Yesterday was the first day of my term abroad where I did not even take one picture... It scares me that not one photo worthy thing caught my eye as I walked through the city yesterday. It also might have been because we were in class from 10-4 and then I went right back home. I also brought the Canon Power Shot out because I didn't feel like carrying the larger Nikon out, so maybe I felt like the Canon Power Shot wasn't worthy of photographing the scenes I saw... Who knows!
For dinner last night, Simone the veterinarian returned to join us, bringing another bottle of wine. I guess we only drink wine at dinner when he brings it! He also brought along his precious daughter Giulia, who is 8 years old. For dinner we started off with a huge bowl of raw vegetables in the center of the table. Gabbriele showed us how to make a sauce that each of us made on our own in our own little bowls. We put salt, olive oil and aceta di mela (apple vinegar)... then all of our hands dove in towards the center of the table where the veggies were and we dipped them in our sauces until all the veggies were gone! Then we had a risotto with peas and squid, and a fish dish for the secondi. Healthiest and smallest proportion dinner I've had yet this term, SCORE!!
Anyways, today I was up early and ready too early for class. There is a mercato on Tuesdays in Caschine park which I was going to wake up very early to make it to before class, but the forecast said rain so I was discouraged. Now I'm just waiting for the bus and am getting excited because we are going to see a Calcio game tonight!
Off to Italian 10-12, then site visit at Santa Croce with Mauro! A Dopo!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
GUARDA MAMA! HO FATTO GLI GNOCCHI!
Just finished eating dinner. Something like a cordon blue patty thing, corn, artichokes and cheesecake made from ricotta. Not bad!
I had a relatively exciting past few days. Thursday noi abbiamo fatto gli gnocchi con Gabbriele e Claudia, e dopo noi abbiamo mangiato quasi tutto. We all got to shove our hands into the pile of smushy potatoes and flour concoction and we kneeded and rolled until Claudia gave us the okay. She put a few kneeds in making the dough look pretty then showed us how to cut it, roll it and cut it into the gnocchi. I tried to explain how my Nonna rolls each individual piece with her fingers afterwards and she said that it was too time consuming and not necessary... they taste the same with or without the fancy design!
So, we finally go to sit down to dinner and eat our own homemade gnocchi. YUM! You could tell which ones Sam had made because they were twice as big as the rest, and I actually liked the bigger ones better because they had a denser center! Claudia had made a light red sauce with marscapone for the Gnocchi and boy were they good and filling!
Dinner was wonderful because we had a dinner guest, Simone, who was the turtle's veterinarian. Poor Gabbriele's turtle was injured and he was pretty upset about it but happy that Simone was helping them out! We had chocolate easter egg for dessert and then excused ourselves from the table because we wanted to get ready to go out. We met up with the crew at SMN then headed off to Via Faenza to find a trattoria to sit and share a few liters of the vino della casa. Nice and relaxing evening, that ended up in "Florence Pub" where we stumbled upon Sam's friend Greg from WHS. Small city Florence is!
One class on Friday, then roaming the streets all day long trying not to return to my home stay. We walked to SMN to purchase our train tickets for our next days trip to Pisa. Successful! Even on a hungry stomach! We then headed to our favorite Panini place for lunch where I got a sandwich with Salami, Rucola, Carciofi, Funghi, Melanzana alla griglia, provolone and a funghi sauce. Soooooo GOOD!
After lunch we went to check out a gallery require for class in Palazzo Strozzi, then we went to buy tickets for a soccer game on tuesday. It was a very long process, we were probably 5th in line and it took 20 minutes to get through 5 people, because documenti must be shown for each ticket purchased so that they can fill out your information directly onto the ticket to prevent fraud I guess. So that was a fun/slow start to the weekend!
When we returned home, we napped and then ate dinner. For dinner we had a little left over gnocchi from the night before, and by a little I mean we finally got a not oversized portion for the Primi. And for the Secondi we had chicken which seemed to be cooked in flour and cooked pumpkin? and peas! First meal I have eaten that I felt was of good portions, I was quite excited!
Friday night we wanted to go out, but no one else really wanted to go out for some reason, but to our surprise Alex wanted to find a Karaoke bar and sing, so of course we had to go with him. We met him and Avery in Piazza del Liberta and headed in toward the Duomo. We had no luck finding Karaoke, cause our usual place was having a private party. But we ended up at a nice little bar called Naima where I had a glass of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, (2008 I think). A nice calm night for us, got back to SMN by 12:50 where we were able to catch the last bus home and were able to get to bed at a reasonable hour to be ready to catch the train at 9:57am the next day.
Stressed out already at 9:20 because our bus was not on time and did not come until 9:32 and I was freaking out we weren't going to make our train to Pisa. So many things giving me anxiety! ah! Luckily we made it, found Anna at our track who shuffled us to validate our tickets (thank god) and then quickly on to the train... thanks mama Anna :)
Safe and sound was the group on the way to Pisa... no validation problems, no wrong train, no wrong track. Everything went smoothly. We arrived in Pisa around 11:00 and found our way toward the center by 12:00 where we were entertained by watching everyone posing on the lawn trying to hold up the tower. So much more fun to see people leaning against nothing and trying and retrying to get their photos right. I sat their entertained by this, aware that in the next couple of hours I would be the one giving the entertainment as I tried to make the perfect pose for the perfect picture that never was able to actually capture... we ate lunch in Pisa, not even worth elaborating because we are positive the food came in packages, was microwaved and then put into a ceramic bowl. I had my first nastro azzuro of the trip though and it was nice and refreshing!
After we walked around Pisa until 3:00ish we decided Pisa was kind of lame and went to the train station to get tickets to go to Lucca. I was so excited to go see the little town of Lucca and wander its old streets! We arrived in Lucca's station around 3:45, went to the Informazione to get a map of the town and then we were off to find Alla Dolce Vita.
We struggled a little bit trying to figure out how to get inside the walls of Lucca, and once we made it inside we were all in awe of its beauty. We stopped to admire the walls, climbed up to see the view and continued on toward the hotel. We went past a cute pasticeria where the girls all bought little tiny fruit tarts, I resisted the temptation and we were back on our way. Right near our hotel we stopped at a cute little market where we bought two bottles of wine, a chunk of Italian Brie and a decent sized loaf of home baked fresh wheat bread to bring back to our hotel for Aperativo!
When we arrived at the hotel location.. which took a little figuring out, there was a note on the door that read: "dear guest, please call when you arrive and we can be there in 5 minutes, Fabio" We were a little sketched out about no concierge or anything, but after Fabio arrived promptly after my phone call and he showed us our room and our common kitchen we were happy to pay 15 euro each for the night. We unpacked our things, raided the kitchen for glasses, a bottle opener and knives, then we sat down to relax and make the plan for the night. The bread, cheese and wine were ALL delicious, and just right for holding us over till dinner.
We headed up to the walls of the city around 6:30 to watch the sunset. We watched all the bikers and joggers pass us by and we admired the beautiful scenery we were gifted with seeing. As the sun set our stomachs began to growl and we headed off the wall, into the heart of Lucca to find dinner. We stopped at numerous places, one including 'il leo' which had been in the NY times and was necessary to have a reservation in order to eat, so we continued on. We found a place similar to il leo, where we also got rejected and were told we needed a reservation. Disappointingly we walked away, but then we realized the tables outside were all empty for it was a little chilly that night, but we were hungry and the price and food selection were right so we asked for a table outside and we were able to sit down to a nice dinner. I had an insalata miste for a contorni, lots of bread and scaloppine marsala and some wine all for 19 euro. It was a splurge for me and totally worth it.
We all headed back to Alla Dolce Vita around 10:30, hoping the Yogurteria across the street would still be open. We were very disappointed when it wasn't and so we retreated to our beds. Early night for us but we didn't mind. I was surprised at the amount of people wandering through Lucca's streets, voices scattering, laughter cracking everywhere despite nothing being open. Tucked into our beds listening to the outside commotion (I think I woke up every hour and heard voice having fun constantly throughout the night, it was weird for such a small town) we all went to bed hoping for good weather on Sunday, but our hopes weren't good enough. We woke up to the boom of thunder, crack of lighting and pourring rain. It didn't seem as though it would clear so we put our dreams of biking the walls of Lucca away, decided we would come back again for a beautiful day trip and we headed out toward the Stazion. On the way we stopped at the same pasticeria, which was surprisingly the only thing opened in town and I had an apple filled brioche and cappuccino both for 1.90 euro. BARGAIN! We got back on the train and headed back to SMN, and told Lucca we would see him later!
Back at home, I stayed in most of the day skyping with mom and dad and a few others. I went on a brief walk up the hill to see the Duomo and all of central florence and then headed through the gardens trying to take decent photos for class. I retired back home, Claudia made us dinner around 8:15. A cordon blue type patty thing (not homemade I don't think), home prepared artichokes and corn. Delicious as usual, but not filled up to the brim with pasta as I write this blog post is quite the change.
Baci!
I had a relatively exciting past few days. Thursday noi abbiamo fatto gli gnocchi con Gabbriele e Claudia, e dopo noi abbiamo mangiato quasi tutto. We all got to shove our hands into the pile of smushy potatoes and flour concoction and we kneeded and rolled until Claudia gave us the okay. She put a few kneeds in making the dough look pretty then showed us how to cut it, roll it and cut it into the gnocchi. I tried to explain how my Nonna rolls each individual piece with her fingers afterwards and she said that it was too time consuming and not necessary... they taste the same with or without the fancy design!
So, we finally go to sit down to dinner and eat our own homemade gnocchi. YUM! You could tell which ones Sam had made because they were twice as big as the rest, and I actually liked the bigger ones better because they had a denser center! Claudia had made a light red sauce with marscapone for the Gnocchi and boy were they good and filling!
Dinner was wonderful because we had a dinner guest, Simone, who was the turtle's veterinarian. Poor Gabbriele's turtle was injured and he was pretty upset about it but happy that Simone was helping them out! We had chocolate easter egg for dessert and then excused ourselves from the table because we wanted to get ready to go out. We met up with the crew at SMN then headed off to Via Faenza to find a trattoria to sit and share a few liters of the vino della casa. Nice and relaxing evening, that ended up in "Florence Pub" where we stumbled upon Sam's friend Greg from WHS. Small city Florence is!
One class on Friday, then roaming the streets all day long trying not to return to my home stay. We walked to SMN to purchase our train tickets for our next days trip to Pisa. Successful! Even on a hungry stomach! We then headed to our favorite Panini place for lunch where I got a sandwich with Salami, Rucola, Carciofi, Funghi, Melanzana alla griglia, provolone and a funghi sauce. Soooooo GOOD!
After lunch we went to check out a gallery require for class in Palazzo Strozzi, then we went to buy tickets for a soccer game on tuesday. It was a very long process, we were probably 5th in line and it took 20 minutes to get through 5 people, because documenti must be shown for each ticket purchased so that they can fill out your information directly onto the ticket to prevent fraud I guess. So that was a fun/slow start to the weekend!
When we returned home, we napped and then ate dinner. For dinner we had a little left over gnocchi from the night before, and by a little I mean we finally got a not oversized portion for the Primi. And for the Secondi we had chicken which seemed to be cooked in flour and cooked pumpkin? and peas! First meal I have eaten that I felt was of good portions, I was quite excited!
Friday night we wanted to go out, but no one else really wanted to go out for some reason, but to our surprise Alex wanted to find a Karaoke bar and sing, so of course we had to go with him. We met him and Avery in Piazza del Liberta and headed in toward the Duomo. We had no luck finding Karaoke, cause our usual place was having a private party. But we ended up at a nice little bar called Naima where I had a glass of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, (2008 I think). A nice calm night for us, got back to SMN by 12:50 where we were able to catch the last bus home and were able to get to bed at a reasonable hour to be ready to catch the train at 9:57am the next day.
Stressed out already at 9:20 because our bus was not on time and did not come until 9:32 and I was freaking out we weren't going to make our train to Pisa. So many things giving me anxiety! ah! Luckily we made it, found Anna at our track who shuffled us to validate our tickets (thank god) and then quickly on to the train... thanks mama Anna :)
Safe and sound was the group on the way to Pisa... no validation problems, no wrong train, no wrong track. Everything went smoothly. We arrived in Pisa around 11:00 and found our way toward the center by 12:00 where we were entertained by watching everyone posing on the lawn trying to hold up the tower. So much more fun to see people leaning against nothing and trying and retrying to get their photos right. I sat their entertained by this, aware that in the next couple of hours I would be the one giving the entertainment as I tried to make the perfect pose for the perfect picture that never was able to actually capture... we ate lunch in Pisa, not even worth elaborating because we are positive the food came in packages, was microwaved and then put into a ceramic bowl. I had my first nastro azzuro of the trip though and it was nice and refreshing!
After we walked around Pisa until 3:00ish we decided Pisa was kind of lame and went to the train station to get tickets to go to Lucca. I was so excited to go see the little town of Lucca and wander its old streets! We arrived in Lucca's station around 3:45, went to the Informazione to get a map of the town and then we were off to find Alla Dolce Vita.
We struggled a little bit trying to figure out how to get inside the walls of Lucca, and once we made it inside we were all in awe of its beauty. We stopped to admire the walls, climbed up to see the view and continued on toward the hotel. We went past a cute pasticeria where the girls all bought little tiny fruit tarts, I resisted the temptation and we were back on our way. Right near our hotel we stopped at a cute little market where we bought two bottles of wine, a chunk of Italian Brie and a decent sized loaf of home baked fresh wheat bread to bring back to our hotel for Aperativo!
When we arrived at the hotel location.. which took a little figuring out, there was a note on the door that read: "dear guest, please call when you arrive and we can be there in 5 minutes, Fabio" We were a little sketched out about no concierge or anything, but after Fabio arrived promptly after my phone call and he showed us our room and our common kitchen we were happy to pay 15 euro each for the night. We unpacked our things, raided the kitchen for glasses, a bottle opener and knives, then we sat down to relax and make the plan for the night. The bread, cheese and wine were ALL delicious, and just right for holding us over till dinner.
We headed up to the walls of the city around 6:30 to watch the sunset. We watched all the bikers and joggers pass us by and we admired the beautiful scenery we were gifted with seeing. As the sun set our stomachs began to growl and we headed off the wall, into the heart of Lucca to find dinner. We stopped at numerous places, one including 'il leo' which had been in the NY times and was necessary to have a reservation in order to eat, so we continued on. We found a place similar to il leo, where we also got rejected and were told we needed a reservation. Disappointingly we walked away, but then we realized the tables outside were all empty for it was a little chilly that night, but we were hungry and the price and food selection were right so we asked for a table outside and we were able to sit down to a nice dinner. I had an insalata miste for a contorni, lots of bread and scaloppine marsala and some wine all for 19 euro. It was a splurge for me and totally worth it.
We all headed back to Alla Dolce Vita around 10:30, hoping the Yogurteria across the street would still be open. We were very disappointed when it wasn't and so we retreated to our beds. Early night for us but we didn't mind. I was surprised at the amount of people wandering through Lucca's streets, voices scattering, laughter cracking everywhere despite nothing being open. Tucked into our beds listening to the outside commotion (I think I woke up every hour and heard voice having fun constantly throughout the night, it was weird for such a small town) we all went to bed hoping for good weather on Sunday, but our hopes weren't good enough. We woke up to the boom of thunder, crack of lighting and pourring rain. It didn't seem as though it would clear so we put our dreams of biking the walls of Lucca away, decided we would come back again for a beautiful day trip and we headed out toward the Stazion. On the way we stopped at the same pasticeria, which was surprisingly the only thing opened in town and I had an apple filled brioche and cappuccino both for 1.90 euro. BARGAIN! We got back on the train and headed back to SMN, and told Lucca we would see him later!
Back at home, I stayed in most of the day skyping with mom and dad and a few others. I went on a brief walk up the hill to see the Duomo and all of central florence and then headed through the gardens trying to take decent photos for class. I retired back home, Claudia made us dinner around 8:15. A cordon blue type patty thing (not homemade I don't think), home prepared artichokes and corn. Delicious as usual, but not filled up to the brim with pasta as I write this blog post is quite the change.
Baci!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Hike Up To Piazzale Michelangelo and Some previous experiences
Italian 10:00-12:00
Architecture w/ Professore Mauro Mussolini 1:00-4:00
We arrived at class around 9:45 and walked up to class room "Roma". There we found a sign on the wall saying: "Union College, Francesca's Class is Cancelled Today" Yay! We didn't have conversation, but had to be back at 11:00 for our hour grammar lesson with Veronica. Most of our class stayed in the classroom and did their homework, but Anna and I left in search for a caffe with ciocolata calda. We walked down one of the side streets of Piazza Santo Spirito and stumbled upon Cafe Bianchi, just around the corner from the Pitti Palace. Here we ordered hot chocolates for ourselves and stood in awe as the Barista held our cups under the hot chocolate spigot and watched pure steaming chocolate trudge out. MOLTO BUONO. It was the best hot chocolate we had ever had, and it was more of a dessert than a morning drink, but definitely worth the 2.50 euro.
After we finished we headed back to the piazza where we both bought large carrots to munch on because we felt we had been lacking vegetables all week. We took my 2 for 30cents and Anna's 5 for 80 cents carrots over to the steps of Santo Spirito and found a patch in the sun and chewed on carrots while waiting for 11:00 to approach.
After grammar class we met up with Sam and Sarah and went across the bridge to find a hole in the wall panini shop we had seen a day earlier. There we all got sandwiches that sounded SO good and were a good price 3.50 euro, but as we bit into them we were utterly disappointed. My sandwich had Prosciuto, carciofi, provolone and a "tuscan pate", sounded delcious, but the pate just wasn't for me. I ate the sandwich anyways and headed to meet the class outside the baptistry a little disappointed.
Mauro Mussolini was very animated. We had long lectures, took MANY notes, got almost hit by 2 ambulances, multiple taxi cabs and mobbed by other groups of people. I actually ended up learning a decent amount about the Piazza and the ospedale and how everything used to be run while we were standing on hard cobblestone for 2 hours. We got to go inside the baptistry, the best preserved building in all of Firenze and then we climbed the campanile. I only mildly had a heart attack trying to climb to the top in my sparkly ballet flats... woops picked the WRONG shoes for that excursion (but in my defense we all thought we were just going into the baptistry). As usual the view from one of the highest points in the city was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! It was so cool to look at and identify all the places we had been to in the previous week, and to see the other tourists standing atop the Duomo looking out at the city like we were doing from the Campanile. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Architecture HW: Go to Chiesa San Miniato al Monte... Crap he is making us go to ANOTHER church... oh wait TOTALLY worth it :o)
Wednesday we had only an hour of class and leisurely spent our afternoon. We walked to the Oil Shoppe, where there are mainly americans eating, but honestly, they have the BEST sandwiches I have ever had! I chose the "healthy #7" with Prosciuto Crudo, Carciofi, Funghi, Formaggio e Rucola.. they were out of Prosciuto so I substituted for turkey, and it was still BOMB. Melt in your meth panino on a wheat bread, heated to perfect, enjoyed on a curb of a piazza in the sun... what could be better? All of that without having to use the bathroom!
I snuck into a restaurant we had eaten in the day before, used the bathroom there, and I swear as I attempted to walk out nonchalantly the owner of the store mumble "brutta, brutta" under her breath. But whatever, I gave her business twice already and she denied us Aqua al rubinetto, so she can deal with me using her bagno!
After lunch we walked toward the Duomo, Anna and Sam wanted to buy some books to read. While they were in the bookstore buying way overpriced books, I wandered down the road popping in and out of clothing stores. We then headed back over the Arno toward Piazzale Michelangelo. From the river we saw the point at which we needed to hike high above on the mountain, contemplated bus number 12, but then decided a good calorie burn was necessary. We got in a mode, found the stairs and began to hike (and sweat, for me anyways).
Martedi: 6, Aprile 2010.
Gorgeous views of Firenze all the way up. We took periodic breaks reaching the top because none of us were dressed appropriately for the hike. Little did we know it would be that hot and that we would be climbing hundreds of stairs, but we sucked it up and reached the top where we found Alex H, Katie, Johanna and Alison on their way down. The views were just gorgeous, we could see the entire city and beyond to snow capped mountains far far away, to the rolling hills of tuscany and to a portion of an old wall and tower which once encircled all of Firenze. So beautiful, wish everyone could see it in person because photos just don't do it justice.
At the top we went into Chiesa sel San Miniato al Monte, gorgeous interior and exterior and once again gorgeous view. Nice to be inside the cool church after the long hike uphill in the sun. After we looked around for a while we headed back down. Stopped for gelato, I got a 2 euro cono con stratciatella e menta, the menta was SO refreshing it was perfect and the chocolate chunks in the stratchiatella were SO good as well. We walked to Piazzale Michelangelo and enjoyed our gelato and the view then waited at the bus stop to take a excessively long bus ride back to SMN where I almost fell asleep numerous times. We made it home by 5, I went on a run got changed and showered then had dinner.
Cena: Delcious tortellini with spinach and marscapone. Fried and salted potatoes, spinach, spinach and ricotta quiche, and FAGIOLI (BEANS). For dessert a broken l'uovo ciocolata di pasqua, sam and I ate a DECENT amount of the dark chocolate egg while Claudia and Gabbri let us watch Scrubs in Italiano with them. GREAT DAY!
Architecture w/ Professore Mauro Mussolini 1:00-4:00
We arrived at class around 9:45 and walked up to class room "Roma". There we found a sign on the wall saying: "Union College, Francesca's Class is Cancelled Today" Yay! We didn't have conversation, but had to be back at 11:00 for our hour grammar lesson with Veronica. Most of our class stayed in the classroom and did their homework, but Anna and I left in search for a caffe with ciocolata calda. We walked down one of the side streets of Piazza Santo Spirito and stumbled upon Cafe Bianchi, just around the corner from the Pitti Palace. Here we ordered hot chocolates for ourselves and stood in awe as the Barista held our cups under the hot chocolate spigot and watched pure steaming chocolate trudge out. MOLTO BUONO. It was the best hot chocolate we had ever had, and it was more of a dessert than a morning drink, but definitely worth the 2.50 euro.
After we finished we headed back to the piazza where we both bought large carrots to munch on because we felt we had been lacking vegetables all week. We took my 2 for 30cents and Anna's 5 for 80 cents carrots over to the steps of Santo Spirito and found a patch in the sun and chewed on carrots while waiting for 11:00 to approach.
After grammar class we met up with Sam and Sarah and went across the bridge to find a hole in the wall panini shop we had seen a day earlier. There we all got sandwiches that sounded SO good and were a good price 3.50 euro, but as we bit into them we were utterly disappointed. My sandwich had Prosciuto, carciofi, provolone and a "tuscan pate", sounded delcious, but the pate just wasn't for me. I ate the sandwich anyways and headed to meet the class outside the baptistry a little disappointed.
Mauro Mussolini was very animated. We had long lectures, took MANY notes, got almost hit by 2 ambulances, multiple taxi cabs and mobbed by other groups of people. I actually ended up learning a decent amount about the Piazza and the ospedale and how everything used to be run while we were standing on hard cobblestone for 2 hours. We got to go inside the baptistry, the best preserved building in all of Firenze and then we climbed the campanile. I only mildly had a heart attack trying to climb to the top in my sparkly ballet flats... woops picked the WRONG shoes for that excursion (but in my defense we all thought we were just going into the baptistry). As usual the view from one of the highest points in the city was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! It was so cool to look at and identify all the places we had been to in the previous week, and to see the other tourists standing atop the Duomo looking out at the city like we were doing from the Campanile. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Architecture HW: Go to Chiesa San Miniato al Monte... Crap he is making us go to ANOTHER church... oh wait TOTALLY worth it :o)
Wednesday we had only an hour of class and leisurely spent our afternoon. We walked to the Oil Shoppe, where there are mainly americans eating, but honestly, they have the BEST sandwiches I have ever had! I chose the "healthy #7" with Prosciuto Crudo, Carciofi, Funghi, Formaggio e Rucola.. they were out of Prosciuto so I substituted for turkey, and it was still BOMB. Melt in your meth panino on a wheat bread, heated to perfect, enjoyed on a curb of a piazza in the sun... what could be better? All of that without having to use the bathroom!
I snuck into a restaurant we had eaten in the day before, used the bathroom there, and I swear as I attempted to walk out nonchalantly the owner of the store mumble "brutta, brutta" under her breath. But whatever, I gave her business twice already and she denied us Aqua al rubinetto, so she can deal with me using her bagno!
After lunch we walked toward the Duomo, Anna and Sam wanted to buy some books to read. While they were in the bookstore buying way overpriced books, I wandered down the road popping in and out of clothing stores. We then headed back over the Arno toward Piazzale Michelangelo. From the river we saw the point at which we needed to hike high above on the mountain, contemplated bus number 12, but then decided a good calorie burn was necessary. We got in a mode, found the stairs and began to hike (and sweat, for me anyways).
Martedi: 6, Aprile 2010.
Gorgeous views of Firenze all the way up. We took periodic breaks reaching the top because none of us were dressed appropriately for the hike. Little did we know it would be that hot and that we would be climbing hundreds of stairs, but we sucked it up and reached the top where we found Alex H, Katie, Johanna and Alison on their way down. The views were just gorgeous, we could see the entire city and beyond to snow capped mountains far far away, to the rolling hills of tuscany and to a portion of an old wall and tower which once encircled all of Firenze. So beautiful, wish everyone could see it in person because photos just don't do it justice.
At the top we went into Chiesa sel San Miniato al Monte, gorgeous interior and exterior and once again gorgeous view. Nice to be inside the cool church after the long hike uphill in the sun. After we looked around for a while we headed back down. Stopped for gelato, I got a 2 euro cono con stratciatella e menta, the menta was SO refreshing it was perfect and the chocolate chunks in the stratchiatella were SO good as well. We walked to Piazzale Michelangelo and enjoyed our gelato and the view then waited at the bus stop to take a excessively long bus ride back to SMN where I almost fell asleep numerous times. We made it home by 5, I went on a run got changed and showered then had dinner.
Cena: Delcious tortellini with spinach and marscapone. Fried and salted potatoes, spinach, spinach and ricotta quiche, and FAGIOLI (BEANS). For dessert a broken l'uovo ciocolata di pasqua, sam and I ate a DECENT amount of the dark chocolate egg while Claudia and Gabbri let us watch Scrubs in Italiano with them. GREAT DAY!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Buon Giorno!
Ieri noi abbiamo inconrato la nostra classe fuori dell'Uffizi. Era il compleanno della ragazza Cassandra. Sono provare molto duro per scrivere nell'Italiano adesso. E' difficile. Allora, Professor Benjamin ci ha portato a due Galeria Fotografica. Non siamo andati nell' Uffizi encora.
Okay that's enough Italian, takes too long to write and I have to leave for class soon!
Anywho, we met as a class at the Uffizi and Professor took us to two galleries in two hotels near each other. There were beautiful photographs and the hotels themselves were quite high end. Phil pretended he wanted a room for a night at the Hotel Art, and they offered him a room for 200 euro. We were shocked, we thought they would be going for MUCH more. After the galleries, we received our HW assignment, which was to write a journal entry no longer than a page about a photo we liked... loving the work load here ;)
After, because it was Cassie's 21st birthday, Prof Benjamin and Wife took us to their favorite gelateria and treated us all to a 2 euro gelato. SCORE! I got one with Ciocolata e Lampone. Era molto buono!
Sam and I then retreated back to Via Giovanni Fabbroni. I went on a run down the street and around the fortress. First run of Italy. Wasn't too bad because we have been walking everywhere.
I showered before dinner, and for dinner tonight we had a barley and vegetable soup (as the first course). It was really really good, and perfect because we were so cold in the house. For the second plate, we had lots of SPINACH, YUMM and two piece of some kind of fried cheese... Sam is convinced it was american, but I don't think that is possible. I thought it was more than delicious, Sam just kind of liked it, but ate it all anyways. We had some good conversation with Claudia, I made some complex italian sentences when she asked about my Nonna after seeing her yesterday on Skype. All in all a great dinner as usual!
We went out to meet the crew at the Duomo at 10:30, some club promoter said it was "Ladies Night" at the Fish Pub and Ladies got a glass of free champagne. How could I pass that up? Phil, Vish, Sam and I followed the guy back to his club, only to be told they ran out of champagne. Not cool! So we went back to the Duomo and met up with Katie, Avery, Johanna, and Alison, but could not find the others. Sam and I didn't really want to go out, I just wanted a waffle because I had walked past them everyday and had yet to buy one, so we left the group, and walked down the road to find a waffle.
Immediatly as I walked in the store the storekeeper asked if I wanted a waffle and then he just started yelling off everything I could put on it. Before I could even ask about the price I was sidetracked thinking about the chocolate, fruit, whip cream etc. he said he could put on it. I asked for chocolate and fruit. He made it and held it out to me. It looked SO good, until he took me over to the cash register to show me the numbers read 9.00 EURO Shocked, disappointed and pissed, I returned the 5euro I had taken out to pay him back in my wallet, and retrieved a 10 and reluctantly handed it to him.
Sam and I stormed away from the shop, took a picture of me and the 9 FREAKING EURO waffle, that wasn't even that good and we headed home. If the waffle had been 4 euro I don't think I would buy one again, so it was definitely a mistake in my book, but hey we gotta learn somehow right? ALWAYS ASK THE PRICE BEFORE YOU TAKE! If only we were allowed to return food.... I def would have done that! haha.
We were in bed by 12:30, had a quick skype sesh with Lindsay and Mom then set my alarm to wake up at 6:05 as I planned to wake up in time to catch the bus to the river and photograph the sunrise.
Brisk and Chilly this morning, but it was worth seeing the sunrise over the Arno. I took the bus 4 outside our house to SMN at 6:26, walked from SMN to the bridge and took quite a few photos that I think came out decently. I stayed on the bridge from 6:40 until 7:20, freezing I returned to SMN to catch the next bus back home so I could let Sam back in after her run, eat breakfast, drink coffee and collect my things for class. It's now 8:32 and I am still cold, but it is supposed to be warm today, so I'm gonna change, get ready and head back out to the bus stop.
Ciao! Buona Giornata!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
La Pasqua e Il Scoppio del Carro della Firenze
Buona Pasqua a Tutti!
Anna and I are all about the church and not missing the wonderful services it has offered us since we have been in Italy. Last weekend in Rome with Palm Sunday and this weekend in Firenze with Easter. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity we told each other, so despite returning home around 3am Saturday night we decided we would wake up at 8:30 and be at the Duomo by 9:15.
What an experience...
We arrived at the Duomo around 9:20, the Piazza had been fenced off between the baptistry and the duomo with an entrance opening toward the south west corner of the Piazza. Here about 12-15 Carabinieri stood chatting on their cell phones and smoking cigarettes. Two old women walked toward them and as the Carabinieri started to deny them access to the church we noticed them show the Carabinieri yellow passes and then tell them their names. Then the Carabinieri looked through a list and found their names and let them enter the church... So much for Anna and I getting in to see the main Easter mass! Oh well...
We set off toward Piazza della Republica to find a Brioche and conveniently ran into the Florentine flag throwers and a parade going through the Piazza. The Brioches could wait. We went to watch the parade and stayed until the cart of fireworks being carried by 4 large white cows went by, then we knew we had to get back to the Duomo. We ran up a side street, stopping briefly to grab a delicios Brioche con la marmellata di mele for 1 euro (shocked it was so cheap so close to the duomo) then continued toward the duomo to be bombarded with a huge crowd already forming.
We went to the other side of the Baptistry and positioned ourselves on the curb looking across the front of the Duomo with a perfect view of the Campanile. JK would be perfect view of the Campanile if I wasn't 5 feet tall, and there weren't 8 billion people above 5'6" standing in front of me... AWESOME, thank god that cart and the duomo are HUGE so I just looked up!
The cart entered the piazza and was positioned directely in front of the duomo. It was only 10:00, so we had an entire hour of standing ahead of us. We watched as the fire truck came, and a crane held people and positioned them to add things atop the cart and assemble the fireworks. Around 10:25 the 6'2" man standing in front of us decided to light a cigarette and blow all his smoke on us... wonderful.
We waited patiently, slowly getting more tired and wanting to find a cafe to sit and have a drink and we kept listening for the bells of the campanile to tell us it was almost 11. At 10:40 the bells rang for 10 minutes straight, and then there was 10 minutes till 11. We could hear the priest inside the church singing and we were getting really anxious for the display to start.
Right at 11:00 we saw a string from inside the church connected to the cart get lit and watched the fuse ignite the cart. Beautiful explosions everywhere, smoke covering the churches exterior and the piazza, and noise shaking the ground. Red smoke poured from the cart giving everything a very dramatic effect, then larger fireworks began exploding. For 15 minutes fireworks continued to explode off the cart and we decided it was totally worth the wait, and the smoke in our faces.
Immediately after it was finished, Anna and I booked it to a side street. We had had enough crowding and people for one day. We walked past a small church called San Michele and decided it would actually be a good idea to attend a mass. Katie called us and said she was trying to get into the Duomo, so we went to check it out. We saw people getting in the side door so we ran to get in... In the massive inside there were SO many people, tourists everywhere and no pews to sit in. We decided mass in the infinitely smaller church of San Michele would be a better way to celebrate easter so we speed walked back to the church and found ourselves a pew. We attempted to sing the songs in Italian and we ended up really enjoying the Italian mass It was a tiny little church but had a beautiful interior and was totally worth it.
After mass we went in search for food. We ended up at a small place near Antico Noe and the Lions Fountain and had Paninis for lunch. We both had a panini with fritata, carfiofi and asiago. It was pretty darn good for 4 euro. I had a cappuccino to warm up and she had a ciocolata calda, which tasted BOMB cause it was unsweetened.. so much better than swiss miss! After lunch we were tired and it was around 2:00. It had started to rain slightly so we took our umbrellas out, paid for our lunch and left for our homes. I walked to SMN and took the bus back to our house. Got home around 2:30 where I took a long nap.
I woke around 6:00 and went on Skype. I skyped with Alex who apparently in the middle of doing the dishes and I interrupted him. Told him about the "secret bakery" we had found the night before then waited for the Dad's family to arrive at my house in Wayland so we could do a large Skype session.
At 7:00 the family was at my house and I got to see everyone at home. It was nice to see everyone but I wished I was with them. Nonni was adorable trying to see me on the television and wondering if I could see her, and she told me we needed a sign language cause she couldn't understand me and continued to show us the motion for "F U" but don't think she realized that's what the motion of under your chin means today.
It neared 8:00, Claudia still wasn't home and Sam and I were getting nervous we weren't going to be fed on Easter. Around 8:05 Claudia, her daughter, Chiara and boyfriend arrived and cooked us dinner. We had very long dinner discussing movies and other things. For dinner we had an intersting bread and tomato concoction. A fettucine with meat hand made by the Nonna (Avery and Alex's host mom), and lamb of course along with some peas and spinach for the verdura. It was delicious as usual and after we resided to our bedroom.
Skype session 2: The Serafini side...
The volume and commotion of this skyping experience was on a whole other level than the D'Ambrosio side. Nonna demanded I bring the computer to Claudia, so I obeyed, they chatted for a few minutes, it was so cute. I talked with Toni, Serena, Nonno, Lisa, Phyllis and Sandy...
It was so nice to see everyone's face today. Thank you skype. And now it is 12:30, no class tomorrow yay for Pasqualino, but we are going as a class to the Uffizi at 3. I had a great Easter in Firenze, quite the experience! BUONA PASQUA!
A dopo! Baci!
Anna and I are all about the church and not missing the wonderful services it has offered us since we have been in Italy. Last weekend in Rome with Palm Sunday and this weekend in Firenze with Easter. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity we told each other, so despite returning home around 3am Saturday night we decided we would wake up at 8:30 and be at the Duomo by 9:15.
What an experience...
We arrived at the Duomo around 9:20, the Piazza had been fenced off between the baptistry and the duomo with an entrance opening toward the south west corner of the Piazza. Here about 12-15 Carabinieri stood chatting on their cell phones and smoking cigarettes. Two old women walked toward them and as the Carabinieri started to deny them access to the church we noticed them show the Carabinieri yellow passes and then tell them their names. Then the Carabinieri looked through a list and found their names and let them enter the church... So much for Anna and I getting in to see the main Easter mass! Oh well...
We set off toward Piazza della Republica to find a Brioche and conveniently ran into the Florentine flag throwers and a parade going through the Piazza. The Brioches could wait. We went to watch the parade and stayed until the cart of fireworks being carried by 4 large white cows went by, then we knew we had to get back to the Duomo. We ran up a side street, stopping briefly to grab a delicios Brioche con la marmellata di mele for 1 euro (shocked it was so cheap so close to the duomo) then continued toward the duomo to be bombarded with a huge crowd already forming.
We went to the other side of the Baptistry and positioned ourselves on the curb looking across the front of the Duomo with a perfect view of the Campanile. JK would be perfect view of the Campanile if I wasn't 5 feet tall, and there weren't 8 billion people above 5'6" standing in front of me... AWESOME, thank god that cart and the duomo are HUGE so I just looked up!
The cart entered the piazza and was positioned directely in front of the duomo. It was only 10:00, so we had an entire hour of standing ahead of us. We watched as the fire truck came, and a crane held people and positioned them to add things atop the cart and assemble the fireworks. Around 10:25 the 6'2" man standing in front of us decided to light a cigarette and blow all his smoke on us... wonderful.
We waited patiently, slowly getting more tired and wanting to find a cafe to sit and have a drink and we kept listening for the bells of the campanile to tell us it was almost 11. At 10:40 the bells rang for 10 minutes straight, and then there was 10 minutes till 11. We could hear the priest inside the church singing and we were getting really anxious for the display to start.
Right at 11:00 we saw a string from inside the church connected to the cart get lit and watched the fuse ignite the cart. Beautiful explosions everywhere, smoke covering the churches exterior and the piazza, and noise shaking the ground. Red smoke poured from the cart giving everything a very dramatic effect, then larger fireworks began exploding. For 15 minutes fireworks continued to explode off the cart and we decided it was totally worth the wait, and the smoke in our faces.
Immediately after it was finished, Anna and I booked it to a side street. We had had enough crowding and people for one day. We walked past a small church called San Michele and decided it would actually be a good idea to attend a mass. Katie called us and said she was trying to get into the Duomo, so we went to check it out. We saw people getting in the side door so we ran to get in... In the massive inside there were SO many people, tourists everywhere and no pews to sit in. We decided mass in the infinitely smaller church of San Michele would be a better way to celebrate easter so we speed walked back to the church and found ourselves a pew. We attempted to sing the songs in Italian and we ended up really enjoying the Italian mass It was a tiny little church but had a beautiful interior and was totally worth it.
After mass we went in search for food. We ended up at a small place near Antico Noe and the Lions Fountain and had Paninis for lunch. We both had a panini with fritata, carfiofi and asiago. It was pretty darn good for 4 euro. I had a cappuccino to warm up and she had a ciocolata calda, which tasted BOMB cause it was unsweetened.. so much better than swiss miss! After lunch we were tired and it was around 2:00. It had started to rain slightly so we took our umbrellas out, paid for our lunch and left for our homes. I walked to SMN and took the bus back to our house. Got home around 2:30 where I took a long nap.
I woke around 6:00 and went on Skype. I skyped with Alex who apparently in the middle of doing the dishes and I interrupted him. Told him about the "secret bakery" we had found the night before then waited for the Dad's family to arrive at my house in Wayland so we could do a large Skype session.
At 7:00 the family was at my house and I got to see everyone at home. It was nice to see everyone but I wished I was with them. Nonni was adorable trying to see me on the television and wondering if I could see her, and she told me we needed a sign language cause she couldn't understand me and continued to show us the motion for "F U" but don't think she realized that's what the motion of under your chin means today.
It neared 8:00, Claudia still wasn't home and Sam and I were getting nervous we weren't going to be fed on Easter. Around 8:05 Claudia, her daughter, Chiara and boyfriend arrived and cooked us dinner. We had very long dinner discussing movies and other things. For dinner we had an intersting bread and tomato concoction. A fettucine with meat hand made by the Nonna (Avery and Alex's host mom), and lamb of course along with some peas and spinach for the verdura. It was delicious as usual and after we resided to our bedroom.
Skype session 2: The Serafini side...
The volume and commotion of this skyping experience was on a whole other level than the D'Ambrosio side. Nonna demanded I bring the computer to Claudia, so I obeyed, they chatted for a few minutes, it was so cute. I talked with Toni, Serena, Nonno, Lisa, Phyllis and Sandy...
It was so nice to see everyone's face today. Thank you skype. And now it is 12:30, no class tomorrow yay for Pasqualino, but we are going as a class to the Uffizi at 3. I had a great Easter in Firenze, quite the experience! BUONA PASQUA!
A dopo! Baci!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Fiesole
Last night Sam and I had made the plan and told the group who wasn't going to Chianti to meet at SMN at 11:00 to take bus number 7 up to Fiesole (because that's what our lonely planet guide told us).
Sam and I woke up at 10, planning to eat and leave the house by 10:40 so we could be at SMN by 11:00 in order to meet everyone. We were arrived a few minutes past 11 to find that no one from our group except Katie was at the Station. Late people give me anxiety, thankfully Vish and Phil called to say they would be 20 minutes, so I calmed down. We assumed Anna and Sarah were with them because they live near each other so we waited outside SMN in the sun anxious to leave for the hill town of Fiesole. As phil called to say they got off the bus we began to walk toward their location, Sarah called me on Anna's phone to say that they just woke up...
That was fine by us, but there was NO WAY we were waiting even longer at the station so we found Vish, Phil and Gabby and went on a quest for the bus to Fiesole. Avery and Alex hadn't been there either but they told us they would meet us in Fiesole, so our adventure began. We were told to go to Piazza San Marco to catch bus number 7, so we trekked over to Piazza San Marco, found the bus stop for #7, let Sarah and Anna know how to get there, then we got on the bus and we were off.
The bus ride was beautiful leaving the city. It just so happened that Avery and Alex got on the bus at the next stop so we had most of our group together on the bus. As we began to climb higher up the mountain, making sharp turns up the mountains face in a bus not built for the small curvy street, we began to see the most beautiful views of Firenze through the mud spewed windows of the bus.
As we neared the top, the bus dumped us in a beautiful piazza at the base of the city. There were trees and art everywhere, and as a group we establish we should begin by walking up and to the right so that we would be able to find unbelievable views of Firenze.
We walked up a few steep hills, made a few good turns and soon found us all hanging with our jaws open. The most breath taking views of the city laid before us and beyond that the fields and groves of Toscana made us all realize we picked the right place to go abroad.
We hiked through the city for a while, walking the perimeter, stopping to take photos and to watch the master photographer Alex H. crouch, and lie in various positions, and wish for better light in order to capture the true beauty of Fiesole.
We were getting hungry as Anna called to say they had arrived. We couldn't explain our exact whereabouts so we hoped that we would run into the eventually. As we were climbing a wall to see a better view and to have a little fun wall climbing action we heard Anna's voice rising up from the other side of the hill. FOUND THEM!! So everyone was together, and everyone was hungry together so we went to find a place to eat.
We walked back to the Piazza where the bus dropped us, and while the group was looking for a place to eat, I was determined to find a terrace with a few so I ran up an IMPOSSIBLY STEEP hill, found a cute place as my phone began to ring, and I was forced to run back because the group found a place to eat. I wasn't upset because where they had found was a cozy little place and we were able to eat a decent meal for 9 euro which excited me because it was under my lunch budget for the day, YAY!
After lunch, I told the group I was going to walk back up that impossibly steep hill because I knew although I hadn't made it to the view, that there would be a breathtaking view and it would be worth it. Sarah and Gabby contemplated not going, Gabby took the bus back into town, and the rest of us headed for the hill... Sam tried to run up it... little did she know that after the bend in the road (where you couldn't see further) the road became more steep. As she rounded the corner she stopped in her tracks. It was hilarious. All of us got a nice calf burn walking up toward the first flat part, but it was COMPLETELY worth it. These views were even MORE gorgeous than the ones we saw before. Alex H prayed for better light, taught me a few things about my camera and we all just sat there in awe. It would have been funny to count how many times we said something like "That's gorgeous" or "This is unreal" as a group because I think something positive was said by someone continuously until we returned back on the bus.
At the tippity top of Fiesole was a church that Anna and I explored. Everything was beautiful, nothing was even a little bit disappointing. We walked down the back side of the town through a garden and came across a beautiful cemetery. We walked through it, looking at all of the beautiful graves, and intriguing pictures of those who had died long, long ago. We watched as friends and family of the deceased came and left flowers and prayed for their loved ones. It was all a beautiful experence, simply an amazing day trip to Fiesole.
We got back on the bus around 4, took it back to Piazza San Marco, and as a group went to find a gelateria. Anna lead us to one that her host mom's friend had told her was one of the best in Firenze. I didn't get one because I knew 2.50 euro for a small was too much, but I tried a few peoples and it was true. The gelato was DELICIOUS. I probably should have bought one for myself, but the little tastes were enough for me to cherish the good flavor.
The group then split up, everyone being very tired. We made a game plan to be on facebook later so we could make plans for the night. General consensus was: we wanted to go to a small bar and have a nice pleasant low key night.
Now, I wait for Claudia's daughter, Chiara, to make us dinner, and after who knows what we will do. All I know is that I need to walk around and find some delicious gelato later and I will be molto contente :o)
Friday, April 2, 2010
Videos from Domenica delle Palme
This doesn't do the real thing justice. 100x more beautiful in person, watching all of the different kinds of people there who were so excited to see the Pope and be a part of the mass!
The pope and all his people. Pretty exciting day for Anna and I. What an experience. We sat next to two british people who said they had been a few years ago for the Easter Mass, and it was SNOWING! We had a beautiful day, the sun was hot at our backs, I think we may have even gotten a little red in our cheeks. It was a perfect day!
The pope and all his people. Pretty exciting day for Anna and I. What an experience. We sat next to two british people who said they had been a few years ago for the Easter Mass, and it was SNOWING! We had a beautiful day, the sun was hot at our backs, I think we may have even gotten a little red in our cheeks. It was a perfect day!
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