Wednesday November 18th
We arrived early at about 8:30 in Kusadasi, Turkey and took a very short taxi ride to out hotel. The lady who owned the small hotel was very welcoming and we had tea on the rooftop terrace and then our room was ready and we were able to take a short nap before exploring for the rest of the day. The lady at our hotel gave us a small map and a bit of information about the town and we headed out for the day. Our first stop was getting something to eat. Being on the coast I wanted to have some seafood and we found a nice little place with tables and chairs right near the harbor and we each had a delicious fish sandwich with salad. There were a couple cruise ships in that day so we ventured further from the stores right at the harbor and found the Wednesday market the lady at our hotel had told us about. We browsed through the market, enjoyed the nice weather and Tim got a nice sweatshirt jacket which was good because he had left his hoodie sweatshirt on the place from Rome to Greece. After shopping we walked along the coast and then out to an area known as Pigeon Island. There is a small harbor like walk way that leads out the island that has an old fortress on it. On the way we picked up a few Efes beers at a mini market and drank them looking out over the water and looking back towards the town of Kusadasi. After Pigeon Island we went back to our hotel to regroup and grab a light jacket and we watched all the lights come on in the city from our balcony and enjoyed the rest of our Efes beer. We went back down into the town and the cruise ships had already left so the town was not very busy which meant the choices for dinner were somewhat limited. We found a nice place that seemed to have a lot of locals eating there and so we ordered an Adana kebap, spicier meat and Cop sis… small sticks with meat served with tomatoes and lettuce. It was quite smoky at the place so we took our dinner to go and ate it on our balcony!
Thursday November 19th
We had breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel and then headed into town to catch the dolmus (mini-bus) that would take us to Ephesus. Well at least it took us almost all the way there, the dolmus drops you off at the end of the road that leads to the entrance gates. It was about a ten minute walk from where the dolmus dropped us off until we got to the ticket office and entrance to Ephesus. It was a good thing I had Tim with me and he could speak Turkish and it helped out the couple that was on the bus with us from one of the cruise ships in that day. On the walk into the park there was a dirt road that veered off and a random guy in the field there told us it was a short cut, we started to take it and then the guys from the cruise ship was a little unsure, the guys walked ahead and indeed it was a shortcut! As soon as we entered the park there was a show going on near one of the ancient amphitheaters. It was a reenactment of a parade and gladiator battle. Ephesus is the remains of an ancient town, we walked along the stone and marble roads, viewing a great amphitheater, library, fountains, baths, and other remains of houses along the way. After our visit we made our way back down the dirt road to the major road where the dolmus would pick us up and take us back to Kusadasi. While waiting on the side of the road, this stop actually had a bench for us to sit and wait we saw some cows in a field. A long time ago Tim told me that the cows in Turkey “moo” fast and higher pitched than the ones in the United States, well I never did hear one of those cows “moo,” so I guess I’ll never know. We also met a guy from Ireland while waiting for the bus, he had traveled here because dentistry work was incredibly cheaper in turkey versus Ireland and he needed to have all of his teeth either replaced of repaired. On our way back Tim had another conversation with some of the locals, they were surprised to hear him speak Turkish and he explained his story again. At the end of our bus ride we asked how to get to the main bus station so we could get our tickets for our next journey and without hesitation they took us right there and with no charge at all! I know that if it wasn’t for Tim’s Turkish language we would not have been treated so well in some cases, not that we would have nee treated badly but we would not have gained as much help. After getting our tickets we hoped on another dolmus to the beach to watch the sunset. We found a nice little place along a kind of boardwalk that had tables and benches and food and drinks to order. We shared a late lunch and two Efes as we watched the sunset and then put our feet in the water! Back in town I did a little bit more looking around in the shops and found the Turkish puzzle ring I had been searching for. The ring was too big at first but the shopkeeper had it sized down for me in just thirty minutes which gave us enough time to get Tim a much needed haircut before we visited more relatives the next day. The name of the barber shop was Filiz, which is Tim’s sisters name and it also happened to be the barber’s sisters name as well. The barber cut, washed, blow dried and even styled Tim’s hair. At first he was smoothing all the hair down towards the front of his head and Tim explained that he liked it up instead and so the guy gave him a Mohawk. It was really funny! We enjoyed our last dinner at a place above the fish market by the harbor, had another great view and ate Kofte (Turkish meatballs) and Tavuk Sis.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday November 15th
After having a nice breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel two of Tim’s cousins who live in Istanbul picked us up for the day and showed us around all of Istanbul. Their names of Nilgun (wife-related) and Fazil (husband), their daughter goes to a University in the United States and their son is in high school and studying hard to get into a U.S. university as well. They first took us to one of the smaller bridges that crosses the Bosphorous near the area known as Eminou. There are many otopark (parking lots) all around the city, but Fazil just drove their car right up onto the sidewalk and said ‘Turkish Otopark’ to us, it was great, even with the language barrier between us and only Tim has our translator we managed to communicate pretty well. There was one fisherman after another on both sides of the bridge! We took some stairs down from the top of the bridge and there was restaurant after restaurant under the bridge! We all had fish sandwiches that we know were very, very fresh! We completed are meal with cay (Turkish tea). After lunch and the bridge we drove to an area known as Taxim, it is a long pedestrian street with lots and lots of shopping, some high end stores mixed in with bargain shops that you can actually bargain for lower prices! While at Taxim we met up with another one of Tim’s cousins, Handan and her two children. We had coffee at Gloria Jeans, they called it their ‘Starbucks.’ Mom and I shared a white hot chocolate and Dad and Tim had Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee is not filtered so at the bottom of your cup you are left with coffee grinds and there is a Turkish tradition of fortune telling when you turn over your cup and let it dry and the pattern of the dried grounds are read. For dinner we went back to Nilgun and Fozil's place, where they have a great view of the giant bridge that crosses the Bosphorous and links the continents of Europe and Asia! We had Turkish pizza, called Lahmajun, it is a much thinner pizza, with mostly herbs and meat pushed into the crust and then you squeeze lemon juice over it, put some lettuce/salad mixture on it and wrap it up like a burrito! After dinner we drove around the area under the bridge on both sides of the Bosphorous and we were able to take some really nice night pictures. For dessert we went to a locals place were you get yogurt in the original plastic container and there is a bowl of powdered sugar on the table that you add to your yogurt. We yet again found another delicious way to eat yogurt!!!
Monday November 16th
Tim’s cousin Handan picked us up this morning and we tried to go to the Dolmabahce Palace but when we got there we found out it was closed on Mondays which we had not seen anywhere in the information on their website. That did not stop of grand tour of more site-seeing around Istanbul. We drove up and down along the Bosphorous and stopped at several places along the way that had wonderful views of the area and a new food or drink for us to try. We began at a fancy café in a rich area of town. We had salep which is a warm milk drink that is a mix between white hot chocolate and eggnog. It is served with cinnamon on top. To go along with our drinks we had two desserts, rice pudding and a more traditional Ashure, which has a jello like consistency and is made with cereal and different fruits, nuts, and beans. It is a religious dessert that is made with whatever is on hand in your house and then if you can afford it you give it out to those less fortunate around you. The next area we stopped at was right along the water with lots of little shops and eateries. We were not extremely hungry at this point in the day so we ordered one Kumpir for all five of us! Kumpir is a backed potatoes loaded with anything and everything: cheese, meat, mushrooms, corn, ketchup and mayonnaise. Without us knowing Handan also ordered two other entrees for us all to share and try. We had Guzleme which is like Borek, it is made with thin pastry layers and cheese, meat or spinach. We also had Durum a burrito like food. After introducing several new foods to us and showing us around the area Handan dropped us off at the ferry to cross the Bosphorous and meet up with Nilgun and Fozil again. They took us in the car to see where they both worked, dropped us off at an outlet mall for a little bit while they finished working and then picked us up and took us back to their place for another dinner. The mall was complete with an ice rink, bar, media market (like a best buy) and a grocery store on the lower level. On the way back to their house the traffic in the city was very heavy, at one point a taxi driver cut us off and Fozil said, in his best Italian accent “Professional Driver.” This goes back to a story I had told earlier on the trip and did not even realize they had caught on or that Tim had translated it, but it was about my first taxi ride in Montepulciano, Italy when the driver was going 100-120 in a 50 zone and he could tell I was worried. The taxi driver told us “Do not worry, Professional Driver.”
Tonight we had Monte, which is one of Tim’s favorites, or at least it was until our eating tour through Istanbul. Now I’m not sure how I could choose a favorite. Monte is a meat filled pasta dish served in a yogurt sauce with a drizzle of spicy red sauce and a little parsley on top. For dessert we had lots and lots of fruit. We had this one thing that you were only supposed to eat the very center part. Well we didn’t know that at first and ate the other parts, it makes you tongue and teeth very dry. Fozil drove us home even after we tried to tell him we could take the ferry back. Well as it turned out half way home Fozil got a phone call from Nilgun that I had forgotten my camera at their place, I felt so bad but he kept reassuring me that everyone forgets things sometimes. After getting the camera and on the way back toward the hotel we got stopped at a police checkpoint. Unfortunately Fozil had also forgotten something, his license. We sat there for a few minutes and then finally Fozil got out of the car and talked to the police officers and somehow we were let free with no ticket or anything!
Tuesday November 17th
Today was our last day in Istanbul. Mom and Dad would be headed to the airport tomorrow and Tim and I were headed to Kusadasi, Turkey, a coastal town. We used our last day to tour the Hagia Sophia and visit the Blue Mosque. We walked through the park of Topkapi Palace towards the Bosphorpous and ended up back at the Grand Bazaar, spice market and other shopping stores to finish up some last minute souvenir and gift buying. My study abroad had ended on November 4th, but I had one last paper to turn in by the 18th. That night we got carry-out from the place we ate dinner the first night. While I finished my paper Mom, Dad and Tim got dinner and then we ate it on our rooftop terrace. We quickly packed up the rest of our stuff and Mom and Dad took anything extra of ours that they had room for and we headed to the street car tram to head to the bus station. Tim and I took a bus that left from Istanbul at 10pm and was 10 hours to get to Kusadasi, Turkey. The bus was similar to an airplane because they served us snacks and drinks. There was even wireless and an outlet so we could use the laptop! Luckily the bus was not very full so we were each able to lay out across two seats to sleep off and on for most of the ride.
After having a nice breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel two of Tim’s cousins who live in Istanbul picked us up for the day and showed us around all of Istanbul. Their names of Nilgun (wife-related) and Fazil (husband), their daughter goes to a University in the United States and their son is in high school and studying hard to get into a U.S. university as well. They first took us to one of the smaller bridges that crosses the Bosphorous near the area known as Eminou. There are many otopark (parking lots) all around the city, but Fazil just drove their car right up onto the sidewalk and said ‘Turkish Otopark’ to us, it was great, even with the language barrier between us and only Tim has our translator we managed to communicate pretty well. There was one fisherman after another on both sides of the bridge! We took some stairs down from the top of the bridge and there was restaurant after restaurant under the bridge! We all had fish sandwiches that we know were very, very fresh! We completed are meal with cay (Turkish tea). After lunch and the bridge we drove to an area known as Taxim, it is a long pedestrian street with lots and lots of shopping, some high end stores mixed in with bargain shops that you can actually bargain for lower prices! While at Taxim we met up with another one of Tim’s cousins, Handan and her two children. We had coffee at Gloria Jeans, they called it their ‘Starbucks.’ Mom and I shared a white hot chocolate and Dad and Tim had Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee is not filtered so at the bottom of your cup you are left with coffee grinds and there is a Turkish tradition of fortune telling when you turn over your cup and let it dry and the pattern of the dried grounds are read. For dinner we went back to Nilgun and Fozil's place, where they have a great view of the giant bridge that crosses the Bosphorous and links the continents of Europe and Asia! We had Turkish pizza, called Lahmajun, it is a much thinner pizza, with mostly herbs and meat pushed into the crust and then you squeeze lemon juice over it, put some lettuce/salad mixture on it and wrap it up like a burrito! After dinner we drove around the area under the bridge on both sides of the Bosphorous and we were able to take some really nice night pictures. For dessert we went to a locals place were you get yogurt in the original plastic container and there is a bowl of powdered sugar on the table that you add to your yogurt. We yet again found another delicious way to eat yogurt!!!
Monday November 16th
Tim’s cousin Handan picked us up this morning and we tried to go to the Dolmabahce Palace but when we got there we found out it was closed on Mondays which we had not seen anywhere in the information on their website. That did not stop of grand tour of more site-seeing around Istanbul. We drove up and down along the Bosphorous and stopped at several places along the way that had wonderful views of the area and a new food or drink for us to try. We began at a fancy café in a rich area of town. We had salep which is a warm milk drink that is a mix between white hot chocolate and eggnog. It is served with cinnamon on top. To go along with our drinks we had two desserts, rice pudding and a more traditional Ashure, which has a jello like consistency and is made with cereal and different fruits, nuts, and beans. It is a religious dessert that is made with whatever is on hand in your house and then if you can afford it you give it out to those less fortunate around you. The next area we stopped at was right along the water with lots of little shops and eateries. We were not extremely hungry at this point in the day so we ordered one Kumpir for all five of us! Kumpir is a backed potatoes loaded with anything and everything: cheese, meat, mushrooms, corn, ketchup and mayonnaise. Without us knowing Handan also ordered two other entrees for us all to share and try. We had Guzleme which is like Borek, it is made with thin pastry layers and cheese, meat or spinach. We also had Durum a burrito like food. After introducing several new foods to us and showing us around the area Handan dropped us off at the ferry to cross the Bosphorous and meet up with Nilgun and Fozil again. They took us in the car to see where they both worked, dropped us off at an outlet mall for a little bit while they finished working and then picked us up and took us back to their place for another dinner. The mall was complete with an ice rink, bar, media market (like a best buy) and a grocery store on the lower level. On the way back to their house the traffic in the city was very heavy, at one point a taxi driver cut us off and Fozil said, in his best Italian accent “Professional Driver.” This goes back to a story I had told earlier on the trip and did not even realize they had caught on or that Tim had translated it, but it was about my first taxi ride in Montepulciano, Italy when the driver was going 100-120 in a 50 zone and he could tell I was worried. The taxi driver told us “Do not worry, Professional Driver.”
Tonight we had Monte, which is one of Tim’s favorites, or at least it was until our eating tour through Istanbul. Now I’m not sure how I could choose a favorite. Monte is a meat filled pasta dish served in a yogurt sauce with a drizzle of spicy red sauce and a little parsley on top. For dessert we had lots and lots of fruit. We had this one thing that you were only supposed to eat the very center part. Well we didn’t know that at first and ate the other parts, it makes you tongue and teeth very dry. Fozil drove us home even after we tried to tell him we could take the ferry back. Well as it turned out half way home Fozil got a phone call from Nilgun that I had forgotten my camera at their place, I felt so bad but he kept reassuring me that everyone forgets things sometimes. After getting the camera and on the way back toward the hotel we got stopped at a police checkpoint. Unfortunately Fozil had also forgotten something, his license. We sat there for a few minutes and then finally Fozil got out of the car and talked to the police officers and somehow we were let free with no ticket or anything!
Tuesday November 17th
Today was our last day in Istanbul. Mom and Dad would be headed to the airport tomorrow and Tim and I were headed to Kusadasi, Turkey, a coastal town. We used our last day to tour the Hagia Sophia and visit the Blue Mosque. We walked through the park of Topkapi Palace towards the Bosphorpous and ended up back at the Grand Bazaar, spice market and other shopping stores to finish up some last minute souvenir and gift buying. My study abroad had ended on November 4th, but I had one last paper to turn in by the 18th. That night we got carry-out from the place we ate dinner the first night. While I finished my paper Mom, Dad and Tim got dinner and then we ate it on our rooftop terrace. We quickly packed up the rest of our stuff and Mom and Dad took anything extra of ours that they had room for and we headed to the street car tram to head to the bus station. Tim and I took a bus that left from Istanbul at 10pm and was 10 hours to get to Kusadasi, Turkey. The bus was similar to an airplane because they served us snacks and drinks. There was even wireless and an outlet so we could use the laptop! Luckily the bus was not very full so we were each able to lay out across two seats to sleep off and on for most of the ride.
Arriving in Turkey
Saturday November 14th
We left Greece in the morning, stopped at the fruit and bread stands on the way to the metro station and made our way back to the airport. When we arrived in Turkey we had to go and pay for our visa into the country and then go through passport control. You are only allowed to be in the countries of the European Union for a certain number of days and with my study abroad and then traveling after Turkey I was cutting it close on exceeding that number of days. Luckily Turkey is not included in those countries with a limited stay without a student visa so I was able to get stamped into Turkey, showing that I left and would then return on to the countries of the European Union. I had to make sure I got that stamp in my passport or I could have risked going to German jail. The hotel we were staying at had a guy waiting for us at the airport to shuttle us to the hotel. I have always wanted to be one of those people who has some stranger holding up a sign with their name on it! When we arrived at the hotel Tm began speaking Turkish and the man in charge seemed very surprised. They chatted for a bit about how is Mom is from Turkey and his Dad meant his mom while stationed their in the Air Force and that Tim was born in Turkey but moved to the United Stated when he was three. As it turned out the language connection got us an upgrade on the one hotel room so Mom and Dad had the upper level suite in the hotel! After checking into the hotel and admiring the view we had from the rooftop terrace of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Bosphorous we headed out exploring. Our first stop was to try and get something to eat but we ended up in the Grand Bazaar before that happened. As we were standing looking at our map of the Grand Bazaar a man asked if he could help us, not thinking anything of it Tim began speaking Turkish again and the man took us to a nice Doner stand. This is like a pita or gyro. Well little did we know that after he left us at the food stand he would be waiting for us to show us carpets at his shop within the Grand Bazaar. The shop owners in the Grand bazaar were very ambitious to try and get you to come into their shops and buy something. I felt like the shop owners could not place who we were or where we were from because Dad and Tim had their hats from Italy on and then Tim would speak Turkish. All in all it was a bit crazy and we ended up outside the Grand bazaar and then onto the spice market for more enjoyable shopping. We had dinner that night at a place right along the street our hotel was on. Again just like all the shops, the restaurants were also trying to get you to come and eat at their places. We had a nice table right along the street, under a canopy with heaters! We shared several appetizers with different yogurt sauces, humus and veggies. We order two large entrees and had plenty to eat. Near the end of our dinner Tim started talking to the owner and he explained that with our hats on we tended to look English and that people in Turkey do not like the English. He told us to tell people we were from Ireland and that because the Irish do not like the English, there is a strange relationship between the Irish and Turkish because they both do not like the English. He served us apple tea on the house at the end of our dinner and I think that is when we began to fall in love with Turkish tea, or cay has it is called in their language.
We left Greece in the morning, stopped at the fruit and bread stands on the way to the metro station and made our way back to the airport. When we arrived in Turkey we had to go and pay for our visa into the country and then go through passport control. You are only allowed to be in the countries of the European Union for a certain number of days and with my study abroad and then traveling after Turkey I was cutting it close on exceeding that number of days. Luckily Turkey is not included in those countries with a limited stay without a student visa so I was able to get stamped into Turkey, showing that I left and would then return on to the countries of the European Union. I had to make sure I got that stamp in my passport or I could have risked going to German jail. The hotel we were staying at had a guy waiting for us at the airport to shuttle us to the hotel. I have always wanted to be one of those people who has some stranger holding up a sign with their name on it! When we arrived at the hotel Tm began speaking Turkish and the man in charge seemed very surprised. They chatted for a bit about how is Mom is from Turkey and his Dad meant his mom while stationed their in the Air Force and that Tim was born in Turkey but moved to the United Stated when he was three. As it turned out the language connection got us an upgrade on the one hotel room so Mom and Dad had the upper level suite in the hotel! After checking into the hotel and admiring the view we had from the rooftop terrace of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Bosphorous we headed out exploring. Our first stop was to try and get something to eat but we ended up in the Grand Bazaar before that happened. As we were standing looking at our map of the Grand Bazaar a man asked if he could help us, not thinking anything of it Tim began speaking Turkish again and the man took us to a nice Doner stand. This is like a pita or gyro. Well little did we know that after he left us at the food stand he would be waiting for us to show us carpets at his shop within the Grand Bazaar. The shop owners in the Grand bazaar were very ambitious to try and get you to come into their shops and buy something. I felt like the shop owners could not place who we were or where we were from because Dad and Tim had their hats from Italy on and then Tim would speak Turkish. All in all it was a bit crazy and we ended up outside the Grand bazaar and then onto the spice market for more enjoyable shopping. We had dinner that night at a place right along the street our hotel was on. Again just like all the shops, the restaurants were also trying to get you to come and eat at their places. We had a nice table right along the street, under a canopy with heaters! We shared several appetizers with different yogurt sauces, humus and veggies. We order two large entrees and had plenty to eat. Near the end of our dinner Tim started talking to the owner and he explained that with our hats on we tended to look English and that people in Turkey do not like the English. He told us to tell people we were from Ireland and that because the Irish do not like the English, there is a strange relationship between the Irish and Turkish because they both do not like the English. He served us apple tea on the house at the end of our dinner and I think that is when we began to fall in love with Turkish tea, or cay has it is called in their language.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Athens, Greece
Thursday November 12th
Today we left Rome, and I said goodbye to Italy after 11 great weeks! We headed to the airport to catch our plane to Athens, Greece. We flew on easy jet, it is a value airline so the flight prices were very good, you pay extra for any luggage and there are no assigned seats, So when it came time to boarding we where all filed out onto a bus and then we all made the mad dash from the bus, up the the stairs onto the plan to choose the best seats. We took to window seats and had great views leaving Italy and flying into Greece! The weather was great for our time in Greece, we had on shorts, shirts and short sleeve shirts during most of the day!! We had great little hotel right in the heart of the city that had a small balcony with an awesome view of the Acropolis. That afternoon we went shopping, walked the town and enjoyed some new foods besides pasts and pizza… We started off our day at Quick Pita- we had Doner’s (pita like sandwiches) of lamb, pork, or chicken. We walked to Syntagma Square where the Greek Parliament building sits, through Plaka- a little shopping and restaurant areas and had a lovely dinner on a slopped street right below the Acropolis!! We shared a few appetizers- meat wrapped in grape leaves, cheese pies and yogurt sauce, and two greek salads, then Dad and Time had Slovaki (a greek dish- kind of like kebabs) and Mom and I shared a platter of Lamb in lemon sauce with potatoes and vegetables!
Friday November 13th
We did a lot of site seeing today. We began our tour at the Temple of Zeus (which is the easiest place to buy your combo ticket for the Acropolis and other sites around there) It is amazing to see the size people built back in that day and to think they had no machinery like we do now. Somehow it all got built then and today during our restoration efforts we have to use cranes and such to barely reach some spots. After the Temple of Zeus we walked to the theater of Dionysis and then up to the Acropolis… is we thought Florence and Rome were big from our views from Michelangelo park and Castello San Angelo… Athens spread on and on and on… it seems that the only things stopping it were a mountain or two and the sea. On our way back down to town in search of some lunch we stopped at Areopalos- a big rocky areas that from thousands of visitors a day is quite slippery in some areas but it made a nice spot to sit a see the acropolis and all of Athens. Our search for lunch like the day before ended up with us making a few circles, walking into some interesting, not so nice areas of town and back at Quick Pita again! After eating something we had a few more sites to see on our combo ticket, unfortunately the cemetery area was closer, although we got a pretty good view from the gates surrounding it. We did get to see Ancient Agora- which had a building much like the Acropolis but in much better condition. We had a bit of a hard time finding the entrance to that area and ended up walking through a park that seemed to be more of a homeless park than anything else. We finished are day in Greece with a stroll through the markets, found a show store that had tons and tons of shows just sitting in cardboard boxes stacked all over the place, they were so cheap but apparently even in Greece I wear one of the most popular sizes… We completed are visit with some more greek food, this time at a restaurant right within the market areas… We had slovaki, greek salad, tziki sauce and Greek beer. The restaurant brought us yogurt with honey for dessert and while we were eating it a dog from the city kept walking up and down the street (there are lots and lots of dogs that roam around harmlessly in Athens). We noticed he was carrying a water bottle in his mouth so when he stopped near our table we were able to give him some drinking water- He was a pretty smart dog!
Today we left Rome, and I said goodbye to Italy after 11 great weeks! We headed to the airport to catch our plane to Athens, Greece. We flew on easy jet, it is a value airline so the flight prices were very good, you pay extra for any luggage and there are no assigned seats, So when it came time to boarding we where all filed out onto a bus and then we all made the mad dash from the bus, up the the stairs onto the plan to choose the best seats. We took to window seats and had great views leaving Italy and flying into Greece! The weather was great for our time in Greece, we had on shorts, shirts and short sleeve shirts during most of the day!! We had great little hotel right in the heart of the city that had a small balcony with an awesome view of the Acropolis. That afternoon we went shopping, walked the town and enjoyed some new foods besides pasts and pizza… We started off our day at Quick Pita- we had Doner’s (pita like sandwiches) of lamb, pork, or chicken. We walked to Syntagma Square where the Greek Parliament building sits, through Plaka- a little shopping and restaurant areas and had a lovely dinner on a slopped street right below the Acropolis!! We shared a few appetizers- meat wrapped in grape leaves, cheese pies and yogurt sauce, and two greek salads, then Dad and Time had Slovaki (a greek dish- kind of like kebabs) and Mom and I shared a platter of Lamb in lemon sauce with potatoes and vegetables!
Friday November 13th
We did a lot of site seeing today. We began our tour at the Temple of Zeus (which is the easiest place to buy your combo ticket for the Acropolis and other sites around there) It is amazing to see the size people built back in that day and to think they had no machinery like we do now. Somehow it all got built then and today during our restoration efforts we have to use cranes and such to barely reach some spots. After the Temple of Zeus we walked to the theater of Dionysis and then up to the Acropolis… is we thought Florence and Rome were big from our views from Michelangelo park and Castello San Angelo… Athens spread on and on and on… it seems that the only things stopping it were a mountain or two and the sea. On our way back down to town in search of some lunch we stopped at Areopalos- a big rocky areas that from thousands of visitors a day is quite slippery in some areas but it made a nice spot to sit a see the acropolis and all of Athens. Our search for lunch like the day before ended up with us making a few circles, walking into some interesting, not so nice areas of town and back at Quick Pita again! After eating something we had a few more sites to see on our combo ticket, unfortunately the cemetery area was closer, although we got a pretty good view from the gates surrounding it. We did get to see Ancient Agora- which had a building much like the Acropolis but in much better condition. We had a bit of a hard time finding the entrance to that area and ended up walking through a park that seemed to be more of a homeless park than anything else. We finished are day in Greece with a stroll through the markets, found a show store that had tons and tons of shows just sitting in cardboard boxes stacked all over the place, they were so cheap but apparently even in Greece I wear one of the most popular sizes… We completed are visit with some more greek food, this time at a restaurant right within the market areas… We had slovaki, greek salad, tziki sauce and Greek beer. The restaurant brought us yogurt with honey for dessert and while we were eating it a dog from the city kept walking up and down the street (there are lots and lots of dogs that roam around harmlessly in Athens). We noticed he was carrying a water bottle in his mouth so when he stopped near our table we were able to give him some drinking water- He was a pretty smart dog!
Florence and Rome with Family
Sunday November 8th
Heading to Florence!!!
I’m not sure how we did it, but someone we managed to get 8 people in a 7 seater van, along with about 10 suitcases and 3 bookbags…. The door on the back of the van had to be tied shut to fit it all in, some things sat on our laps and Tim even sat on a suitcases as his seat since we were one seat short! We must have looked like the Grizzwalds on National Lampoons European Vacation!!! The drive was pretty uneventful, except for the few circles we made around the loop right outside the Florence airport where we had to drop off our rental car, their signs for rental car drop off are pretty non existent and we ended up asking at a gas station and the Hertz man just happened to walk in at the same time! After dropping off the van, we took a bus to the Florence train station and then it was just a short 10 minute walk to our hotels, dragging all our luggage through the rain and puddles! The weather was pretty rainy the rest of the day, we did some shopping at the large market in Florence, visited the Basilica there- I saw the tomb of Brunelleschi – he designed the dome for the top of the church, and had a great dinner in Piazza Repubblica in an enclosed area with heaters. I had a great dish- it was penne pasta with a cream sauce, peppers and zucchini- at least that is what the menu had said, it turned out that the peppers were actually peppercorns and added a great zest with a little spice to the entire dish! We finished our dinner with cappuccino and a hot chocolate for me then headed to Piazza del Signoria to see the fake statue of David, the original by Michelangelo and headed back to do some skyping on the internet and goods night sleep.
Monday November 9th
Our second day in Florence we headed across the Ponte Vecchio (oldest surviving bridge crossing the river out of the histories area of Florence) and onward to Micheangelo park. A few of us climbed to the top of the park for a great view of the entire city, seeing the size of the city showed us how little we had touched of the big city, but it was time now for us to move on to Rome! We walked back to the hotel, getting another view of the fake David in day light along the way and then made our way back to the train station, luggage in hand again. We took the 3:13 train to Rome, we arrived around 6:30ish, made our way to our hotel with only a few wrong turns and had dinner at a great restaurant right across the street for out hotel! Pizza, pasta, lasagna, wine and cappuccino- what more could we ask for after a long day of traveling. After dinner Mom, Dad, Tim and I took the 15minute walk to the Trevi fountain, had some gelato and some great picture opportunity’s since it was a weekday and off season it was not nearly as crowded as when my study abroad group visited Rome.
Tuesday November 10th
Today we headed out to the Vatican museum, I had already been here by I was very excited to share some of the great artwork inside with my family! We saw early works of paintings and sculptures and we able to see later works by the same and newer artists and see the great changes and advancements art had made. After the museum we saw St Peters Basilica- I thought it was very interested that the roped off areas we could not enter were completely different from that of when my study abroad group visited St Peters Basilica… We walked out through the Piazza and down towards Castello San Angelo to see a great view of all of Rome at sunset. On our way to dinner that night we walked to Piaaza Nouva or Novano (???) and saw the Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini. After dinner we continued are walking and site-seeing to the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain again! Who knows how many miles we walked in all- the museuam alone could have been 2 or 3!
Wednesday November 11th
Today we visited the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We took the metro to get to the Coliseum as we had yesterday to get to the Vatican, however today we were riding a different line. We all looked at the map and the direction the trains were running and made our way to the right platform, where there was a train sitting with the doors open. Now normally the metro trains do not leave the doors open for long and the stops have to quick on and off. Well this one did not see to be leaving quite as fast so we all made a quick decision to hop on…On, On, On we said. We moved so fast! As soon as we were on the train the arrow pointing to the direction the train would be going and the stops it would make seemed to be the opposite way we wanted to go… very quickly we all said off, off, off…. Now we wondered what to do, I asked the security/police guy and he said yes that was the train we needed… We decided the doors were going to close at any second now and so we waited for the next train. The next train was very fully and we all almost didn’t make it on, the doors started closing and I scared a few of us by pushing the doors back open to get Mom and Elaine on the train- it sure was a lot of excite for just the beginning of our day!!! After our site-seeing we had a schedule time at the Borghese museum and had yet another bit of excitement trying to figure out which bus to get on the get us there!!! The museum was having a special exhibit of Caravaggio’s and Bacon’s artwork- comparing the two side by side, artists from several centuries apart but yet they both had deep emotional struggles and internal conflict. Also in the museum are some wonderful sculptures by Bernini, which I could stare at day after day! After the museum we finished our visit in Rome with a walked to the Spanish Steps and a walked inside the Pantheon, where Raphaels tomb is. We ended up at the Trevi fountain one more time on our way home because somehow it always ended up on our path!
Heading to Florence!!!
I’m not sure how we did it, but someone we managed to get 8 people in a 7 seater van, along with about 10 suitcases and 3 bookbags…. The door on the back of the van had to be tied shut to fit it all in, some things sat on our laps and Tim even sat on a suitcases as his seat since we were one seat short! We must have looked like the Grizzwalds on National Lampoons European Vacation!!! The drive was pretty uneventful, except for the few circles we made around the loop right outside the Florence airport where we had to drop off our rental car, their signs for rental car drop off are pretty non existent and we ended up asking at a gas station and the Hertz man just happened to walk in at the same time! After dropping off the van, we took a bus to the Florence train station and then it was just a short 10 minute walk to our hotels, dragging all our luggage through the rain and puddles! The weather was pretty rainy the rest of the day, we did some shopping at the large market in Florence, visited the Basilica there- I saw the tomb of Brunelleschi – he designed the dome for the top of the church, and had a great dinner in Piazza Repubblica in an enclosed area with heaters. I had a great dish- it was penne pasta with a cream sauce, peppers and zucchini- at least that is what the menu had said, it turned out that the peppers were actually peppercorns and added a great zest with a little spice to the entire dish! We finished our dinner with cappuccino and a hot chocolate for me then headed to Piazza del Signoria to see the fake statue of David, the original by Michelangelo and headed back to do some skyping on the internet and goods night sleep.
Monday November 9th
Our second day in Florence we headed across the Ponte Vecchio (oldest surviving bridge crossing the river out of the histories area of Florence) and onward to Micheangelo park. A few of us climbed to the top of the park for a great view of the entire city, seeing the size of the city showed us how little we had touched of the big city, but it was time now for us to move on to Rome! We walked back to the hotel, getting another view of the fake David in day light along the way and then made our way back to the train station, luggage in hand again. We took the 3:13 train to Rome, we arrived around 6:30ish, made our way to our hotel with only a few wrong turns and had dinner at a great restaurant right across the street for out hotel! Pizza, pasta, lasagna, wine and cappuccino- what more could we ask for after a long day of traveling. After dinner Mom, Dad, Tim and I took the 15minute walk to the Trevi fountain, had some gelato and some great picture opportunity’s since it was a weekday and off season it was not nearly as crowded as when my study abroad group visited Rome.
Tuesday November 10th
Today we headed out to the Vatican museum, I had already been here by I was very excited to share some of the great artwork inside with my family! We saw early works of paintings and sculptures and we able to see later works by the same and newer artists and see the great changes and advancements art had made. After the museum we saw St Peters Basilica- I thought it was very interested that the roped off areas we could not enter were completely different from that of when my study abroad group visited St Peters Basilica… We walked out through the Piazza and down towards Castello San Angelo to see a great view of all of Rome at sunset. On our way to dinner that night we walked to Piaaza Nouva or Novano (???) and saw the Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini. After dinner we continued are walking and site-seeing to the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain again! Who knows how many miles we walked in all- the museuam alone could have been 2 or 3!
Wednesday November 11th
Today we visited the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We took the metro to get to the Coliseum as we had yesterday to get to the Vatican, however today we were riding a different line. We all looked at the map and the direction the trains were running and made our way to the right platform, where there was a train sitting with the doors open. Now normally the metro trains do not leave the doors open for long and the stops have to quick on and off. Well this one did not see to be leaving quite as fast so we all made a quick decision to hop on…On, On, On we said. We moved so fast! As soon as we were on the train the arrow pointing to the direction the train would be going and the stops it would make seemed to be the opposite way we wanted to go… very quickly we all said off, off, off…. Now we wondered what to do, I asked the security/police guy and he said yes that was the train we needed… We decided the doors were going to close at any second now and so we waited for the next train. The next train was very fully and we all almost didn’t make it on, the doors started closing and I scared a few of us by pushing the doors back open to get Mom and Elaine on the train- it sure was a lot of excite for just the beginning of our day!!! After our site-seeing we had a schedule time at the Borghese museum and had yet another bit of excitement trying to figure out which bus to get on the get us there!!! The museum was having a special exhibit of Caravaggio’s and Bacon’s artwork- comparing the two side by side, artists from several centuries apart but yet they both had deep emotional struggles and internal conflict. Also in the museum are some wonderful sculptures by Bernini, which I could stare at day after day! After the museum we finished our visit in Rome with a walked to the Spanish Steps and a walked inside the Pantheon, where Raphaels tomb is. We ended up at the Trevi fountain one more time on our way home because somehow it always ended up on our path!
Montepulciano and Tuscany with the Family!!!
Wednesday November 4th
Woke up this morning to an empty apartment, the only nice thing about that was I was the only one using the bathroom…although it never seemed to be much of an issue when we had all four of us sharing one bathroom which contained the only mirror in our apartment as well. I spend the afternoon trying to catch up on the last of my work for the fall semester and getting a few groceries at the store. That was a fun experience because it was not until I was done shopping for dinner items for the family that I realized my debit card would not work because it has expired Oct 30, Mom and Dad where bringing my new card but I had to put a few items back at the store and get through the language barrier and a line of people behind me… oh well, I will probably never see those people again. After the grocery store I met with the owner of the two apartments our family was renting for our stay in Montepulciano. Everyone arrived at about 8pm and we were all ready for a nice warm meal. Tim, Dad and I went back to pick up a few last minute items at my apartment and then stopped at the Trattoria where my study abroad group had dinner every night and picked up a few bottles of wine.
Thursday November 5th
Each Thursday morning in Montepulciano there is a market at the bottom of town in the bus station parking lot. We decided to make this our fist adventure for the day and let everyone try out the little bit of Italian they had learned since arriving in Venice on Nov 1st. The market sells clothes, shoes, purses, linens, food, fruit, flowers and a few other miscellaneous items. Everyone did some shopping and then we met back up to grab some fruit for the rest of the week and picked up some items for our dinner that night: roasted chicken, pasta and pesto, artichokes, broccoli and bread! The rest of the day we spend wandering around the town, I showed everyone my apartment that had been my home for 10 weeks, we did a few wine samplings and then we stumbled upon one of the best things… The coppersmith of Montepulciano. We were walking along and we heard this ping, ping, ping and there he was working in his shop. He graciously called us and in and with my little bit of Italian and lots of hand gestures he explained that it was the work of his great grandfather, passed down through the generations, and the tools he was using were from his grandfathers. He showed us sketches of different pieces he had created and then he pulled a small round piece of copper out and began asking for my grandparents names, their children’s and spouses names and grandchildren’s names, and the date they were married. He created a beautiful piece with flowers, hearts, stars, initials and dates. He proceeded to tell us about the piece he created that sits atop the cathedral in Siena (which we would see the next day) and a piece he presented to the Pope! Wow- and we watched his create a one of a kind piece right in front of us. After leaving his workshop we went to his store on the lower street, Tim got a clock, I got a wall piece and my grandma got a bracelet. After our eventful day around town, we stopped at Crociani winery and filled up a few water bottles of wine to go along with all our market goodies and had a great feast right from Montepulciano!
Friday November 6th
Today we headed to Siena, it sure was a bit of an adventure getting there… should we use a map, the TomTom or the blue signs along the road…. In the end the blue signs got us to Siena (and later they got us safely back to Montepulciano!) As soon as we got to Siena we had to find the WC (water closet-bathroom) and some food. We had great big slices of pizza and then headed to Piazza del Campo- the main piazza of Siena where most of the towns roads meet and then onto the Basilica which had amazing tiled floor patterns and mosaics. We did some shopping and walking around town that evening, mailed a few postcards and find a great place to eat right outside the city walls. The girl working there helped us figure out the menu and was our private server since we were the only people in the place! I had a vegetable sauce over curly pasta (I should know the name for that), Mom had a pumpkin cream sauce and Tim had rabbit.
Saturday November 7th
Today we went to a few small Tuscan towns surrounding Monepulciano. Our first stop was Pienza- the town known for their Pecorino (a cheese made from sheeps cheese) The town also has a great view over the Val d’Orcia. We stopped at a little snack bar, had sandwiched with pecorino of course, a few of us had cappuccinos or gelato for our dessert! Our next town was Montalcino- know for their Brunello wine. On the drive their we was a few more small tuscan towns, great valleys, and overall amazing sites of Tuscany! We did a few wine samplings in Montalcinao, walked around the Fortezza, saw a group of local young boys playing soccer and then had a late snack in town. We had a plate of a variety of meats and one of cheeses served with honey- this was a first for me but it is absolutely delicious!! We accompanied our snacks with a nice Brunello di Montalcino! Tonight was our last night staying in Montepulciano so we all went to the Trattoria where I had most of my meals throughout the 10 week program. It was a great way to end my time in Montepulciano!
Woke up this morning to an empty apartment, the only nice thing about that was I was the only one using the bathroom…although it never seemed to be much of an issue when we had all four of us sharing one bathroom which contained the only mirror in our apartment as well. I spend the afternoon trying to catch up on the last of my work for the fall semester and getting a few groceries at the store. That was a fun experience because it was not until I was done shopping for dinner items for the family that I realized my debit card would not work because it has expired Oct 30, Mom and Dad where bringing my new card but I had to put a few items back at the store and get through the language barrier and a line of people behind me… oh well, I will probably never see those people again. After the grocery store I met with the owner of the two apartments our family was renting for our stay in Montepulciano. Everyone arrived at about 8pm and we were all ready for a nice warm meal. Tim, Dad and I went back to pick up a few last minute items at my apartment and then stopped at the Trattoria where my study abroad group had dinner every night and picked up a few bottles of wine.
Thursday November 5th
Each Thursday morning in Montepulciano there is a market at the bottom of town in the bus station parking lot. We decided to make this our fist adventure for the day and let everyone try out the little bit of Italian they had learned since arriving in Venice on Nov 1st. The market sells clothes, shoes, purses, linens, food, fruit, flowers and a few other miscellaneous items. Everyone did some shopping and then we met back up to grab some fruit for the rest of the week and picked up some items for our dinner that night: roasted chicken, pasta and pesto, artichokes, broccoli and bread! The rest of the day we spend wandering around the town, I showed everyone my apartment that had been my home for 10 weeks, we did a few wine samplings and then we stumbled upon one of the best things… The coppersmith of Montepulciano. We were walking along and we heard this ping, ping, ping and there he was working in his shop. He graciously called us and in and with my little bit of Italian and lots of hand gestures he explained that it was the work of his great grandfather, passed down through the generations, and the tools he was using were from his grandfathers. He showed us sketches of different pieces he had created and then he pulled a small round piece of copper out and began asking for my grandparents names, their children’s and spouses names and grandchildren’s names, and the date they were married. He created a beautiful piece with flowers, hearts, stars, initials and dates. He proceeded to tell us about the piece he created that sits atop the cathedral in Siena (which we would see the next day) and a piece he presented to the Pope! Wow- and we watched his create a one of a kind piece right in front of us. After leaving his workshop we went to his store on the lower street, Tim got a clock, I got a wall piece and my grandma got a bracelet. After our eventful day around town, we stopped at Crociani winery and filled up a few water bottles of wine to go along with all our market goodies and had a great feast right from Montepulciano!
Friday November 6th
Today we headed to Siena, it sure was a bit of an adventure getting there… should we use a map, the TomTom or the blue signs along the road…. In the end the blue signs got us to Siena (and later they got us safely back to Montepulciano!) As soon as we got to Siena we had to find the WC (water closet-bathroom) and some food. We had great big slices of pizza and then headed to Piazza del Campo- the main piazza of Siena where most of the towns roads meet and then onto the Basilica which had amazing tiled floor patterns and mosaics. We did some shopping and walking around town that evening, mailed a few postcards and find a great place to eat right outside the city walls. The girl working there helped us figure out the menu and was our private server since we were the only people in the place! I had a vegetable sauce over curly pasta (I should know the name for that), Mom had a pumpkin cream sauce and Tim had rabbit.
Saturday November 7th
Today we went to a few small Tuscan towns surrounding Monepulciano. Our first stop was Pienza- the town known for their Pecorino (a cheese made from sheeps cheese) The town also has a great view over the Val d’Orcia. We stopped at a little snack bar, had sandwiched with pecorino of course, a few of us had cappuccinos or gelato for our dessert! Our next town was Montalcino- know for their Brunello wine. On the drive their we was a few more small tuscan towns, great valleys, and overall amazing sites of Tuscany! We did a few wine samplings in Montalcinao, walked around the Fortezza, saw a group of local young boys playing soccer and then had a late snack in town. We had a plate of a variety of meats and one of cheeses served with honey- this was a first for me but it is absolutely delicious!! We accompanied our snacks with a nice Brunello di Montalcino! Tonight was our last night staying in Montepulciano so we all went to the Trattoria where I had most of my meals throughout the 10 week program. It was a great way to end my time in Montepulciano!
Study Abroad Update
Oct 9, 10, 11 Padua and Venice
Oct 16, 17, 18 Florence on Friday and Montepulciano weekend
Oct 23, 24, 25 Siena on Friday and Last weekend with the Study Abroad group in Montepulciano
On Friday we went to Siena for the day. It was a rainy day so we spent most of time going from museum to museum and trying to stay dry. One of the museums had a rooftop panoramic out look and the rain held off just long enough for all us to take some nice photos. When we got back in town that night we decided to use the rest of the food we had in our kitchen to make one last dinner in Montepulciano because the next weekend we would be out of town in Barcelona Spain. We had some pasta and sauce, a can of tuna that went surprisingly well with our pasta and sauce. On the side we had olive oil and spices with our bread and the rest of our tomatoes! I went to Italy liking tomatoes mostly just on my sandwiches, but the tomatoes in Italy are absolutely delicious and I fell like I can eat them with anything and everything!!
Saturday we took some time to try and finish as much last minute school work so that we would not have the next week and weekend in Barcelona to worry about . We took the afternoon to visit the local museum that was right in our town. My favorite part was seeing paintings from Montepulciano from many, many years ago and seeing the similarities and differences. Since we had eaten all our food the night before and we were not provided dinners on the weekends we decided to treat ourselves to a very nice dinner near Piazza Grande. The menu had so many great things on it and in the end we choose the set meal that consisted of… an appetizer of meats and cheese, Pici (traditional pasta of Tuscany- thick as a pencil spaghetti) and a class of Montepulciano Rosso wine, then the main course was strip steak with rosemary, a side dish and a glass on Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, then we had dessert and espresso. It was nice because they gave each of the four of us at dinner and different side dish and dessert so we were able to share and try everything. We had not made reservations for the place we ate so the only spot left in the restaurant was at an eight person table where two people were already sitting, we all sat there family style at one table, they had not made reservations either. The couple we sat with were from California so we were able to talk to them and we found out they were on their way to see the daughter in Florence who was on study abroad! After dinner we went down to the garden bar and met up with some of the locals we had met during our time in Montepulciano. Over our time there we had taught them how to play flip cup, an American drinking game. Each time we hung out with them we learned something new or we taught them something. This night we tried to explain how we go to waffle house or steak and shake or something similar after going to a party and drinking. They did not understand something like that and explained that the only 24/7 places they had near by and in most cities were autogrills- the places at the rest stops along the highway. We ended up finishing all the snacks from our apartment and the two guys we had hung out with the most took us to a nice place right outside of town where we saw one shooting star after another. It was amazing and a nice way to end our last weekend hanging out in Montepulciano.
Oct 16, 17, 18 Florence on Friday and Montepulciano weekend
Oct 23, 24, 25 Siena on Friday and Last weekend with the Study Abroad group in Montepulciano
On Friday we went to Siena for the day. It was a rainy day so we spent most of time going from museum to museum and trying to stay dry. One of the museums had a rooftop panoramic out look and the rain held off just long enough for all us to take some nice photos. When we got back in town that night we decided to use the rest of the food we had in our kitchen to make one last dinner in Montepulciano because the next weekend we would be out of town in Barcelona Spain. We had some pasta and sauce, a can of tuna that went surprisingly well with our pasta and sauce. On the side we had olive oil and spices with our bread and the rest of our tomatoes! I went to Italy liking tomatoes mostly just on my sandwiches, but the tomatoes in Italy are absolutely delicious and I fell like I can eat them with anything and everything!!
Saturday we took some time to try and finish as much last minute school work so that we would not have the next week and weekend in Barcelona to worry about . We took the afternoon to visit the local museum that was right in our town. My favorite part was seeing paintings from Montepulciano from many, many years ago and seeing the similarities and differences. Since we had eaten all our food the night before and we were not provided dinners on the weekends we decided to treat ourselves to a very nice dinner near Piazza Grande. The menu had so many great things on it and in the end we choose the set meal that consisted of… an appetizer of meats and cheese, Pici (traditional pasta of Tuscany- thick as a pencil spaghetti) and a class of Montepulciano Rosso wine, then the main course was strip steak with rosemary, a side dish and a glass on Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, then we had dessert and espresso. It was nice because they gave each of the four of us at dinner and different side dish and dessert so we were able to share and try everything. We had not made reservations for the place we ate so the only spot left in the restaurant was at an eight person table where two people were already sitting, we all sat there family style at one table, they had not made reservations either. The couple we sat with were from California so we were able to talk to them and we found out they were on their way to see the daughter in Florence who was on study abroad! After dinner we went down to the garden bar and met up with some of the locals we had met during our time in Montepulciano. Over our time there we had taught them how to play flip cup, an American drinking game. Each time we hung out with them we learned something new or we taught them something. This night we tried to explain how we go to waffle house or steak and shake or something similar after going to a party and drinking. They did not understand something like that and explained that the only 24/7 places they had near by and in most cities were autogrills- the places at the rest stops along the highway. We ended up finishing all the snacks from our apartment and the two guys we had hung out with the most took us to a nice place right outside of town where we saw one shooting star after another. It was amazing and a nice way to end our last weekend hanging out in Montepulciano.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Oct 2, 3, 4 Free Weekend
This weekend was one of our free weekends. I decided I wanted to stay in Montepulciano that weekend and try to do some of the local things we just didn’t seem to have time for during the school week and because we were going to so many other places on the weekend. We knew there was a bus every Friday morning that went to Pienza, a town about 20 minutes from us that is known for their Pecorino cheese- made from sheep’s milk. We walked down to the bus station to buy our tickets and get on the bus, we were trying to figure out which bus was ours when a local at the bus station asked if we were going to Siena, we said no, Pienza. At this moment it took off running back through the bus station and to the front parking area after a moving bus, without thinking I took off running after this man and the bus. I am not sure when the man stopped running but when I got to the door of the bus as it waited to turn out of the packing lot we (myself and two of my roommates Kate and Emily) started yelling Pienza and pointing at our tickets, the bus driver opened the door and everyone was laughing and speaking Italian, who knows what they were saying about us! Hehe After arriving in Pienza we went to their Friday market, toured the small tuscan town and luckily decided to wait about twenty minute sooner at the bus stop than the bus back was supposed to arrive because it showed up fifteen minutes early! I’m not sure we ever really figured out those buses. We spend the rest of the afternoon spending time in our own town. We took some great photos from the top of the Communale (the main building in Piazza Grande) and made a nice dinner in our apartment! Saturday we continued are tour of our own town with a guide book to the art and architecture that we had found in our apartment. As we walked through town other students from our group found us and would join in for the tour. We had an early dinner at an outdoor place where we watched the sunset over the tuscan landscape. Later that night we had a few glasses of wine at one of our favorite hang out spots, Francesco’s Wine Bar and later moved on to drinks at another one of our hang out places, Sax’s Wine Bar.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Pompeii, Capri, Vico Equense
Picture Slideshow to go along with previous post!
View other photo albums at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/drobleto88
View other photo albums at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/drobleto88
Sept 25-27
We began our trip to southern Italy with a 5 hours bus ride. Our budget this year has allowed us to take coach buses to all of our weekend trips and not have to worry about catching and switching trains with our weekend luggage. I pack in my backpack for the weekend trips but others do not pack quite as light. ; ) As we were approaching the Naples area, it seemed like out of nowhere this mountain just appeared. This was Mount Vesuvius, the active volcano that last erupted in 1944 and its eruption in 79 AD completely covered the city and wiped out the population of Pompeii. Our time was limited and I did not end up taking the bus to go hike along the rim of the volcano, but I did get some nice photos through the bus window and then a few more from our hotel, Pompeii and Capri.
We stayed in a town called Vico Equense… it is one of the many towns tucked into the cliffs of the coast below Naples. The view from our hotel was amazing (top picture) It was also in a great location, a one minute walk to the train station. We checked into our hotel, a pink sponge painted room with green rope trim, and orange bed spreads- it was an interesting combination, not that we were complaining- we were in southern Italy!!!
That afternoon we took the train to Pompeii- the excavated town that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 AD. The buildings, houses and streets are so well preserved because the town was covered in about 30-60 feet of volcanic rock and ash. Some of the houses are so well preserved that you can see the mosaic tiled floors and fresco wall paintings. We had audio guides for our visit to Pompeii and when we first got there in the afternoon it was quite crowded but it soon cleared out and the angle of the sun in the evening made for some great pictures and nice visit with less crowds.
Saturday morning breakfast was served in our hotel, the dining room had assigned tables for each room and there was a lady that explained the buffet line of food and then showed us to our specific tables. This hotel definitely had some odd characteristics but we enjoyed out stay nonetheless. We then hoped back on the train, then a small bus and arrived in Sorrento where we caught a ferry to the island of Capri. As soon as we were on the island and had snapped as many pictures of its beauty we all ran to the beach. It was not a sandy beach, it was full of pebbles and rocks, which are not so nice on the feet but that did not stop us from dipping our feet in the Mediterranean!! Then we took the funicular a cable car tram that takes you to the top of the island, where the main piazza of Capri is. The blue grotto was closed the day we were in Capri and had been for the past five days for rough waters so we decided to walk around the island and see some of the sites by foot. The loop path that takes you from the main piazza and out and around one side of the island was described as an easy to moderate walk, taking about 20min in between each of the two main sites we would see. The Faraglioni and the Natural Arch. This was not exactly the case, our walk, more like a hike took us 3 hours!!! After our long trek around the island and all our site seeing we were ready to do some swimming. We took the funiculare back down, did a little souvenir shopping- we all got tee shirts! and hoped into the Mediterranean. It was a little chilly at first but very refreshing!!! We had brought a change of clothes for after our swim but after our swim the ferry was leaving in about 15minutes, we did not have time to find a public bathroom and so we road the ferry back in our bathing suits and dresses and enjoyed the wonderful sunset over the Mediterranean with the island of Capri in the background! We completed our night with a nice seafood dinner at a restaurant that was right on the cliffs of our town with a wonderful view!
Sunday we had to catch the bus back home at noon, so we had a few hours to walk around Vico Equense and so a little exploring. We found a nice panoramic overlook of the water, the next town and a beach that was covered in only seagulls. On the fence at the overlook were many locks just randomly attached… one of my roommates later researched this to find out that it is a symbol or tradition for couples to attach a lock to a fence, bridge, or bench near water and throw the key away into the water, proving their love for one another. We also stumbled upon a small market where we found some nice antique postcards and other odds and ends. We stopped at a small grocery store before boarding the bus and bought some potato ships that turned out to be a smokey barbeque flavor- something we had not found in Italy yet. It was a nice surprise and ending to a wonderful weekend!!!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Free Weekend Sept 18, 19, 20
(sorry for the delay)
The weekend after Rome was our first free weekend. One student went to Paris and another to Ireland, the rest of us stayed in Montapulciano to sit back and enjoy the town in which we now called home. It was great to actually have a morning to ‘sleep in.’ Since we left Atlanta on August 27th, we had not had a morning where we had to go to school, catch a bus or head to a museum or other tourist attraction. I am not complaining about running around everywhere because I want to get the most out of each of our weekend trips and believe it or not, getting up early for class means the rest of the day is still open and free!!!
Friday night we had ‘Fiesta Night.’ One of the girls apartments suggested a Fiesta night earlier in the week for whoever was going to staying in town for the weekend. I am enjoying all the Italian food and trying new things, but I sure do miss my chips and salsa! Thursday my apartment decided we were going to make some homemade salsa and contribute to the dinner… then we thought what about guacamole… Well sure enough we managed to find the only two avocados at the grocery store… a little more oddly shaped than the ones back home but they tasted just as good. We completed our two dips with some homemade baked tortillas and Sangria! The local winery in town lets you refill your water bottles or rather any container… we paid 10 euro for 7 liters of wine and added some nice fruit to the batch! All the other groups of students brought there own specialties or the best they could do at turning Italian food supplies into Mexican!
After the fiesta we headed down to the Garden bar… a place where many locals around our age hang out… some of the boys who had been in the Barrel parade where there and we tried our best to use the Italian we have been learning in class while they did there best at speaking English to us. While we are trying to learn their language and do the best we can and learn the language, the locals want us to speak to them in English so that they can learn ours.
Saturday we enjoyed our free time! Spent some time walking around town as locals and enjoyed watching the tourists in town for the weekend. It is funny how fast a place feels like home. We have gone from the first week of snapping a picture at every corner we come to, to taking in the scenery and give directions to tourists! That night we went to another groups apartment where we had some good old American hamburgers, complete with picante (spicy) ketchup from the Italian grocery store, and homemade French fries. The restaurant that we eat at Sunday through Thursday had been trying to give us a meal here and there to remind us of home--- hamburger patties with no buns, hotdogs- which we all agreed we could wait to have until we return home, and pizza with French fries on top of it! Our hamburgers were delicious and after that weekend my taste buds had been satisfied and it has been Italian food ever since!!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
The rest of our Rome Weekend
Friday was yet another busy day. We began with a quick look into the Church of Sant’Maria della Vittoria. A few of the people in our group said it is one of the churches from the book ‘Angels and Demons.’ It also houses one of Bernini’s famous sculptures… Ecstasy of St Theresa. Afterwards we headed for Termini (the main metro station) to take the train to the Coliseum. It was interesting to see the different brick and stone patterns throughout the structure and how our design patterns have not changed much. We used our Roma passes for the train and then to get into the Coliseum and then we headed to the Roman Forum. Our professors had books that showed before pictures of what the town looked like, it was interesting to compare what was left for us to see today, what has survived and what has fallen to the ground. We went to the Capitoline museum next. The art students took some time to sketch some of the statuary. We ended our busy day with a walk through the city to the Four Rivers fountain (another sculpture by Bernini) and the Pantheon. Oh and did I mention we stopped for some gelato along the way…I am working my way through trying every flavor!
Friday night we had more leisurely night, walked around, did a little shopping and ate at a Trattoria (nicer than a pizzeria, but not as expensive as a restaurant) which was on the interesting side… we have decided a place a little off the main road with cheaper prices is not the way to go… Lesson learned! Food was not awful but we had definitely had better during our trip.
Saturday we had an appointment to go to the Borghese Museum. They have a strict policy entering and leaving the museum according to the times on your ticket but they give you plenty of time. Again the art students had time to sketch some of the statuary within the museum and outside the museum in the gardens. I was very surprised by this museum, I did not know exactly what I was going to see and felt I had already seen every masterpiece Rome had to offer. We saw several pieces by Bernini (yes… he was very talented and has artwork ALL over Rome) and more paintings by Caravaggio.
From the Borghese we walked through park surrounding the museum in search of a train station to head towards the Vatican and St Peters Basilica. Several students in our group had paid extra to go to the top of the Dome of St Peters and we were headed back to do the same thing. After stopping for a delicious lunch at a pizzeria we found a very, very long line and decided we did not want to use our day standing in line. Another student had gone to the Castle Sant’Angelo the day before and said the view from the top was beautiful! We decided to give it a try. We made the right decision because the view from Castle Sant’Angelo included St Peters Basilica and a panoramic view of Rome. It began to rain when we were leaving the Castle so we decided to jump on a bus and head home to meet up with the rest of the group for dinner. Well our bus ride turned out to be a bit longer than intended because we ended up at a bus stop where the drivers changed shifts, delaying our ride a bit but keeping us dry!
We spent our last night hanging out as one big group for dinner and then splitting ways for the rest of the evening. Our group met up with Lorenzo (a guy who was our server in Montepulciano for the first two weeks of our stay) and a few of his friends and he took us to the old part of Rome, where nightlife was much more laid back and inexpensive. Lorenzo explained that trains were not a good option at night and that buses did not run nearly as frequently so we walked home – a 40 minute walk, but we broke it up into several small trips. We walked across the river, back past the Four Rivers fountain, the Pantheon, and to the Spanish Steps. I enjoyed taking some night photos of the city!!!
Sunday we had a few hours before catching a bus back to Montepulciano. Kristin and I did some last minute walking around the city to make sure we did not miss anything, while souvenir shopping at the same time. We grabbed a sandwich and some gelato for the bus ride home!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Our first day in Rome!!!
We took a bus from Montepulciano to Rome on Thursday September 10th. We left early in the morning so most of us slept on the bus, trying to save up all our energy for our busy weekend ahead of us. We checked into our hotels at about 12 and had about an hour to wait while the hotels checked our passports and then we were on our way again. Our first stop was Termini- the main Metro (train/subway) station in the city. The two main lines, red and blue meet here and this is where trains to other cities leave from as well. Our professor and director of the program purchased our Roma Passes while we all grabbed a bite to eat. There are lots of McDonalds throughout Italy and a large group of our students headed there for lunch. Kristin (my roommate) and I headed to a small sandwich place with a short line to make sure we had enough time to grab some gelato!!!
From Termini we headed to the Vatican (by Metro). The trains were not too crowded, which is something we were heavily warned about. We stayed in a group, I wore my money belt and we kept are purses-which only had my camera, phone, map and water- in front of us. The walk into the Vatican was a breeze, the program had pre-ordered our tickets so we did not have to wait in any lines!!! We spent the majority of our day in the Vatican Museum, St Peters Basilica and the Piazza San Pietro. The Vatican Museum is filled with masterpiece after mastpiece... If I only had one museum to choose from on a visit to Rome, I would choose the Vatican Museum. If you purchase tickets ahead of time it gets you into the museum and then you also do not have to wait in line for St Peters.
Just a few of the things we saw...
Raphael’s “Transfiguration”
and “School of Athens”
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Saint Jerome”
Caravaggio’s “Entombment”
Laocoon and his Sons
a Torso sculpture which inspired Micheangelos David
Mummy of a Woman
Micheangelo’s Sistine Chapel
and “Pieta”
Thursday Night: A group of us went out to dinner at a Pizzeria near our hotels. We all thought we were ordering individual slices of pizza and ended up with medium size pizza’s instead!!! After our long day and lots of walking we all just about finished each of our meals. After dinner we headed out for some mroe sightseeing. We headed to the Travi Fountain. A lot of the streets in Rome are small and narrow and do not follow a grid pattern, so one minute there is nothing on the street you are walking and the next minute you are standing in front of another masterpiece surrounded sightseers. On our way to the Spanish steps we got a little turned around with our directions, we came across a bar that offered us Americans drink specials and that is where are night ended. We visited the Spanish steps on Satuday and Sunday instead.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Our Apartment - Pics
I tried to upload a video but it says it is going to take hours and hours... maybe there is a way to down the file size...
Florence and Cinque Terre
I hope you all have been enjoying the new additions.
Pictures and Map showing where my apartment is located!!!
Last weekend:
Friday we had a planned day trip to Florence to go to the Uffizi and the Academia. The rest of the weekend was free! My roommates and I and a few other decided we wanted to stay the night in Florence and then head to Cinque terre for Saturday and Sunday morning and be back for classes on Monday.
Early Friday morning we got up to head down to the bus, packed a few sandwiches for the ride and in between museums and we were off. Traveling by bus so far has been pretty uneventful. Traffic seems to be non existent. We probably stopped for maybe two red lights on the two and half hour ride!! We had a guided tour at the Uffizi, we saw paintings by… Fra Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio to name a few. I had seen many of the paintings in my art history books before, but to be standing right there in front be of them and see the detail and brushstrokes first hand was really something. After the Uffizi we had some spare time to meander through the city, grab a bite to eat and head to the Acadamia. On our walk we saw Brunelleschi’s duomo, and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise. The Acadamia is a very small museum and the main attraction is Michelangelo's Statue of David!!! Again to standing there right in front of it was just unreal.
After the rest of the group headed back home (Montepulciano) on the bus, we checked into out hostel, made a quick stop at the flea market, picked up a few souvenies, and went to dinner. We ate a place our hostel recommended. A buffet all you could eat dinner and a cocktail of your choosing for 8 euro. It was delicious!!!
Saturday morning we decided we wanted a head start on getting to Cinque Terre so we boarded the 6am train and we were on our way!!! Here is where our trip got interesting… or as our professor would call it ‘An Italian Moment.’ We checked train schedules before we left and had hostel information as well. When we arrived at the train station just outside Cinque Terre we were informed that there would be no train to take us home on Sunday. Soooo we enjoyed the few hours we had, which were totally worth every second of our long journey. The views are amazing and I have added Cinque Terre to my list of place I most definitely want to visit again!!! The train ride was not so bad because we still were able to see the country side and the cities along the way. We passed Carrara, city where white marble is found, The David came from there and Pisa- you can see part of the leaning tower of Pisa from the train.
We ended our trip with a taxi ride from the Chiusi train station to Montepulciano. It sure was an experience and I was holding on for dear life!
All is all it was a busy weekend, but we checked off quite a few ‘things to see in my lifetime’ and were glad to be back home in Montepulciano!!!!
This weekend we head to Rome and hopefully our adventures will be a little less hectic this time around!
Pictures and Map showing where my apartment is located!!!
Last weekend:
Friday we had a planned day trip to Florence to go to the Uffizi and the Academia. The rest of the weekend was free! My roommates and I and a few other decided we wanted to stay the night in Florence and then head to Cinque terre for Saturday and Sunday morning and be back for classes on Monday.
Early Friday morning we got up to head down to the bus, packed a few sandwiches for the ride and in between museums and we were off. Traveling by bus so far has been pretty uneventful. Traffic seems to be non existent. We probably stopped for maybe two red lights on the two and half hour ride!! We had a guided tour at the Uffizi, we saw paintings by… Fra Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio to name a few. I had seen many of the paintings in my art history books before, but to be standing right there in front be of them and see the detail and brushstrokes first hand was really something. After the Uffizi we had some spare time to meander through the city, grab a bite to eat and head to the Acadamia. On our walk we saw Brunelleschi’s duomo, and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise. The Acadamia is a very small museum and the main attraction is Michelangelo's Statue of David!!! Again to standing there right in front of it was just unreal.
After the rest of the group headed back home (Montepulciano) on the bus, we checked into out hostel, made a quick stop at the flea market, picked up a few souvenies, and went to dinner. We ate a place our hostel recommended. A buffet all you could eat dinner and a cocktail of your choosing for 8 euro. It was delicious!!!
Saturday morning we decided we wanted a head start on getting to Cinque Terre so we boarded the 6am train and we were on our way!!! Here is where our trip got interesting… or as our professor would call it ‘An Italian Moment.’ We checked train schedules before we left and had hostel information as well. When we arrived at the train station just outside Cinque Terre we were informed that there would be no train to take us home on Sunday. Soooo we enjoyed the few hours we had, which were totally worth every second of our long journey. The views are amazing and I have added Cinque Terre to my list of place I most definitely want to visit again!!! The train ride was not so bad because we still were able to see the country side and the cities along the way. We passed Carrara, city where white marble is found, The David came from there and Pisa- you can see part of the leaning tower of Pisa from the train.
We ended our trip with a taxi ride from the Chiusi train station to Montepulciano. It sure was an experience and I was holding on for dear life!
All is all it was a busy weekend, but we checked off quite a few ‘things to see in my lifetime’ and were glad to be back home in Montepulciano!!!!
This weekend we head to Rome and hopefully our adventures will be a little less hectic this time around!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
I am trying to stay on top of my blog as best as I can. I think it is a great way to stay in touch with all of you and for me to look back on at the end of my trip and recall all the great memories I have made.
Classes Started on Monday September 1st. We are all taking Italian Mon-Thurs for the first 5 weeks we are here. I am really enjoying it because I cannot wait to ‘really’ speak with the locals. Right now I am still getting by on my English-Spanish-Italian, pointing and hand signals. Even though we cannot speak the language yet, when I here someone speaking English it takes us a minute to realize, hey we can understand that!! They play a lot of English music here…older songs mixed in with a few new, mostly dance music…90’s!!! It is as if they are about 5-10 years behind on the music… we listened to some N*sync and Backstreet boys in the café the other night.
Tuesday we went to wine tasting before dinner and it happened to be the birthday of one of the guys on our trip. We sat in the wine cellar for our wine tasting of a family owned winery. Crociani. The gave us bread with our wine and we learned that traditional Tuscan bread does not contain salt because of a strike during medieval times when taxes went up. They continue to bake their bread without salt but dip it in olive oil and salt…not pepper and balsamic vinaigrette as much. We also had some meats and cheese with the wine… my new favorite cheese is Pecorino (sheep cheese). Ok more about the wines… we had a white and two reds… Bianco “Unpodiba,” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2006 and a Reserve Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2005. Then we tried Grappa di vinacce di Nobile (made from the skins of the grapes so the alcohol content is very high). After we went to dinner and then went out that night to the Garden Bar at the bottom of our town with our entire group and two of our professors. They have pool tables, foosball, air hockey and ping pong. It was FUN!!!
Wednesday was a long day for some people as Tuesday was a late night! It was just a day of classes and an early night to bed. We did have our first Art history class and our professor is Italian, from Florence. He is very knowledgeable but mixes Italian and English so we had a bit of a hard time following him at first…
We finished our classes for the week on Thursday and went to the farmers market that comes to our town on Thursday mornings only. We bought some tomatoes to add to our sandwiches we were making to take with us on the bus to Florence. The tomatoes are DELICOUS!!! They are so red and juicy and flavorful!!!!
I will save our Florence and Cinque Terre trip for another post---coming soon!
I don’t want to upload to much at one time and overload the internet over here!
Classes Started on Monday September 1st. We are all taking Italian Mon-Thurs for the first 5 weeks we are here. I am really enjoying it because I cannot wait to ‘really’ speak with the locals. Right now I am still getting by on my English-Spanish-Italian, pointing and hand signals. Even though we cannot speak the language yet, when I here someone speaking English it takes us a minute to realize, hey we can understand that!! They play a lot of English music here…older songs mixed in with a few new, mostly dance music…90’s!!! It is as if they are about 5-10 years behind on the music… we listened to some N*sync and Backstreet boys in the café the other night.
Tuesday we went to wine tasting before dinner and it happened to be the birthday of one of the guys on our trip. We sat in the wine cellar for our wine tasting of a family owned winery. Crociani. The gave us bread with our wine and we learned that traditional Tuscan bread does not contain salt because of a strike during medieval times when taxes went up. They continue to bake their bread without salt but dip it in olive oil and salt…not pepper and balsamic vinaigrette as much. We also had some meats and cheese with the wine… my new favorite cheese is Pecorino (sheep cheese). Ok more about the wines… we had a white and two reds… Bianco “Unpodiba,” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2006 and a Reserve Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2005. Then we tried Grappa di vinacce di Nobile (made from the skins of the grapes so the alcohol content is very high). After we went to dinner and then went out that night to the Garden Bar at the bottom of our town with our entire group and two of our professors. They have pool tables, foosball, air hockey and ping pong. It was FUN!!!
Wednesday was a long day for some people as Tuesday was a late night! It was just a day of classes and an early night to bed. We did have our first Art history class and our professor is Italian, from Florence. He is very knowledgeable but mixes Italian and English so we had a bit of a hard time following him at first…
We finished our classes for the week on Thursday and went to the farmers market that comes to our town on Thursday mornings only. We bought some tomatoes to add to our sandwiches we were making to take with us on the bus to Florence. The tomatoes are DELICOUS!!! They are so red and juicy and flavorful!!!!
I will save our Florence and Cinque Terre trip for another post---coming soon!
I don’t want to upload to much at one time and overload the internet over here!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Pictures!!!
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The internet is a bit slower over here so I am not attaching photos for the previous two blogs. It is great to see every one on hear so I am able to share my new experiences with my family and friends even if we are miles apart! I love you all so much!!!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Finally Here!!!
After a long summer of planning, saving and packing we are finally here in Montepulciano, Italy. It will be our home for the next ten weeks. It was a long journey getting here: a car, a tram at the airport, 2 planes, one bus, and a van… But the time spent traveling was totally worth it. As we explored the town we were amazed at each new view we came upon. The streets wind in and around all the buildings and houses, up and down… mostly UP!!! We had dinner the first night at the restaurant in town that will be our dinner spot each week Sunday through Thursday. It is called Trattoria di Cagnano. Trattoria in Italian just means a family run restaurant with home cooking. Our table shared a bottle of wine from our town!
This morning Joe (our art professor from KSU) gave us a tour of the city. It was a great informative walk… learning where to use the internet, buy groceries, pharmacy, good places to eat, phones, etc. This afternoon we ate at the local Pizzeria… it was an experience ordering and paying for our lunch but it was absolutely delicious. Proscutto and mozzarella!!! We went grocery shopping this afternoon… another experience.
-Plastic gloves and weigh your own fruit and print the price sticker
-Buying bathroom and cleaning products-nothing in English
-Beer is sold individual and in 2 and 3 packs
Now we are back at our apartment organizing all our stuff and getting ready for dinner and then the barrel racing activities tonight. The barrel races take place once and year and each contrada (community) within the city has there own competitors. The flags that you see in some of the photos tell you which commune you are walking through. We are in Contrada di Collazzi and have a green and yellow flag.
This morning Joe (our art professor from KSU) gave us a tour of the city. It was a great informative walk… learning where to use the internet, buy groceries, pharmacy, good places to eat, phones, etc. This afternoon we ate at the local Pizzeria… it was an experience ordering and paying for our lunch but it was absolutely delicious. Proscutto and mozzarella!!! We went grocery shopping this afternoon… another experience.
-Plastic gloves and weigh your own fruit and print the price sticker
-Buying bathroom and cleaning products-nothing in English
-Beer is sold individual and in 2 and 3 packs
Now we are back at our apartment organizing all our stuff and getting ready for dinner and then the barrel racing activities tonight. The barrel races take place once and year and each contrada (community) within the city has there own competitors. The flags that you see in some of the photos tell you which commune you are walking through. We are in Contrada di Collazzi and have a green and yellow flag.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Countdown
The countdown has started... My plane leaves atlanta at 6pm on Thursday August 27th. 11 more days, well its more like 10 now! I guess I should start packing soon.
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