I absolutely loved this city! It is super small and quaint but filled with so much history. This was a group trip with about 35 students, so we got to take a private bus and we had a tour guide. Let me just say, this is one of the most gorgeous places I've ever seen. It's such typical Tuscan beauty, it's more of the countryside than Florence is. So we started off at a Basilica of San Domenico. At this church, St. Catherine, the patron saint of Italy, is honored. Her actual skull and right thumb are on display here. Super eerie and kind of strange but interesting nonetheless. St. Catherine is pretty popular in Siena because she lived there, we even got to see the outside of her house. Next, we got to walk through a bit of the city, and it was a beautiful day so it made Siena look even more amazing. We took a tour of their Duomo or Cathedral. It is absolutely beautiful on the inside and out. The sculptures and carvings on the outside are so intricate. The inside was so amazing to look at and had a lot of Byzantine influence so it had black (actually dark green) and white stripes. It was huge on the inside and works of art everywhere. Next we went to a museum with some more works of art, and then we got to climb up to the top of this building and we had an amazing view of Siena. It was so surreal because it was one of the most beautiful views ever. Climbing up was a little nerve wracking because of the narrow spiral stair cases but it was so worth it. After we were done with our tour, we went and had a delicious lunch of pizza and fried artichokes, and had our first Italian tiramisu. Delicious!
Carnevale di Viareggio, February 19, 2011.
Viareggio is a small coastal town about 60 miles west of Florence and it is known for it's Carnevale celebration. It's not as packed as Venice is during Carnevale because not as many tourists go there, it's more locals. My roommates, Michelle and Molly, and I took a train there and it was about an hour and a half train ride. Then we walked from the train station to the main area of celebration, which was right along the coast. So we started our adventure off by going to the beach, which was a lot of fun. It was so beautiful and sunny. We then walked around for a little bit and got some lunch, which was delicious. I had the most amazing bruschetta ever, some delicious salmon, and grilled vegetables. Then we walked around some more and grabbed some gelato. By this time, more and more people were showing up for the festivities. After having a delicious crepe filled with nutella and a disgusting alcoholic coffee drink (definitely not for me), we decided to find a place to watch the firework show we had been hearing about. So, after dodging children spraying each other with foam and being pushed around in a huge crowd, the fireworks finally started. Best. Firework. Show. Ever. I can't even describe this moment. The fireworks were so amazing and were set to music. And we were wearing our Carnevale masks and watching the fireworks over the ocean and it was such an awe inspiring moment. I felt like I was in a movie or something, it didn't even feel real. By the end of the show, the three of us had tears in our eyes. We were all too embarrassed to start crying but we all admitted that we wanted to. After the show, we made our way to the train station. Extremely slowly at first, it was so packed that we could barely move we made a train and just pushed our way through. When we arrived back home, we had a surprise waiting for us. Our other roommate decided to have three boys over. I know these boys and they are all very nice but I wasn't really in the mood to socialize after a long day. Oh the joys of roommates... So we socialized for a little and went to bed. It's always interesting when you live with three other girls...
Pisa, February 21, 2001.
After a lazy Sunday, we decided to have another adventure on our day off from school. So, we decided to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Michelle, Molly, and me hopped on another train and headed off for the touristy city of Pisa. We grabbed some lunch, which consisted of the most delicious veggie calzone thing and overpriced peach tea, which is super sweet and tastes like those peach rings. Then we headed off to find the tower. We walked for a little and then turned a corner and BAM! There it was all super anti-climatic style. But as we got closer it go cooler. It's really not as big as I was expecting but still pretty darn tall. The courtyard around it is super pretty with green grass and a Cathedral and Baptistry. We took a bunch of pictures, including the super touristy holding up the tower picture. Then we made the decision to climb to the top of the tour. We went and bought our tickets but we had about an hour to spare before our tour started so we went back into town to try some gelato that I heard someone claim is the best gelato in Italy. I don't know if it's the best gelato in Italy but it was pretty delicious. I had coffee and chocolate, yummy. Then we went back and made our excursion up to the top of the Leaning Tower. Alright, just to let everyone know, I have a bit of a phobia of heights. Ok, more than a bit. Walking up the tower wasn't really too bad, just a little nerve wracking because the stairs are so worn down but when we finally got up to the top I kind of started to freak. I don't even think it was the fact that it was so high, but it was the fact that the thing is LEANING and it's about 900ish years old. So we spent a little time up there and took some pictures then we made our way back down. Then we went to a souvenir shop and I went a little overboard. But Pisa is such a good place to buy souvenirs!
So that was the end of our travel packed weekend. There are more stories to come...
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