The day before:
The day before we left on this excursion was rather pleasant. It was one of the only days we have had so far without rain! Our class did a "market walk", which turned into visiting several churches, ancient buildings, three stores and one market; all in pursuit of two different types of tomatoes and three different brand of mozzarella cheese for caprese. Caprese is simply tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil with olive oil and salt, and I could live off the stuff for the rest of my life. That evening, three friends and I went to the Vatican to check it out. Since I'm not Catholic and know nothing of Catholicism, all the stores with Jesus on the cross, various sized Marys, and all the rosaries really freaked me out. The Vatican is about a 30 minute walk one way, so we decided it was okay to get cannolis on our way back. I'm not used to having regular milk, I always drink soy, so it was pretty much one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. But I paid for it, so I will eat it dog-gonnit.
Orviete and Pienza:
We were told to be at Trajan's Column at 7:45 on Wednesday because the bus was going to be there and we didn't want to make him wait. We were there at 7:45, and 8, and 8:30 until the guy came and we were on our way to Tuscanny. Our first stop was in Orviete, which is a small town built on a hill for protective purposes. It was cute! Very much a traditional Italian town. There was a huge Cathedral from the era when the town peaked in the 1200's (if you ask me, it's kind of sad when a town peaks 800 years ago...). My friend Annie and I walked up and down and all around, and pretty must exhausted the town in the hour that we had. We saw stuffed wild boars, cow tongues, and more cobblestones and I had the best focaccia bread ever there. We didn't get a chance to see the underground caves they used as aqueducts, but c'est la vie.
Next we headed to Pienza. Don't blink, because you'll miss the whole town. It takes about 5 minutes, maybe less, to walk from one gate to another which would be the whole town. There was an amazing view of the Tuscan countryside from Pienza, as evident by all the photographs on Facebook. It was a quaint little town, and somehow I managed to have the most awkward encounter ever with a guy from Washington D.C. Long story short, he's an idiot, I hope to never see him again, and it's clear why he is 35 and single.
Then we went to our monastery where we spent the night. To get to the monastery, we drove in our big bus down tiny little streets that were right next to a steep dropoff. Props to the busdriver for not killing us. This monastery was built in the Middle Ages and was better than I expected, besides the fact it felt like 40 degrees F in the inside.
Right before we got there, one girl found out that someone had somehow managed to get her credit card number and PIN and spent $300. Chris, the guy who got hit by a Vespa in a previous post, decided to call his bank and found out someone did the same thing and spent $350. That started a semi-panic, and other people found out that $1000 and $6000 were spent of their money. It turns out that all these people used the same ATM down the street from our convent in Rome. Thankfully, I was not one of those people, but I am now terrified to withdraw here.
So back to the monastery. Our dear teacher Romolo (I may refer to him as "Rambling Romolo") talked for a long time about the architecture of the place, in which I stared at the paintings. There was a picture of Jesus there, but in this painting he had boobs. It was the weirdest and most traumatizing image of Jesus that I have ever seen. But the food we had there really made up for it. They had their own chefs, and we had one of those infamous 2 hour, 6 course meals that Italians love. By the way: Tuscan wine is phenomenal!
The next morning, Jill, Amy and I woke up at 5 to catch the sunrise. It was really cold and really windy, but it was totally worth it. I think sunrises, no matter where or at what time, are one of the best parts of nature. It's kind of like God is telling me that there is hope and he truly loves me. I love watching sunrises.
Florence:
This part of the post is going to be incredibly disappointing to you all, because Florence was a complete and total bust. This is the city I was most jazzed about because of all the art- I had a whole list planned! Well, turns out there were no tickets available for anything and we only had like, 4 hours after our 2 hour, 5 course lunch to do things. So we went shopping. I got a messenger bag that fits my life and someone else's in, so that worked out well for me. And that was Florence.
Back to the lunch for a second: this was the first time I ate red meat since arriving in Italy 13 days ago. And it was AWESOME. It's the "sacrificial beef of ancient Rome" that my teacher, Dr. Probart (she may also be referred to as Claudia, Claud, Clauds, or the Claudster), was holding out for. It was probably an inch and a half thick and was cooked in between rare and medium rare. I devoured it.
Even if I did have all the time in the world in Florence, I would still be disappointed by it. It is said that there are more English-speakers than Italian-speakers there, and it showed. Everyone spoke English, so it was like being in an older version of Pittsburgh. Even the portion sizes were about a third larger than in Rome. Because of the comparison to Pittsburgh, I got really sappy that night and missed three things: 1) My mom. I think I'm always going to miss my mom when I'm away from her, no matter how old I am. She is, after all, my mommy, and an amazing one at that. 2) Steven. This is common for me, but I always imagine him beside me and thinking about what his thoughts would be of Italy and I find myself planning things for us to do if/when we come back. I just wish he could be here to hold me. 3) Rome. Yes, I missed the city I had just met about 10 days before. But I missed the familiarity and comfort of Rome. I can't explain it, it just was.
That night, however, Annie and I went into a peculiar little cafe. It was a weird mix of Italian food, American food, and the 70's. But they did have great pasta with vegetables, which was a good comfort food for my down-trodden spirit. Also, my hotel room in Florence had a bizarre picture painted on the ceiling. I'm apt to say that people should stop painting on ceilings unless they have some really phenomenal idea.
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