat at home, Tyler and Mark. We had so much fun with them because we are desperately missing guy friends in our life here. We are surrounded everyday by girls, considering that our program has about 10 guys to 170 girls. Spending the weekend with them was the perfect taste of home and we are lucky enough to be able to see them again in a week when they come to visit Florence. On Sunday before leaving Rome, we went to the Vatican to see the pope speak. The last time we were in Rome a pope had not been elected so there wasn't much to see on Sunday mornings other than the anticipation of white smoke. The pope speaks every Sunday morning at 10 and noon from a top floor window in the Vatican. We arrived for the noon viewing after jogging half the way there only to find that all of Europe was already there. In 80 degree heat we pushed our way through the crowd, listening to people shout in hundreds of different languages, and rub their sweaty bodies against us. We finally made it to a place where we could see the window only to find out the Pope Francesco had decided not to speak out of the window that morning but rather, he drove around in the Pope Mobile and waved. In the end, all we saw was the top of his hat in the car as he waved and drove by but it was an unforgettable experience and one that I am happy to have experienced. It would have felt wrong to be in Rome and not see the pope in person if its at all possible.
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| Pope Francesco |
Yesterday was a national holiday, Liberation Day, so we had the day off from school. The night before the holiday is called La Notte Bianca, or White Night. This night is an all-night arts festival throughout the whole city. All the restaurants, bars, and museums stay open late hours into the night. In every piazza, there was different live music, art demonstrations, food and drinks for sale, and other activities. I have never seen so many Florentines together in the city at one time. It was fun to see all the kids who were allowed to stay out in the wee hours of the night with their parents. We walked from piazza to piazza singing along to live music and enjoying a hot air ballon show complete with women in costumes riding in them.
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| White Night Festival |
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| Dancing in the streets |
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| Ballon Show in Piazza Santa Croce |
I am now getting ready to leave for our last big trip of the semester to the Amalfi Coast, I can't believe it is here already! It seems like just last week we were booking this trip saying once we go to Amalfi our semester here is basically over. I also remember when I left home thinking the month of May pretty much doesn't count because we will be packing and taking finals and those couple weeks will fly by. Its May 2nd now and all I can say is I am definitely going back on my word and I'm going to make May count instead of just write it off. These last 3 months have been amazing and I'm going to make the last 3 weeks just as incredible!
Talk to you all again soon, but more importantly see you all soon!
Arrivederci,
Kaity
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