I miei viaggi a Siena, Cinque Terre e Pisa!

Ciao! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, but I've had a pretty busy week (and remember, in Firenze, I can only get online at school). Saturday, I went with some people in my school group to Siena, a small city in the hills of Tuscany. I spent the day walking around, eating in a restaurant overlooking Tuscany and of course, sampling the local gelato. Here are some pictures:

This is an overview of Siena. The city is built throughout hills, very close together, so the streets are small, and the roads are steep. But from the top, it's very beautiful.

This is the duomo, or cathedral, in Siena. The inside is completely made of marble, and it's remarkable. I took some pictures, but they didn't turn out well enough to post.

This is near where I ate lunch. A group of us spent a good 30 minutes coming up with the best poses for this wall. This is the "Iesha" pose... a winner. Hope you enjoy it. ;o)

This was a fountain I found on my search for gelato. My calling - a unicorn!! I don't know if you can really see it in this picture, but the water dripped out of its horn. Needless to say, I was excited.

After an exhausting day walking around Siena, I went to bed early so I could get up early, take a train to the coast and do some more walking around (and eating gelato). This time, Kristi and I went to the Cinque Terre National Park. Cinque Terre is a series of five small towns (and I mean tiny ... probably only a few hundred inhabitants per town) built into the cliffs of the Italian Rivieria. We spent six hours hiking the 9 kilometers and walking through each town. It was absolutely beautiful, and probably the most amazing (and exhausting and physical) thing I've ever done in my life. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

This is me, sleepy, on the 7:51 a.m. train. Sure, 7:51 doesn't sound too early, but it is when you get there 30 minutes early after a 30 minute walk to the train station.

My first Italian beach, at the town of Monterosso.

This was about 30 minutes into our hike, the town of Monterosso in the background. It had been an easy hike so far ... we had no idea what was in store!

Here's what a good portion of the hike was like. If you've ever seen me on a stairmaster, then you know how horrendous this was. Kristi almost left me behind.

I made friends with the local wildlife -- several stray cats -- along the way. One, which I didn't get a good picture of, looked just like Hex.

Two hours later, we got sight of the next town, Vernazza. This one, I think we agreed, was the most beautiful. It's also where we stopped for lunch.

A street in Vernazza.

My nutritious lunch.

This is the back of Vernazza, as we were hiking up and out the other side.

And almost an hour later, we caught sight of the next town, built higher onto the cliff (thank God), Corniglia.

The fourth town, Manarola, was probably my favorite. We didn't stay long, because it was going to start getting dark soon, but as we were walking through, an elementary school band was playing in the center square, and it was pretty fun.

Luckily, the last town, Riomaggiore, was only about a 30 minute walk from Manarola. By this time, we were exhausted, so we ate dinner (the first of three that day, for me anyway), and bought our train tickets home. After a delay in Pisa, where we had to switch trains, because of a sciopero (strike), we finally made it back to our hotel ... many hours later.

Come Monday, there was still no rest for my aching legs, as I went on another after-school excursion, this time, to Pisa. (It was rather difficult going back there, seeing as how Kristi and I spent several hours in its train station about 15 hours before.) Luckily, we weren't there for very long, because, as it turns out, there's not much to see in Pisa. That is, except for the leaning tower, of course. It leans. It was pretty sweet.

I don't know which I liked better - the tower, or the gelato.

While we were there, the tower starting falling even more. But no worries, I was there to push it back up ...

And now, I'm taking it easy for a few days. I've been taking long hot baths at night and drinking plenty of wine to help me recuperate. Tomorrow, however, our entire program is heading off to Venezia (Venice) for Carnivale. We'll be there through Sunday, and I'm pretty excited. So you can expect some more pictures of that excursion in probably about a week, when I recover.

Arrivederci!

La Piazza Michelangelo

Ciao amici!

It is now my fifth day in Firenze, and it's crazy how much Italian you can remember when you have to. It's also very cool to go to class in the morning, then go out and use what you learned in the afternoon, just by walking down the street, going to eat, or asking for directions.

Before I get started with what I've been up to, here is a picture of my school:


It is located in the Piazza San Spirito, which has a cool little market in the morning, and usually some entertainment in the afternoon, like these jugglers:


As an update on what I've done the past few days:

Yesterday I walked up the hills of Firenze with some of my fellow study abroad-ers to la Piazza Michelangelo, which provides an incredible panoramic view of the city. Here are some pictures:



I took the opportunity on the way down, as it was getting pretty dark, to take some night shots of the city, here:


In the above picture you can see the Duomo (the dome toward the right), which I believe I posted a picture of yesterday.



Below is the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Firenze. On the left side of the bridge is the Uffizi Galleria, one of the most revered galleries in Italy. And to the right of the bridge is the Palazzio Piti, which is where the Medici family lived. (The Medicis basically ruled Florence before there was a united Italy.) The way it used to go was that the rich families in Italy, like the Medicis, used to sponsor artists, meaning that they would feed and house artists who would then paint for them. Thus, the Medicis basically supplied the paintings in the Uffizi. My Italian teacher last semester told us that there is a secret passage underneath the Ponte Vecchio where the Medicis used to keep the prized paintings so no one could steal them. And one day, when the River Arno flooded, they ran around frantically trying to get all the paintings out before they were ruined. So I'm pretty sure they don't keep anything valuable down there anymore.


Lastly, this is what I've been doing when I get home at night after dinner (which, since Italians eat so late, is usually between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.):


That's right. That's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In Italian. I'm only on about page 10, but it's awesome. :o)

My itinerary for the next several days includes trying to get tickets for Madama Butterfly, the opera that is showing here on Friday, and taking a bus to Siena to check out the Tuscan countryside on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I am registered for a bike tour of Tuscany, where I should bike from about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the hills, with a stop for lunch and, of course, wine tasting.

But of course, the most important item on my agenda, is staying away from the giant river rats. Seriously, these things look just like rats, they're about two-feet long, and they swim in the river. I found a picture online, here, that describes them as Coypu. Gross.

Anyway, check back, because there are more pictures to come!

Ciao di Firenze!

Some photographs of my hometown for the next three weeks, Firenze, Italia:



This is the river Arno, which runs through the center of Florence. This is the view about three blocks from my hotel. I have to cross the bridge to get to school.

I just thought this was cool.

I found what might be the only 99 cent store in Italy, and I bought a notebook for class. I thought it was appropriate.

Talk about art:

Il Duomo:

London recap

As I spent my first morning walking around Firenze (Florence), I decided I needed an avenue to share all of my pictures with all of you. So here's a blog for you all to visit when you get a chance to see what I am up to in bella Italia.

To recap the last few days, I spent last Wednesday through Friday in good ol' London, where highlights including seeing "Lord of the Rings: The Musical."

Lord of the Rings is the one story in the history of literature that should NEVER have been made into a musical. Once Gollum starts singing, it's all too ridiculous. Nothing that a glass of wine wouldn't fix, though ... The best part about the play was that I purchased a souvenir mug that reads: "May the hair on your toes never fall out." Che bella!

I also got the chance to visit Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. An awesome opportunity for Harry Potter freaks like me ...

Some photographic highlights from London:



Mmm, bonaffee pie. Kim, this picture is for you:

I don't know if I have time to post any Firenze pictures right now, as my school is closing in 15 minutes. But I'll try to get them up in another post. If I don't make it, check back later this week!!

Arrivederci!