Tour of Italy

A week traveling through Italy; I have so much to tell - Bare with me! We left Wednesday morning on the 11 o’clock train to…

PISA
We stopped here for a few hours (really just to take pictures of the tower and run). Unfortunately, the church was already closed so we didn’t get to go inside, but we did have a fun photo shoot! Also had some of the best gelato I’ve tasted so far, and trust me, I’ve tasted my fair share! Then we grabbed another train to…

FLORENCE
We arrived with enough time to have free dinner at our hostel! It was a great place to stay (see previous post). There is SO much to see and do in Florence. The first morning we took the free 2 hour historical center tour (with the hostel) and saw a lot of the main sites. The Duomo had a beautiful exterior of green, white, and rose marble. The interior was really simple because of the time period it was completed, so the inside wasn’t as awe-inspiring as the ornate façade. The dome is naturally a historic feat of design (the building was constructed before the technology to top it with a dome that could span the large distance needed was developed yet… Brunelleschi came along and saved the day). It was exciting to walk through the city and recognize buildings I had learned about in Architecture History class. I never really expected to see so many firsthand! We also explored the open market where I got a really original, thick leather belt (Tuscany has great leather products). After the next morning’s second free tour, we spent the entire afternoon in art galleries (Academia and Uffizi). Seeing the famous pieces in person was much more moving than studying them from a book! Little things change the experience so much, such as being able to see the light glinting off the gold flecks in the paint and taking in the massive size of the paintings. The Uffizi museum houses works by many of the “greats”: Fra Filippo Lippi, Botticelli (“Birth of Venus”), Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titan, Caravaggio, Rembrandt… (and the list goes on). The QUANTITY of art in the museum is overwhelming! We spend over 4 hours walking through the halls (and that was with a little hurrying at the end because our eyes were starting to lose focus!). I loved seeing everything in person (you can imagine the artist right there painting each form), but it was definitely a very exhausting afternoon. Then we went to the Academia, which displays a much smaller collection, most noteworthy being Michelangelo’s David. It was really spectacular to see the detail and size of the statue. Even pulsing veins can be seen carved into the strong arms of David; it really is an exceptional piece. Kate and I were both more impressed with The David than we had expected to be. While taking in all the art, I think one of the major realizations that hit me was the emotional power of the works. Seeing such intricate, lively, and decorative pieces of Jesus, Mary, etc really made me FEEL the pain, suffering, and exaltation of each scene depicted; for me, it was so different than studying them in class that it somehow hit me as unexpected. I understand why the Church commissioned such masterpieces – it literally moves the viewer to a sense of spirituality.

WE of course enjoyed some excellent gelato in Florence (the town claims to be the original home of gelato). One of our afternoons in Florence, we took a day trip by bus to…

SAN GIMIGNANO
An old medieval town, it is surrounded by a large wall and allows only limited vehicular traffic. Since it’s the off season for tourism, the town was quiet and sleepy, but still fun to explore. Kate and I window shopped, enjoyed a nice lunch and local wine, and explored the weaving streets. On the outskirts of town we found a wooded area that was covered in deep shades of green and slightly blurred by a romantic white mist clinging to the air. Here we discovered what appeared to be old baths carved out of the stone hillside and fed by a warm natural spring. If only we had our suits! Haha
Friday morning we headed on a…

BIKE RIDE to SIENA
Kate and I biked through the Tuscan countryside! We had a personal guide/biking expert, Marco. He use to be a professional cyclist and then started his own bike touring business which has expanded to several locations including destinations in California (where he spends several months out of the year). He is from Florence so it was fun to chat with him about the area. We were his first clients for the season (he admired our dedication for biking in the winter!). It was still beautiful although I could only imagine how spectacular it would be in the spring. We were so lucky to have a window of sunshine and blue sky (literally, it rained the day before and started raining right when we finished). At times there was a light dusting of snow on the hills, but the temperature was never too bad thanks to our moving legs and the sunshine! Originally, the route is a 21 mile bike ride… I say “originally” because we had to start a few miles down the road (to avoid a shaded downhill area that was a little icy). After all our joking in the car about not being good bike riders, Marco seemed a little worried/nervous. After the first little jaunt, when we passed him he was all smiles saying “you guys are doing so great! Much better than I expected!” We didn’t even know what to think of that! Was he expecting us to fall down and crash?! Guess it was better to prepare him for the worst and surprise him with our hidden biking skills! However, I will admit that on the HUGE hill (not insanely steep, just very long), we were going so slowly I was afraid I would start rolling backwards! Stubborn, we kept pushing on until Marco informed us that we weren’t even half done with it yet. At that point we were thankful for the “van support”! The level and downhill stretches were so much more fun ;) We stopped twice on the ride: once in a little town (wander around, have a break, visit the market, etc) and once for wine tasting. The place we were supposed to go for wine tasting was closed (hours are always limited and changing in the off season) so we went to a little osteria (an osteria is a small café, usually family owned, that specializes in local cuisine). It was completely empty except for the two young men working there, who were more than happy to give us our own little wine tasting complete with homemade bread baked that afternoon. It was fun to get to know them and to enjoy little bits of different kinds of wines (I’m still not any good at telling a difference tho!). I think they enjoyed themselves too because they kept pouring new samples… “this one is my favorite” “you have to try this one” “this one is from the area” “this is a really nice wine!”. The second half of the bike ride was full of Kate and I singing songs ;) We loved the whole experience (even the hills!) and don’t regret splurging for the tour. It was a good opportunity to see something different and to DO something rather than walk from tourist stop to tourist stop.

SIENA
We only spent one night in Siena, but I thought it was a great city. The Cathedral is absolutely breath-taking. The interior leaves you so amazed, you just have to sit down and look for an hour to take it all in! And of course we visited the famous Piazza Del Campo. It is an unusual fan shape and quite large! I didn’t think it was as memorable as people seem to claim it is however. Kate and I enjoyed a lovely dinner of local cuisine: I had ricotta cheese and spinach dumplings over Tuscan meat sauce and then a serving of wild boar. The whole thing was delicious! We also purchase authentic Italian made leather boots; they were 60% off! Couldn’t help ourselves… A bus ride early the next morning brought us to Rome, (where we missed our first train... schedules are tight!) and from there a train to…

SORRENTO
Our time in the Amalfi Coast was short but sweet. The night we arrived, Sorrento was having a huge carnival downtown to celebrate their patron saint, and boy do they go all out: candy markets, dried fruit, toys, lights, music, fireworks, and general market booths. My sweet tooth ended up costing me 4 euro in gummies and candied pistachios! Then day one was consumed by Pompeii… We spent 5 hours amongst the ruins and were still running (literally) to see things at the end before it closed. Pompeii brought out my inner child: I just wanted to explore every turn, imagine colorful daily lives going on around me, and play house in the basic rock-walled structures. When asked about the trip I usually refer to Pompeii as my favorite, although it’s hard to decide amongst all the amazing sites we visited. Originally we had wanted to hike Vesuvius, but we ran out of time and the weather didn’t cooperate. Our last day, we walked around the city, focusing our time on the bay and the coastal views. Then we headed in for a quick pizza in Naples (Pizza is original to Naples you know…) and caught a flight to Milan. (only one little backpack allowed as my carry on... let's just say that I'm thankful my bag has straps for strapping extras to the outside, and for my mother for passing on her tight packing skills)

I wish this is where the story ended, but there is yet another tragic tale to tell! From the Milan airport, it is necessary to catch a shuttle bus to the train station. From there, we purchased the last ticket for the night to Torino Porta Nuova (station close to our apartment) and sat down to wait the 45 mins for the train. We waited and waited for the board to post what platform our train would be arriving at…. But it never came. Finally, 4 mins after the train was set to depart, platform 4 finally flashed up on the screen. We hurried in that direction (we were standing by platform 17… really not that far of a walk) and even jogged half of it joking around that it would suck to miss a train (we all know I’ve done that before). Literally 30 seconds after the number popped up on the screen, we reached the train to see its doors close RIGHT in front of us! A train worker even was standing right inside the door and did nothing for us… You can bet how mad we were! This train would have gotten us home at midnight just in time to catch the last bus home for the night. Instead, we were told to “just wait for the next train” (like that wasn’t a big deal for two tired, fuming mad travelers). The next train wasn’t for another two hours, took us to the furthest station in Torino, and forced us to pay for a cab ride home to the apartment. Finally got home at 3 am and was up at 7:30 for class! This traveling thing is exhausting! (For the record, we weren’t the only passengers that got left by the tricky Torino train).

It was a memorable week, made me love Italy even more, and even led me to appreciate dear old Idaho more (the hilly fields of Tuscany kept reminding me of the Palouse hills, and the Amalfi Coast reminded me of Oregon). Sometimes it’s easy to take advantage of the nature that surrounds us locally thinking we need to travel the world to find beauty, when in reality it’s right in our hands everyday if we have the state of mind to explore it with fresh eyes.

And all that for only missing two classes!