PISA / VOLTERRA / SAN GIMIGNANO / CASTIGLIONCELLO / ETC

WARNING: CONTENTS MAY CONTAIN MATERIAL THAT IS KNOWN TO CAUSE JEALOUSY AMONGST THOSE STUCK IN DREARY OLD AMERICA

what a freaking incredible weekend. after friday’s italian quiz, we were on our way to: wait for it… wait for it… PISA. yes, ladies and gentlemen. the actual living, breathing, leaning tower. the train to pisa took about an hour and a half-ish (gin rummy anyone?) and then a 15-20 minute walk from the station past dead pigeons, sketchy streets (don’t worry, mom, we had 4 guys and it was broad daylight), and the river gets you to all the glory of the city. really unbelievable how poorly they engineered that tower. it’s got some serious issues. but i’m definitely not complaining. yes, of course we did the holding up/knocking down/ninja kicking/leaning like the tower pictures with the tower. you just have to. it’s a basic rule of being a tourist in pisa. not only is the tower incredible, but the abbey and basilica as well. gorgeous gorgeous buildings. we sat down to sketch/rest/nap in front of the tower for a good 2-3 hours.

 

that night, our entire building plus a few more ventured down to the red garter, a bar near santa croce, to go sing karaoke. when we got there, i was a little surprised that some people were walking from the back of the bar/club area soaking wet. apparently we had found ourselves a FOAM PARTY. although reluctant at first, i finally kicked off my shoes and joined into the ridiculousness this festa…what happened to karaoke? you honestly haven’t lived until you’e experienced a foam party. there ended up being some sort of karaoke, but the foam was definitely the piece de resistance of the evening. we were SOAKED to the bone with foam sprayed from an actual foam canon. like, are you serious? foam up to your knees pretty much. totally awesome in jeans. not. haha… but p.s. italian guys are seriously gross. i pushed (with a lot of force) at least 4 guys away from my friends and me, and we had to ask our guys to form a human barrier to protect us. ugh!

 

 

saturday was our school-planned trip to volterra, san gimignano, and casa machiavelli. after a nauseating 2-hour bus ride (note to self: don’t read on a wind-y road in a bus), we got to volterra, an etruscan town in italy (gorgeoussss views).  we took a tour of the museum which contained basically hundreds of urns and ancient vases/pots. the city is famous for their alabaster, too, and i got an alabaster ring.  from volterra, we moved on to san gimignano an hour away, famous for its towers (and gelato).  more spectacular views! the church at san gim also has amazing frescoes (they saved them with sandbags in the movie tea with mussolini). i wished we had stayed there longer though. this harpist was playing traditional italian music right next to a view area and i didn’t want to ever leave.  mach’s house was pretty sweet too… especially for being a house of exile. he really got the hook-up with his wine vault with 100 barrels of vino directly under his house. and his view of firenze wasn’t too bad either. he was a very spoiled exile.  the dinner we got was absolutely huge. crostinins with 5 different toppings (tomatoes aka bruchetta, olive tapenade spread, boursin-like cheese spread, pate, and baked salmon-y stuff), traditional florentine bready soup, chicken + ribs + sausage, potatoes, salad, and for dessert biscotti with this sweet wine stuff that no one drank.  suuuper exhausted when we got home around 11:15.

sunday, we went to the beach! castiglioncello. about 2 hours from florence via train. the weather was perfect, the water was good once you got used to it, and the town was adorable. especially the naked grandmas with their droopy boobs. hot stuff… the best thing about it was the no americans part. only italians and their families. way to be.

yesterday it STORMED. thunder and everything. every time we had to walk somewhere, though, we got super lucky and it didn’t rain on us once. perfect day for a midday cappuccino. oh wait, that’s every day.
 

that night, christo invited us over to have dinner with his italian/german roommates and their friends. everyone was SO nice, and we had yet another chance to practice our italian. after the landlord told us that we were being too loud, we kicked it at the croach (santa croce) and spoke in italian while the italians practiced their english. excellent evening. i do say.

arrighty. ciao. more domani maybe.

xxoo