So everyone, it's been a while since I've posted but I'm sure most of your know that it's because I've been on an escapade through Europe for the past 10 days! After my torturous mid term exams I was more than happy to get away from Florence for a few days. Lucky for you, I brought a journal with me to document the trip as it was happening and now all I have to do is type it up!
Our trip, (Anna, Jen, and Myself) began on Friday March 18th bright and early by taking the 7am train from Santa Maria Novella to Milan. The ride itself was uneventful but Milan's train station is about double the size of Florence's and is about triple as crowded! Luckily as soon as we stepped off the train we were able to find the departures board and found our platform so with some time to kill we went in search of some breakfast. I settled on a chocolate criossant but when I got onto the train it was really a nutella criosssant (no complaints). We boarded the 9:10am train to Zurich with an ETA of 12:54pm. So far we only made stop in a beautiful water front city called Lugano. We arrived on time in Zurich and began looking for the tourist center so we could get some maps of the city and figure out how to get to our hostel. Next, we walked along the river to Lake Zurich. After taking pictures and sight seeing, we walked through the city center looking for somewhere to eat lunch. There was Thai, Chinese, and Kebab places everywhere. Every other place we looked at was insanely expensive; one place's menu listed a chicken sandwich on the lunch menu for 30 Franks! We finally were so hungry that we settled on a little cafe since we saw people outside eating pizza. We looked at the menu and couldn't find the pizza section so we asked out waiter, who explained that what we had seen wasn't pizza but was actually a swiss type of flat bread. They still looked good but cost almost 30 Franks so Anna and I decided to split one that had a cheese spread, bacon, potatos, onions, and another type of cheese on top. I was really nervous when it came out since the cheese spread resembled cream cheese which did not seem appetizing but I sucked it up and tried it and I loved it! Anna didn't really like it since the bacon in Europe is just plain different then bacon in the States and she doesn't like onions.
After lunch we continued to walk around but this time we went north of the river instead of south toward the lake. We were about to cross the river when we saw the bridge was being blocked off by a police van. There were about 10 police officers and one man being frisked so of course we continued to stop and stare at the spectical. We stood on the bridge watching the scene and pretending to take pictures of each other as the man was handcuffed! The police noticed us watching and gave us a stern look so we left to explore the park and the river. It was so pretty since everything was green and all the flowers were blossoming. The park bordered The Swiss National Museum which had a unique and beautiful facade. We made our way back to the train station and took the S-Bahn train to our hostel (public transportation!) The train was a doubledecker so of course we ran like children to sit up top! The ride took about 30 minutes and ran along Lake Zurich so it was a pretty view. We walked to our hostel and checked in easily. The three of us were in a 4 person room with 2 sets of bunk beds. At the end of the hall was the girls shower and a co-ed bathroom. The hostel was new and clean and offered free wi-fi which was great. We unpacked then walked around the little town of Ritcherswil. There wasn't much to see but it was a cute little town. We went into a bar for dinner but the bartender told us to go across the street for some cheap good eats and then to come back to the bar later for a drink. We walked next door but it led to a dumpster so we walked the opposite direction and went into a restaurant. It was really nice inside and filled with families so we sat down. We ordered beers, I got a calzone with some foreign ingredients and the girls ordered pizzas. The calzone was delicious even though I had to pick out most of the ham and when I was almost done I found a raw egg. Well a portion of a raw egg but an egg nonetheless. We finished up and headed back to the bar to order a round of beers.
The bar was pretty empty and had a strange set up of all little rooms with velour couches. The music was pretty hard core but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Most of the other people in the bar were taking shots of baby bottles of Jager and then lining them up on a ledge surrounding the bar. We were getting ready to leave when an old, bald man came over and offered to buy us another round. Of course we accepted and he began talking to us in broken English. Jen spoke to him the most but didn't understand most of what he was saying. He babbled about being from Berlin and how we sucked since we are from America and we shouldn't be going to Munich since Berlin is SO MUCH better. He loved rocking out to the Offspring playing throughout the bar so he would stop mid sentence to have a jam session then jump back into his conversation. After he finished his beer he left and the bartender was talking to another person about how the guy was crazy and that even when he spoke German to them, they had no idea what he was talking about. The boy sitting next to us asked us why we were in Ritcherswill and then told us that we were currently "In the asshole of Europe". Lovely. We finished our beers and went back to the hostel. Of course I managed to loose my key in the 10 minutes we were in the hostel but luckily after tearing the room apart we found the key. We all went to bed for an early night but I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was going to die. Gory details aside, I had food poisoning and was in bed the rest of the night and the whole next day.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
My first bus ride!
Friday afternoon, Anna, Chelsea and myself decided since it was such a nice day out, to take a trip to Fiesole. Fiesole is a little town outside of Florence that sits on a hilltop. Many towns in Italy sit on hilltops so this many not seem all that interesting but, Fiesole's hilltop over looks the entire city of Florence and is known to offer some of the best views of the city. The best part about this town is that its only a 30 minute bus ride away and it only costs 1 Euro and 20 cents!
I looked up where to catch the bus and discovered that it leaves from Piazza San Marco which is literally a block from my apartment, and it leaves every hour! We walked to the piazza and discovered that not only the Fiesole #7 bus leaves from there, but so does basically every other bus. We walked around the entire piazza looking for the right sign for our bus and of course it was the last one. We stood there in the sunshine excited for the bus ride until we realised we didn't have any tickets...and we didn't know how to get tickets. Luckily, a kind Indian man over heard us discussing this little problem and pointed us in the right direction to buy a ticket. Of course we walk to the little stand and everything on it is written in Italian and everyone is speaking Italian. Again luckily, a man working for the transportation system asked us where we were trying to go in broken Italian. I somehow managed to properly pronouce Fiesole and bought a round trip ticket! He tried to explain to us how to validate our ticket but we just couldn't understand him so we went back to our bus stop and waited. The bus came and filled up quickly but we grabbed some seats and tried to look around at how the other people were validating their tickets. NO ONE DID ANYTHING. We were all nervous becuase there is a law in Italy that says if you have a ticket but its not validated you will get a fine. I don't think I want to risk Italian court.
We patiently sat through the pretty bus ride to the top of Fiesole and we lucked out since there wasn't anyone checking tickets on the bus. When we got off the bus, I had directions on how to get the tourist office since they offer free maps of the city and tips for walking tours. We grabbed the maps and set out on our journey. Somehow we got terribly lost and the map made absolutely no sense. We walked around narrow streets and tried to look for Florence on the horizon with no prevail. By chance we made it back to the city center where the bus had dropped us off and decided to walk toward the skyline. Too bad the road to the skyline just went down the hill the bus had brought us up. We finally made it to a clearing on the hill only to see that the city was covered in smoke. (Side note: Apparently people in Italy burn the center of trees on their property to get rid of the dead bark and allow room for the new growth.) Not understanding how it was so difficult to find the location we were looking for in the teeny town, we trekked back up the hill. We stood in the city center defeated for a few minutes wondering if we should just head home when we saw some signs in an area we hadn't been to yet.
We started up yet another hill and actually started seeing people which was a major improvement. We heard people laughing so we followed the path into a clearing of woods that reminded me of Syllus Park. It was very pretty but STILL not the view we were searching for. We ventured into the deeper woods and at the top found a pretty yet small church. After looking around in the church, I turned around and discovered a path that looked like it lead to the view of Florence! We walked DOWN a hill and TA-DAAA a park with a breathtaking view of the city. There were people sitting on the ledge talking, tourists taking pictures, and a group of young adults sharing lunch and a few bottles of wine. The birds were singing, everything was green, and the sun was shining; in short it was springtime and it was beautiful and refreshing. We sat for a while, then took pictures, then explored the gardens and of course took even more pictures. The bus ride home was uneventful but we were thankful for that.
For dinner, Anna and I planned to get 5 Euro amazing pizza at a pizzeria near Santa Croce. Too bad we got there and were told that they don't open until 7 and it was only 4:45. Early dinner would be an understatement since Italians don't typically eat dinner until 8 or more likely 9 o'clock. With out stomach's deeply upset, we walked in search of somewhere else to get pizza at such an early hour. This tasks proved to be difficult since lunch is usually served from 12-3 and dinner from 6-11. We were right in the middle so not many places besides cafe's were open. We finally found a place offering pizza and wine for 8 Euro, sold. Inside this pizzeria was so cute, it was decorated as if it was someones birthday party complete with balloons, but it wasn't! We decided to split some bruschetta and ordered our wine and pizza. I was daring and ordered some red wine; it was a good thing since Anna's white wine tasted like pennies! The bruschetta was simply strange but my pizza hit the spot!
I looked up where to catch the bus and discovered that it leaves from Piazza San Marco which is literally a block from my apartment, and it leaves every hour! We walked to the piazza and discovered that not only the Fiesole #7 bus leaves from there, but so does basically every other bus. We walked around the entire piazza looking for the right sign for our bus and of course it was the last one. We stood there in the sunshine excited for the bus ride until we realised we didn't have any tickets...and we didn't know how to get tickets. Luckily, a kind Indian man over heard us discussing this little problem and pointed us in the right direction to buy a ticket. Of course we walk to the little stand and everything on it is written in Italian and everyone is speaking Italian. Again luckily, a man working for the transportation system asked us where we were trying to go in broken Italian. I somehow managed to properly pronouce Fiesole and bought a round trip ticket! He tried to explain to us how to validate our ticket but we just couldn't understand him so we went back to our bus stop and waited. The bus came and filled up quickly but we grabbed some seats and tried to look around at how the other people were validating their tickets. NO ONE DID ANYTHING. We were all nervous becuase there is a law in Italy that says if you have a ticket but its not validated you will get a fine. I don't think I want to risk Italian court.
We started up yet another hill and actually started seeing people which was a major improvement. We heard people laughing so we followed the path into a clearing of woods that reminded me of Syllus Park. It was very pretty but STILL not the view we were searching for. We ventured into the deeper woods and at the top found a pretty yet small church. After looking around in the church, I turned around and discovered a path that looked like it lead to the view of Florence! We walked DOWN a hill and TA-DAAA a park with a breathtaking view of the city. There were people sitting on the ledge talking, tourists taking pictures, and a group of young adults sharing lunch and a few bottles of wine. The birds were singing, everything was green, and the sun was shining; in short it was springtime and it was beautiful and refreshing. We sat for a while, then took pictures, then explored the gardens and of course took even more pictures. The bus ride home was uneventful but we were thankful for that.
For dinner, Anna and I planned to get 5 Euro amazing pizza at a pizzeria near Santa Croce. Too bad we got there and were told that they don't open until 7 and it was only 4:45. Early dinner would be an understatement since Italians don't typically eat dinner until 8 or more likely 9 o'clock. With out stomach's deeply upset, we walked in search of somewhere else to get pizza at such an early hour. This tasks proved to be difficult since lunch is usually served from 12-3 and dinner from 6-11. We were right in the middle so not many places besides cafe's were open. We finally found a place offering pizza and wine for 8 Euro, sold. Inside this pizzeria was so cute, it was decorated as if it was someones birthday party complete with balloons, but it wasn't! We decided to split some bruschetta and ordered our wine and pizza. I was daring and ordered some red wine; it was a good thing since Anna's white wine tasted like pennies! The bruschetta was simply strange but my pizza hit the spot!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Adventure Wednesday!
Yesterday was a very important day in Italy, Women's Day! Or should I say, Festa Fella Donna! Each class I went into the professor greeted us by saying happy women's day and asking us if we had received any flowers and even though my classes at 90% girls, no one had received any. My Italian professor took it one step furthur by explaining the origin of the yellow flowers that were being carried and sold all over the city. She brought in the bouquet that she had been given and explained that the yellow flower looked and seemed delicate but it was actually very strong, LIKE A WOMAN! Yesterday was also important in Florence because Fat Tuesday is celebrated all throughout the streets and in bars and cafes. While walking to aperitivo, Anna and I witnessed women dressed up was witches, clowns, and just wearing crazy mix-matched clothing and wigs! We also saw several children dressed up in Halloween costumes since Fat Tuesday marks the final day of the celebration of Carnivale in Italy.
Aperitivo wasn't nearly as crowded as it was last week but Anna and I still weren't able to find a table. We made our way over to the bar but neither of us was sure what to order. We had the bartender (who also doubles as our waiter at Ganzo every day for lunch) make what ever he wanted. He made Anna a mojito and he made me a fruity concoction. When I asked him what the drink was called he replied, "Whats your name?" and then he exclaimed, "AHHH MELLLIIIIIISSSSAAAA!" (with grand hand gestures pointing to the drink) So apparently I had a drink named after me! Too bad I have no idea what he put in it! The food for aperitivo was pretty good but more or less the same food we have been getting every time.
Today is my dreaded day of class. I only have one class and its at 9am so you would think I would go to class and then be happy to have the entire rest of the day in front of me when I get out at 11:30; unfortunately that's not the case, it makes me hate the entire rest of the day. This Wednesday I was planning on being extra difficult since Monday my professor emailed the class and explained that he would not be making it to class on Wednesday and that there would be a sub-professor. As I said in my other post, I don't like the idea of this subbing business, but this news was exciting since the syllabus says that when he is absent we watch Almost Famous. AKA one of my favorite movies of all time. Too bad the rest of his email entailed reminding the class that Wednesday was going to be a field trip to a publishing house. (Field trip with a sub, REALLY?!) So I pull myself out of bed and head to the wind tunnel, oops I mean meeting point of the Duomo and wait for the rest of the class. Almost everyone is present so we begin our walk which we are told is around the corner, yet we walk up and down the same four blocks, four times before the sub-professor decides to call the publishers. They give her directions so we actually find the building but surprise, she doesn't know the number of the suit so we begin our guessing game up four flights of stairs to finding the right suite. We finally find it and its a room the size of my kitchen crammed with books, computers, and stuffy Italian women. The class crowded into an even smaller room with the owner and editor in chief of the publishing company which would normally be a dream come true for me, but they only spoke Italian. The class stood around for an hour listening to the publisher speak then my sub translate; it was like living in a bad documentary. Finally the "field trip" ended and we were all released from class early(HORRAY) so I ran home and crawled back into bed to sooth my bad mood.
I got out of bed an hour later and showered instantly feeling better. Anna and I decided to walk to Ganzo for a late lunch and then went to Museo Zoologicalo. The museum was on the other side of the river so it was a little bit of a hike but we had the whole day ahead of us so we decided to try it! The entrance to the museum was really strange since it was all in Italian and the signs said the ticket office was on the second floor but there was nothing there. We continued up the stairs another two flights until we finally found the ticket office and the entrance. The tour started with sea creatures like squid, jellyfish, etc. The next room was bugs, spiders, and butterflies. Then we moved onto mammals which was so cool. They literally had every animal I've ever seen and a ton that I had never seen. The only bad thing was that I didn't know what all the animals were since all of their titles were in Italian. Anna and I walked around taking pictures and laughing at all the crazy faces the animals were frozen in. The creepy part of the museum came when we walked into the organ section. Each room in the section had different parts of the body and broke down the insides and outsides of everything, PLUS there where human bodies in the center of the room being ripped open. Everything looked pretty fake so it wasn't a big deal, that is until we couldn't seem to find a way out so we were trapped in a maze of body parts. Finally we found another living being and followed him to the exit.
After leaving the stuffed animal exhibit we walked through the Oltarno section of Florence, since we have never been there before, on our way to the 'graffiti bridge'. Three bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio is the last bridge in Florence which has a slight water fall and an open area which is concrete and open for Florentine's to express themselves with graffiti. It was such a nice day, we were hoping to see someone in the act but we were the only ones down there.
The sun starting setting so we walked back down past the Ponte Vecchio toward Piazza Michelangelo. The piazza on top of a hill so we had quite the journey ahead of us. The steps seemed to go on forever but we finally reached the top and the walk was well worth it. We had seem the view from the piazza before but seeing it as sunset was just so much more beautiful. There were people lounging all over the steps and the piazza just chatting, laughing, sketching the view, and listening to the live music. We enjoyed the view for a while until it started getting chilly and the crowds started thinning out.
For dinner, I cooked gnocchi in a four cheese sauce and sauteed zucchini. Everything came out great and we enjoyed the meal with some Santa Cristina wine and some whole wheat bread. We all lounged around and just chatted for a while after dinner, letting our lovely dinner settle. After cleaning up, Anna and I settled into bed and watched Mulan! Such a great day in a fabulous city!
Aperitivo wasn't nearly as crowded as it was last week but Anna and I still weren't able to find a table. We made our way over to the bar but neither of us was sure what to order. We had the bartender (who also doubles as our waiter at Ganzo every day for lunch) make what ever he wanted. He made Anna a mojito and he made me a fruity concoction. When I asked him what the drink was called he replied, "Whats your name?" and then he exclaimed, "AHHH MELLLIIIIIISSSSAAAA!" (with grand hand gestures pointing to the drink) So apparently I had a drink named after me! Too bad I have no idea what he put in it! The food for aperitivo was pretty good but more or less the same food we have been getting every time.
Today is my dreaded day of class. I only have one class and its at 9am so you would think I would go to class and then be happy to have the entire rest of the day in front of me when I get out at 11:30; unfortunately that's not the case, it makes me hate the entire rest of the day. This Wednesday I was planning on being extra difficult since Monday my professor emailed the class and explained that he would not be making it to class on Wednesday and that there would be a sub-professor. As I said in my other post, I don't like the idea of this subbing business, but this news was exciting since the syllabus says that when he is absent we watch Almost Famous. AKA one of my favorite movies of all time. Too bad the rest of his email entailed reminding the class that Wednesday was going to be a field trip to a publishing house. (Field trip with a sub, REALLY?!) So I pull myself out of bed and head to the wind tunnel, oops I mean meeting point of the Duomo and wait for the rest of the class. Almost everyone is present so we begin our walk which we are told is around the corner, yet we walk up and down the same four blocks, four times before the sub-professor decides to call the publishers. They give her directions so we actually find the building but surprise, she doesn't know the number of the suit so we begin our guessing game up four flights of stairs to finding the right suite. We finally find it and its a room the size of my kitchen crammed with books, computers, and stuffy Italian women. The class crowded into an even smaller room with the owner and editor in chief of the publishing company which would normally be a dream come true for me, but they only spoke Italian. The class stood around for an hour listening to the publisher speak then my sub translate; it was like living in a bad documentary. Finally the "field trip" ended and we were all released from class early(HORRAY) so I ran home and crawled back into bed to sooth my bad mood.
I got out of bed an hour later and showered instantly feeling better. Anna and I decided to walk to Ganzo for a late lunch and then went to Museo Zoologicalo. The museum was on the other side of the river so it was a little bit of a hike but we had the whole day ahead of us so we decided to try it! The entrance to the museum was really strange since it was all in Italian and the signs said the ticket office was on the second floor but there was nothing there. We continued up the stairs another two flights until we finally found the ticket office and the entrance. The tour started with sea creatures like squid, jellyfish, etc. The next room was bugs, spiders, and butterflies. Then we moved onto mammals which was so cool. They literally had every animal I've ever seen and a ton that I had never seen. The only bad thing was that I didn't know what all the animals were since all of their titles were in Italian. Anna and I walked around taking pictures and laughing at all the crazy faces the animals were frozen in. The creepy part of the museum came when we walked into the organ section. Each room in the section had different parts of the body and broke down the insides and outsides of everything, PLUS there where human bodies in the center of the room being ripped open. Everything looked pretty fake so it wasn't a big deal, that is until we couldn't seem to find a way out so we were trapped in a maze of body parts. Finally we found another living being and followed him to the exit.
After leaving the stuffed animal exhibit we walked through the Oltarno section of Florence, since we have never been there before, on our way to the 'graffiti bridge'. Three bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio is the last bridge in Florence which has a slight water fall and an open area which is concrete and open for Florentine's to express themselves with graffiti. It was such a nice day, we were hoping to see someone in the act but we were the only ones down there.
The sun starting setting so we walked back down past the Ponte Vecchio toward Piazza Michelangelo. The piazza on top of a hill so we had quite the journey ahead of us. The steps seemed to go on forever but we finally reached the top and the walk was well worth it. We had seem the view from the piazza before but seeing it as sunset was just so much more beautiful. There were people lounging all over the steps and the piazza just chatting, laughing, sketching the view, and listening to the live music. We enjoyed the view for a while until it started getting chilly and the crowds started thinning out.
For dinner, I cooked gnocchi in a four cheese sauce and sauteed zucchini. Everything came out great and we enjoyed the meal with some Santa Cristina wine and some whole wheat bread. We all lounged around and just chatted for a while after dinner, letting our lovely dinner settle. After cleaning up, Anna and I settled into bed and watched Mulan! Such a great day in a fabulous city!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Last Week in Short....Kind of :)
Last week was a little bit of blur since I did so much in such a short amount of time!
Tuesday night was Taco Night at a pub/bar near Santa Croce called Red Garter. Anna was still feeling sick so Jenn, April, Shelbi and I went. When ordering the taco's, I asked our waitress what came on the taco's and she literally said what? She didn't understand that I wanted to know what came ontop of the taco. I was like What comes on top, lettuce, tomatos,...? She goes oh yeah thats it. So I order them thinking they are going to be plain beef tacos. WRONG. They came with beef, then lettuce, then guacamole, then cheese, then salsa. For anyone that knows me, gaucamole and salsa are NOT OKAY. Because of all the toppings, I was forced to scrap everything off and just eat the beef leaving me starving. The other girls were happily munching on thier tacos while I just sat there hungry and sipping my beer. Not a good meal. Fortunately some friends of our showed up so Jenn and I ordered some more drinks just as happy hour was ending and we enjoyed the rest of the night giggling and chatting.
Wednesday I had my terrible class then went shopping to make up for the bad previous days. First Jenn, Shelbi, and I headed to the San Lorenzo market to get scarves in preperation for Sunday's Soccer Game! The first stand we saw had the perfect color purple scarf and it was only 7 euro so I snagged it! The other girls wandered the market and eventually found scarves too then we headed into the shopping district. Sadly, I was having trouble finding any clothes that I liked, fit, and were decently priced. Finally we left the small shops and headed to my safe haven, H&M. Fortunately the store had restocked since my last visit and I ended up spending almost 100 euro but left a very happy and well dressed girl. After shopping I headed to apretivo with April at Ganzo. We had an assignement to taste wine and had been told by our professor that Ganzo was selling glasses of the wine for only 4 euro, perfect! Apretivo ended up being packed but we got our glass of wine, did the analysis then grabbed some food which was much better than last time and enjoyed the music and company of our classmates.
Thursday, my wine professor played hooky but also scheduled for another professor to teach his lecture. For everyone that is no longer is college, this is not a common thing in the States for a professor to bring in a "subsititue teacher" so I was already less than thrilled. Then the professor began teaching and I was even less happy since he had such a different teaching method and went through slides so fast, I have absolutely no idea what he taught. The wines were good and he was able to give us some hints as to how to analyze the wines but I got nothing out of the lecture. I finished the day with lunch and class then got ready to go out for the night with Jenn and April. We decided to go to a few new places we had never been before and had alot of fun.
Friday I was in a lazy mood so I slept in, got lunch, did homework, then read and layed around all day. It was a good thing I was so lazy because on Saturday Anna and I had an adventure day! We began the day by getting brunch for the first time at Ganzo. The experience was very interesting since the brunch was nothing like the States or how Ganzo had described it. There was an appetizer and dessert bar which had cold cuts, mini sandwiches, tomato and cheese, yogurt, and some other little desserts. I ate a little and tried some things but nothing was considered good food. Then we were asked to give our order of either eggs or pancakes. We both ordered pancakes since the website had said either eggs or pancakes with bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Of course when our plates come from the kitchen it was literally just one pancake with nothing else on the plate. Apparently the only way to get the side dishes is when you order eggs, so not fair since I don't eat eggs. The pancake was delicious since it was cooked perfectly and tasted like apples, cinnamon, and pure heaven, too bad we were still hungry. I filled up on juice and bread before we left for our adventure. We had planned to go to the Boboli Gardens, then the graffiti bridge, then Fiesole, then dinner.
The Boboli Gardens were absolutely huge and beautiful. Anna and I walked around for hours taking pictures and just exploring since they don't give you maps and there are just little passage ways all over the place. The weather was really working in our favor since it was partly sunny and warm enough to just wear a sweater. After we had walked around for a while we decided to leave in search of the graffiti bridge. We found the bridge just as it was starting to rain so we went to get shelter from the rain in where else? A gelato shop. Luckily they had my favorite, cookie! The flavor was good but it was so sweet that half way through I was getting a stomachache. The rain was ending but the sky was still dark and the wind was picking up so Anna and I decided to postpone our trip to Fiesole. We went back to the apartment and got ready for dinner. For dinner we ventured to a little Trattoria near Santa Maria Novella with a set menu. For my first course I had Tortellini in a cream sauce, for my second course I had grilled beef, for my side dish I had boiled potatos, and we had white wine. The tortellini was good an the steak was really good but the potatos were gross since they were cold. The night was interesting since the restuarant staff barely spoke English and we were the only American's in the whole place. It was a nice evening and the sky was full of stars as we headed back to the apartment to get ready for an evening out.
We didn't end up staying out too late since we had to be out pretty early for the soccer game. We met up with ISA and began the 40 minute walk through the other side of Florence to the stadium. One the walk there, the guides explained to us how soccer can be a dangerous game since many Italians are extremely passionate about their teams and fights often break out. We were lucky though since ISA planned our soccer trip on a day where the teams didn't have much of a rival and Florence was favored to win by a long shot. Out side the stadium everything was decked out in purple, Florence, and Florence's symbol(the iris). Also outside the stadium was Redbull, giving out unlimited free samples which was pretty cool. Our seats were just past the center of the field but where the first section and we were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted within the section. We picked seats together which were about half way between the top and the bottom making for a great view of the whole field. To the right of us was the Florence fan section which was insanely packed with people, most of whom were wearing purple and waving giant flags. During the entire game, the section would be chanting and singing songs then booing and screaming at the ref's when the penalties weren't called in thier favor. The stand literally went insane when Florence scored the first goal of the game about half way through the first half. We all really enjoyed the game and plan to go back for another game one weekend in April.
After the game, Anna and I planned to walk across town and then to the top of Piazza Michaelangelo to see the city and watch the sun set. By the time we made it to the base of the Piazza the sun was already half way setting and we still had about a 30 minute hike up to the top. We decided to postpone our trip to another night when we could take our time walking and really enjoy the whole sunset. For dinner Anna, Jenn, Chelsea, and I went to the Osteria della Gatto e Volpe. The bread on the table was literally amazingggg and the gnocchi quattro formaggio was good and extremely filling. We wobbled home and spent the night relaxing and discussing our weekends.
Today I went to a travel agency and bought my train tickets to visit Mom and Joe while they are in Rome which made me so excited for when they come! After, April, Anna and I went for lunch at Ganzo. Lunch was good but I'm getting sick of having to order the same sandwich everytime since they haven't changed the menu in almost a month! After lunch, April and I went to search for a place for her to get a hair cut. We ended up at a salon that was recommened by some of the girls from ISA but we waited for such a long time before they even recognized that we were there! Finally April got her hair shampooed and the guy who was doing her cut was really nice and tried to understand how she wanted her hair in a mix of broken English and Italian. He brushed out her hair then whipped out a razor and went to town on her hair. We both looked at eachother for half a second until April was like UGH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! He tried as best as he could to explain that it was the salons specialty to cut hair with a razor and they had been doing it that way for the past 40 years. She decided to trust him and let him continue with the razor; it ended up fantastic! April now has bangs and lots of layers! On the walk home we both walked past a gelato place on Piazza Duomo before looking at eachother and deciding that we both desperately needed some. I got a cone of course cookies and then chocolate and it was amazingggg. To bad it was freezing out and the wind was basically blowing us away. Tonight Anna and I are finishing up some homework and then heading to Ganzo for hopefully a good dinner!
Hope everyone had a good weekend and are having a great week! Miss and love all of you! xo
Tuesday night was Taco Night at a pub/bar near Santa Croce called Red Garter. Anna was still feeling sick so Jenn, April, Shelbi and I went. When ordering the taco's, I asked our waitress what came on the taco's and she literally said what? She didn't understand that I wanted to know what came ontop of the taco. I was like What comes on top, lettuce, tomatos,...? She goes oh yeah thats it. So I order them thinking they are going to be plain beef tacos. WRONG. They came with beef, then lettuce, then guacamole, then cheese, then salsa. For anyone that knows me, gaucamole and salsa are NOT OKAY. Because of all the toppings, I was forced to scrap everything off and just eat the beef leaving me starving. The other girls were happily munching on thier tacos while I just sat there hungry and sipping my beer. Not a good meal. Fortunately some friends of our showed up so Jenn and I ordered some more drinks just as happy hour was ending and we enjoyed the rest of the night giggling and chatting.
Wednesday I had my terrible class then went shopping to make up for the bad previous days. First Jenn, Shelbi, and I headed to the San Lorenzo market to get scarves in preperation for Sunday's Soccer Game! The first stand we saw had the perfect color purple scarf and it was only 7 euro so I snagged it! The other girls wandered the market and eventually found scarves too then we headed into the shopping district. Sadly, I was having trouble finding any clothes that I liked, fit, and were decently priced. Finally we left the small shops and headed to my safe haven, H&M. Fortunately the store had restocked since my last visit and I ended up spending almost 100 euro but left a very happy and well dressed girl. After shopping I headed to apretivo with April at Ganzo. We had an assignement to taste wine and had been told by our professor that Ganzo was selling glasses of the wine for only 4 euro, perfect! Apretivo ended up being packed but we got our glass of wine, did the analysis then grabbed some food which was much better than last time and enjoyed the music and company of our classmates.
Thursday, my wine professor played hooky but also scheduled for another professor to teach his lecture. For everyone that is no longer is college, this is not a common thing in the States for a professor to bring in a "subsititue teacher" so I was already less than thrilled. Then the professor began teaching and I was even less happy since he had such a different teaching method and went through slides so fast, I have absolutely no idea what he taught. The wines were good and he was able to give us some hints as to how to analyze the wines but I got nothing out of the lecture. I finished the day with lunch and class then got ready to go out for the night with Jenn and April. We decided to go to a few new places we had never been before and had alot of fun.
Friday I was in a lazy mood so I slept in, got lunch, did homework, then read and layed around all day. It was a good thing I was so lazy because on Saturday Anna and I had an adventure day! We began the day by getting brunch for the first time at Ganzo. The experience was very interesting since the brunch was nothing like the States or how Ganzo had described it. There was an appetizer and dessert bar which had cold cuts, mini sandwiches, tomato and cheese, yogurt, and some other little desserts. I ate a little and tried some things but nothing was considered good food. Then we were asked to give our order of either eggs or pancakes. We both ordered pancakes since the website had said either eggs or pancakes with bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Of course when our plates come from the kitchen it was literally just one pancake with nothing else on the plate. Apparently the only way to get the side dishes is when you order eggs, so not fair since I don't eat eggs. The pancake was delicious since it was cooked perfectly and tasted like apples, cinnamon, and pure heaven, too bad we were still hungry. I filled up on juice and bread before we left for our adventure. We had planned to go to the Boboli Gardens, then the graffiti bridge, then Fiesole, then dinner.
The Boboli Gardens were absolutely huge and beautiful. Anna and I walked around for hours taking pictures and just exploring since they don't give you maps and there are just little passage ways all over the place. The weather was really working in our favor since it was partly sunny and warm enough to just wear a sweater. After we had walked around for a while we decided to leave in search of the graffiti bridge. We found the bridge just as it was starting to rain so we went to get shelter from the rain in where else? A gelato shop. Luckily they had my favorite, cookie! The flavor was good but it was so sweet that half way through I was getting a stomachache. The rain was ending but the sky was still dark and the wind was picking up so Anna and I decided to postpone our trip to Fiesole. We went back to the apartment and got ready for dinner. For dinner we ventured to a little Trattoria near Santa Maria Novella with a set menu. For my first course I had Tortellini in a cream sauce, for my second course I had grilled beef, for my side dish I had boiled potatos, and we had white wine. The tortellini was good an the steak was really good but the potatos were gross since they were cold. The night was interesting since the restuarant staff barely spoke English and we were the only American's in the whole place. It was a nice evening and the sky was full of stars as we headed back to the apartment to get ready for an evening out.
We didn't end up staying out too late since we had to be out pretty early for the soccer game. We met up with ISA and began the 40 minute walk through the other side of Florence to the stadium. One the walk there, the guides explained to us how soccer can be a dangerous game since many Italians are extremely passionate about their teams and fights often break out. We were lucky though since ISA planned our soccer trip on a day where the teams didn't have much of a rival and Florence was favored to win by a long shot. Out side the stadium everything was decked out in purple, Florence, and Florence's symbol(the iris). Also outside the stadium was Redbull, giving out unlimited free samples which was pretty cool. Our seats were just past the center of the field but where the first section and we were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted within the section. We picked seats together which were about half way between the top and the bottom making for a great view of the whole field. To the right of us was the Florence fan section which was insanely packed with people, most of whom were wearing purple and waving giant flags. During the entire game, the section would be chanting and singing songs then booing and screaming at the ref's when the penalties weren't called in thier favor. The stand literally went insane when Florence scored the first goal of the game about half way through the first half. We all really enjoyed the game and plan to go back for another game one weekend in April.
After the game, Anna and I planned to walk across town and then to the top of Piazza Michaelangelo to see the city and watch the sun set. By the time we made it to the base of the Piazza the sun was already half way setting and we still had about a 30 minute hike up to the top. We decided to postpone our trip to another night when we could take our time walking and really enjoy the whole sunset. For dinner Anna, Jenn, Chelsea, and I went to the Osteria della Gatto e Volpe. The bread on the table was literally amazingggg and the gnocchi quattro formaggio was good and extremely filling. We wobbled home and spent the night relaxing and discussing our weekends.
Today I went to a travel agency and bought my train tickets to visit Mom and Joe while they are in Rome which made me so excited for when they come! After, April, Anna and I went for lunch at Ganzo. Lunch was good but I'm getting sick of having to order the same sandwich everytime since they haven't changed the menu in almost a month! After lunch, April and I went to search for a place for her to get a hair cut. We ended up at a salon that was recommened by some of the girls from ISA but we waited for such a long time before they even recognized that we were there! Finally April got her hair shampooed and the guy who was doing her cut was really nice and tried to understand how she wanted her hair in a mix of broken English and Italian. He brushed out her hair then whipped out a razor and went to town on her hair. We both looked at eachother for half a second until April was like UGH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! He tried as best as he could to explain that it was the salons specialty to cut hair with a razor and they had been doing it that way for the past 40 years. She decided to trust him and let him continue with the razor; it ended up fantastic! April now has bangs and lots of layers! On the walk home we both walked past a gelato place on Piazza Duomo before looking at eachother and deciding that we both desperately needed some. I got a cone of course cookies and then chocolate and it was amazingggg. To bad it was freezing out and the wind was basically blowing us away. Tonight Anna and I are finishing up some homework and then heading to Ganzo for hopefully a good dinner!
Hope everyone had a good weekend and are having a great week! Miss and love all of you! xo
Sunday, March 6, 2011
All the Craziness that is Carnivale!
I'm a little bit behind yet again since I was supposed to write about Venice Monday and I just never got around to it!
Venice is my new favorite city in Italy! The morning started off with the sun rising as I got ready to load the bus at 7:30 am. The ride took about 3 and a half hours so they played the movie Casanova but I was so tired that I fell asleep about half way through the movie. Just as the movie was ending I woke up and was greeted by rain and snow falling as we entered Venice. The city center isn't accessible by bus so we all unloaded and waited at the dock for a boat to ferry us over. The ferry ride took about half an hour and was freezing but we were all too excited to mind much.
As soon as we got off the ferry it was chaos. There were people literally covering every square inch of space visible and everyone was either wearing a mask, a costume, or both. Some how we managed to hear our tour leader shout to follow him to the glass blowing demonstration but following him seemed to be nearly impossible. The crowds made it difficult to see our tour guide and follow him while trying to soak in the atmosphere of Venice. At one point we were standing in a narrow road (even narrow as far as Italy is concerned) and we stood still for a good 5 minutes since there were so many people, no one could move. We finally made our way through the crowds and over the bridges to the Murano Glass Factory. The demonstration lasted all of 2 minutes but it was still cool.
After the demonstration we were escorted by our glass blowing guide into another room covered from floor to cieling with hand blown glass items. I was scared to move in fear of hitting something or hitting into someone else who would hit something since it was so crowded. After a brief explanation of the different types and colors of glass available at the store, our guide said that there is a special going on for students! I was so excited when he pulled beautiful drinking glasses and flower vases from the shelves, that is until he said that each glass was over 100 euro and the vases were over 150 euro. No thanks. After that disappointment we walked around the museum/shop looking at all the beautiful glass until I decided to buy a pair of earrings for 25 euro. They are a beautiful aqua glass set inside cubic zirconium stones.
After the glass blowing tour we were free to roam the city but of course my first priority was food! It was almost 2 o'clock by then and I was starving. We tried walking around to find somewhere to sit and eat but unfortunately everything was either pack or insanely over priced. The group of 10 decided to split up so it would be easier to eat and since half of the girls weren't that hungry. Anna, Ashely, Nina, Nicole, and I continued our hunt for food when we finally settled on a little restaurant near the main piazza, San Marco. The restaurant was of course over priced but they had Bellini's and I was tired of searching. I settled on just ordering some spaghetti in a meat sauce and a Bellini. The pasta was okay but the Bellini was delicious! (They are a Venician specialty!) After lunch we strolled to Piazza San Marco to check out the Carnivale!
The carnivale was huge but very different then American carnivale. First of all there are no clowns or animals in a ring. They do however have a theme each year and this year the theme was 19th Century Women so a lot of the costumes were designed from the 19th Century which was amazing! The main attraction is the people dressed up walking around but also there is a main stage that displays comedy shows, musical performances, and skits. Anna and I stopped to watch for a little but we had no idea what was going on since it was all in Italian.
It started to rain so the other girls went to look for shelter but Anna and I were unfazed by the drizzling and continued to walk around people watching. A few times poeple even asked us if they could take pictures of us since they liked our masks so much! It was strange at first but everyone was taking pictures of everyone so we got used to it! As we were walking around I continued to look for another mask since I wanted one with feathers. I ended up finding the most perfect mask that was purple, had feathers, and glitter! We continued to prance around the city taking in the sites until we happened to find April, Jenn, and Chelsea! Together we went in search of somewhere for Anna to get tiramisu since its her favorite dessert and it was first created in Venice! It was surprisingly difficult to find a place that served tiramisu but once we did we sat down and since I don't like tiramisu, I ordered another Bellini!
After our little snack we walked around and into the different shops looking at glass, food, and most of all masks! Mask making is considered a serious profession in Venice and it takes years to develop the skills to produce a quality mask. Some of the masks were so ornate, I would be afraid to wear them without breaking it! The most expensive price tag I could locate was 11,500 euro!
Of course as we were getting ready to meet back up with the tour bus to head home, we bought some gelato. I saw cookie and immediately had to have it, good choice since it was delicioussss. I tried to savor it, but it was just so delicious that I finished it before we even got back to the ferry! We found our way back to the ferry and checked in with our tour guide and then patiently waited to load the ferry while it started to rain again. We waited from 6:30pm until 8pm....IN. THE. RAIN. Tired and wet, we loaded onto the ferry and then onto the bus. Thankfully, they played the Italian Job on the bus ride home since it the beginning of the movie is filmed there.
I crawled into bed just before midnight and as the rain began to pour.
Venice is my new favorite city in Italy! The morning started off with the sun rising as I got ready to load the bus at 7:30 am. The ride took about 3 and a half hours so they played the movie Casanova but I was so tired that I fell asleep about half way through the movie. Just as the movie was ending I woke up and was greeted by rain and snow falling as we entered Venice. The city center isn't accessible by bus so we all unloaded and waited at the dock for a boat to ferry us over. The ferry ride took about half an hour and was freezing but we were all too excited to mind much.
As soon as we got off the ferry it was chaos. There were people literally covering every square inch of space visible and everyone was either wearing a mask, a costume, or both. Some how we managed to hear our tour leader shout to follow him to the glass blowing demonstration but following him seemed to be nearly impossible. The crowds made it difficult to see our tour guide and follow him while trying to soak in the atmosphere of Venice. At one point we were standing in a narrow road (even narrow as far as Italy is concerned) and we stood still for a good 5 minutes since there were so many people, no one could move. We finally made our way through the crowds and over the bridges to the Murano Glass Factory. The demonstration lasted all of 2 minutes but it was still cool.
After the demonstration we were escorted by our glass blowing guide into another room covered from floor to cieling with hand blown glass items. I was scared to move in fear of hitting something or hitting into someone else who would hit something since it was so crowded. After a brief explanation of the different types and colors of glass available at the store, our guide said that there is a special going on for students! I was so excited when he pulled beautiful drinking glasses and flower vases from the shelves, that is until he said that each glass was over 100 euro and the vases were over 150 euro. No thanks. After that disappointment we walked around the museum/shop looking at all the beautiful glass until I decided to buy a pair of earrings for 25 euro. They are a beautiful aqua glass set inside cubic zirconium stones.
After the glass blowing tour we were free to roam the city but of course my first priority was food! It was almost 2 o'clock by then and I was starving. We tried walking around to find somewhere to sit and eat but unfortunately everything was either pack or insanely over priced. The group of 10 decided to split up so it would be easier to eat and since half of the girls weren't that hungry. Anna, Ashely, Nina, Nicole, and I continued our hunt for food when we finally settled on a little restaurant near the main piazza, San Marco. The restaurant was of course over priced but they had Bellini's and I was tired of searching. I settled on just ordering some spaghetti in a meat sauce and a Bellini. The pasta was okay but the Bellini was delicious! (They are a Venician specialty!) After lunch we strolled to Piazza San Marco to check out the Carnivale!
The carnivale was huge but very different then American carnivale. First of all there are no clowns or animals in a ring. They do however have a theme each year and this year the theme was 19th Century Women so a lot of the costumes were designed from the 19th Century which was amazing! The main attraction is the people dressed up walking around but also there is a main stage that displays comedy shows, musical performances, and skits. Anna and I stopped to watch for a little but we had no idea what was going on since it was all in Italian.
It started to rain so the other girls went to look for shelter but Anna and I were unfazed by the drizzling and continued to walk around people watching. A few times poeple even asked us if they could take pictures of us since they liked our masks so much! It was strange at first but everyone was taking pictures of everyone so we got used to it! As we were walking around I continued to look for another mask since I wanted one with feathers. I ended up finding the most perfect mask that was purple, had feathers, and glitter! We continued to prance around the city taking in the sites until we happened to find April, Jenn, and Chelsea! Together we went in search of somewhere for Anna to get tiramisu since its her favorite dessert and it was first created in Venice! It was surprisingly difficult to find a place that served tiramisu but once we did we sat down and since I don't like tiramisu, I ordered another Bellini!
After our little snack we walked around and into the different shops looking at glass, food, and most of all masks! Mask making is considered a serious profession in Venice and it takes years to develop the skills to produce a quality mask. Some of the masks were so ornate, I would be afraid to wear them without breaking it! The most expensive price tag I could locate was 11,500 euro!
Of course as we were getting ready to meet back up with the tour bus to head home, we bought some gelato. I saw cookie and immediately had to have it, good choice since it was delicioussss. I tried to savor it, but it was just so delicious that I finished it before we even got back to the ferry! We found our way back to the ferry and checked in with our tour guide and then patiently waited to load the ferry while it started to rain again. We waited from 6:30pm until 8pm....IN. THE. RAIN. Tired and wet, we loaded onto the ferry and then onto the bus. Thankfully, they played the Italian Job on the bus ride home since it the beginning of the movie is filmed there.
I crawled into bed just before midnight and as the rain began to pour.
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