Tuscany

Ciao Tutti,

I took my final trip of the semester on Saturday.  I woke up at 4:30 AM (after getting an only an hour of sleep) to catch a bus to take me to the train station so I could catch a 6:15 AM train to Florence.  I got lucky and caught a night bus at 5:00 AM which had me at the train station by 5:15 AM.  It was way too early, but the night buses in Rome run even more sporadically than the normal buses do - now that's saying something.

I had an hour to get some breakfast, so I had an espresso, orange juice, croissant, and doughnut.  I ate my breakfast and watched the train station come alive with tourists of every nationality, social class, and different purposes of travel.  It was interesting to people watch.

After my breakfast, I got on my train and headed towards Florence.  I started a new book that my father brought me when he visited me a month ago (it is so good!) and listened to my iPod.  We arrived in Florence before I knew it - I love bullet trains.

After arriving in Florence, I checked into my tour and got onto the tour bus.  The tour started right on time and I sat next to an older woman from New Zealand, Sue.  We got to know each other quite well throughout the day.  She was on a six week tour of Europe after selling her vineyard back home.  She visited some family in England and decided to see Europe while she was over here.

Our first stop was Siena. Our tour guide was very concerned that I would not be able to keep up with the group tour as Siena is very hilly and wanted to call me a taxi at my own expense to take me to the city center.  That would have meant that I would also have missed the tour!  He said he needed to keep the tour moving and couldn't wait for me.  He was also afraid I would get lost and not be able to find my way back to the bus.  After about two minutes of telling him that I was a study abroad student who traveled across Europe the past semester and I would be fine, he still was very concerned.  I finally told him that he could leave me behind in Siena if I missed the bus and I would find my way back to Rome or Florence.  He reluctantly agreed.  Lets just say that I think he was impressed when I rode the five escalators to get into the city with no problem.  I would say I impressed him again when I was constantly in the front of the pack navigating the hills of Siena with more ease than most of my tour group.

Siena itself was a beautiful city.  It reminded me a lot of Split, Croatia and the older part of Barcelona - both were built by Roman emperors, so I was not that surprised.  Our first stop was one of the gates of the city. 

Then, we saw the oldest surviving bank in the whole world, Monte dei Paschi.  It was located in a beautiful courtyard.

After the bank, we passed by a few cars that were decorated in a style that looks very "redneck."  Apparently, Siena has a huge student population and they hold "car battles" at the end of every academic year.  The cars looked really cool.

Then, we went to the most famous part of Siena, the Campo Square.  It is one of the nicest squares I've been to in Italy.  It is sloped down towards the Siena government buildings and people lay out on the square and sunbathe or just talk.  It is so inviting! 


The square is also home to the famous Palio horse race that takes place twice a summer.  The Palio is a horse race in which all 16 neighborhoods of Siena compete.  The horses are randomly assigned to a lucky 10 neighborhoods (the other 6 do not participate in the race).  The neighborhoods can pay a jockey any amount of money to bring whatever horse they receive to victory.  If your neighborhood wins, mass chaos erupts and people start crying.  It sounds like a great event and is another example of how serious Italians take their sports!

Then, we went and saw the world famous Siena Duomo.  It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me a bit of a smaller scale Florence Duomo.

Siena itself was absolutely beautiful!  I wish we had more time in the city to explore it and "get lost."  I feel like there is so much I did not see.

We left Siena about 45 minutes after our tour ended and headed to an organic wine farm just outside San Gimignano.  We got a tour of the vineyard, stables, and wine cellar.  It was quite interesting and so beautiful. 

Then, we had lunch and a wine tasting at the wine farm on their terrace overlooking the Tuscan countryside.  The food was even better than the view!  They started us off with a garlic bread and a white wine.  Then, they brought out handmade pasta in a meat sauce and served a Chianti along with it - it was the best pasta I've had in Italy.  After, they brought out a platter of cheese and salami and served it with another red wine.  Then, they gave us biscotti and an aged dessert wine.  That wine was too sweet!


After we ate, I went and bought the first two bottles of wine we had for souvenirs back home for only 11 euros total!

Then, we took a 10 minute bus ride to San Gimignano.  We had an hour to explore the town which was very cool.  It earned the nickname "Medieval Manhattan" because it had over 72 watch towers in its prime.  The watch towers were built by the rich - the richer you were, the taller your watch tower could be.  If you became poorer, your watch tower was cut down to an appropriate size. 

 

San Gimignano was another hilly town and it was a pleasure to walk around it.  There was a gelato shop that won the World Gelato Championship two times in the past five years.  The gelato was amazing!  I had a chocolate and a tirmisu and it was the best gelato I have had in Italy!

After San Gimignao, we had an hour and a half bus ride to Pisa.  I fell asleep out of exhaustion!  When we arrived in Pisa, we boarded a tram that took us into the city center.  The three main attractions in Pisa are right next to each other - the leaning tower, the church, and the baptistry.  We had 45 minutes in Pisa which was just enough to take your cliche picture and climb the tower (if you wanted to, I did not).

After, we got back on our tram and had a quick tour of Pisa.  We then got back on our bus and went back to Florence. 

We arrived at 8:30 PM and my train was at 9:40 PM, so I went to a microbrewery by the train station we ate at the first time we were in Florence that had great french fries for only 3.50 euro.  They hit the spot! 

My train was 10 minutes late, but I arrived into Rome on time.  I made it home by 11:00 PM and immediately fell asleep!  It was a great trip, but a busy trip.  It was a great way to end my semester full of travels!

Ciao,
Michael

Family Visit: Day 4

Ciao Tutti,

We woke up very early on Friday morning (around 5:30 AM) and caught a taxi to the Rome train station, Stazione Termini.  From there, we caught a 6:45 AM bullet train to Venice.  We all slept a lot on the train and Matt loved the whole concept of the bullet train.

We arrived in Venice at around 10:45 AM and were greeted by long lines for the vaporetto station (ferry station).  Since there are no subways and no cars in Venice, this was the best way to get around.  We decided to walk down to the next vaporetto stop and catch the boat from there.  My brother and Dad saw a part of Venice we did not see when we were there seven years ago.  We eventually hopped on a ferry boat and saw the most famous bridge in Venice, Rialto Bridge, before getting off at Piazza San Marco, the most famous piazza in the world.

We then found the hotel we stayed at last time we were in Venice, but more on that later.  We were absolutely famished after our journey, so we went to the restaurant I went to last time in Venice with my friends, Vini di Pinto.  I had the same thing I had the previous time, gnocchi, and it did not disappoint.  I love the restaurant because the waiters are hilarious. 

After our meal, we went back to the hotel we stayed at seven years ago and caught a gondola ride from the dock next to the hotel.  My brother, Matt, ran into one of the kids he played baseball with in the fall the bridge by our old hotel.  Talk about a small world!  Back to the story, we decided to use that specific gondola dock because they gave us a great tour of historical Venice last time including Mozart's house.  They did the same thing this time and we had a great time!

Mozart's House

After our gondola ride, we grabbed a gelato in Saint Marks Square.  Then we headed for Murano to see the glass blowing demonstrations.  We made it to Murano in time for the last demonstration of the day, it would have stunk if we did not make it!  Afterwards, we walked around Murano for a bit and I bought Matt a pair of souvenir glass dice.

After Murano, we headed back to the train station and headed for Florence.  We caught a bullet train again, but this time it was actually cheaper for us to buy first class tickets instead of second class tickets.  Trenitalia has discounts based on seat availability and the discount was sold out of second class, but the base rate for the second class was higher than the discounted first class fare.  We were not complaining!  We got free soda, snacks, and candy!

We arrived in Florence at around 9:30 PM and walked towards the Duomo in search of something to eat. 

The problem with Florence is that it is so small.  Everything is in a touristy area, thus everything is going to cost a lot.  That being said, we were able to find a rather economical hostaria about a block from the Duomo.  It wasn't that bad, either!  I had gnocchi again because the first thing I ordered was not in stock.

Then, we took a taxi to our bed and breakfast, Leone X.  Because it was so late, they left our key at another hotel and we had to get it.  The directions they gave us to the hotel were pretty poor, but we eventually found it.  The room was nice - a king bed and a small cot.  We fell asleep right away after traveling to three different cities in one day!

Ciao,
Michael

Firenze (A Bit Delayed)

Ciao Tutti!

I have had this entry written and ready to post for a week now, but the internet in my apartment was not working.  I apologize for some of the references which seem a bit late...

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I am sitting on the train on my way back from Florence, but before I get into that let me start with the first week of classes.

I am taking five classes (16 credits) in Rome.  IES requires you take one Italian class and four other classes called "area studies courses".  The area studies courses are anything from art to classes on the European Union.  My schedule went over a lot of revisions over the past week as I was in a few art classes that were over my head, but I'll describe the classes I am currently enrolled in.

"AH/US 230: Roman Architecture and Urban Design" - This is one of the classes I switched in to half way through the week.  I missed the first lecture, but the second class was great.  We started off with a half hour lecture on the history of the Castel Sant'Angelo which was very interesting and informative.  It is amazing that a monument I can see from my apartment was a part of some of the most important events that shaped Rome as it is today.  After our half hour lecture, we actually got to go to the Castel Sant'Angelo and see everything.  It was originally built as a tomb, but was transformed into a fortress because it was ideally situated for battle.  Then, the Pope made it his safe house when the Vatican was attacked.  He actually built a mini-palace within the confines of the fortress!  After the Church lost most of its influence, the Pope did not need a safe house anymore, so the Italian Government turned it into a prison for a period of time.  Now, it is a tourist site with great views of Rome from the top. 

"IR 341: Italy and the European Union" - This class is great!  It is basically an overview of the formation of the European Union from the Post World War II era to the problems that plague the rapidly expanding organization.  I love history, so I cannot wait to learn all about the European Union.  I think this will be very beneficial for me later in life when I am working in Finance.  I will know the basics of how the EU works and will be able to apply it to my job.

"FS 200: From Viewing to Making a Film on Rome" -  I absolutely love this class.  We are going to watch four Italian films that were filmed in Cinecittà (the Italian version of Hollywood).  The films were also filmed on site at Roman locations.  After watching all four films and learning the basics on Italian cinema, we are going to film two scenes from the films we saw on site.  We watch "Bicycle Thief" on Monday - I can't wait.

"CM 330: Memory and Conflict" - This is the other class I switched into.  It is a really interesting class which is taught by the director of my study abroad program.  It is basically about conflict resolution techniques, but uses historical events to put the things we are learning into context.  I would not be surprised if I use the techniques I learn later in life.

This brings me to Florence.  Two of my friends (Sam & McKenzie) and I decided to go to Florence earlier this week.  We left on Thursday night after class.  I found a bullet train from Rome to Florence for only 19 euro.  The train was so comfortable and the ride was so short. 

Picture of the inside of the train.

When we got to Florence, we met up with one of Sam's friends from her home school, Emory.  He took us to our hostel (which was in a great location).  The hostel we stayed at was running a special where you can stay three nights for the price of two, so I paid 28 euro for three nights at a hostel.  The hostel was called "Plus Florence" and probably the nicest hostel I will ever stay at.  It was very clean, had a nightclub downstairs with a restaurant/bar, game room, a pool, a sauna, and a steam room.

On Friday, we woke up early and hit the two big museums in Florence before lunch time.  We wanted to make sure we beat the crowds.  The people I traveled with are studying Art History I school, so I was the beneficiary of a free tour of all the important pieces of art.  We went to the Academia first and saw Michelangelo's "David".  It was absolutely amazing.  After the Academia, we went to the Uffizi.  This museum was huge!  We were in it for three hours!

After the Uffizi, we met up with some of Sam's friends from Emory who were studying in Florence and a few people from our program in Rome.  We had a quick bite to eat and then five of us headed over to the Ponte Vecchio.  They all bought leather jackets, I decided not to get one because I'm hoping to get a suit while I'm over here instead.

Over the past two days, we went to all the major churches in Florence - the Duomo, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, and Santa Maria Novella. 

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florence.

The one thing that really surprised me about Florence was how small it is.  We walked everywhere we needed to go and were never walking for more than a half hour at a time.  Florence was a beautiful city, but I am happy I'm studying in Rome.  As a Finance major, I do not appreciate art as much as I should.  Now that I have seen everything I wanted to see, I am happy to be looking at the beautiful Tuscan countryside out of the window of my train back to Rome.

On another note, I planned our trip to Florence around THON.  I made sure the hostel had wifi and made sure our train would have me back in Rome to watch the final four hours of THON.  I may be 3,000 miles away, but I have been thinking about THON a great deal this weekend.  A lot of my friends are dancing and it kills me that I can't be there to support them.  Watching the THON Webcast makes me feel like I'm there and I lit a candle in the Duomo FTK!   I look forward to watching Family Hour from my room and, like all other Penn Staters, will go crazy when the total is raised tonight at approximately 10:00 PM my time.  

Always FTK,

Mike