the calm before the storm.

GIORNO VENTUNO
I like to call today the "Calm Before the Storm" because it was truly exactly that.  This morning was beautiful!  I woke up around eight thirty and Danielle and I went for a great run toward the western side of Firenze that we had not seen yet.  Along the Arno, we passed the American Embassy (good to know) and some new Piazzas before crossing the bridge to a nice running path under some trees.  Today we got a "bravo" instead awkward glances!

The day was completely blue, barely any clouds in the sky and warm!  After showering and putting clean clothes on, Danielle, Christina, and I went out to San Lorenzo Market to look at all the leather goods and hopefully make a good purchase!  First we stopped at this sandwich place called Antico Vinaio for lunch.  The best sandwich ever!  I put a sweet pepper sauce on it with arugula fresh mozzarella and spicy salami!  It was huge and delicious!  I love food way too much... Allora, I was on the search for a black leather jacket because I had always wanted one and Italy is the perfect place to find good leather.  We checked out some of the stores behind the tented goods and different vendors who told us students get 50% off.  Now I know you usually don't listen to those type ploys, but this was legit!

My new best friend.

I finally walked into a leather shop, called Palletteria Zip, and tried on a few jackets until I put one of that spoke to me.  You know when it feels right.  The vendor told me he would sell it to me for 50% off the original price, which was two hundred euro.  NO!  Who has that kind of cash lying around anyway?  We worked out a deal with him until he continued lowering the price until it was a good deal.  He wasn't happy, but I was!  The thing about a leather jacket is that you aren't buying it to last a couple of years... it is an investment that you have to love and want for a long time.  My jacket was a great investment!

After walking out of the shop, feeling like a champ, we headed toward the shoes so Danielle could see which style she preferred when out of no where the calm dissipated and some storm swept in.  Every day the weather apps have been lying about the weather... it usually says 90% chance of rain and it NEVER does.  Today was the first time it told the truth.  Not only did it rain, it poured, and there was a great deal of thunder and lightning too!  The main difference between Italian rain and Florida rain is that in Italy, the rain is freezing!  How could it go from beautiful to rainy so fast?

Christina forgot her umbrella because we aren't used to the weather being right, so I let her use mine since she had to meet her dad's friend for lunch and I had to take off my shoes because I was wearing my white lace TOMs.  Rookie mistake.  So there was the three of us... running through Firenze.  Me shoeless hanging between Christina and Danielle's umbrellas to stay dry as we searched for the restaurant she had to meet the man at.  We got lost.  Of course.  After finding the restaurant, Danielle and I headed back to the apartment.  I have never been so drenched.  I looked like a wet cat...

The sunset looking over the Arno

   

When we got back, we drank some warm drinks and relaxed for a while before Danielle and I went to Conad to pick up some stuff for dinner!  We wanted to make more of those homemade pizzas with the balsamic caramelized onions and salami!  Again, it was a success!  After dinner we decided to hike up to Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset!  It was harder today to hike up tehre because it is finally getting hot here in Firenze and we were for once dressed warmly... usually we are freezing over here!

A man was playing classic acoustic songs that us Americans could actually sing to and the night was perfect... except for the flies that seemed to just attack Christina.  They seriously were swarming here.  As you can see, even all the way in Italy, everyone is still cheering for the Florida Gators with an orange and blue sunset!  Forza Gators!

When we got back Danielle made us a banana and Nutella tort!  I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but she is da bomb and she is the best!  Anyway, now we are going to Kikuya (of course) to meet Tarah and Savannah's parents!  Tomorrow... another school day, meh!  At least we are in Italy!

So grateful... how can you not be when you look at a perfect sky like that?

Ciao-Ciao!    

cinque terre.

GIORNO VENTI

Today was a Cinque Terre kind of day!  Christina, Erika, and I woke up early and headed to the Santa Novella train station with Cole!  We took a bus from the station and two hours later we emerged onto the vast Mediterranean Sea.  After weeks of landlocked cities, seeing the sea was a perfect weekend getaway!  It was beautiful!  Although the sun wasn't out and it was a bit overcast, the water was a deep blue and the cities along the coast were so colorful and perfect.

The first city we visited was Riomaggiore, we didn't stay there long because apparently there isn't anything to do there, so we rolled outta there and headed by train to Manarola.  We had so much to do and so little time to do it, but there was a beautiful rock in the water that overlooked the city.  I love the colors of all the buildings... they complimented each other so well on the rocky coast, just like Christina and I do... we PI CHIS know how to stick together when the going gets going.

A few years ago, a mudslide ravaged some of the cities, leaving them in a sort of disarray and with a few of the hiking trails closed from city to city.  Therefore, we also took the train to the third city, Corniglia.  There we had about two hours to find lunch in this small city.  We didn't walk long because we smelled the pesto through the door and it called us in.  Christina and I ate together to let the Benefields enjoy their lunch together.  We both ordered a bowl of pesto gnochi and a little pear and ricotta cheese tort for dessert.  One annoying thing about money in Italy is that ALL they want are COINS!  Every place you go to wants, not only for you to pay in cash, but for it to be in coins.  We split a twenty-eight euro lunch and the man couldn't break a fifty!  The problem is, vendors always want coins, so I use coins, so I don't have them for the next vendor... it is truly a vicious cycle.

Corniglia

After lunch, Christina and I walked around the town and into the church at the top of the hill.  It is cool to see the way other people live.  Old ladies casually do laundry on their porches in front of one of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen... just folding laundry as if it were a normal day here.  No big deal.  The sad thing about the Cinque Terre is the decline in population.  The majority of the people that remain are elderly individuals who have lived there their entire lives, who farm on the terraced land above the cities.  They still remain on the Mediterranean diet and are in great shape, while their children move off to an easier lifestyle.  The towns will one day be a ghost town...           

From Corniglia to Vernazza, we hiked the 1.5 km trail right on the cliff.  It was a beautiful hike, that I have apparently trekked before, but my memory has failed me once again!  It was more difficult than I expected it to be, but in a good way, if that makes sense!  I was pleased at the level of challenge and enjoyed talking with everyone as if back at Adventure Treks, hiking along a mountainous trail.  The weather was perfect for a quick, but gradient hike.  It was rocky and I liked it a lot!  Besides the waiting around for the group at certain points in the day, the trip had been a really awesome experience!  It took about an hour and a half to hike along from the one city to the next, but by the time we got to Vernazza, I was a sweaty mess!  It wasn't even that far of a hike, but the warm(ish) temperature and the up and down of the trail made me sweat for the FIRST time since I have been in Italy since it has been abnormally cold here!  This is a good sign I hope?  

The Benefields holding up the cave

Corniglia from the hiking path

Anyway, at Vernazza, we treated ourselves to some gelato (duh) before walking underneath some cool cave-tunnel to the water!  It was the first time I had had the chance to touch the water so far and I was so excited!  We didn't have enough time to swim until the next city, but I was already getting pumped!  The water was cold, but nothing I couldn't handle... if I did it at seven, I could do it at twenty!  We headed back to the meeting area to take the ferry to the last city, Monterosso al Mare, where we could actually SWIM!!  We waited by the dock until our boat arrived to take us to the next city... when we go onto the boat we immediately went to the back so we could take pictures of Vernazza from the water.  Good decision!  Next to us was the most adorable sleeping dog ever.  The lady was just holding him like a baby and he was sleeping with a huge smile on his little scrunched up face.  It didn't even look real it was so cute!

Vernazza from the water!

When the boat docked in our final city, I was so excited because it was the beach... well not the beaches I am used to in Florida with the soft sand and warm water, but you know what I mean.  The beach was a pile of colorful, hard rocks with a deep greenish aqua tone.  I don't know what type of landscape I prefer, but it was gorgeous! 

The girls decided they wanted to nom at a bar by the sea, but my child within drew me to the water and I immediately jumped in by myself!  I skipped some rocks on the surf and collected lots of pretty rocks that I will probably regret lugging with me... oh well, I like them!  The others all watched me from the restaurant above, probably thinking I was crazy... it was, you guessed, WORTH IT!  It was definitely one of my happiest moments on the trip and I don't regret it even though I lost my breath for a minute or two in the cold water.  I adapted to it really quick though and luckily right after I got out, the sun started shining, keeping me warm!  It was a good day and I smiled a lot!  Don't miss out on the water, it is perfect! :)

The bus ride home was slightly chilly because my hair was still wet, but at least Tarah is nice enough to do the sleeping shoulder thing that Daniel and Scott never let me do!!  Brothers...

Ciao-Ciao

riding in a wine wonderland.

GIORNO DICINOVE

Savannah, Brie, Christina, Tarah, Me!

Whaaat!

Today was awesome, and that my friends, is an understatement!  Christina and I woke up pretty early to meet the Benefields at the train station where Florence for Fun picked us up for our Chianti wine tasting adventure!  On the way we sketched on some gypsies who were scheming plans to attack travelers around the train station.  They even had their little children in on the ploy.  It is an interesting phenomenon, these gypsies.  They walk around wearing raggedy clothes, long skirts, little wedges with socks, and long greasy braids begging for money after planning out their attack while smoking and carrying large gelato bags from the gelato festival that they... paid for?  Wait... I thought they were begging from me? Hmmm... smells fishy. 

Reppin'

Anyway... the driver arrived after Savannah and Tarah raced home because they forgot the trip vouchers (Oops!) and we headed south toward the heart of Chianti for our horseback riding!  The driver was crazy.  Hands down one of the scariest, but probably one of the most fun drives I have ever been on.  Italy practically has no street laws and rules... I actually heard somewhere that traffic lights are discretionary in Naples if you catch my drift.  So, we we driving about 130 km/hr, weaving in and out of traffic in an eight seater van on the highway.  At least we could see on the highway... eventually we turned off toward the hills where the roads turned into winding, practically one-way (except they weren't!!) tiny streets that had blind blind turns every couple of seconds!  And our driver didn't slow down around those bends, no, he sped up!  It got real.

All I can say is I practically jumped out of that van when we got to the winery, happy to be in one of the most beautiful and picturesque locations I have ever seen in my life.  The hills were vibrant shades of green and villas, wineries, and castles dotted the land in the distance.  The sky, although slightly cloudy at this point, was bright blue and wonderful! Unfortunately,  still no sunflowers because of the weather, but on the bright side, today was the hottest it has been so far!  Hopefully this is the end of the cold spell and the start of the growth of sunflowers!  It was also nice just being out of the city for change.  Fiesole was a nice break from the fast pace life in Firenze, but Chianti was something else.  It was beautiful, quiet, and what you expect when you think about the countryside of Toscana.  You know what you pictured!  Isn't this exactly what you thought?  I didn't even know how urban Firenze actually was until I arrived here three weeks ago!  I only picture the rural lands like this when I think of Italy.  Rookie mistake? 

Allora, we first stopped at a beautiful villa to drop off two other ladies who were on our bus with us before heading down the hill to the stables.  We were literally riding in a wine wonderland!  I can't remember my horse's name, but he was a little feisty at times.  Horses have always been a skeptical animal to me.  They have a mind of their own and are huge!  I mean, how can something so big be considered a pet?  Well... at first my horse really liked staying close to the edge of cliffs, making me a little nervous because I heard horror stories about Christina's suicidal horse in North Carolina, but I finally controlled my reins (pun intended), and my horse and I had a nice, leisurely walk through grape vines and through pastures of apparently delicious-looking grass... just the way I like it.  I have seen far too many crazy horses, so I was happy that I actually had the chance to see what was around my during the ride.  I didn't want my horse to sense my fear... apparently they can do that.  For what purpose I will never know.  I am also glad they had the wine tasting after the horse ride because it wouldn't it be considered "Riding Under the Influence" (an RUI) if you drink and ride?  Sounds dangerous.                        

Christina's horse, Luna.  Mine was too feisty to take a picture with me!!

The riding lasted about an hour and a half with Christina trailing with the slowest horse ever named Luna and Savannah leading with a horse that preferred trotting over anything else.  Two adorable puppies followed us the whole way too!  They were so cute!  they just played the entire time, chasing each other through the vineyard, not a care in the world... if I were to be an animal, it would have been those puppies.  There was pure joy radiating off those panting pups.  When we finally got back to the stable, we of course took tons of horsey pictures and got ready to visit the winery called Torciano!

We walked up to this villa attached to the stable to freshen up.  They offered us a complimentary glass of wine (an appetizer for our wine tasting) and some homemade honeys.  The honey was fantastic.  You could even see the bee guy working with the bees right down the hill, wearing absolutely no bee suit.  Apparently he was confident enough that they wouldn't sting him!

Anyway, our driver appeared out of no where (we probably couldn't even see the car because he was driving so fast) and we drove to Torciano for an amazing three course lunch and eight course wine tasting (yes, I said eight.  No joke.  And I can barely do three...).  The owner's son greeted us at the gate and brought us into this great room stacked with wines of all different kinds, vintages, and color and we sat down at a long dining table for our feast.  To start, the wife brought us a plate of Pecorino cheese,  homemade salamis, olive oil coated bread, and a simple salad drizzled with balsamic and we were given four wines to taste with these items in our giant goblets.  Two, Chianti Classicos, one a Brunello, and another the only white wine produced in Toscana, a Vernaccia.  Being in Toscana, the dominant grapes grown in this region are Sangiovese.  It was all so perfect and the owner's son was very funny as he taught us the proper way to test a wine: how to hold the bottom of the stem with your dominant hand, swirl, smell for at least to seconds while looking down at your feet, and taste; taking in each flavor.  It was quite the show.  Of course, the wife then brought out the next course of a vegetable stew.  Again, it was amazing.  I really don't know what was in there (well, what was in there?  That one's for you Tarah!), but the flavors when mixed with the red wines were fantastic!  After this course, the owner told us to finish our glasses or pour them out for our next set of wines (I am ashamed to say I could not finish the wine and had to pour it out... wine ain't cheap y'all).  The wines were given to us, both in order of what foods to pair them with and the vintage.  The white wine was young and was eaten with soft cheeses and light meats, while the later wines were served with a meat lasagne; our next course.  Strangely enough, they sprinkled truffle oil on the lasagne... not my first choice in topping, but it was surprisingly tasty!  Who knew?  The next set of wines were tasty, but one in particular was so good!  It is fun tasting wines and actually learning what flavors you like when paired with food.  I never knew how much those flavors mattered.  Wine is a food.

It was funny because at one point one of the ladies in our group asked the owner which wine he liked the most and he responded with, "they are all my children, how can I pick one?"  There is something very special about wine here in Italy.  There is a certain magic that surrounds it.  You don't know it until you are immersed into the wine culture, but it is really a cool thing.  For a small dessert, tiny biscotti were brought out with an orangey dessert wine, which wasn't my favorite, but was interesting.  I guess you are supposed to dip the cookie into the wine (blah blah blah), but at this point I was so full and done with wine.  I barely drank two glasses and I was feeling warm.  These goblets weren't tastes!  They were practically meals themselves!


The winery had a beautiful garden in front where we hung out for a while after our feast.  Our driver let loose some geese and a chicken(?)... random.  We of course played with them because we are children and love to have fun.  Somehow the chicken ended up on my head, casual.  But it was a lot of fun.  We finally left for our last stop of the day, San Gimignano, which is a walled in city of about 700 people.  Apparently, I didn't know at the time, I visited this cute little medieval hill town back in 1999.  We sure did a lot and I don't remember a thing... *sigh*.

Us kids in 1999... Posting up in San Gimignano. We look really happy!

San Gimignano is a cool town encircled by a giant wall and is famous for all of it's maintained towers from the medieval times.  It was really pretty because of the panoramic views of the Tuscan hills.  Normally the pastures would be full of flowers, but again, it has been too cold.  It was still a sight to see! 

Even better, the whole ride over to the city, our driver blasted music and we were all dancing.  Made the drive even more safe!  He was a very funny guy.  At one point, a truck was stopped on the side of the road and he randomly parked next to him and we all just kept dancing in our seats at the man in the car.  At first he was super confused and kind of looked at us like we were crazy, but no one, not even an elderly perplexed man could not smile at a car full of people dancing to Italian hip-hop music.  it's just not possible, and out cracked a smile!  Then we sped off as quickly as it all happened. 

While walking through the streets of the city we came across this strange museum... literally called the Torture Museum and it is exactly what you think it is about, torture.  It is a museum about the devices used in the medieval times.  Therefore, we had to reenact the scene, our driver joined in as well.  We had a really great day, simply walking through this awesome city.  We watched a wedding procession; the bride beautiful in the warm sun and her groom the happiest person in the square.  It was so nice!  A perfect day for... you guessed, GELATO!  We ate our gelato on some steps, somewhere near some of the scenes where "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed.  Everything was great!

On the drive home we all passed out in the car.  The day was just so long and tiring and perfect and honestly, we were all too scared to watch our driver swerve in and out of traffic at ten million miles an hour for the second time!  All in all the day was average... don't you think?

JOKES!  It was great!  Another early and fun day tomorrow at the Cinque Terre!  How a great evening and I will see you again tomorrow!

Bacci e Abbracci!