Wow. I don't even know how to explain to you all the places I have been, all the people I have met and all the things I have done in the past three days. The whole weekend is crystal clear and a total blur at the same time.
Friday night, Stephanie, Theresa, Heather and I went to the Milan, Lambrate train station to get on another (yet, again) overnight train. After last weeks experience to Rome, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I hoped and prayed that this train would be better (but at least I knew what I was in for if it wasn't). We got onto the train at about 12:30 at night and were pleasantly surprised to find that this train was nicer with individual seats and AIR CONDITIONING. But what we also knew, was that this train was taking us to another train station to make a switch at about 3 in the morning. We slept on the train for about an hour, woke up and got off at the appropriate train station. We waited until 3 for the next train to come. Having prepared for a hot train, I was only wearing a tank top and some shorts. So, the next train comes, and it DEFINITELY looks like the train we took to Rome. 6 seats to a cabin, no air conditioning, ect. So then, the worst thing ever happens. The people in the cabins already on the train, will NOT let anyone come in and take empty seats. People are sprawled across the seats like they are beds sleeping. Well, I was not going to have this. There were 3 girls in one cabin of six. I opened the door and said, you need to give up these seats because people are sleeping in the hallways or something along this effect and those STUPID girls were like "there are 6 people in here, three went to have a smoke break". I was so angry. I slammed their door and trampled off. The next place we found was a carpeted hallway in the Cafe train (which was airconditioned) but there was a piano on one side of the hall. We sat down to sleep in the hall, just to get kicked out by the person who was "worried about the piano". Well, to this I say, get over it! I bought a ticket to get a seat on this train and I am sitting on the floor by the bathrooms and a piano at 3 AM. Did you buy your piano a ticket? I think not. So I don't really care! Buuut, we ended up moving into the cafe cabin with tables (all full with people in the same situation with us) and I had just about had it. So I laid down right there in the fetal position and slept on the floor. It actually wasn't that bad, but, it was freezing in this cabin. So, I just dealt with it. We got to Florence at about 6 in the morning and hung out until the bus tour at eight. Actually, I fell asleep at a table in the cafeteria at the train station for a little bit.
One other mini fun fact about Europe. NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS. Yep, that's right. Public bathrooms means 1 Euro a pee in this case. I didn't know they could do that, but, I guess they can.
So, the bus tour started from the train station at 8:30. We found our bus and got on. They told us we would be going to Siena (Florence's long time rival) where we had a walking tour of the town. It was really pretty (as most of Italy is). The town is known for its two horse races during the summer and different neighborhoods of the town have their own horse and player that they route for. If their providence wins, they hang their providence's symbol and flag throughout the town for the following year. Very Harry Potter-esque.. like Quidditch. (Sorry for all the HP references, I don't know why).
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Landscape into Siena (yes, SUNFLOWERS!!)
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| Early in the day it looked like it was going to rain (but it cleared up). |
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| Piazza where they hold the horse races |
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| Flag of the winning Providence this year |
Leaving Siena, we drove through the beautiful Tuscany landscape to where we would be eating our lunch. We were going to a winery where the whole meal was made from goods on their land from the wine to organic pasta and sauce to even the breads and olive oil. When we got to the winery, the view that we had was AMAZING! You could see San Gimignano in the background and the fields of grapes vines and even the cows. We got a tour of the whole winery before lunch. Here are some pictures!
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| Tuscany! |
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It's sort of hard to see, but the little buildings in the back is the town we went to after lunch also overlooking vineyards
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The winery that we ate at was beautiful. It made me think of Heather and Jon and how they are getting married at the vineyard (you guys would have loved it!) We even got to see the wine room where they made the wine and had the barrels! It was really neat!
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Wine Barrels with Red Wine 2009
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One of my favorite parts was seeing the cows! They were sooooo cute and there were even some baby cows!
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| Yes, I was that close to this animal. I even pet his/her head! |
Then after the tour of the winery, we went in for our delicious lunch! It was all organic and we had FOUR, yes FOUR full bottles of wine! We started with a white wine, they made us swirl it and smell it and taste it together like a real wine tasting! I felt like such an adult. Random side note, there was an absolutely ADORABLE couple sitting with us, they had been married for 3 years and were on just a random trip to Italy. The wife was a school teacher and the husband was a firefighter and they were so perfect for each other! They spent the whole meal eating with us and talking with us, so 5 people with 4 full bottles of wine, let me tell you it was a great time. But anyway, we had a bottle of white wine, a bottle of red wine from 2009 and then a more aged bottle of red wine from 2007 followed by the dessert wine at the end of the meal. I'm not really a wine-o or anything but the white wine and the dessert wine were FABULOUS. Since we were on a time schedule, we had to rush and finish the bottles. We were all pretty drunk by the end of lunch and had to pile back into the bus! Here are a few more pictures.
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| Me with the view |
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| The absolutely adorable couple Chris and Amy! |
San Grig... okay whatever it's so hard to pronounce and spell soo\ the San-Town as I am going to call it was where we headed right after lunch. When we got there, it was honestly one of the most picture-esque towns I have ever seen. Straight out of the romantic movies. Also, home of the world's best Gelateria! (If you don't know how much I love ice cream, you don't know me too well but drunk Suzie + World's best Italian Ice Cream= one happy camper). At first when we got there, I kept knocking over wallets in the leather store. Florence and Tuscany is known for its leather so I figured I would at least look. But I quickly gave up on that idea when I realized how much stuff I was knocking over and how many times Stephanie kept saying "Suzie"
Random side note: I LOVE MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. Seriously. I am so lucky. I feel like I needed this trip to see all the wonderful things I have. And I am so fortunate! I love life here and I miss you all at home and I am looking forward to seeing you but I feel fabulous!
Annnnnd back to the story.
So I left the store and wandered around the town. I loved it. Love love love <3. But we finally got to the Piazza with the BEST GELATO IN THE WORLD and it really was, just that. It was like heaven on a spoon. Here are some pictures of the San-town place.
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| It's somewhat hard to see but the view was incredible! |
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| Such Pretty Streets! |
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| Gelato! |
Following San-Town, we hopped back into the bus and rode through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to.... THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA! This is what I think about it. Awesome for the picture.. totally overrated. So... with that being said.. here they are.. the traditional Leaning Tower Pictures.. as done by every single individual of the +1000 tourists that were there! But, I offer you a spin... pushing the tower down.. instead of holding it up! Oh yeahh....
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| Pushing that tower over! |
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| Yes, I look like a spaz.. Stephanie pushing the tower, me hoping it doesn't fall. |
Following Pisa, we went back to Florence where Stephanie and I met up with one of my sorority sisters, Marta (or better known as Lola Mae (Lola From the Bronx! haha sorry I couldn't help myself)). Marta moved out to Florence after she graduated from Mason and has been living here since. It was awesome to see her. She has a gorgeous apartment and she is so fashionable! We all decided to go out to the bar she works at and then continued to bar hop from there until 6 AM! Let me tell you, it was definitely one of the most fun and craziest nights ever! We walked most of the city and saw all the sights at night as well as met many of her friends. I was sooo impressed with her Italian skills and she even taught me a few key phrases (I'm drunk, you're drunk, we're drunk...). We woke up around noon and went to see some of the sites during the day before we had to catch the train to Modena. We saw the city center and the Florence Duomo (there are Duomo's EVERYWHERE) (ps. Duomo means a type of church normally dedicated to the Virgin Mary). We also went past this really cool bridge that looks like buildings. I can't explain it but I have a picture of Marta and I in front of it. Finally, we say the "fake" statue of David. Why do I say fake? Because the real David statue was moved inside to preserve it and similar to the Last Supper, you must reserve tickets in advance to see it. So, I settled for the fake one (which looks exactly the same and is a scale replica of it).
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| Florence Duomo |
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| David... the fake one.. but just pretend it's the real one.. |
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| Cool bridge disguised as buildings |
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| Lola Mae and I in front of the bridge! |
After this, we hopped a train to Modena to see Francesca in her hometown of Modena. It was fabulous! She took us to an apparativo where we met her friends and had great drinks. Then we went to dinner and had THE BEST PIZZA I HAVE HAD ON THIS TRIP SO FAR (finally). I'm telling you, it's all about the sauce. Then we had some really good gelato (I'm telling you this stuff is addicting...) and went back to her house and went to sleep since we were exhausted. The next day... we woke up and went upstairs to find this...
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Beautiful breakfast ready for us!
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After breakfast (which was delicious), we went to the market in Francesca's town and went shopping. Everything was SO cheap here! I got three pairs of shoes for the price of one pair on sale in Milan. It was great! After shopping we ate lunch at McDonalds, where Stephanie and I got hit on by two 16 year old Italian boys. It was awkward... and funny at the same time. That afternoon, we watched New Moon (which I hadn't seen yet) with Italian sub titles. Then we went out to another apperativo and to see more of her friends. By this time we were ready for bed to go back to the train station at 4 in the morning to make it to class on time.
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| Me, Francesca and Heather at 4 AM this morning! |
Then, I got back to school and went to the Duomo today in Milan. I'll post some pictures later but this is tooooo long. So, goodnight!
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