VERONA - PICCOLA ROMA

Verona - the setting of Romeo and Juliet - true love that prefers death to living a lonely life.  Quite a tragic story..but a beautiful citta`! 
It took us about 4 hours to get there on the trains, since we took the Regionale slow trains and then managed to miss our train in Bologna as we sat happily eating our Lindt chocolate eggs while waiting at the wrong track.. Oh well.. It was a nice day, though and we finally saw some sun, though! - even if it was cold and overcast.  It has rained for like the past 40 days so it was nice to have a little break. 

Our day started off with some awesome music and singing by lots of random men wearing hats with feathers and medals and some really colorful vests in Piazza Bra. We figured out that it was some sort of Alpini gathering..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpini - Actually quite fascinating to read about since I never knew Italy had the oldest active mountain infantry.  Piazza Bra is the home to a Roman arena - very similar to the Colosseum but a little smaller. It's one of the reasons that Verona is called "Piccola Roma."

Verona has this amazing thing called a Verona Pass that lets you in the museums, arena, teatro, and the churches for only 10 euros.  So we made it our goal to see as many churches as possible.  I think we made it to at least 8.  They were all beautiful and my favorite in Italy so far.  The one on the left had an amazing color scheme of gold and light pink.  The humpback holding up the bowl is a sign of luck and good fortune if you rub his hump (which I did).

The church on the left had the most amazing ceiling made entirely of wood, with faces carved into the rafters.  We stopped by for part of mass in their duomo as well..
 
 

Enjoying our gelato in the sun (and being a perfect picture of exactly what it says not to do on the brochure we read later..)

We walked around pretty much the entire city.  Our next stop was the Teatro - an old Roman theatre that was quite amazing.  It also had an awesome museum with great artifacts and the cutest, tiny carved medallions.  We had a great view of the entire city from the collina. 

Views from the Tower... 

Our last stop - Juliet's house!  Of course, since Juliet is not a real person, it's kind of interesting to think that people pay 8 euros to go inside..but we got to stand on the fake balcony (altough I couldn't find Romeo at the bottom), leave love notes on the wall stuck with chewing gum, and get some luck from the statue of Juliet..

My roomate Grazia said I wasn't allowed to put the first picture on facebook - but since she doesn't know I have a blog...The second is Lita with both of her birthday cakes!

We barely caught the train home after a Very long day and nonstop walking for 5 hours..then managed to get lost, take the wrong bus, and walk forever to finally end up at my house for the birthday party of my awesome roommate Lita!  But we made it and ate way too much, as usual - a great way to end a great day!

Volterra and Siena

Top on our list of places to see has been Volterra...not just because it was where parts of New Moon take place (although the movie wasn't actually shot there - don't worry Montepulciano is on my list too).  My students also have been telling me that it is a beautiful very old Etruscan city on a hill with an amazing panoramic view of the Tuscan countryside.  And they were right!  It was absolutely stunning!  I was SO not ready to leave - I wish we could have stayed all day, but Meaghan really wanted to see Siena as well. 

Highlights of Volterra:  the quaint Palazzo dei Priori; the beautiful cathedral with its alabaster, frescoed ceiling and presepe; the archaelogical park, the tower, the Fortezza (now a prison), the porte, and the palazzo that took us forever to find but ended up being closed..and of course, the Saturday market with the gelato and yummy Italian tater tots..

 

One of my absolute favorite things about Saturday mornings are the local markets.  Volterra had some awesome vendors selling all sorts of seafood (note the octopus on the bottom right) - sharks, squid, octopus, fish, shrimp, eel.., everything fried (hence the tater tots), wine and honey, and all sorts of interesting meat products..

 The famous clocktower in Palazzo dei Priori

The beautiful cathedral - it had amazing frescoes, stained glass, sculpted floors and graves, and the most beautiful ceiling I have seen yet, and the Volaterranorvm Religiosa Liberalitate entrance plaque.

From there we headed to the Roman theatre and some stunning views of the surrounding Tuscan countryside. 

We wandered along the beautiful, old streets and corridors and visited the archaelogical gardens and the castle that is now a prison.  Apparently, there's also a women's asylum next door with some interesting grafitti - something to come back for...

 Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Volterra and hop on the bus to Siena.  I could have spent much more time there - and didn't get to go to the Etruscan museum so it's definitely on my list of places to return to.

                           SIENA

This time I actually went inside the Duomo so I could see if it was as cool as every says (it's not) but it does have some awesome mosaic floors.  Otherwise it's a bit too gaudy and stripy for me.  

Sorry for all the pictures, but they just don't do it justice.  My new home is going to be in the Tuscan hillsides around Volterra - green rolling hills, trees, vineyards, old villas, cows..and tranquility.

Viareggio and Carnivale!

Carnivale is huge here in Italy!!  I absolutely love it because it means lots of yummy treats (fritelle di riso, bomboloni, cenchi, schiacciata alla fiorentina, strufoli,..etc)  And I can't even feel bad for eating so much because it will be a whole other year before they come around again!  I actually really love that - it gives you something to look forward to when you can't just buy anything you want in the stores.  My roommate made us some awesome bomboloni (doughnuts but better) and fritelle and so now I sort of, maybe one day could make my own..She also made some awesome lasagna recently that I'm going to have to try. 

  So the big festival is in Venice but it's a long train ride and not so cheap to get there - plus I wasn't really brave enough to be amongst all the people..so we picked the 2nd best destination around - Viareggio.  It's a little town on the Sea that has lots of parades and events for Carnivale.  The parades are on Sundays so we missed out on that..but we got to see a ton of people dressed up, eat some great food (churros, even) and get into the Carnivale spirit..

You don't even want to know how many hours we spend on the trains!!  But Meaghan and I are prepared - we've learned to bring snacks, candy, books, water, changes of clothes, sunglasses and pretty much be prepared for anything..

 We started out the day with an awesome ride on the ruota panoramica (ferris wheel).  It was awesome - with a fantastic view of the city and the Mediterranean..Viareggio has a long road that parallels the ocean with lots of rides, games, food, and restaurants.  It reminded me of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk a little bit..

The next stop was the beach!! It's been a while and I miss the ocean!  Too bad it wasn't warm enough to swim..

Meaghan made sure that we got in the Spirit with lots of silly string and confetti.  They also have some sort of shaving cream spray people were spraying all over each other..We almost bought the hair to go along with it..but somehow restrained.  Do you notice the glasses in the pictures?  Did I mention that Italy has decided to keep my contacts :(

Happy Carnevale!!!

Compleanno di Titti e Cioccolato!!

This weekend proves why it's worth it to sometimes just stay home and enjoy Florence.  It was a good week, although somewhat rainy, with the usual to keep me busy.  Wednesday was my roommate Titti's 29th birthday - and we celebrated and ate for three days!  She made three tiramisu's (she makes the best ever) - one for just me and my roommates.  It's a good things these birthdays don't come around more often..

Friday night was the big birthday party.  Meaghan and I made the most amazing hand apple pies ever (really, they were wonderful).



Me and Titti

My other roommate, Lita - made her amazing Peruvian food (the green rice and sauce are my favorite)
There was Happy Birthday singing in
4 different languages (Italian, English, Albanesi e Spanish), dancing, lots of food and good company..

Saturday Meaghan and I continued the eating trend.  There was a great local artiginale market in Piazza della Republicca.  Then we went to the Palazzo Vecchio to tour the old Medici palace and take a look at the secret passageways.  

The ceilings were my favorite - they were all covered with frescoes and paintings so beautiful and still so vibrant. We also got to see the paintings that are really doors and hiding spots, secret stairways and the wooden trellises that hold the ceiling up.  It was freezing though, inside and outside. 

Our next stop - Piazza Santa Croce (the church in the background) for the Chocolate Festival!!

We had some amazing chocolates and my favorite, cioccolata calda (literally hot, melted chocolate), to warm me up.

The chocolatiers were very creative (those are chocolate salamis and mushrooms).  All sorts of amazing things to try - just stay clear of the cherries, they look amazing but I guess we should have known they were filled with alcohol..

We finished off the day by watching some sort of interesting political protest blocking our street on the way home..

The communists against the nationalists??

Then we made some amazing pizza and some sugar cookies for our friend Angela, who is going home to Peru this week.  Good thing Sunday was fast Sunday..  Now I'm waiting for the men to fix our water heater (one hour has already turned into 3) so I can go running and get on with my day..