Tuscan Wine Harvest

The Tuscan Wine Harvest was the first group trip that we did once in Florence. And the first time that we really got to see the Tuscan country side and experience first hand how the Chianti regions wines (that we’ve been drinking plenty of) are made. We went to a vineyard called “Castello di Tavolese” and had a really nice tour of the place. They tried to explain to us how the wines were made. However, there was a very strong language barrier and most of the information that was attempted to be communicated was lost in translation.
Despite this slight hiccup it was quite the experience and I learned a lot more about wine than I would have otherwise known! Plus, the landscapes were unreal.

Going Out in Florence

Florence has also had a really great night life to share with us. All though I feel that most of it is directed at the over 5000 America students that live here every semester, it’s still a lot of fun. With J.J.’s Cathedral next to the Duomo along with many other local bars and clubs we always have a good time. And I was lucky enough to have a run in with Outkast’s Andrea 3000 one night while strolling the streets with my two roommates.

Santa Croce

Santa Croce is really beautiful and I just wanted to share some pictures of it as well. Here are the graves of some of the greatest minds to affect the Western world from Italy. Just to name a few Michelangelo, Donatello, Da Vinci, Enrico Fermi, etc., etc.

Firenze Soccer Matches

Firenze Calcio (“Soccer”) has been a lot of fun to watch. We saw matches against Altlanta and Roma. Always good times to hear the Europeans enthusiasm for their home teams with songs that have been sung for generations and that have deep historic meaning for the local cultures and their long-long-longtime rivals. Here are a few pictures of the mayhem.

Piazza Michaelangelo

Just outside of the historic center of Florence, is the Piazza Michelangelo. Here one can see the city from an almost aerial view and enjoy some of the landscape that surrounds it, just outside the remaining feudal walls.

Ponte Vecchio

All though I know considerably less about the Ponte Vecchio it is a magnificent bridge to cross and look at. I know that the commerce that has gone on over the bridge has not always been jewelers and gold merchants, but that’s what it is today, as well as a common meeting point for African merchants, street painters, and beggars. Mark Twain made a very clever remark about the Arno (the river that runs under the Ponte Vecchio) calling it nothing more than a creek or something. I’ll have to look that up!

Duomo

Speaking of the Duomo it is a truly incredible sight as can be seen from Sierra’s apartment. This is the 4th largest Cathedral in the world. The 1st is of course St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the 2nd is the Cathedral in London (St. Marks, maybe), and the 3rd is in Milan. The Duomo is most famous for being an engineering wonder; still the largest dome existing to date (made from masonry) they weren’t even sure how Filipo Brunelleschi built it until the late 20th century. This dome kicked off (along with a number of other projects) Florence’s golden age and Medici patronage to the arts and the Early Italian Renaissance. It’s truly a spectacular sight to see! Here are a few pictures to remember...

FLORENCE -

My roommate Joe made this video from our apartment to school! Thought it really gave life to this experience. If you’d like to read more about Italy from another perspective visit his blog @ http://www.joegaribaldi.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy the first of the videos to come!

Arrival in Florence

After all of this excitement we still had not yet been to Florence, the main destination of our trip. Sierra and I both successfully completed our introductory courses in Italian with flying colors and departed for Florence with excitement. Upon arrival we were given our roommates and apartments. I still roomed with Joe who was with me in Lido and we welcomed Brandon as the third roommate. We got a really cozy apartment a block and half from the Duomo and Sierra’s apartment is maybe 6 blocks from mine, perfetto! Her apartment is considerably nicer than mine but our locations are as equally awesome. School started right away on Monday in a Palace along Via Maggio, apparently the most expensive street in Florence. This was going to be a really incredible experience that was for sure. Here are a few images from the surrounding areas that give a real feel for the life of Florence.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre was the last trip that we did as a group from Lido di Camiore. This was possibly the best group trip that we did. The literal translation of Cinque Terre is “five cities” and they were all incredible. Along the west coast of northern Italy they are all built declining towards the ocean. This makes these cities incredibly functional based on their location. We arrived at the first city by train and hiked from the 1st to the 5th, all in all this is about a 4 hour hike (directly). We took some deviations. Between the 2nd and the 3rd city is a small sign that indicates that there is a beach below.
At the beginning of the hike you have to almost repel and then hike down over 2000 vertical feet. Going down is not the difficult part of the hike and when we actually got to the ocean the beach was incredible. In my books it ranks as the second greatest beach that I’ve ever been too. The first being the green sand beach on the Big Island in Hawaii. Both of the beaches are inset in small coves. The waves just roll into the cove swelling high but gently gliding back down to the stone beach. Wading in these waters is as soothing an experience as there is one! After relaxing at this incredible site for a while we started the grueling hike back up from the beach. A steep vertical climb the forest along these mountains was full of exotic vegetation. At some points on the hike we had to duck down and nearly crawl along the ground under densely packed trees twisted with vines and bamboo. Sierra was a real trooper hiking the entire time Cinque Terre and was the only girl that really kept up with all of the guys. After getting back to the original path it was a quick hike to the 3rd city.
After the 3rd city the hikes became longer, from the 3rd to the 4th was roughly an hour. This was the most fantastic of the 5 cities. It had a tower, a beautiful marina and some good cliff jumping but the water was too rough that day near this particular location to jump. This was a good breaking for lunch and the cuisine was as good as the cities were beautiful. After the break we did the steepest part of the Cinque Terre hike from the 4th to the 5th city. Starting the descent back down to the 5th city we took another side hike onto a small peninsula (almost an island) where there were 40ft. cliffs. Me, John Newman Granger (Newman), Brandon (my roommate here in Florence), Sierra, and several others all went cliff jumping here and it was real sweet. After hanging out here for an hour or so we headed to the 5th city enjoyed some of sights had dinner and headed back to Lido.

Sierra and I took the train back by ourselves instead of going back with the group. This turned out to be a very expensive trip for me. After we arrived back at the Viareggio train station we stopped for a coffee because we were really tired from the whole day of hiking and getting back to a half hour walk to our hotel. I can’t remember if it was my fault or what, but my wallet was stolen at the coffee shop. I might have left it on the counter for somebody to swipe or someone grabbed it. Either way I didn’t realize it had been stolen till the next day. When I went back to the coffee shop the bar tender told me that he hadn’t seen the wallet, I went down to the police station at the train station to report it stolen but it was closed. On my way back to the bar to try and gather more information the bar tender was already headed to try and find me, and he gave me my wallet. All though very thankful to have it back, strangely, only my debit card and cash were missing. My credit cards and everything else were still there. I quickly cancelled the debit card and only had to deal with a few weeks of the nuisance of not having it. Anyway, all in all it was a very education experience and I have since remained very conscious of my wallet!