Archives: June 2008
Mon Jun 30, 2008
Up Up Up!
"Up up up!" This is the phrase that our taxi driver Raymond used to describe the Swiss Alps. I never thought that I would make it to Switzerland, let alone France, this summer. Italy has been wonderful, but the weekend I went to Geneva, Switzerland and to the top of Mt. Blanc France just added to my many adventures! A few weeks before we got to Italy, I didn’t even know the girls I went to Switzerland with. However, I will say now that I have stayed in a hotel with them, eaten Swiss chocolate, and climbed the tallest peak of the alps, I feel pretty close! We had planed on only going to Geneva. However, we met the nicest man Raymond, who soon became out personal tour guide and took us to Mt. Blanc and Annecy. It was so nice to be in the mountains and see snow for a change. We were not prepared for the cold weather and ended up buying jackets and socks to wear with our flip-flops before we went to the top. We ate and drank Swiss chocolate and cheese fondue. The weather was amazing, and it was such a memorable weekend.
Another aspect of my adventures in Italy this summer that will forever be remembered is this past week of vacationing. My mom and sister came over for the week, and the three of us together got to experience the ancient ruins of Rome, the eclectic art scene of Trastevere, and the quaint Ponte Vecchio in Firenze. It was such a special time to be able to experience all of these beautiful, wonderful places with my family. Adding to the fun, we did run into a few obstacles with our hotel and Roma transportation, the latter being more humorous than the first. Our sweet hotel man decided to move us to a different hotel, without telling us that we were being moved. However, the silver lining of this misunderstanding is we got our hotel for free! The other obstacle, or adventure, as I like to call it, is we accidentally boarded the wrong train on the way from Firenze to Arricia. We got on the train and politely asked to people who were sitting in our seats to please move. It turns out, that we were very mistaken and got on the train earlier than we were supposed to. So, we spent the rest of the train ride in the restaurant because we didn't have any seats. Again, the situation turned out for the better because we got to Rome earlier than expected, and we didn't have to pay any fines because we pleaded the "dumb tourists."
Overall, this past week has been a great week of learning, culturally and historically. The opportunity to have gotten to travel around Italy with my mom and my sister is, hopefully, one I will never take for granted because it truly has enriched my relationship with them, and given me a fresh perspective of the ever wonderful Italia!!!
Us with Raymond!
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Sun Jun 15, 2008
Too much of a good thing is a very good thing
When I first looked at the due date for my web blog I was disappointed because it was right before our trip to Milan. Since my major and biggest interest has always been fashion, I thought that would be the best and easiest thing for me to talk about. Having been in Italy for nearly 5 weeks, I have learned that is completely not the case! Amongst the many things I have learned so far, I discovered my passion lies in a multitude of other areas. During our latest trip to Assisi, a Friar gave us a tour of the St Francesco Basilica. Original frescos covered the walls from top to bottom, telling the story of both the lives of Jesus and St Francis. In the 13th century, books were scarce, available only to the wealthy and privileged; the majority lived their lives without ever owning a bible. Hence, the frescos! They were considered the “poor man’s bible”. One could simply look at each fresco and learn about the life and teachings of Jesus. The impact of the art you see in the basilica, the realness of the expression in the faces, and the passion of Christ, is unmistakable. Even in our group, most of us are extremely familiar with the stories, but the impact of each fresco still was remarkable. It is impossible not to have a spectacular feeling when you stand in the presence of such beautiful works of art.
In Florence, setting sight for the first time on Michelangelo’s statue of David, and the Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, truly leave you breathless. I find myself standing in front of each piece for minutes at a time, completely transfixed by their sheer beauty. You wonder how one person could possess the massive amount of talent needed to accomplish such works of art. I have seen priceless art, loads of architecture, and soaked up massive amounts of history in these first 5 weeks. The age old proverb states that ‘too much of a good thing is a bad thing’. I have learned that simply does not apply in this country.
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Tue Jun 10, 2008
A European Whirlwind!!
Reflecting back over the past week, it amazes me how much we have seen and done. Coming on this trip I never imagined how packed our days, weeks, and months would be. Two Fridays ago I started my travel in Geneva, Switzerland then traveled to Siena, Florence, and Venice. This was the longest 7 days yet, but worth every minute. The one big thing that I have learned so far is all about adaptation, which can be really hard until you accept it.
Switzerland was amazing, the Alps are probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. On this trip we learned to trust new people, like our amazing taxi driver Raymond who took such great care of us. We fit 7 people in two twin beds and one double—talk about adaptation.
Me, Stacey, Collin, Meri Kate, Ashley, Rachel, and Adrienne on Mt. Blanc in France. Check out our socks and sandals--we weren't prepared for the cold.
Siena and Florence were both beautiful, I already want to go back! I think I was almost more impressed with the Duomo in Siena than in Florence except the one in Florence is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. I really liked just sitting in the square in Siena and eating lunch and just taking in everything around me. One of the greatest challenges I have had is that I am actually here, it Italy seeing all of these things. At times, everything seems so surreal.
Then Venice, oh Venice!! The ones going to Venice left Florence earlier than planned because we wanted to catch the earlier train to have more time in Venice. So we get to the train station and look up which track number our train is going to be—we are all so excited that we made it on time and all got tickets… So me and Ashley decide to go to McDonalds and by a bunch of fries for everyone. We surprised everyone and we are just hanging out eating and talking—like always. Then someone decides to check the train because we realized ours wasn’t there yet. We look over and see Ashley jumping and yelling and our train pulling out!! This is what I mean by adaptation. Normally, I would have been so angry and upset about missing our train, but I really have learned by being here that you can’t get angry because that will just make you miserable. Situations like this happen all the time and you just have to laugh about them. Luckily though, there was the other later one that we had planned on taking. But we got there and it was awesome; the Grand Canal, San Marco Square, our gondola ride and everything were better than I could have imagined. We had a few hostel mishaps, but we survived our first hostel experience!
Meri Kate, Ashley, Emma, Candace, Me, Haley, Rachel, and Missy standing in San Marco Square in Venice.
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Mon Jun 09, 2008
Tuscany and Florence!
We continued our Tuscany tour by spending one night in Siena. It is a beautiful medieval town surrounded by a city fortress and winding, steep streets. The first night we had time to roam around and get a feel for the city, eat at the local pubs with an Italian soccer game being featured, and finding the BEST crepes store yet for dessert!
In the morning we visited Siena's Duomo, a gothic masterpiece with works inside by Bernini, Michaelangelo and Donatello. To set the ambiance of viewing the church, a man was playing violin in a side corridor, reminding me of a full orchestra at a wedding - I was "that person" who bought one of his CDs! Then we walked over to Piazza del Campo, the center square of the city, and went inside the Civic Museum where there were beautiful frescoes. That afternoon we headed to Florence (Firenze in Italian) for our last stop on our Tuscany tour!
The whole group in the Piazza del Campo in Siena.
On Thursday, we hit most of the highlights and key sights of the early Renaissance. First, the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore - probably the most notable structure of Florence. The construction was credited to di Cambio and then Giotto, and the famous dome was built by Brunelleschi, who's design for it was supported by the Medici family of Florence. Also accompanying the Duomo is the Battistero di San Giovanni and Giotto's Bell tower. We then strolled through the Piazza della Signoria which houses the fake "David" statue outside the former Medici castle-like residence. The Arno River runs through Florence, and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge runs over it. It is known for the jewelry stores that line the bridge, which aren't so bad for window shopping either!
Blakely, Michele, Jamie, Mary Ansley and I standing on the Ponte Vecchio!
That afternoon, we strolled along one of the many leather markets and then went to the Academia to see Michaelangelo's "David." It was an amazing sight - he was a lot bigger than expected! It was a moment before I could comprehend what I was seeing. Since I have always seen it in books and posters, to be sitting no less than 5 feet from it was quite an experience. Sadly, no pictures could be taken! The rest of the afternoon we had off to explore on our own,and then we met back up at 8 for dinner. We went to a traditional Florentine restaurant known for their huge ribeye Florentine steaks,. Libby and I decided to split one which was a good move on our part! We slept well that night.
On our last day, we visited the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum. It was very interesting. In a group of 19 girls, who can resist so many shoes! Then we headed to the Uffizi Museum. It houses masterpieces from the Medici collection including, the "Birth of Venus" and "Spring" by Botticelli; "The Annunciation" and "Adoration of the Magi" by Leonardo da Vinci. After the museum, we were free for the weekend. Some headed back to Ariccia, some stayed to explore Florence even further, and some went to see Venice.
Most of us are still catching up on our sleep from all the busyness of the past week. However, being with each other and exploring all these places seem to touch all of us in some way and bring us even closer together.
Libby, Blakely, Michele, me, Britt and Candace outside the winery in Tuscany!
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Sat Jun 07, 2008
Wine Tasting in Tuscany!
This week we had the amazing opportunity to travel to Tuscany. After a brief visit to Arezzo (where the movie "Life is Beautiful" was filmed), we drove through the unbelievable countryside of Tuscany. We were all very excited because the first thing on our schedule was visiting a local vineyard and having a wine tasting session! I kept pinching myself thinking, "I am getting college credit for this?... YESSS!"
The vineyard, Fattoria Santa Vittoria, owned and operated by a local family was very gracious to open its doors to us and give us a lesson in wine making. First, let me just say that the vineyard grounds are absolutely breathtaking. The buildings, dating back to the 18th century, are situated around a small well, and there are beautiful vines with flowers crawling up the sides toward the sky. We were able to walk through the whole process of how they hand pick the grapes and bring them into the different rooms, then allow them to ferment in the different tanks, and then finally allow them to sit for a year (or longer!) before the wine is ready to be bottled. The process is very tedious, but it brings a great result! As we were traveling through the different rooms of the winery, the smell was amazing. Imagine the fresh breeze of the Tuscany hills mixed with a sweet, sun-rippened grape gloriousness. I could have stayed there forever!
After the tour was completed, we walked down a small winding road that led to the Bed and Breakfast on the vineyard's property. They had a chef prepare a lunch that would compliment each of the wines that we were going to be tasting. We had antipastas (starters), soup, pasta, and a pork roast. We tried four different types of wines that the vineyard offered, a white, two reds, and a dessert wine. My favorite two were the Grechetto (white) and the Poggio al Tempo (red with the hint of fruit). Both the these wines come from typical Tuscan grapes that the vineyard uses. We were able to purchase the wines to bring back with us to Ariccia, or if we have enough self-control, back to America! I learn a great deal from this experience of wine tasting and wine making. I also learned that I would love to own and work a vineyard in Tuscany, but I guess, who wouldn't?
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Mon Jun 02, 2008
Everybody loves Raymond! (Switzerland and Mount Blanc)
This is the third week we have been in Italy, and it is crazy to think we have almost been here a month! This past weekend has been my favorite so far because it is the first time we got the chance to travel out of the country! Part of our group went to Barcelona, 3 of the group stayed in Ariccia, and the rest of us (including me) went to SWITZERLAND!!! I really had no idea what to expect, and just kinda went without out looking much into it, but I was pleasantly surprised!
We got to the airport, and had to change our Euros to Francs, and we were glad to hear that the Franc is about equal to the American dollar. We then got a cab ride from the best cab driver EVER (more about him later) from the airport to our hotel which ended up being in France. It was only about a three minute walk from the border. We were all pretty tired and did'nt feel like going far because we had to take the bus in, so we just ate at this Chinese restaurant that was right next to our hotel. Saturday we got up pretty early so we could tour the beautiful city of Geneva! We saw the jet d'eau, which is the huge famous fountain in Geneva that shoots straight into the sky! We then got on a boat that took us around Lake Geneva. We saw the amazing houses that sat right on the water and had a closer look at the jet d'eau! That night I decided that because we were in Switzerland, we had to have fondue (and also because it is my favorite :) We decided to call our cab driver from the previous day, Raymond! He came and got us and then took us to Cafe' de Solei for fondue. When we got there, he got out of his cab to make sure we could get in, and if we couldn't he was going to take us to a different fondue spot. By this time, we were pretty much already obsessed with him! He was probably in his 60's, didnt speak much English, but he basically was our guardian for the rest of the time we were there!
The next morning we had Raymond come pick the seven of us up at 9:30 to take us to Mount Blanc, which is the highest mountain in the Swiss Alps. We only had to pay 70 Francs each (43 euros) for the ride there and back. When we got to Mount Blanc which is in Chamonix, France, Raymond told us we would be way to cool when we went "Up, Up, Up" the mountain. So, most of us bought fleeces so we would'nt be freezing on the mountain! We got to the top of the mountain by going on a gondola and it was absolutely freezing and was even snowing! But my favorite part of the whole trip was when we got to walk on the mountain. The view was beautiful and breathtaking, and it seriously brought tears to our eyes! It was amazing! Raymond then told us he had a surprise for us and he took us to a small town in France called Annecy. It was right on a lake, so we walked around with Raymond and he even bought us all icecream! Then we sadly had to leave beautiful Geneva on Sunday, but not without getting Starbucks and McDonalds!
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