Paradise: Cinque Terre!

This weekend we ventured out to the coast for a long weekend in BEAUTIFUL Cinque Terre. What we found there was beyond exceptional! The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Many tourists come and hike all five towns and stay a day or two in each one. They are the most beautiful and gorgeous cities I have ever seen. Each one is bigger, brighter, and more spectacular then the next! Over centuries, the people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. So you hike around the step areas reaching each town with a combined time of a little over 5 hours.

The 14 of us (the students I am studying abroad with) decided to go together to celebrate Betsy's 21st bday. We stayed in the last town called Monterosso and I have to admit it was one of the best towns. A cute small town full of local artists and small wine tasting shops. The beach is the first thing you notice with its crisps blue water and rocky sand. We hiked up 135 stairs to where we stayed called Manuel's GuestHouse which I must admit was the cutest house with a most amazing view of Monterosso. Manuel himself lives right now the stairs in his own house and owns two of the biggest, friendlies dogs I have ever met. He is a local painter and paints down by the wine store all day long. He is extremely talented and enjoyable with a great guesthouse! ( www.manuelsguesthouse.com )

Cinque Terre is known for its delicious seafood and we decided to indulge in it the first night we were there. We went to a delicious restaurant where we all enjoyed various amounts of pasta with clams, mussels, and octopus. After that some freshly grilled and skinned bass!! YUMMY! My mouth waters just thinking about it! That night we sat by the water and shared funny stories and enjoyed some good red wine!

The next day we woke up very early to start our hike to all five towns. We thought each town was better than the next with the most amazing views. We sat in silence for moments at a time just admiring the view! Just stunning. We got back 7 hours later and decided to have a huge cookout since Manuel's Guest House has a large cooking ground right on the outside of our rooms. Lorenzo ( my good friend ) was the chef of the night BBQing steaks, and chicken and I cooked 5 pounds of noodles to feed all 14 of us and stir fried it with cheese, olive oil, red peppers and fresh tomatoes. We cooked for about 4 hours since we only had one small stove but had the time of our lives. I would recommend Cinque Terre to anyone and everyone! What a great experience!

Venice Baby!!!

I just returned last night from an amazing weekend in Venice! Wow! What an absolutely incredible place! I wish I was still there. I traveled with two girlfriends Allyson and Betsy. We didn't know what to except but what we got out of the experience left an impression in us forever!!



We took EuroStar train straight to Venice and it look us about 3 hours to get there. Once we got off the train and the doors opened to Venice we stood in "awh" at how beautiful it was. We saw the water right away and the sun was shinning on it. It was about 60 degrees and we were loving it! We had to find our one star hotel in the crack of a random alley but ended up being the best hotel ever! It was clean and had a great view of the canal! We got to fall asleep to the sounds of boats and water moving which we loved! We went out that night to the supermarket and bought food to snack on for dinner to save money. We walked for hours around all the markets and were amazed by the blown glass work there! I got a few presents for the family with some cool glass work! We stopped in and had a few beers at a very cool Irish Pub. We tried a different Aussia bear called Wiesburger. It was delicious!

The next morning we woke up early because we had a full day of adventure ahead of us. We started in Saint Mark's Basilica. The basilica's construction began around 800 A.D., and, although it was sacked and rebuilt a couple times, it has still been around for almost 1,000 years! It is made in the Italo-Byzantine style, which basically means that it uses tons of gold, mosaics, and traditional iconography of the saints. Walking inside takes your breath away! After touring this amazing church we went to a beautiful Garden right by the water and had a small picnic where we broke bread and sliced cheese with wine! It was delicious! After we fed the little birds and headed over to see more churches. We ate lots of Gelato and went to a fish market which I LOVED because my craving for fish has went crazy since I got to Euro! It's so good!

We decided to hit the gondola next! It was perfect, the sun was setting and we had a bottle of wine. On the gondola we passed the bridge of Sighs, Marco Pollo's house and Casa Nova's house! It was beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves! The ride was about 30 mintues and cost about 100 euro! Expensive yes but well worth every penny! We then sat at St. Mark's Square and drank wine and got kisses blown to us by Italian men! We appreciate their love for us! We also saw an Italian couple getting married and it was beautiful! We got some great food and went to bed!

Our last half day in Venice started with me and Betsy going to church. There are 107 churches in just Venice so we found a beautiful one and enjoyed a nice mass. After we got our things and signed out of our hotel and walked along the water in Venice for hours! It was the best! We also went to see the very first harbor that is no long in use because of Napolean's evil games closed it down. It has never been up for use since then! It was a beautiful arbor though! We had some lunch on the tourist strip and hoped on the train back to Florence. The weather in Venice was in the 70's and gorgeous! It was crisps perfect! I love Venice and would return in a moment! It was great trip that I will never forget and hopefully get to return to!

Under The Tuscan Sun; Literally!!

Today was the most beautiful day Florence has seen this month! It was a high 60 some degrees and the sun was shinning so brightly! Allyson and I decided to make our way to a beautiful town called Cortona after watching Under The Tuscan Sun the other night. Under The Tuscan Sun was filmed in Cortona and tells the story of Francis Mayes, a writer, and about her move to Italy after a horrible divorce with her husband. The country changes her life forever and I love the movie so much! It is based on a true story and the movie was filmed in Francis Mayes home and garden. We arrived in Cortona in the afternoon and walked around the beautiful town and saw the famous scene with the clock tower where many parts of the movie were filmed. We then decided to walk about a mile and a half through the rolling hills to find Bremesole! Bremesole is the house where Francis Mayes still lives to this day and it is right outside of Cortona. We followed on path through beautiful gardens and rolling trees and right as we were giving up from so much walking Allsyon pointed our the house and we sprinted to it. There is was right in front of our eyes!

Bremesole was the most beautiful villa I have ever seen! It was so cute and fancy! I couldn't believe that was where Francis Mayes lives! Her story has inspired me throughout the years and we were standing right in front of her house! Cortona is the most beautiful little town that sits in the middle of Tuscany! I would love to live there one day! Who wouldn't?! We headed back to the town after we sat and stared at FM's house forever and had some lunch at a cute little wine place where we enjoyed the best pizza ever. This pizza has no marinara sauce but instead they downed it in olive oil and cooked vegetables with it so it was so moist and juicy. I really loved the way the pizza tasted and it is by far my favorite way of eating pizza now! Bremesole was one thing I set a goal to go see and I am so happy I got to do it! What a great experience!! :D Now go get the movie and watch it! Starting Diane Lane and Sandra Oh! Under The Tuscan Sun!

Viva ViaReggio Carnivale!!!

Wow! I have been so busy that I have forgotten to update my blog! Time seems to be flying by faster day by day! Some of my friends and I traveled to the beautiful seaside town of Viareggio for the day/night on Tuesday ( Fat Tuesday to celebrate Mardi Gras) to see the Carnivale festival there! Viareggio, on the Tuscany coast, has one of the biggest Carnevale celebrations in Italy. Vaireggio Carival is known for its giant, allegorical paper mache floats used in parades not only on Fat Tuesday but also the three Sundays before and the Sunday following.estivals, cultural events, concerts, and masked balls take place throughout the carnival season both in Viareggio and nearby and restaurants have special carnival menus. It is the BIGGEST celebration that attracks people all over Europe to come join the party! The celebration will go till the early morning ending at about 5am. This is an experience everyone has to see to believe!

The carnival was amazing. We got there just as the parade was starting and walked along with it down to the beach.We stayed to watch the parade which turned out to be these GIGANTIC floats! They were so detailed and massive! Music was playing from them as the people on the floats were dressed in costumes according to the theme of the float. There must have been at least 20 floats in the parade. The parade itself took about 3 hours to go around each float just one time! We were singing and dancing and the costumes that people had were outstanding! Everyone (Parents, grandparents, friends, dogs) are dressed up in hilarious costumes from head to toe! We were the outcasts in our jeans and jackets :( ! We had the time of our lives until 10pm came and we had to catch a train back to Florence for school the next morning! It was a great memory! Carnivale ViaReggio is something I will remember forever and will have to come back and visit! Ciao! Xo

San Gimignano

Today we traveled to San Gimignano; our last bus trip together as a school and it was by far the best! San Gimignano is a small medieval hill town in Tuscany not to far from Siena. It is mostly known for its large medieval towers and it's famous white wine; Vernaccia di San Gimignano; grown locally! We visited the church Sant'Agostino which holds very famous pieces of art representing hell and heaven. We then toured the main church of the city called Collegiata. It amazes me that even though we see many churches; each one if different and represents different times in history and stories. One being more beautiful then the next reminds me of the history and spirituality each one has! The town is surrounded by medieval towers and defensive walls which makes the view from them breathtaking! For lunch Betsy, Ashley, Allyson and myself had a picnic at the top of one of the towers where the most beautiful gardens are. We bought bread, bore ( slices of it from the meat market in town) bree ( cheese ) pesto, wine, and broke bread around the ground and had a very traditional European lunch. We drank wine and nibbled on bore and cheese and it was the best lunch I have had in Italy. It reminded me so much of Provence France with my family when Babcia ( my beautiful grandmother ) used to slice pieces of fresh baquet and fresh jam and that was breakfast!! :) I believe it's the little moments of this trip that make it what it is. It's the view from the tower overlooking all of San Gimignano. It's the little children speaking different languages and it's the cheese and wine you share with your friends at lunch! In Europe you learn to slow down and that life needs to be appreciated at the one moment we have because in all true thought the present moment is all we really have. I enjoy sitting at dinner with everyone for hours and celebrate each other with conversations that make friendships what they really are. It's all in the way we communicate with each other and spare stories of laughter, love, but experience tears and pain together.

This trip has been like nothing I have experienced before. I have been looking for the answer to happiness and here I have found that the answer lies within myself. Everything I want for myself is here already, I just need to believe and find it. I can be happy! Anybody can be happy. Happiness is in the present moment and once you understand that the pieces of the puzzle will put themselves together. The moment I figured that out was when I was running down in the valley on a jog and I came across the corner and the view was unbelievable and the sun shined on the valley and all the grass seemed to be hugged by it with warmth. I stood there in awh and let the sun hit my face and at that moment I felt complete happiness.

I don't have the answers to a lot of my questions but I feel as though I am learning and figuring more out about myself and life as I experience history, culture, and life at it's best. What the next two months have to in store for me, I have no idea, but I know for a fact I will follow my heart and out of this experience my heart will grow and somewhere down the road the pieces in my puzzle will come together!

After all, the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose!

Season of Love!

Ciao!

It has been far to long since I have written on my blog! Oh boy today is February 15th already! Where is all the time going? The days seem to be going by faster and faster. Our program is done on April 3rd already and there is already a million things I still want to see and do! It has been a crazy few weeks in Italy. I had midterms already and they were surprisingly hard; I was expecting it to be easier but the work was worth it! I have learned so much since the first day of class about Italy, business, and politics here in Europe.



Since the last time I wrote I traveled to Siena in the rain. Although it was not the best day it was a lot of fun to learn about the history and see the beautiful Siena! It was a fun and spunky town to be in. We visited Church of San Domenico first and that is where St. Catherine's skull and thumb remains are. The church was very open and spiritual but simple at the same time. We continued to Palazzo Salimbeni which is the building of the two very famous families in Italy and then visited the Cathedral of Siena. We then had lunch around the famous Piazza Del Campo which is the location for the famous Palio di Siena happens. The Palio di Siena is the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. The Palazzo Salimbeni is also famous for it's huge scene in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. It was a great spot to see since the movie was filed there!



Yesterday a few girlfriends and I decided to go to Pisa for Valentine's day we woke up to roses from our program director who treated us to great meal at LaReggia the night before. We got to Pisa and walked around till we found the famous leaning tower. We toured around and walked inside the Duomo and noticed the U.S. Congressmen and women were there having a private tour accompanied by more than 15 security and police officers. It was quite thrilling to see and we tried to talk to them seeing as we were from America but they were not interested in teenagers!

We then went to see Santa Maria della Spina Church; which I have to say is the smallest church I have ever seen. It is said that "Spina" means "Thorn" and that one of Jesus's thorns from his crucifixion was brought to this church. It is very tiny church but quite famous. We had a lovely lunch and headed back to watch a movie and settle down from the long week. Oh and we were bombarded by Italian men giving us chocolates for Valentine's Day.. quite amusing!

Ti Amo & Happy San Valentino's Day!

Assisi & Lucca

This weekend we finally got to travel around Italy. The weather was p-e-r-f-e-c-t and I couldn't have been happier.. We hoped on a bus at the crack of down Friday and drove two and a half hours to Assisi. The first site of Assisi is like nothing I had ever seen before. The city sits on the top of the biggest hill and you can see the creme colored historical buildings from miles away. We arrived in Assisi to be welcomed by this man who worked where the public restrooms were. He asked us if we were from American and proceeded to shout in the very little English he knew "Obama" Obama"!! With two thumbs way up high he was a happy camper to see Americans! It was quite entertaining and he continued to say, " Obama, bambino" which in Italian means pregnant.. he was excited to and had to take pictures with us.

After that warm welcome we met up with Bob's good friend who lived in Assisi and spoke perfect English, which I was more than happy about. He brought us around Assisi telling us facts and history points. The city sits on a hill because it used to be covered with water and the future up you went the older the buildings got because the top was built first and after the water was drained they were able to make more life downwards. We then continued to tour the Basilica di San Franceso. Before we toured around the tour guide told us some great history about the Basilica and San Franceso.The church is rather incongruous memorial to a man who preached and lived a simple life of poverty, abstinence, and renunciation of worldly goods in search of greater spirituality.It is an extremely powerful place for people who are believers and have a passion for arts.

San Franceso died in 1226 and in 1818, the tomb of St. Francis was rediscovered beneath the high altar, after lying hidden for almost 600 years. When the coffin was opened, Francis' skeleton was found fully intact. This is very rare for such a popular medieval saint. He was than buried and later the church was built around the Francis's tomb and is split into two levels and Francis's tomb is located in the lower level of the church and you are able to go see it and pray to Francis but not able to see his body only the tomb. It is one of the most life changing experiences in a spiritual level too. Pope John Paul 2nd had visited this church 6 times in his life because this church was actually made for the Pope NOT for St. Francis but his memorial is there now. We continued to enjoy the rest of the day with a beautiful walk, stopping for lunch, enjoying a good glass of wine and Italy has the most amazing juice ever. We asked for juice before we left and they made it fresh.. they cut up about 6 oranges and squeeze them and serve it only like that with the pulp in it.. it is great!!

We continued to Lucca the next day early in the morning. Lucca is absolutely beautiful and is surrounded by a very historical wall. The city is very family-orianted and has a lot of kind people and lots of dogs everywhere. We visited Saint Martin and Saint Zita which you are able to go and view her body which is 700 years old. She is looking good for her age! Lucca was beautiful but small; I would go visit it again anytime!

This was a great weekend to start traveling and learning about different parts of Italy! Cortona and Bologna is next! Can't wait!

Ti Amo! xo