Rome & Cinque Terre

I'll just start by saying that it is sunny and 90 degrees in Florence, I hear it's rainy back home so I'll try to bring some sun back home for everyone. There is most definitely more than enough to go around...

So Thursday we took the Eurostar straight into Roma with my architecture class. We checked into the hotel where me and Kristin immediately booked an extra night to stay ourselves. The man working at the desk, Paolo, really liked my Italian last name. I was hoping for a discount but it didn't end up working out, haha.

What ensued was a whirlwind tour of Rome: the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Roman ruins, the Coliseum, and a few churches. Rome is known for it's Baroque style of architecture, so our professor focused mainly on that. The elements of water and sky are used in much of the architecture around the city, for example there are many open bell towers included in the buildings and there is a fountain at nearly every glance. [Sorry that these posts are getting progressively lazier, I'll have pictures up soon.]

We got dinner in Campo de Fiore, a central part of the city by the river, at an old pizza restaurant. Our professor claims that it has been in business since 1850, and let me tell you it was that delicious. Not only was the pizza good, but the bruschetta complete with olive oil was ridiculously good. Easily the best (and largest) meal I've had in Italy thus far.

The next day we saw St. Peters (words can't describe) and some more of the city. We also visited a museum where there is a preserved Roman altar that is over 2000 years old. Even more interesting is an American architect designed the contemporary building that it is kept in, which is completely soundproof.

The rest of the class left to return to Firenze but Kristin and I got dinner at the Hard Rock (just had to) and then split a bottle of wine at a bar. We stumbled upon it just as we were getting very lost, and it ended up being really awesome; there was live music and there were lots of local students there.

Saturday morning Kristin and I woke up at literally the crack of dawn (5:30am) to take on the Vatican. Italians really aren't morning people, and finding breakfast at 6:30am was quite the task. The Vatican was beautiful, once again words really can't describe it. I think that no matter what you believe, the place most definitely has a certain feeling to it. It's a very soothing place. We took the rest of the day to roam the city, which is a very cool place.

We arrived back in Florence around 7pm and got an early night for Cinque Terre (literally, 5 lands) on Sunday. Yet another early morning, we arrived at the train station for the journey at 7:15am. Three hours later we arrived in Cinque Terre, probably the most beautiful place in the world. We hiked for about four hours total, which was kind of rough in 95 degrees. There are five cities along the coast, each more gorgeous than the next. We stopped for lunch with our tour guide at this tiny restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean, and had some really great pesto and pasta. Back at the apartment by 9:30pm, where we discovered that our street is closed on Sundays so all of the restaurants can set up tables in the street. Seriously cool. What more can you ask for in a weekend?

Pictures soon.

Venice & Paris

This will be a huge update to make up for all that I have missed.

Last Saturday we took the train to Venice, which of course is beautiful. We didn't have much time there but we roamed the city, got lunch, visited Piazza San Marco and took a gondola ride. There is tons of Murano glass there, and not much else. Here is a picture a la gondola:

Sunday Kristin and I went to church in the Duomo which was really cool, it's amazing to be in the heart of the Roman Catholic faith.


Last week flew by, as we were very excited for our trip to Paris. We left on Thursday and arrived in Paris at about 5pm. The plane ride was interesting because we were in row 14, but at the back of the plane...


Took the metro to our hostel (not that bad, had our private room and bathroom) on the edge of the city. Immediately began to roam aimlessly toward the Eiffel Tower, got lost, and jumped into a taxi to get there. It was nice to find taxis all over the city, they are a rare commodity in Florence, but also not needed because it's a much smaller city. We got to the tower right at sunset:

We were starving by this point so we had a very good, but very expensive dinner at a restaurant nearby. The next day we woke up early to do the Louvre and Notre Dame, both beautiful. We didn't spend a ton of time at the Louvre because it is so overwhelmingly humongous, but we did see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, "La Joconde." I learned that the artist who created the Venus de Milo is still unknown, and it was found by a Greek peasant in the ancient ruins of the island of Milo in 1820. The statue was originally found in two pieces. Here's me and my girl Mona:

Friday afternoon we took the metro to Disneyland Paris, obviously a necessary trip. It was very similar to Orlando: the castle, Tower of Terror, the teacups, "it's a small world," and the Aerosmith rollercoaster. But, it just didn't compare in overall coolness and size, and none of the rides were as fun.

Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to get to the Eiffel Tower before everyone else in Paris did. I think this was the morning we tried croissants at a patisserie by our hotel, which were delicious even though I really don't like croissants. It was freezing and raining, but there wasn't much of a line and the view was well worth it. Next we grabbed lunch and went to the Musee D'Orsay, which I really loved. Got to see lots of Monet and Van Gogh's work.

I forgot to mention that we took a "hop on, hop off" bus tour to get to all these places, so it was nice to learn about the city as we travelled around. We also drove by:

Place de la Concorde where a huge Obelisk stands where many were beheaded (including Marie Antoinette).

The Latin Quarter, the student section where many schools are located.

Champs Elysees, a famous street.

Arc de Triomphe, constructed by Napoleon, where his ashes were spread.

We took a quick stop at the Opera house and walked around a small part of the Galleries Lafayette, one of the world's largest department stores.

For our last night in Paris, Kristin and I booked an excursion tour which included dinner at the Eiffel Tower, a sunset cruise on the Seine, and a show at the Moulin Rouge. Well worth the money. Overall, I really loved Paris; it was a lot like Manhattan but with much more history and art, also it really made me recognize how young of a country the U.S. is. Contrary to the sterotype, the French were exceptionally nice, especially in comparison to the natives in Florence.

I'm leaving so much out, but it was a great weekend. Ready for Rome on Thursday!

Frescobaldi Winery

Today was most definitely my favorite trip so far. One of the professors from the Palazzo Rucellai is part of the 32nd generation of the Frescobaldi family, who owns many wineries in and around Chianti. We travelled specifically to the Rufina region of Chianti, just about an hour outside of Florence. After a tour of the winery, we had a wine tasting and a delicious lunch. Our professor showed us where the wine is fermented, and explained the various preparation methods. I learned that the grapes of white wine are skinned before they are crushed, where they are not with red wine. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I was anaware. It was cool to get an introduction to the "proper" way to taste wine, as well. We tasted three different types of wine: two red and one white. Clearly, I loved all three...

And here I am in wine country:

And the sun sets on another beautiful day in Florence... Venice early tomorrow!

Week Two

I cannot believe that it has already been a week since my last post on here! Last Friday, Jill, Lisa, Kristin and I took a trip to Pisa. It is about an hour train ride from Florence, and there is not much there aside from the tower, but it was definitely worth it! It is amusing to watch all of the tourists swallow their pride to pose for the infamous Pisa shot.

Saturday was a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano with Palazzo Rucellai. The Renaissance town of Siena is about an hour southwest of Florence, and truly beautiful. We took a short tour of the city, which started in the main town square, or piazza, where there is a huge bell tower. I learned that each town has one of these, it is meant to represent power and "manliness," as our tour guide put it. The taller the tower, the more powerful the town. Also, the bell is rung each morning, and also when someone important passes away. Our tour ended up at the duomo, "church," where we climbed to the top the steeple. The view was nothing that I have ever seen before, and definitely worth the terrifying climb to the top (very steep, very narrow, two-way spiral stairs). For lunch, we had the equivalent of Italian fast food pizza, which was relatively cheap, and still pretty damn good.

For the second half of the day we made our way to San Gimignano, which is a medieval town northwest of Siena. It is very quaint, and similarly to Siena, very beautiful. It was interesting to see the contrast between the architecture of the two cities. After a short walk, free time ensued. A bunch of us went to the museum of torture, which was pretty intense. Then, I got some gelato from a place that has been awarded the title of "Gelato World Champion." How could you turn that down?

On Sunday we returned to Viareggio, which was a huge mistake. During the week we were able to sit on the private beach, but this time we were not as fortunate. We were pushed to the "publc beach," a 10 foot strip of smelly beach, crowded with Europeans. Some little Italian woman asked me to spray tanning oil on her back. Needless to say, after an hour, we left. I have heard that there are other beaches that are farther away but much nicer, so we are going to check those out soon.

This week has flown by. We have had two site visits for marketing class so far: a terra cotta factory and a textile plant, both of which were pretty interesting. More interesting is our trip to a winery on Friday, complete with lunch and a tasting.

This Saturday we are travelling to Venice for the day, and on Sunday there is a soccer game: Rome versus Florence.

Week One Recap

I have been very busy, which is a good thing, but I haven't been able to update this until now! I have class Monday to Thursday for three hours each day. We have some site visits scattered throughout, and the second half of class usually involves something outside of the classroom.

Tuesday was my architecture class, which was really interesting. I learned that our apartment stands just outside of where a Roman coliseum once was. Also, it is right next to a fortress that was once a prison. It was cool to learn about the city that we have been roaming around for the past week, my goal now is to learn as much as I can in my short six weeks here. A huge part of the city was demolished at the end of the 19th century, so we learned how to distinguish the old from the new. One half of the city has evolved which the other half has been redesigned based upon the Roman model. There are five basic architectural styles:

1. Roman
2. Medieval
3. Renaissance
4. Baroque
5. New Classicism
6. Liberty

These "languages," as my professor eloquently calls them, date back from ancient times, all the way to 1938. As I said, half of class we are walking the city looking at these examples, so it's really crazy to see them right in front of your eyes, since the city is literally an evolution of architecture throughout history; you can see where buildings have been added and altered. For instance, the intersection of our street is an oval shape, so you can literally see how the coliseum has been formed into the residential area that stands there today. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, since I was (obviously) listening very intently to all of this info... I'll get some up soon! After class, we made a trip to Vivoli, one of Florence's most famous and delicious gelato places... which happens to be literally around the corner from our apartment!

My marketing class yesterday was a site visit to the headquarters of a bottling company. It was pretty interesting, but not really interesting enough to post here. Although I can say that I did not know that so much thought and effort went into bottling items. Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising! Since I was kind of bored during the visit, here is a picture.

After class we rushed to the train station to go to Viareggio, a beach on the northern west coast and about an hour train ride. Curiously, the station does not offer any kind of schedule that you can take home with you, and there is not set cost for rides. Also, they rarely check tickets, so I'm going to be a cheap American and get away with a free ride as much as possible. These crazy Italians. We finally got to the beach, which was suprisingly dirty, but still beautiful. Looking at the water, you would guess Jersey shore. Then you turn around and see mountains. Gorgeous. This is the best i can do for right now, it was kind of overcast.

Last night all of the roommates made dinner and went to a local club called 21, which was really fun.

Today was architecture again, what we did was much of what I have previously explained. There is so much art and history at every glance so it's impossible to learn and see it all.





I just got back from "apertivo" and a movie: Angels and Demons. Really great, and even more great because I will be many of all the places in the film in just a few weeks. Speaking of, we figured out our schedule for the next 5 weeks, which will include Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Cinque Terre, and a few more that I can't think of. Tomorrow is Pisa, followed by a pub crawl with all of the Palazzo students. Saturday is Siena and San Gimignano with the school as well.





Lastly, for your viewing pleasure:

Kristin and I in front of the Duomo. I still cannot get over the size of it. I will put more pictures up when we actually go and visit.

Also, here is a link to all of the pictures I haven taken so far. Hope it works!

Day 2

Really quick... here is a recap from today:

1. The Duomo: encountered first gypsy. Escaped. Mom don't freak out, I'm just kidding.

More later...

After a ridiculously long and tiring trip, we finally made it. Our original flight from JFK was delayed about 3 hours, and we landed in Paris to discover that we had missed our connecting flight to Florence. Another 3 hours waiting in Paris, an hour flight and 2 one-hour bus rides later, we arrived in Florence around 2am. The Palazzo put us up in the hotel where we would have orientation the next day, The Hotel Aurora.

The place was basically a bed and breakfast deal, right outside of Florence. They had the heat on for some reason so it was pretty effin’ hot, but at least we had a bed. And we were almost in Florence. But, I’m pretty sure the view made up for it:

Next was orientation and our first italian meal at the hotel. The Palazzo arranged for a police officer to speak to us about all the stuff to watch out for, which was pretty helpful. Lunch was pasta with tomato and mozzarella, pizza, quiche, cheese, and bread. Carbfest.

We took a bus down the hill from the hotel and into Florence, which is literally breathtaking. We got a taxi at the train station to our apartment, which is also amazing. First of all, it’s huge, and we are literally on the street across from the Santa Croce. Also, you can see the Duomo from our sunroom (yes, we have a sunroom).

I’m getting lazy so I’ll make the rest of this quick… all of the roommates (8 of us, kind of like the "Real World") went out for dinner, which was obviously more pasta. Delicious pasta. I legally had a glass of white wine with that pasta.

We showered and went to one of the discotheques, which was sort of trashy and the Italian men are really scummy. It was also too American, but there are plenty of other places that we’re finding that are quieter and more local. There is a bar literally below our apartment. Everything here happens so late, the clubs are open until 4am.

Since everything is open until 4am, we didn’t get home until 4am… and were at orientation at school at 9am. Afterwards, Kristin and I got lunch at a really great local restaurant. I took a break from carbs and got mozzarella and tomato for a starter and grilled salmon for my lunch. Kristin made an attempt at ordering steak florentine, which is typically sliced very thin. What showed up on the table was a slab of meat, and although it looked delicious, it was humongous and very rare; Kristin wasn’t a fan.

We wandered around for a while and saw the Uffizi, arguably one of the most famous museums in the world, which also happens to be on the other side of our street. I am living less than a mile from the Uffizi. After walking around and generally knowing nothing about all of the art, I decided to read up on it a little. The students who were here before us left a ton of phase books and informationals, which is really useful.

Tonight we all got gelato by the Uffizi and did some chilling out (although I feel guilty about it) because we’re all absoulutely exhausted. Tomorrow I have my first class at 9am, which is still completely unreal to me.