Oh Gosh... Girls Weekend from Transportation Hell

Oh boy… this weekend was a roller coaster, fun at times but there were definitely some steep, twisting failures.

Saturday our plan was to go to Perugia - home of Perugina Chocolates… Well we made it to the train station a little late so we missed our train. The next one came in two hours so we debated for a while what to do and decided to go on the next train instead of waste our day. When we got to Perugia we had to take a scala mobile - escalator thing - up to the top of the city. We hopped on whatever we saw first, which was a “mini metro” that looked like a giant ski lift. It was super hi-tech. We rode that to the top, where we found the escalators that took us up farther. Of course it started raining when we reached the top plus we were hungry plus we needed a bano stat for a small bladdered emergen-pee. So after finding a W.C. and stopping by the tourist office to grab a pamphlet, we searched for Allan’s Paninoteca. There they had cheap and amazing sandwiches, and a crazy guy named Allan. Alas, his brother was working today, but he still made us AMAZING caprese sandwiches that were HUGE and only 3.50 because we got a studentessa sconti (student discout). Yes, you see Perugia is a college town, a.k.a where the attractive Italians are. So after we scarfed our paninos we frolicked around a little bit. We went to the café that is said to be the best cappuccino in Italy. It definitely held strong to those standards and I should have gotten 8 of them because they were only one euro! Soon after we went to the main chocolate store and to our luck it is taking a summer break and is closed for a month. Hmm.. well, we had passed a little store that advertised the Baci brand near the train station so we went back there…it was closed too. But this one was just on a daily siesta, not a month long siesta, so we happily fulfilled our chocolate needs (and he gave us all two chocolates for free!). We headed down the mini metro after that to make sure we didn’t miss our train, but we had almost an hour to kill so we headed to the Co-op across the way. There we bought Ciobar - which is the most amazing hot chocolate you will have in your life. Its not even really a drink, its more of warm pudding in a coffee cup that you have to slurp and lick out. Just trust me, its comes from heaven… We made it back for nightly dinner at the center and boy was it the best dinner yet. Not particulary because of the food, but it was so nice because we had our own table and our own portions and our own EVERYTHING. Don’t get me wrong, I love our giant group. But it was nice to be selfish with our pasta for once and be able to stuff ourselves to our heart’s content.

Sunday…..oh man…now this is when it got interesting. Today our plan was to go to Montepulciano- home of the famous (and AMAZING) Vino Nobile wine and where they filmed for Twilight’s New Moon movie. Well, transportation was yet another issue today and I am so glad to say that we made it out alive and got back for dinner all in one piece. That being said, now I can tell you the trials we had since you know there is a good ending…

So we made it to the train station on time this morning, ha, and our train there was short and fine. Montepulciano is really only like an hour away, but you have to take a train to Chiusi and then get off and have a layover and get on another train from there… or so we thought. We were excited because our train from Chuisi to Montepulciano was a high-tech baby train. It was really short (baby) and had a chill couch-like vibe on the inside, air conditioned, and had the most amazing train bathroom I’ve seen in my life. Note: You may not understand the obsession with this bathroom, but once you ride a inner-city train across Europe and use their restrooms that have no toilet paper, no soap, no hand towels, no room to stand up or rotate, and basically no sanitary air to breathe then you will understand. So this W.C. was HUGE, had a toilet seat that rotated and squeegee cleaned itself for you, it didn’t have soap but I didn’t hold that against it since it hand a hand dryer. It was a heavenly experience and we all walked out of it like our lives had been changed forever. Anyway, so high-tech baby train took us to Montepulciano…except not really.
You see, Montepulciano is the highest city in Tuscany, and where we were was flat ground and I didn’t see the town walls ANYWHERE. So we ask someone walking where the main Piazza was and they gave us hand sign directions - this way and then that way basically. So we follow that until we start walking down a seemingly never ending country road. And in fact we saw a sign that said Montepulciano 9…meaning 9 kilometers which is roughly 5 and ½ miles. Um, no..There was a little wine store on the corner so we rung the doorbell to see if we could get some help. It was an older woman who didn’t speak English (of course) but she told us that if we walked 1 kilometer there would be a ospedale (hospital) that was nearby a bus station. Ah, well we decided why not. We had come this far so might as well suck it up for the .6214 mile walk we had ahead of us. I was in a particularly optimistic mood, though. I mean, we were walking through Tuscan grape country. Vineyards were on both sides of us, housing the grapes that produce the best wine in the entire WORLD! How cool is that?

But there is only so much optimism when you keep walking and walking and walking and feel like you are getting farther and farther from civilization. So as we are walking we see a woman walking down to the road from her house, just on a leisurely afternoon stroll. We are getting ansty by now so we went to ask her where the town was and if there was indeed a bus that grandma didn’t know about. She informed us that no buses ran on Sunday (great..) and that the town was 10 miles down the road. Oh joy. We just looked at each other helplessly thinking, “Well, that was fun, looks like we are going back to the train station cause there is no way we are walking 10 miles for Robert Pattinson.” She obviously saw this and told us to wait there while she went to go do something - we weren’t sure at the time. But we hear a car door slam and an engine purr and here she comes in her little car to take us to Montepulciano. Now I know you may be freaking out, but this was definitely not a scene from Taken at all. She had a beautiful house, was really sweet, and -heck- when we got in the car she handed us her purse to put in the back seat. She trusted us just as much as we trusted her… We tried to talk with her but the language barrier was so bad that we didn’t talk much of the way. Its okay thought because A) it was the most amazing drive through the Tuscan countryside and B) we were all excited to be in sitting in a car for the first time in what seems like forever. Music, fresh air, scenery, control - cars have it all, and you don’t realize that until you are sent into a world of trains, buses, and boats that you don’t get to drive. Anyway, so she took us up to the city (yeah we would have never made it because it was FAR) and dropped us off outside the walls. We told her Grazie Mille like 800 times and she told us she was sorry because she didn’t speak English even though she had no need to apologize since we were the ones being the inconvenience!! All in all, most amazing woman ever… she has some good karma coming her way.

So we got to the town and hunger struck so we stopped at a trattoria and ate AMAZING gnocci (potato dumplings in crème sauce) and pici ( thick hand-made spaghetti, best known in Montepulciano). After we stopped by a wine store and tried some of the Vino Nobile to check that off our list. Then we headed… I mean, hiked, up to the Piazza Grande. This is where they filmed New Moon at the Volturri Castle or something (I haven’t read it yet) but Sara and Hayley were freaking out so I figured it was significant. We tried to decipher where all Robert Pattinson had gone and filmed (yeah we are mature) and took lots of pictures so after the movie comes out we can be like, “WE WERE THERE!!! LOOK!!” and have proof. It was a gorgeous little town and a beautiful beautiful day (even though we all brought our umbrellas cause weather channel said 95% rain… LIAR). We didn’t have much time though because we REALLY didn’t want to mess up getting home and we realized that this time we were going to need to take a bus to the Chiusi stop instead of going to the train station and then taking baby train. Finding the bus station was chaotic, and once again, we missed our bus. It all worked out though because the train we thought we would catch (that would have been cutting it close) doesn’t run on Sundays. So we had an hour to chill and breathe before our train came. I found an US Weekly in English and felt soooo out of the loop reading American gossip. I mean really? I leave for 6 weeks and 2 media legends die on me (oh and Billy Mays too!?) and I don’t even want to know what songs/movies/etc is new. Ah I am so out of the loop. Oh well, we made it back alive and just before the main course was served. Perfecto! The day was highlighted when we got ice cream cones for dessert. I, chocolate obsessed, followed that with a hazelnut Baci chocolate and am now perfectly content with the day. Livin la doce vita!

note: Picture taken during 2 hour wait after missing our train to Perugia. We took lots of artsy shots using the self timer to, well, pass the time.

In Fair Verona Where We Lay Our Scene..

Yes, if you remember freshman english class.. I visited the home of Giulietta, the setting for one of Shakespeares most tragic love story, and one of Italy's hidden gems. It has a wonderfully cozy atmosphere. There are shops - expensive and cheap- down a main street alongside cute cafes, restaurants, and bars. This town is in love with theater.. well duh. But they have an arena that is the home for many plays throughout the year. What is so awesome about this theater is that the props and stage equipment are kept uncovered right outside. The play currently being shown was Carmen.. but the props outside that we saw were giant iron roses, sphinxes and eqyptian platforms, and shanghai houses... a wonderful compilation I would say. Later we went to the Casa di Giulietta where the famous balcony is along with a statue of Juliet herself. Its good luck in love to rub her left breast (no i did not make that up), so we all did and took awkward, breast-rubbing pictures. haha... Later we hit up the shopping, I didnt come home with any winners, but we tried on the latest in Italian styles. Alas, it was a good trip to Verona. Ole' Bill Shakespeare would be proud, as I assume my english teacher mom is too ;)

Reports from the Lido deck..

I could have stayed in Venice another week. The Venetian islands have so much to offer and were so intriguing that they require a full day each to be adequately seen. Our hotel was on Lido - yes we said many "Lido deck" jokes and no there is no nude beach there. Thats a big fat rumor. There is a beach though and I dipped my toes in the Adriatic just to expand my toes' horizons. Lido is not bery touristy, but had the cheapest food of all the islands so we made our lunch and dinners end up there. Two of the three nights I must admit we ate at a Chinese restaurant. Before you judge, think about eating the SAME genre of food for 5 weeks straight. Then, alas, a new type of food appears that is half the price of the norm. Well, if you are still judging, think that from Italy, I am alot closer to China then in the U.S. therefore it MUST be better than Pei Wei... Ok I'm done...Nights at Lido mainly consisted of going to the BluMoon Cafe at the beach. It was the most chill atmosphere, playing fun music with a bar, rooms with bean bags, and an outside patio (next to the beach of course). It was nice to be able to sip some wine, dance a little, walk the beach, or just sit and chat. I took a ton of pictures of it because I love the decor and plan on imitating some of it for my room.

So Venice! I had a mediocre expectations because I only knew of what I'd heard: St. Mark's, gondolas, and pigeons. Well, St. Mark's was golden (literally) and the square was filled during the day with people and pigeons, and we took a gondola ride for an amazing price. Honestly besides that, Venice is really small and quiet. As soon as you wonder a street off of St. Mark's Square it is quietly open with a few local italians here and there. Thats what I liked about it- that though it had one touristy area it still felt like a smaller town.
My favorite part of the trip though was our day ventures to the surrounding islands of Torcello, Burano, and Murano. Torcello was somewhat abandoned- the Luckenback of Italy. People go to see a couple sights just to say they did and very very few live there (maybe 10).
The highlight for me was our next island: Burano. I'd watched some travel channel special on Burano so I was excited to finally see it with my own eyes. I was definately blown away when we docked from our boat,

-- oh yeah, p.s. getting around Venice = taking a Vaporetto, which is like a bus but on water. This trip has cultured my travel styles.. train, metro, bus, boat, mini metro, town escalators)--

anyway, Burano is gorgeous. Its the home of handmade lace but that wasnt a very big deal for me. The houses are all painted different colors. From hot pink to a passionate purple, eye-stinging yellow to sky blue, every color of the rainbow was represented. I had so much fun getting lost in teh colorful town and taking 8 million artsy pictures. It was one of my favorites for sure, not so touristy but insanely gorgeous. There is no way people living there could ever be sad. I mean with a hot pink house? No way..

Our next idland hop was Murano, home of glss. We saw men molding glass at a factory and thenwalked among the shops to see the creations of their handiwork. You had to be careful though because some stores sold fake Murano glass that was actually from China. It was mostly very expensive but it was neat to se glass art and jewelry that was "imported" from the furnace next door. Shipping and handling for their inventory was probably a man named Francesco, holding a box of hot, fresh glass.. or at least thats how I imagine it.

I was sad to leave the island on Friday, but by taking the number 1 Vaporetto I got a chance to see it all (it stops at every stop along the Grand Canal) and say ciao ciao Venice!

You Mosaic Me Go Crazy...

Attention crafty people... visiting the mosaics of Ravenna will induce a feeling of craftiness that is only curable by a double scoop of gelato. Well.. at least that was my reaction to the town.
We visited several basilicas in the morning, the beauty in that their art consisted of insanely intricate mosaics of Christ, saints, and other decorative images. If you've ever slaved over a mosaic (think 8th grade art) then you know how difficult it is to plan, plaster, and finish even a 4x6 inch board. Now imagine covering an ENTIRE basilica with little 1 inch squares... IMPOSSIBLE! Next, we visited the tomb of Dante and another glorious room of squares. Afterwards we set off to lunch, where I got a panino (not panini as we say in the states) with a weird artichoke sauce.. oh well, its food.

After lunch we wandered the quaint town. We struck gold when we went into a mosaic store. The store sold finished mosaic trinkets and gifts as well as materials to do your own mosaic... make my own mosaic? using slabs of any color imaginable? ... coming from the mother ship of all mosaic lands? I nearly had a conniption. I laser-eye memorized the pieces I loved (upwards of 1,000 euro!) so I could recreate them when I got back to my craft box in America. Then, while walking toward the bus, we made a pit stop for gelato. I resisted for a good 20 seconds, reasoning why I shouldn't get any and how I need to save money...but then I caved. I mean, who looks at the flavor, ironically named "Temptation," and doesn't cave?? It just shows how easily swayed I am by mysterious flavors and my newest best friend, Mr. insanely rich, dark-dark chocolate. I got him on top :) È squisito!

Mediterranean Obsessed...

So for our “vacation” this weekend we stayed in Riomaggiore, which is part of the five cities making up Cinque Terre (literally meaning five cities). These towns weave alongside the Mediterranean and have a famous hiking trail that goes from Riomaggiore all the way to the last town of Monterosso. It is 9 kilometers (5 ish miles?) and generally takes about 5 hours to finish. Our plan was to go on Saturday morning so we could be finished early enough in the afternoon for a nap and shower before whatever we planned to do that night. Instead it rained until about 8 in the morning, so our start time was more around 11:30. It was nice and cool even though it was sunny so that helped make the hike more enjoyable. The hike between the first two towns is reeeaaalllyyy easy. Its not until the third town that you come in contact with a giant mass of stairs that looks like a winding maze. 382 steps later you reach the town of Corniglia, which is where most groups stopped to refuel for the next two towns. I was still feelin good at the time so I went along with a group who kept going.

The trail DEFINITELY got harder and there were times when I wanted to injure myself in the hopes of not having to finish the hike and instead be picked up and carried by someone the rest of the way. This part of the hike was not at all paved or civilized looking...no... this part was more like you are in the set of, well, the Jungle Book or Jurassic Park (yes there was a rickety wood and rope bridge that you crossed over a small waterfall). Basically at some parts it seemed like they’d just looked at a foot-wide rock jutting off the side of a cliff and said, “yeah that’ll do for a walkway” and were done with it. Needless to say it was the toughest hike I’ve done in my life (blew Enchanted Rock out of the water REAL fast) and I would recommend it to any dare-devils who want a good challenge.

My group finished in about 4 hours after taking only one short break in Vernazza (the second to last city). When we reached Monterosso we were hungry though, so we went straight for some food. One group got pizza but I went with some girls to find sandwiches and just so happened to land in the heaven of all sandwich shops. It was the freshest food I have ever had and watching this man make my sandwich made me want to cry. He sliced the turkey from the huge breast, chopped a glorious red tomato, sliced the delicate mozzarella, used the greenest handful of mixed lettuce, sprinkled a little salt, and poured the perfect amount of olive oil on top before topping it off with toasted freshly baked foccacia bread… If that didn’t make your melt water then I suggest you catch the Red Eye to Monterosso STAT!! The bakery was apparently in Rick Steve’s book of Italy so it all made sense.. Needless to say after that morning of vigorous activity I was too pooped for the night life of Cinque Terre, but I think my rest was well deserved!

note: image is the view of Vernazza from the hike

Pisa My Heart

Buona Sera!
So the rest of the week was so jam packed. On Thursday we went for the third time this semester to Florence. I must say I love this town and every time I visit it I feel more at home. This trip we went to the Academy (home of Michelangelo’s David) and then to the Uffizi Gallery (home of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus). We saw many other pieces in these galleries but those were the highlights. I can’t begin to explain the feeling you get when you come face to face with something you’ve heard about nearly every year in art and history classes. It feels like a joke almost. I mean, no way that is seriously the sculpture of the real David, done by Michelangelo himself. NO WAY! I remember when I first saw a picture of it in high school art class and, being immature, thought “oh my gosh he is naked!” But after learning the philosophy, understanding the struggles, and witnessing the beauty of it in real life, I have a whole new outlook on it.…But enough with the heart-to-heart… After the museums we went to the market to pick up souvenirs for family and friends, then made it home for a delicious dinner featuring the best dessert EVER which I will constantly make when I get back to the US of A called “chocolate salami” compliments of Santa Chiara.. yum!
The next morning we left EARLY for Pisa. All I’d ever known of Pisa was the Leaning Tower, so I was surprisingly amazed to see the beautiful baptistry, cathedral, and cemetery all nearby as well. The architecture there is AMAZING and super intricate that my words couldn’t do it justice. We rushed through most of the morning so we could have time for pictures at the tower, even though we only had 10 or 20 minutes. I took one holding up the tower like everyone else and their dog, but tried to do some creative poses. A.k.a chudo chop kicking the tower (didn’t turn out so well), then handstands, and then a jumping pic which turned out PERFECTO!! The only thing that would have made the day better would have been some free PISA!! Haha get it? Like pizza? Ok I’ll stop…but only if you say P-L-ISA!!…ok now this is embarrassing…

Wandering Aimlessly

So this week = crazy crazy busy. Yesterday we went to Assisi, which always has an amazing view and is such a quaint little town. Then today we went to Cortona. I've never seen Under the Tuscan Sun, but if you have then you may know that it was filmed there. It really just reminded me of my home away from home: Castiglion Fiorentino. The streets were narrow but they were full cute little stores. What I had most fun doing was ..well..absolutely nothing. Me & my roommate Hayley took on the town..meaning we walked down the winding streets of Cortona, gelato in hand (..to be precise a media caramel and a vanilla with chocolate chunks from Snoopy's Gelateria!)without a clue of where we were going. She had seen the movie so we could say we were exploring for sets, but really we would reach a fork in the road and say "left or right." It was nice to just stroll thru an unknown place. But no worries, you can't get lost in a tuscan town since A) they mostly only have one main street and B) all towns are on a hill so you just go up!