The Uffizi and more..

CIAO!
  Still busy as usual - I have a take home grammar test to finish, a personal project report on memory and learning, a 5 page teaching assessment, and a video analysis, AND a lesson to prepare for tomorrow.  Needless to say, I haven't been outside my house much this weekend...Thought I'd put up some old pictures from last weekend for you though. (Can you tell I'm avoiding finishing my test).

THE BEAUTFUL ARNO!

We went to the Uffizi gallery and it had some pretty impressive artwork.

I really like these statues in the Piazza della Signoria

The fake statue putting on his makeup!

Piazza della Repubblica!!  I love this carousel.  This is where my school is and I wander around here a lot at lunch and during the day..

Cinque Terre!

Last Saturday (back when I knew what free time was)..we went to Cinque Terre to go to the beach and enjoy the amazing weather here.  CT is on the Italian Riviera and made up of five small towns that you can hike between or take the train between.. We hiked the last four towns and arrived just in time to see an amazing sunset and an awesome wildfire.  It was a beautiful, relaxing day with some sunbathing, hiking, and pure enjoyment of Tuscan scenery!

We stopped at the leaning tower or Pisa on the way there...it's still leaning.

You can not beat that scenery!

Ahh..the beach..the Mediterranean..it was heaven!!

A partially burnt tree from a recent fire (they had another one the night we were there in Riomaggiare)

The walk between the last two towns is called Via Dell Amore and these locks were all along a section of the path - I guess they haveing something to do with keys and hearts or some such romantic notion..

That's a church on top of the hill..it was really really serene. 

FIRENZE!!

So finally some (okay, one) pictures of Firenze!  The city is beautiful - the weather has been amazing and there is always something going on in the centro.  It was supposed to rain all week but apparently that really just means it will rain really hard one day and then be nice and warm again.  Although I did just see some awesome lightning in the sky!  We just got back from our trip to the supermarket and it was pretty crazy!  The stores are HUGE and apparently Saturday night is the most popular time ever because half the town was shopping tonight!  I'm still really busy with school but I did pretty great on my last lesson so at least my week ended on a good note..

Pics from what seems like forever ago now...the Festa della Rificolona on September 7th.  The kids all have fancy lanterns they light and carry along the streets to the Piazza Santissima Annunziata.  From there it's just a big party that lasts long after dark.. It was great - lots of people, food, vendors, singing - a real festival!

These kids were highly entertaining to watch.  The little boys all have these pipes that they put something into to shoot at the lanterns -  because what little boy doesn't like shooting at things?

These are my type of kids!  Playing with fire! But don't worry - the firefighter is looking on and he'll tell them Basta! pretty soon..

There were all sorts of candy, candied nuts, cookies that tasted just like fortune cookies, cotton candy, etc..

The cotton candy vendor.

The Duomo on my way home - lit by the full moon..

Trip to Italy

So..a blog! I'm not quite sure how I feel about that but I figure it is the easiest way to keep in touch with everyone and save me the trouble of emailing anyone back (jk!). Also, proof that I'm still alive..although someday I plan to get my cell phone service set up..Of course, we have been so CRAZY BUSY with coursework, it took me over a week to get around to doing this much...

Sono arrivato in Italia!! It is so beautiful and amazing and busy and historic and friendly and big! I am loving it already! I am going to try and post some pictures of my stopovers on the way here and my first few days.. It's my goal to post every day or so, mostly so I can keep a record of what I've done and to encourage me to take more pictures!

I took a somewhat circuitous route to get to Firenze - starting out in Frankfurt, Germany.  Here are some pictures of my journey..

The water tower in Mannheim, Germany where I stayed.

The Munster Cathedral and ferry boat along the Rhine in Basel.  They have this awesome free bus pass that is a great free on/off bus tour when it's raining and your knee is broken from lugging around too much luggage..

Views from the train ride from Germany through the Swiss Alps.  Very beautiful!

The lake Lugano in Switzerland.  This place was one of the most beautiful and scenic places I've ever been!  I need to go back..