Un fine settimana a Firenze

A weekend in Florence!!

I thought I would write a little bit more since last post was pretty short and this past weekend certainly merits a few words.  SO much happened even though I stayed in Florence for the Thursday-Sunday stretch.  Friday we the first of what looks like a long string of good weather days!  High 60s if not low 70s and sunny!!!  This is what I came here FOR.  Anyways, on Friday I went to visit another NYU apartment to work on a class project, the walk was really nice and her apartment was really classy…makes me a little unhappy I live at Via Maffia.  After we were done, I went to the bottom of the road our campus is on to visit an Italian man who EVERY NYU in Florence male knows about.  Dino!!  Dino the barber.  I got the first haircut while in Florence, and let me tell you it was an experience.  It took about 30 minutes, and given that I know very little vocab for actually getting a haircut, this was a lot of pantamiming.  Anyways, it isnt the best haircut Ive ever had, but at least its short so Im not always looking messy.  On friday night we stayed in and watched Harry Potter 5 which brings me up to speed finally in that series. 

Saturday, I decided that it was too nice to stay inside, no matter that no one wanted to go out with me.  I took my Amici degli Uffizi card and went to the Palace Pitti which is the former Medici Palace and it is HUGE.  Inside, there are many museums, including a Costume Museum from different periods, the “Modern Art Museum” which is not so modern for American eyes, and a few other collections.  However, in the back of the Palace Pitti, are the Boboli Gardens!  These were the royal gardens of the Medici, and are open to the limited public.  They cover many acres which feels odd for such a cramped city right outside.  Inside, they are a maze of intricately shaped and designed paths, trees, shubs, flowers, ponds.  I felt like it was the perfect place for Prom Photos!  I sat in a small secluded part of the park for many hours just sitting in the sun which was very warm for the first time…hard to believe it snowed last monday!  After that, I left and went back to my room which is really close, like a few blocks, and changed to go for a run!  It was one of the best runs Ive ever been on, I went along the Arno in what is Central Park of Florence.  It goes on forever, and some of it is under construction for the controversial “Tranvia” that will open in a few years.  However, the pollen/cotton puffs were falling off the trees, and basically the entire length of the park, there is a wide paved path lines with tall trees.  It was so ridiculous running, with so many Italians biking or out and about.  It felt like the entire city was there actually!  Saturday night, for Courtney’s birthday, she organized a trip up to Fiesole for a dinnerparty.  Her Albanian Boyfriend, Edison (and his roommate and sister) all joined us, as well as a few other NYU people at what was refered to as the “best Indian Food in Italy.”  MAJOR bust, I was expecting a lot more.  The food however was cheap and well appreciated after such a draining day.  After dinner some of us went out to Friends Pub by Casa Fiorentina! 

Sunday, today, was even more exhausting day in spite of doing basically nothing.  My friend and fellow mailcarrier, Postina, Carolyn, met up on my side of the Arno to walk up 4.2 billion stairs finally reaching Piazza Michaelangelo.  This Piazza is the one that is on the south side of the river, overlooking the entire city.  This is also where the blinged out church, San Miniato is located.  It looks a lot like the Duomo, but much smaller.  Only the front is so ornate, but inside its pretty cozy.  Its best feature however is that it has an AMAZING view, better even than Michaelangelo of the city of Florence and the mountains behind it.  We sat out in the sun for a long time and people watched.  And other NYU people were also up there, friends of Carolyn, so they joined us and sat for a while. After the afternoon sun got less powerful we went back down the hill and started walking back to my house…but this is “Art Week” in Florence which means all of the museums and gardens are all open free to the public.  On our way back, we saw the signs for another garden, right behind the Boboli, called Gardino Bardini which were less ornate, but basically built into the side of a hill.  By the time we climbed to the top, past lots of shaped shrubs, old statues, and Asian tourists, the view over Florence surprised us.  It was much different than Michaelangelo, and we again sat up on top for a while while we rested.  Right after, we left and went to my favorite Geloteria right by Via Maffia!  My THIRD gelato since being here.  We said good bye after the dessert and I went for a long run up to campus to use the small gym in Villa Natalia and back.  That brings us up to speed!  Again, next week is looking busy, actually thats this week.  Small reminder- Italian daylight savings time began TODAY so we are not 6 hours ahead of EST again.  Talk with you all soon! 

Boring Week!

Ths will be real short, because this week didnt offer all that much to talk about. 

A few things, the weather was really horrible the entire week, cold and rainy.  This made it hard to get out and do things, or go for any runs.  The big news is that I am much further along to applying to that GWU Program for Spring 2009.  I have completed all of the items for the application, however being in Florence makes it hard to get them all the GWU in a timely manner.  If I am accepted, I will be able to go to live in Washington DC for a semester, take classes at George Washington University as if I were a student there, and also be guarenteed an internship in government!  Im so excited, I hope it works out. 

There isnt much other news here.  The weather for this weekend is looking great and I will be in Florence for it, so I was thinking of going with some friends to do the touristy things around town like the Pitti Palace which is an art museum, the Boboli Gardens which are finally ready showing off their flowers and intricate garden designs now that Spring is about halfway done here.  Also, possibly a trip to the top of the Duomo, where you actually get to walk on the inside of the ceiling of the large church in Florence and look down hundreds of feet at the alter, and then outside where you get a great view of Florence.  On Sunday, if we can arrange it, we may go golfing as well. 

Next week will be very busy.  Monday, there is a Tour of Villa La Pietra and its gardens right on campus which will be interesting.  At night, there is the second Scambio Dinner where well get to meet some more Italian Student from Florence!  Wednesday is the NYU sponsored blood drive which I am helping to work and donating.  Friday-Sunday is the next big overnight trip, including (fingers crossed, I heard there are some complications) to the US Army Base in Vicenza and then on to spend two nights in Venice! 

Only 5 weeks left of the semester, where is the time going?!  I will be emailing everyone this weekend, so check you inbox!

Buon Pasqua

Ciao-

Just so everyone knows, Justin Timberlake has a new song out featuring Madonna, or the other way around, either way its a BIG DEAL.  Check it out, its the best.

With that out of the way, let me tell you this past week has been pretty boring and disappointing.  In my last post, I told you all about how we were travelling to Napoli, Vesuvius, etc etc.  Well, because of intense forecasted rain, I was forced to cancel the trip- who want to climb a volcano in the pouring rain?  I will go towards the end of the semester, maybe the last long weekend before finals when it will be warm and sunny. 

This week, the biggest thing that happened was actually pretty fun.  Alexa who is my friend in the Office of Student Life and my boss Lisa asked me if I would help film a small video for them and the Study Abroad Office in NYC.  The video will be edited and put on the Study Abroad website to help introduce students to the NYU in Firenze campus and the city itself.  Especially, the video is for incoming GSP Freshmen who are assigned to Florence rather than New York- that transition is fairly dramatic, and unexpected, so this will be helpful in showing them that Florence is awesome and to avoid angry GSP Freshmen who thought they were going to Washington Square from bringing guns to school.  It was really fun walking around campus (and going for a ride in the Golf Cart with Alexa!) interviewing people, talking about stuff, and on Friday walking with the camera taking the kids on a tour of Florence.  It made me think how happy and lucky I am being here, and how jealous I will be of the kids who will watch this video and get to come here next year.  I got to meet a few of the freshmen who are here currently to make the movie with them, and they were all nice, so new friends, bonus!

Another fun thing that happened this week, was while talking with my sister, we began to plan our trips to Spain a few weeks from now.  She is coming to Spain with a school trip through Conard, and I will be flying over the Sea to meet her for a day or so.  My two friends and I will be flying into Barcelona and seeing the sites for a whole day, before taking a quick flight to Madrid where Ill meet up with Emily and spend some free time at her hotel, or around the city.  Should be lots of fun, and seeing Spain will obviously be awesome.  Its much warmer and tends to be sunnier there than in Italy. 

This weekend in all of Italy is Pasqua, which as it turns out is a pretty big deal.  We get Monday off for a National Holiday, and today was Easter Sunday.  There are lots of similarities to Easter in America.  They have “uova di Pasqua” which are Easter eggs, but they are not real eggs because most eggs in Italy are the brown type and thus, undie-able.  I believe they are made of sugar, but look like real eggs.   The bigger tradition are chocolate eggs that are hollow and they come in all sizes, from one bite to extra large (as in, youll need a hand cart).   They are literally everywhere, every bar, eatery, gift store.  Even stores that only sell wines and liquors have them in stock, not sure why.  There is also a traditional Fleur-de-lit shaped almond flavored cake that seem to be popular, I have seen them are bars and at Esselunga.  I bought one, for our Casa Fiorentina Cina di Pasqua!  Around ten of us here are making Easter Dinner for today, should be ready in about an hour actually.  Since were not really sure what a typical Easter dinner in Italy is like, pasta and wine will have to do?  Hahaha and Sarah and I, like I said are getting the dessert.  Since it is literally pouring rain, well be staying in and watching a movie I suspect tonight. 

The biggest part of a Florentine Pasqua however, is the Scoppio del Caro.  This is really awkward to explain.  So as you know in Florence, there is the Duomo chuch, the biggest in Florence.  There is the Piazza del Duomo which is the main large square in front of the Duomo.  Every year, since 1050 or so actually, this festival/spectacle has taken place on Easter.  Basically throughout the morning they have two oxen pull a giant float that looks like a small Turkish tower (because this tradition started during the first crusade) through the main squares in town finally stopping in front of the Duomo church.  This float is LOADED with explosives.  haha.  So they hold the traditional Easter mass in the Duomo around 10AM.  At the end of the mass, and bare with me because this was explained to me in Italian, the priest starts the ceremony.  On a tight zip line that goes from the alter, down the main aisle in the church, out the front door, and attaches to the tower parked outside, there is a dove with for lak of better words, has a rocket in its butt.  The priest lights the dove’s rocket, and it zooms down the wire and out the door, crashes into the tower, and lights off a 20 minute long fireworks show.  Yes, the oxen are moved away from the tower, but oddly enough the people can get alarmingly close.  The smoke fills the square and the booms are incredibly loud against the tightly packed stone buildings.  It is said, that if the dove recoils and comes back into the church, it will be a good harvest year for Tuscany, however if the bird burns inside the tower, it will be a bad one.  I unfortunately could not get close enough to the square to get all of the experience, but this is pretty insane, even for Italians. 

So anyways, this week promises to be another quiet but shortened work week.  We are speeding through the end of March and April will be here very soon.  The first week of April will be very active, including another Scambio Dinner,  a blood drive on campus, and a class trip to Vicenze to see the largest US Army base in Italy and soon to be Europe, with a weekend afterwards in nearby Venice!  Until next week! 

Spring Break e’ Finito, finalemente!

Spring Break is finished, finally.  I mean that in the best possible way of course!  I am sitting here back at Via Maffia in Firenze, after taking more than 5 modes of transportation over the course of 13 hours to return from Bari, Italy.  Let me fill you in from the last post, on Friday night, till now.  My laptop keyboard isn’t familiar any more, I have been away from it so long. 

Saturday was the end of our stay in downtown Bari, at the Boston Hotel, so we put our luggage in storage early in the morning, grabbed breakfast (the waiter remembered I had ordered a Caffe Machiato the past two mornings!) and we headed off on another long day, accessed via train.  This time, we took the Ferrevia Sud-Est train line, which is more of a local train that runs frequently between Bari and Taranto, and it cheaper.  We found out why it was cheaper…it was pretty much like riding a train from New Delhi India…it was one very old cable car that belched diesel smoke (although that is like most things in Europe, even the people) and went very slow.  We were destined for two small towns, each for a different reason.  First, Castellano di Grotte, which is home to not much else besides Southern Italy’s largest tourist attraction, the Grotte.  The grotte, or caves, are a pretty big deal that we didnt quite anticipate.  For just 8 euros, we were taken down many hundreds of feet into the earth to view some incredible limestone natural caves.  They were truely a wonder, with stalactmites and stalactites (one comes from the ceiling, the other comes from the floor, I dont know which so dont ask…).  We were given a 50 minute tour in Italian, and show some pretty amazing things, only the first cave had natural light and in only the first cave could we take pitcures.  Just take my word however, nature impressed all of us this day.  Afterwards, we went back to the train tracks and waited to flag down another FSE train that this time fortunately was packed to the brim with Italian middle schoolers.  We were bound for another small town about 30 minutes away called Alberobello.  In Alberobello, the land becomes extremely rural, with lots of grass, tabacco and fruit farms, and rolling hills.  It was a lot like the plains in the midwest.  However, unlike the midwest, Alberobello is in the heart of what is called “Tulli Country”.  “Tulli” are a type of people that live in the region around Alberobello and also the term given to the type of buildings they historically have constructed.  The structures are made completely out of stone, and truely look like “munchkin land” with cylander bases and cone pointy tops.  The fascinating part about them is their origin.  During the days of the Roman Empire, in order to avoid taxation in the poor southern region, the people would have a scout report when a tax collector was coming, and they would disassemble their houses in order to avoid taxes…Tulli homes are made without any motar or glue.  SO COOL, the insides are also pretty remarkable.  Today, Alberobello is a huge tourist trap, but sitting outside all of them in the hot sun was pretty fun none the less.  Mark and Courtney got pizza for lunch in one while I sat outside in the sun, not hungry.  We took the FSE train home to Bari after this, but before out train came, I put 5 cent (bronze) euro coins on the tracks and a train came in and out of the station, running them over.  Now I have flattened euro coins, just like when we were little (for those in the know on this).  At night, we took perhaps the most expensive taxi ride in the history of motor vehicles out to our new hotel, north of Bari, called the Best Western La Baia Palace.  This hotel was also a three star, or what I like to refer to as the “default rating” for hotels in Europe.  It was not as nice as the Boston, but much better than the Adonis.  Whatever.  We grabbed food and drinks down the road from the hotel, right across the street from the ocean.  The  hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the water, so not bad.  Yomna, we had a PARTIAL VIEW…I walked out onto our balcony, and turned my head, hahaha. 

Sunday, Mark decided that he would take a train home to Firenze to get some of his school work done before going to class on Monday.  Courtney and I remained, slept in, had breakfast on the roof at the restaurant in the hotel, which was actually pretty nice, and then went down to the water for the day to tan and walk along the shore to see some of the small town.  Not much going on down there, but the sun was hot and made for a good day. 

Today, Monday, we woke up late again, breakfast, and then went till 2 or so down to the water to spend some more time in the sun.  Here we go: We then took another expensive taxi to the Bari Airport, where a bus took us out into basically a field where we boarded our “flying machine” and flew to Milan Malpensa (Bad-Thoughts Airport).  A bus took us to the terminal from the tarmack where we claimed out luggage and took a crowded shuttle bus to Milano Centrale train station.  From there, a short 4 hours train ride brought be back to Firenze! 

I have to say, I would never do this again.  However, I had a ton of fun on what was the most taxing, most expensive, more trying vacation I have ever been on.  I cant give enough credit to my Italy Guide Book by Lonely Planet.  I also cant thank Greece and Southern Italy enough for being very unfriendly.  Again, however, I will never forget this trip, and we solved the problems as they came up, calmly and usually with the use of a credit card.  One last thought, it was the most odd feeling Ive had, traveling home from Bari today, not back to JFK and Connecticut, but rather Florence for another 8 weeks of school.  Going home, meant back to Florence.  I am not sure I thought about that before leaving two decades ago for Greece.  I have three days from right now until I leave again for Naples and the Almafi Coast, so I barely have time to settle back in.  I hope we all get to talk soon via email or skype, I had 81 emails in one account and 38 emails in the other upon returning, so give me a while!  I hope everyones week went well back home or around the world, I got a chance to see some of the headlines on BBC along the way, but overall was glad to be in a country that is disposable to me and without my newsfeed!  lol

Bari Second Post

OH WHAT A DAY!  This is being written on Friday night, March 14th.  This is our second day in Bari, Italy and we decided to hop trains and discover the Region of Puglia, the most south-eastern region of Italy that included all of the heel of the boot of the penisola.  We were woken this morning by drilling outside of out room, as I said yesturday our hotel is under renovation, however it was almost 8AM and so getting up was just fine.  We were eager to start our long day.

We had another terrific breakfast down in the lobby, all the food is great, and talking to the waiter in Italian is always fun at 815AM.  We then went down the few blocks from our hotel, to the train station, Bari Centrale.  The street that is best to walk there from our hotel is pretty much the Fifth Avenue of Bari, with tons of high end stores and boutiques, the entire street is lined with palms and blocked from car traffic.  The piazza in front of the large train station is a rotary, but filled with palms and a fountain, I think Bari is very attractive. 

We boarded the train, bound for Taranto, which like I said yesturday is the port town in the very elbow of the heel and bottom of the boot.  Before leaving Firenze, I bought a comprehensive guide book for Italy, and so I read about all of the places we would be going today on the comfortable train ride.  Taranto was described as an odd town, built on an island and the mainland.  Basically, we found it set up as the train station on the north mainland, where we crossed a bridge onto an island of sorts with a small harbor on our left and the Ionian Sea to our right.  The old city is on this island that is very small.  The old city is home to the Duomo Chiesa and another church, a large fresh fish market, and most impressively a large castle that was built many centuries ago but now is a port of call for the Italian Navy….they have one??  The castle had a large Piazza in front of it, and another bridge to the left of it that went over to the southern mainland, where the New City of Taranto is developing.  Taranto was a key landing site for Allied forces during WWII, so a lot of the area was bombed and then rebuilt.  The streets and buildings in the Old City are extremely black, bland, and bombed out looking.  Definately not a place you want to be at night, and place you prefer not to be during the day.  However, the New City is a pleasant place, with a long car-free road cutting down the center that has lots of restaurants, bars, cafes, and negozi (Stores).  The main square is Guissepe Garibaldi park where we sat and watched lots of Italian high schoolers spend time after school was out.  We had lunch at a modern Bar and the sun was very hot, all of us were without coats and getting tanned.  The views into the Mediteranean and Ionian Seas were gorgeous, and we took lots of photos, but moved on quickly after lunch as there was not much else to do. 

Boarding another train, we headed for Lecce.  Lecce is a medival town that was basically occupied by every major empire and power since the beginning of time.  Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Norman, French, Spainish, and Arab.  WOW.  The bulk of the buildings are in the Norman and Baroque style which is white marble with intricate carvings and few windows.  Thus, the buildings and particularly the churches are a lot different from say in Firenze, but also from all of the north in general.  The Basilica was the largest and most ornate in town, but we also saw an ancient Roman Amplitheater that was accidentally discovered in the 20th century, it was massive.  Also we saw many Baroque/Norman churches and a gorgeous couple of Piazzas and Parks.  Lecce was a real treat and a great way to spend some time as the afternoon left and the evening came with a sunset.  Palm trees everywhere too! 

We boarded our final train back to Bari, and it took a pretty long time.  When we arrived in Bari, we were all starving, so in the guidebook, I found a restaurant called Vino e Cucina which is as it turns out was a remarkable find!  We went in and could not find a menu, but quickly were ushed to a table.  This place was half below ground, with stone walls and ceiling, but well lit.  Large and small tables allowed for practically all local parties to dine with the three tourists of the evening.  There was no menu, because there were no options, this was a trattoria, where there was a fixed menu with pre-selected but not pre-made dishes.  We started with a very typical Italian Antipasto, with cheeses, meat, vegetables, and bread.  Primo Piatto was a potato-made pasta with basil leaves, tomato sauce, and awesome cheese.  Secondo Piatto was disappointing but fresh, steak with lettuce…this was a very fish oriented place in a very fish oriented city.  Dessert was a slice of fresh pineapple and a pastry.  All for 17 euros!!   It ranks in the top ten of meals Ive had in Italy so far certainly, but was also a relief from all the walking and traveling of the day. 

Tomorrow, we were hoping to visit Vestiti, a commune north of Bari where there are sandy beaches and a large national forest.  Vestiti is refered to as the “spur of the boot” of the Italian penisola.  However, during the off season, there is not a way to get there without a lot of transfers, so we have decided to visit more inland destinations, two specifically.  The first town will have mysterious limestone caves, the second is something called “Trulli Country” where there are whole communities built in the trulli manor.  Trulli are small houses built entirely with rocks, but without mortar….it is now known that this was done so as to avoid Roman tax collection.  When word would come that a tax collector was coming, the people of Tulli Country would disassemble their houses so as not to have a permenant dwelling to place a tax on.  Hahahaha.   Well have to see what that is all about, Tulli Country is also wine country, so well have some wine tasting as well Im sure.  Tomorrow is also our day to move hotels, so when we get back to downtown Bari around dinnertime, well pick up our things at this hotel, and take a train to the Best Western which is about 11KM to the north and more Resort-Beach type of a destination.  The weather is perfect, people are smiling more than they are angry, and spring break has been a blur of good and bad.  I feel like this trip overall has definately been worth it so far, and the last day and half spent on the beach should make it all worth it!  We are looking to fly out of Bari back to Milan on Monday evening, so things are rapidly coming to an end…I only have two pairs of socks left in my suitcase clean, so I know its going to end. 

I am already researching the long Easter weekend however, destinations include Napoli, Pompeii, and Vesuvius already!  Salermo and the Island of Capri could join them if our plan of being in Rome for Easter does not work out. 

I hope there is internet in the Best Western, if not, I will be home late Monday night, and expect to hear from all of you.  I havent checked my email all this trip, so responses might be slow when I return. 

Bari Post One

Alright, so, back online!  I have quite a few things to talk about, after re-reading my last post.  The last time we talked, was the second night in Athens, and everything that day had worked out perfectly.  Since then, we have traveled in and out of Patras, Greece, attempted to travel to Olympia, Greece, spent the night on our Ferry Boat to Bari, Italy, and finally have arrived in the Port of Bari.  I am writing this on our first night in the first hotel, the Hotel Boston. 

To start, Monday, I woke up early to see a bit more of Athens while my friends slept in.  I wanted to walk a ways north to climb a small hill.  Monday was “Clean Monday” in Greece, which marks the end of their Carnavale-Mardi Gras time, and begins the three week period until the Orthodox Easter.  They are not permitted to eat any meats, cheeses, or olive oil during this time.  And Monday was a national holiday with revised bus schedules, almost nothing open at all, and many Greeks take to hill tops or open areas to fly kites.  It is this thing they do, I have no idea why.  Greece has a kite flying day.  Whatever.  Anyways, I walked all the way up at 9 in the morning to the top of a hill to see some kites…no kites.  I walked back and on the way saw a few new buildings, a giant city park, and more of the same from Sunday.   I am still very impressed with Athens.  A few things I wanted to mention about Greece that I forgot about the last time, including the number of stray dogs wandering the city.  There are many, and while they arent frightening, they certainly do allow Greece to maintain its Second World status.  Also, I am not sure if I mentioned it or not in the last post, the contrast between working and unemployed; poor and rich; housed and unhoused; is VERY great. Literally there will be a bombed out cement bunker next to a gorgeous brand new Hotel building…I feel as if there in a bit of a transitional phase.  In any case, it was unusual. 

We had breakfast at the hotel again, then packed it up and took a city bus to their central bus station.  We found our coach bus that would take us to Patras, boarded, and we were off.  The bus ride was AMAZING- the entire time we traveled along the coast of one Greek Island or another, with mountains usually to the left, and picturesque sea towns with no internet probably to our right just before the never-ending coast.  The ride took about 3 hours with a few stops.  I took lots of pictures and even a film, it was that dramatic to watch the scenery go by.  Another thing we saw a lot of was Greek villages that, unlike Athens, were not modern by any means.  Whole families living in cement bunkers with tin roofs (RUSTED! haha), laundry drying out on the line, piles of garbage, no cars, no electricity or if so, very little.  It was so incredible, watching these small communities and un-modernized people rush past as I flipped through songs on an iPod nano.  Each and every community had multiple churches however. 

We knew we were entering the city of Patras (the third largest city in Greece) when we saw the long suspention bridge connecting the Pelopennasean Island with the mainland.  It has four tourettes (the Golden Gate has 2) and is the longest cable suspended bridge in all the world.  It was a real sight, although we did not get to cross it.  We entered town, and finally stopped at possibly the worst-designed bus station in the world, besides Port Authority in NYC.  We also knew at this point that our Greece experience was rapidly erroding. 

Out hotel, the Hotel Adonis, was proclaimed to be a 3 star hotel by some websites, 2 stars by others.  We checked in, and it was automatically not as nice at the BW in Athens.  However, it had all the essentials. The sheets were clean, the bathroom was too, but a little disfunctional.  There was even a balcony overlooking the mess that was the bus station.  I should mention, the hotel was directly in the center of everything, across the street was the train station, the Port of Patras with many of the ferries we would be taking in a few days, and the bus station.  We went to lunch near-by at a cafe that as it turns out serves a lot or American Food.  I had a Chicken Ceasar Salad for the first time since being in Europe!!  It was wonderful!  We went back to the hotel, and Mark and I went out to explore the town which took about 2 hours tops.  We grabbed Greek Pastries at this local store, walked down some of the main roads, looked for dinner restaurants, and wound our way past their impressive town hall, a few churches, and eventually the end of the line which was a Lighthouse!  The lighthouse is still functional, and has a restaurant in the bottom.  There was a large public park right on the water, with awesome views of the Greek landscape.  Our Hotel had some of the same views, out into the Ionian Sea. We then walked up the mountain that Patras is built in front of to get to an ancient Roman Theater (closed) and an impressive castle/fort that was originally built by Greeks around 300 and was used all the way till the end of WWII!  We watched the sunset over the city and the Sea from this vantage point, then went back to the hotel.  Dinner was difficult this night, in spite of being in Greece, it being Clean Monday, nothing was open.  We ate at TGIFridays downtown, literally.  I did not order any food, but enjoyed a drink and some cigarette smoke.  In Greece, it is “va bene” to smoke inside.  The last thing I want to mention is that Patras was a city that was suffering a large post-carnavale hang over.  The city of Patras hosts the largest Carnavale parade and festival in all of Greece, and one of the largest in Europe.  The sidewalks were covered in an unimaginable amount of garbage.  The lights were still hung up on the street lights, confetti everywhere, streamers, broken bottles, etc.  Even the floats were still parked down by the ferry port, and all through the city there were 20ft tall paper mache statues of characters and things, painted and everything.  Patras was filthy, but I think it was our timing. 

Speaking of timing, Tuesday we decided that it would be a good idea to visit Olympia.  Delphi was described as being too complicated of a trip to do in one day, so with Olympia as a good option, we went to that bus station again, and bought tickets to take a 2.5 hour bus ride out and see the sight of the original Olympia Games.  We should have stayed in Patras.  Around one hour into the ride, it started to pour rain, and lightning/thunder.  By the time we got to Pyrgos, where we would have to transfer buses to god 20 more minutes to Olympia, the rain had gone away, but Mark and Courtney wanted just to go back.  I should have gone with them.  I decided I couldnt get right back on a 3 hour long bus ride, so I stayed and waited for the 4PM bus to Olympia, and to go see the archeological sight by myself.  I waited, boarded, and went literally to the biggest summer-only, tourist town I have ever been to.  Olympia was DEAD and the sights were all closed.  SO, I sat until 750PM ( for the 730PM bus) to arrive in a convenience store with an old Greek man watching black and white Greek movies.  OH MY GOD.  The bus finally came, so I boarded, and went back to Pyrgos, where the 8PM bus had already left.  That left just 4 hours until the 1230AM bus could take me back to Patras in 2 hours.  I was so frustrated!!  AND I had no cell phone, so I could not tell my friends back in Patras where I was, that I was ok, or anything.  It all worked out, I had an awesome dinner of water, pumpkin seeds, and tea crackers, and made it back to our hotel room by 230AM.  I was without a coat.  It was at this point that I was over my Greece experience.

Obviously I slept in on Wednesday, and we checked out without having breakfast.  We had a HUGE lunch in town, chicken burgers!!!   Very Greek!!!  We also went back to the same pastry place Mark and I went to and bought the most incredible bachliva and other things I have no idea what are called, but were great.  With pastry in hand, we went and sat by the lighthouse and took creative pictures until it was time to make out way back to the center, where our overnight ferry would be leaving from.

Now this was a turning point: We were finally done with Greece.  Greece outside of the tourist center of Athens is not user-friendly, the english knowledge fades as you leave that small bastion.  Also, the overall pleasantness for American tourists trails off as well.  The cleanliness declines, the efficiency is horrible.  I feel like Greece, in spite of its positive attributes including a beautiful geographical position, a rich history, and its position within the European Union, still has a long way to go.  Thats one other thing, traveling between states in the EU is super easy, as in, once youre in, youre in.  We went from Italy to Greece and no passport lines!  So again, this was a turning point, we were embarking on a Superfast Overnight Ferry that was HUGE.  We were going back to a country that not only speaks a language we are studying, they also use the same alphabet as we do.  And we were also halfway done with the hole trip. 

We boarded the ferry, and immediately discovered that that title didnt suit it.  This was a mini-cruise ship.  We took two escalators up to the 7th deck where were escorted by a crew member in uniform to our inside cabin.  It was a VERY small cabin, with four beds bunked.  There was a full bathroom and desk however, so we were living like ballas.  The boat was RIDICULOUS.  It had many lounges, a swimming pool that was closed because of the season, many bars, stores, an internet lounge, a small casino, two restaurants (one self service and one luxury), a discoteche which played Greek music all night long!, a game room, etc, etc.  It was like nothing Ive ever done before.  We sat on the deck, I read my book, and as the sunset we pulled away from Patras and into the Ionion Sea.  The views were AMAZING and I have lots of pictures.  The one bad thing was the boat was heading right for the sun as it touched the water, so the sunset was more of a picture-it-yourself kind of a deal, as it was in front of the boat the entire time where we could not access. 

We had dinner at the nicer restaurant, which was serving Lean Cusine as it turns out….ha, however it was nice.  On the boat, there werent too many people, however we were certainly three of many five english speakers.  There was a huge Italian group of High School kids, probably on a school trip, and lots of truck drivers who parked their trucks in the garages below deck 5 and came up to sleep for the night.  I wound up reading a little more, than Courtney and I spent a few hours at the Discobar on the very back of the boat.  However, we pulled into port in northern Greece for a few hours at this point to collect more cargo and passangers, so the entire back of the boat was rattling wicked intensely as it was loading and grinding against the dock.  With Greek music, and the sounds of intense airplane turbuence, and a hundred screaming Italian 9th graders, it was a nice atmosphere.  After midnight, they bumped the beats up a notch and the clapping and dancing began to all the Greek hit music!  It was hillarious.  I read and watched from the back window, the trail of the propellers. 

We were woken up by the boat, announcement early in the morning, around 9AM Italy time (Greece is one hour ahead) and proceeded to the reception area to disembarch as we slid into the Port of Bari.  Bari looked massive from the boat, sprawling out in all directions from the Port.  However, when we docked, after buying a map, we learned it wasnt all that huge.  We took the 20 Bus to the street our hotel was on, and checked into it, the Hotel Boston.  The Hotel is the nicest we have seen so far, a three star business star just moments from everything in downtown Bari.  It has internet, a great breakfast, pleasant room with three beds, the best bathroom yet, and extremely big and clean.  Not a great view, they are doing construction on the facade of the building. 

Bari is split into asymmetrical parts, the small “Bari Vecchio” which is where the historic center is, and New Bari where the commercial, political, and modern features of the largest town and capital of the region of Puglia.  Bari and Puglia are the most southern region on Italy’s east coast.  Bari Vecchio was explored in about two hours.  Its more famous feature is the Chiesa di San Nicola, or the Church of Saint Nicholas.  This church quickly became my favorite Catholic Church, it is huge and beautiful, with minimal decorations but large columns, vaults, and white marble everything.  The ceiling was very ornate however, decorated in gold and paintings of Biblical Stories.  However, this was the semi-tramatic part.  Saint Nicholas….Santa Claus….this is the church where Santa Claus’ bones are held.  They have been preserved in a sacred liquid and held in an airtight vault with glass to see the holding container.  It is all very ornate with clothes and paintings, but essentially it is a small cript in the basement under the front alter of the large church of the ground floor.  We went down, very creapy.  Courtney and I were joking, like in the movie Elf, “Youre not Santa, you smell like beef and cheese!”.  Guess you had to be there.  Anyways, we moved on and found a few more nice things about Bari including their old city walls which have been preserved and made into a parkway around the southern side of the old city, overlooking the old harbor and Adriatic Sea.  It is very nice for walking.  Also, another large cathedral in town was nice to check out.  Other than that, all I can say about Bari is that it is very small and very clean, and overall one of my favorite Italian cities as of now!  All of the buildings are hobbled onto one another, with families living in all of them.  Small Bars (remember, Bars in Italy are kinf of like coffee shops mixed with a NYC Deli) are tucked away everywhere, and fresh food items, especially fish, are sold everywhere in the alleys.  Many families, since today was such a nice day, threw open their windows and doors leaving curtains swinging out into the street for us to literally walk into.  Laundry was hanging everywhere from balconies and you could smell Italian cooking happening in kitchens that if I wanted to, I could walk right into, and Italian voices shouting out from all the windows.  THIS was what you picture when you think of “Italy”  and we have found it.  The streets are small, but hold so much, it is impossible to photograph or remember it all. 

I went out by myself after my friends wanted to go back to the Hotel, and tried to visit a museum about the History of Bari, however it was closed for renovation so instead I just walked everywhere, including Guiseppe Garibaldi Piazza, where I was hoping to see another Garibaldi Statue.  That is my thing this trip, to take a picture of Garibaldi in every city I travel too, because everyone has one, he was the man who fought to unite Italy from many region states into one nation in the 1850s.  However, I oddly could not find one, the park was void of statues, but very crowded with people.  Large crowds of old Italian men were gathered around the park tables watching 3 or 4 card players play games and to cheer them on.  I joined at one point to watch with the 20 other 60 year old men, however it quickly became awkwardddd.  I came back to the hotel, we visited a Supermercati to get snacks and drinks, and then went to dinner at the restaurant next door to our hotel called Ristorante Opera.  It had a great menu for reasonble prices.  I tried the Wild Boar dish…for Americani, served with french fries.  Wah wahhh, the meat was delicious however.  Tonight we plan to stay in, tomorrow we want to go out.  Tomorrow we also plan to travel by regional train to do a day trip out to Lecce were well see a few castles from hundreds of years ago and see what Italy’s “deep-south” is really like.  We may also try to squeeze in Taranto, a port town in the very elbow of the heel and the bottom of the boot.  Who knows, as long as it works out better than Olympia.  Hope this wasnt too long, over 3000 words!  Sorry!  Will post again in a day or two if there is internet at our next hotel, the Best Western.  See you all soon, I have been thinking of all of you who read this, and so who dont, and hope you are well. 

Athens Post

Hey everyone!  I wam writing this from the computer in out Athens Hotel and just wanted to update you all on how the trip has been the first two days!  We have done and seen SO much you would not believe, however let me begin from the beginning. 

I did not sleep on Friday night as the last post mentioned so after I was done with that, I headed over to Santa Maria Novella train station to take my 430AM train to Bologna, where I was supposed to have a 40 minute layover until boarding a train from Bologna to Milan, and blah blah blah.  I took my backpack and my small new suitcase.  Well, let me tell you a story.  I was so tired on the train to Bologna that I got off at the correct stop, Bologna Centrale and then sat in the waiting room till around 640, when I decided to go over to track three where the monitors said my Milan train would be.  As it was pulling up, a man was standing next to me making unnecessary noise with his rolling suitcase, and after looking over him to try and make him feel uncomfortable, I realized that I did not have a suitcase to figit with…OH MY GOD I LEFT MY BAG ON THE RACK OVER MY HEAD ON THE TRAIN FROM FLORENCE.  I SPRINTED back to the platform we had arrived on, and of course it was practically back in Florence, but I did, and luckily the train was still there.  I jumped back in, in the car I had been in, and it was not there…so I started to run up the train to the front where the conductor would be.  As I was running through the train, the doors shut, and the train started to pull away… I thought this situation is getting rapidly worse…I was also starting to have a mild athesma attack from running near disel fumes in the cold wet weather…I asked the conductor in Italian where my bag might be, and he said that the people who clean the train probably took it into the station for lost and found.  He instucted me, in Italian, to get off at the next stop five minutes away and then wait and go back on the next train through in 20 minutes.  I thanked him, got off, and stood for a while in the easten Bologna station for about 5 minutes before I realized a city bus outside might be faster, so I ran up to one outside the station and he told me to get on a 13 Bus, which was definately not the one that went to Bologna Centrale like I asked, so then I saw one with “Stazione” on the front of another, hoped off the 13 and onto that one.  It was  a NIGHTMARE, when I finally got back to the station, at 745AM, I went to Inforazione and they helped me find my luggage, which thankfully was actually turned in (although today, I realized, missing a pair of pants and my FAVORITE black jacket that I have bought and lost TWICE now).  I rebooked my train to Milan on a Eurostar train, which is the nicest and fastest train fleet in Italy (and I may never go back to Intercity now, haha).  This train took me to Milano Centrale where I had to get on a 40 minute shuttle to the Malpensa Airport.  Malpensa ironically means “bad thoughts” in Italian, go figure.  So I arrive at the terminal, literally run through security (the man said I could not take my un0opened bottle of water, I opened it and drank one sip, and then tiped the entire bottle into the garbage can, obnoxious security people) and met up with my two friends who I had been calling and panicing the entire morning.  They had been telling and updating the entire line that was waiting to board the plane, it was hillarious, but SUCH a relief to have made it finally.

We made it into Athens and the airport is SO NICE because it was just built.  Also, super easy connection to downtown with a new subway/aboveground train line.  We got off at our Hotel’s stop and walked a few blocks to the Hotel which is being restored on the outside, but luckily just recently restored on the inside so it is really nice.  Greece allows smoking inside, but has non-smoking rooms, bonus.  We checked in and had a short rest before going out for a long walk and a nice dinner in a small neighborhood that as it turns out is very touristy, Plaka. 

Greece is CRAZY, weve determined that it is a mix between San Fransisco and Miami, and I think a litle bit of Paris as well.  Everything and everybody however is in Greek and English which is WONDERFUL.  THe city center is very small but not cramped, and its also fairly clean.  The food is to die for of course, last night I tried a Greek dish that is bacon with “broken potatoes” and then sausage which is made from both beef and pork.  They are also very friendly here, and not every place is touristy.  It is, as it turns out, Carnavale here in Greece, so all around the streets and alleys there are kids and adults dressed up, music BLASTING, and decorations.  Last night there were fireworks down by the port of Greece that we could see, and apparently tonight there is a parade as well like in Viareggio.  THe weather is PERFECT, with sun both days, and at least 60s if not 70s.  At night, a cooler side comes out.  I really like Greece, it is a very horizontal metropolis, which spreads out forEVER but surrounded by mostly mountains and the Mediterranean. 

Today, Sunday, was out big day here.  We walked ALL over, seeing and climbing the Acropolis which includes the Parthanon and the Temple of Athena.  We saw the ruins of the old Greek Forum, where financial and political institutions met.  We walked through Plaka again to see it by daylight, and it was beautiful, we even stopped for a much needed rest at STARBUCKS.  We walked from there to see Sygtagma Sq which is where the Parliment building and National Gardens are, both of which were beautiful and the gardens in particular were a treat from the sun, and all the kids involved in Carnevale joined us haha.  From there we went to see a Roman Emperor’s arch, which he built in honor of himself.  Next to that, we rested outside of the Temple of Zeus which was slightly disappointing because it was a ruins sight and not an intact temple.  There, while resting, a Greek crazy man harassed me, and actually slapped me, but before I could hit him back my friends walked me away, which was probably for the best, he was pretty dirty.  Back into PLaka for lunch quickly but then right on over to see the 4th Century BC Olympic Staduim…this was built originally by the Greeks however it has been restored twice and held the original 1896 Olympic Games.  We went from there up past the Presidential Palace to see the changing of the guards, I marched behind them for a step or two, anticipate pictures.  We walked through Athens’ Fifth Avenue of sorts and saw lots of expensive clothes none of us could afford, and stopped to use the bathroom at another Starbucks.  We then walked up past many nice squares and a residential neighborhood to reach the base of the tallest mountain in Athens.  Mark and Courtney took a cablecar up through the mountain to the top, however I wanted to climb….226 long stairs….to the top.   The top looked over ALL of Athens, but felt like we could see all of Eastern Europe, it was incredible.  The sun washed out the view over the Mediterranean however the view of all the mountian and the ruins, basically everything I have listed.  WOW WOW WOW, the phots will be amazing.  We walked back to our favorite, Plake, to see if we could haggle a few souveniers, and Mark and I bought some pistachio nuts (which are Greek tradition) at the Central Market which is also home to meats, fish (oh god, the smell), and cheeses.  Tonight, we plan to take the metro (metpo, in Greek) down to the Piraeus, whcih is the largest commercial port in Greece and I think 3rd largest in the Mediterranean for dinner and to explore the port. 

Like I said, I REALLY love Athens.  It is hard actually, not to speak Italian with the shop keepers and restaurant waiters, they all speak English.  The Hotel is great, we are centrally located, close to the Metro, and it is definately clean.  Breakfast is included!  We are heading tomorrow to Patras, and doing Delphi possibly on Tuesday.  This Monday in Greece marks the end of their three week Carnavale so hardly anything will be open actually, they call it “clean Monday”.  Everything in Athens closes at 2PM, and unlike Italy, they do not re-open after a siesta, they simply go home and lock up.  They drive the most diverse number of cars I have every seen, although the cabs are painted yellow ulike in Florence.  I dont remember anything else, however I hope you are all doing well, and wish us luck on the second leg of our trip!  Talk soon…

Pre Spring Break Note!

Hey everyone, just wanted to write a quick piece on Spring Break before I leave.   I am actually leaving for the Florence train station in 45 minutes, so I am getting pretty excited.  I leave Florence at 430AM by train to Milan.  In Milan, there is a shuttle to the airport, where we take off at 1215PM for Athens Greece!  We will spend two nights in Athens, our full day being Sunday where we will explore the city center and port.  We will NOT leave without seeing the Acropolis of course, but also many open air markets and possibly a museum.  Our Hotel is called the Best Western Pythagorion! 

On Monday morning, we pack up and get on a bus bound for Delphi.  Delphi is the town where the old Greek God oracle that is in all of the mythology stories is located!  We will check that out, see whats up, and then get on another short bus to go to Patras Greece. 

Patras is a small city on the northern coast of Greece, and is home to a famous castle, and also the longest (something) bridge in the world.  Should be a great photos!  We will be staying there from Monday night untill Wednesday at the Hotel Adonis.  On Tuesday, we plan to take a brief day trip out to Olympia, home of the original Greek Games sights!  So many ruins, so little time! 

Wednesday we spend in Patras center, and then at dinner time we board our transportation to Bari Italy and also our accomodations for the night: A overnight ferry boat!  Maybe I will have a thing for ferries after this?  Should be WONDERFUL- we leave port just around sunset, and we arrive into Patras just around sunup so photo ops should be plentiful. 

From Thursday morning until Monday morning, we have tons of time for Bari, Italy.  Bari is a small city in the very south of Italy, on the heel of the boot.  It was one of the major ports used by the US Army during WWII to access the European theater.  In ancient times, it was occupied Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and who knows who else.  Since we have so much time in Bari, we will be breaking up the time to explore southern Italy, including a small medival city called Lecce, and possibly another one or two depending on time and money!  We stay the first two nights in Bari city center, at the Hotel Boston.  The second two nights we move slightly north to the Best Western La Baia Palace which has a private beach but is still near the city. 

Overall, this will certainly be a history-filled and amazingly fun trip, and I wish I could take several of you who read these on it with me.  I hope if your on Spring Break right now, that you have something special or relaxing youre planning!  I will officially be back home very late on the 17th of March if all goes to plan.  We will talk soon. 

Cultura Italiana e noi prima viaggia!

(Italian Culture and our first trip)

I have to say, the final week of February was one of the most busy, hectic, and eventful weeks I have had since being here.  The dillema was whether to take time mid-week to report on some things or get homework done and squeeze in a Blog later on.  Here we are on Sunday, so you can see what happened.  Let me start with where I left off, that would be last monday.

Monday: The day itself was pretty boring, most NYU students were busy discussing the Oscars which aired here in Firenze from 1230AM till 530AM on Monday morning.  They show the big TV events on the DM Projector up on campus, in the conference room of Villa Natalia.  I think the next event is another award show, or possibly the season finale of American Idol in April?  Anyways, by Monday night, after class let out at 7:15, I wasnt in any mood to stick around campus.  I wanted to go home, have one of my pre-made dinners (Similar to Kimmel Pasta this week, BANGIN!) and watch an episode of the first season of Melrose Place on DVD (new favorite show).  However, I had agreed to come to an NYU sponsored “Scambio Dinner” which means exchange dinner, where NYU reaches out to Italian teenagers in liceo (high school, here it lasts till one is 19 years old) and invites them to have dinner with a few brave NYU students.  We all gathered and waited for them to arrive, and when they did surprisingly they looked just as nervous as we did!  We all grabed dinner in the Dining Hall and came back to sit down.  I am confident the NYU econo-meals offended the Italians, and the meal was off to a slow start talking wise, as both groups were supposed to talk in their non-native language.  After a few awkward “dove sei (where do you live)”  and ”come si chiama (formal, what is your name)” we moved into more pertinent conversation such as, what are your favorite American bands, where do you go out in Firenze, etc.  We wereun-shaperoned and since both groups were fairly shaky on their foreign language skills, we got to be pretty comfortable with eachother!  Some more Italians joined up at my table later on and we wound up having a great time telling stories, talking about ourselves, and asking questions about how we both come from literally different worlds.  At the end of the meal, after about two hours of talking, we all exchange email addresses and took some pictures!  We will all hopefully stay in touch and get to go out to some clubs together after spring break.  It went from a boring day to a really fun and engaging evening and I have to say it was one of the most fun nights I have had since being in Firenze!!  There are two othes and I am already excited for them to come.

Wednesday was the next big day, another boring day but I had previously signed up to attend a Fiorentina Calcio match, soccer match.  It was for Casa Fiorentina only, so we all went around 730 to meet our resident italian, Marco, in town to take a bus to the stadium.  It was Fiorentina vs. Livorno and of course, the Florentines won!  Lots of cheering, heckling crowds and I have to say it was a very good lesson in Italian swear words.  Merde!  Hahaha. 

Thursday!  Another long day as I had class and work, however I wanted to mention it because I hd the privledge to talk with Amanda on Skype for the second time in one week.  I also talked with Yomna on Monday I believe.  It is so exciting to get to talk with friends back in the States in real time, without even typing.  If you read this, I hope we get to talk again real soon!!  The rest of you, get Skype!  Its great, just plug a headset into the computer and we can talk in real time whenever we arrange to.  Unfortunately, the company hasnt elliminated the time-difference factor. 

Friday: The start of the long weekend, and also the kickoff to my first overnight trip!  With NYU, we all went on a bus outside of Tuscany to a city in the Emiglia-Romania Region just to the north, called Modena.  Modena is special for many reasons varying from its relationship with the old Ferrara Kingdom, to its gastonomic specialties, to its history of many Italian sports cars manufacturers.  I would like to start however with Balsamic Vinegar, because that was the first stop we made on the trip.  Alexa, the Student Life planner here, arranged for us to visit an institution when it comes to Balsamic Vinegar: The Giuliani House.  I thought we would be visiting a factory, oh no no, we went right into the living room of an 81 year old woman, Queen of the Balsamic!  We sat in the traditional 1960’s Italian decorated house, and recieved an explanation in english from her grand-daughter Francesca about the art of making Balsamic.  Apparently, Modena has a perfect climate for making delicious vinegar, and the process can take from 12 to 25 years, with the rotation of ingredients from barrels of varying size, made from 5 different types of wood.  Then, even more surprisingly, Ms. Giuliani took us all up to her attic, where her, and all of her immediate relatives have their own sets of barrels for vinegar making.  Afterwards, Francesca and her brother Enrico, both in their 20s, took us downstairs and provided a delicious lunch for us.  Enrico and Francesca helped me and my friend Niberley in particular because we were the only ones staying overnight in Modena and wanted to know a bit about the city.  Enrico gave us his number to call if we had any problems!  These were some of the nicest and sincerest people I have ever met.  We left with hugs and “grazie a mille”.  After that, we went into the center of town to explore Modena, and Niberley and I broke off from the group to check into our Youth Hostel.  The Hostel was certainly not the epitome of luxury, however it was much better than the my other Hostel experiences.  We left and spent the day checking out restaurants and the city itselt which is very different than Firenze because of the difficult climate, many of the buildings include covered sidewalks to protect from rain and fog.  My roommate Mark met up with us later that night and we went to eat and then to a lounge before going to bed.

Saturday- What a day!  We woke up relatively early and then took a city bus out to Montenello, to visit non other than the Ferrari Gallery!  The land of Ferrari, we drove past the Ferrari test-track and could hear the roar of a V12, and also saw many Ferrari factory buildings and developments.  We went into the Gallery and spent over 2 hours checking out all of the cars on display, which were many and varried from lots of years.  WOW WOW WOW some of those things are things of beauty!  Except the 70s/80s cars haha. We took TONS of photos and checked out the engines, FormulaOne vehicles and more.  For the afternoon, we headed back into town on a crowded city bus, where the bus driver (who was easily 40 years old) prefered to blast OneRepublic and the Backstreet Boys while driving!  Haha.  Modena is a very quiet, old world city.  At one point, it was redeveloped to become part of a Dukedom, and then in the 1930s when the depression occured, many public works projects, including the transformation of the citywalls into Viale (wide boulevards and parks) to encircle the city and ease traffic.  History history history! 

After a very long day seeing the town’s Duomo Cathedral, window shopping, Grande Piazza and Mercato Central (which was SO Much fun, where they sell everything from raw fresh fish to fresh vegetables and nuts), we headed back to the Hostel to do homework and nap.  We didnt know what to do for dinner, so Niberley asked me for Enrico Giuliani’s number.  She called him and asked for a good place to go eat, his response was I will pick you up at 9 with a car and we will all go out together!!  So we got into his Fiat Panda, which was SO COOL, and went about 40 minutes out into the countryside to have a TREMENDOUS dinner with a real Italian.  The conversation was GREAT and the food was truely superb.  A real Italian restaurant with scrunched tables on several floors and a fireplace that wasnt lit because of the warm night.  I think it was again definately one of the best experiences Ive ever had!  We drove back to Modena afterwards and went to a lounge with Enrico, who we learned is not only a Basalmic heir, he is also just graduated from medical school and learning to be an anasthesiologist.  It was a really  awesome night! 

Sunday, Mark and Niberley were tired, and decided to return to Firenze, while I decided in spite of being unwashed, unrested, and generally worn out to train it over to Modena’s larger neighbor, Bologna.  Bologna, famous for its leaning tower, unfinished Duomo cathedral, and of course Lasagna Bolognese, was a really interesting experience.  Larger than Modena, however archetectually in the same style, it was a real treat walking around and discovering things with and without a map (I eventually found the Ufficio di Tourisme).  I did not climb the 470-some steps to the top of the town’s largest tower, because as I mentioned by the time I reached it, I could hardly move.  I chose a poor pair of shoes for doing lots of walking, and it was a very hot day with lots of sun (TERRIFIC but not ideal for wearing a heavy backpack and walking on roud cobblestone streets).  Bologna is full of things beautiful to look at, and churches of course.  It is a very metropolitan city, but not as large as Firenze.  I had a great time, and got on a train to make it home for 5:30. 

So that wraps up this past week, and the week upcoming is all about MIDTERMS.   Shoot me in the forehead please!  I will try to write a blog on Thursday to explain what we have for Spring Break.  I am not sure whether I will bring my laptop so it may be a while after that till when we get back to write again!  Hope all is well back in the States!  Ciao- Patrick