Volterra in the Rain

This is a little out of order, I went to Volterra the same weekend I went to San Gimignano. Volterra is a beautiful city, unfortunately we were there at the start of an unseasonal cold spell that included a lot of rain. We timed our museum visits and meal times so we could be inside while it was pouring, none the less I did not take my camera out a whole lot. And yes that bust of David is as tall as my roommate Ashley.

A couple evenings in Florence

These are from two different nights in Florence but are both taken on the Arno River.  

This one was taken from the Ponte Vecchio.  Ponte means bridge and Vecchio just means old.  But the Bridge has been there for hundreds of years and was the place the gold guilds sold all of their work.  Its still the place of all the jewelers in Florence.

See that little boat...we had 14 students, one instructor and two men to row/push the boat up the Arno.  There was only about 6 inches between the top edge of the boat and the the top of the water.  And the water was about as clean as the Mississippi.  The Florentines used to enjoy peeing into the river knowing that their rival city of Pisa would get the water after them.

Gelato

I almost forgot, we also ate at a gelateria in SG that has been voted the best gelato in the world! 

We were only there for a day but decided we needed to stop in twice.  

Michelle, I'll pretend the second trip was for you ;)

San Gimignano

The city of San Gimignano is known for its 14 medieval towers that still stand of about 60 that stood up to the middle of the 14th century. Aristocrats would build them to protect themselves from rival cities and rival families within the same town.  When a family lost its fortune the tower would be leveled to a normal city building level and used for other purposes.  In 1348 the Black Plague hit Italy and wiped out between 1/3 and 1/2 of the population of most cities.  San Gimignano went from 12,000 to 4,000 people and then when the Italy recuperated, Florence directed the trade route away from the town and it still stands as perfectly preserved medieval town.

We climbed the tallest tower to get a better view of the city.

And we also had our lunch on the path that goes around the old city walls.

Lantern Festival

Also, on the Day of the Feast of the Annunciation they hold a Lantern Festival.  Its in honor of everyone coming to the city for the day and leaving with there oil lanterns.  

Small children had blow guns to shoot down the paper lanterns as they entered the piazza.  Some burned while still hanging in the air and others got hit hard enough to fall to the ground and burn.  This part of the tradition is based on city children dressing as peasants and following people home.  Once they got outside the city they would attack and light the people on fire.  

I know the pictures are blurry, I think it gives a better feel of the parade that went through the piazza.  

And my shutter was open long enough for a lantern to move completely in and out of the frame.

Our Apartment is Struggling

The handy man has been to our apartment about 6 times now.  When we moved in the curtain rod was broken so we asked to have it fixed.  The next day we realized the shower drain in one bathroom was clogged and neither Kathryn or I had washed our hair yet so don't try to blame it on our long hair (I actually fixed this one myself but trying to figure out the word for Drano in Italiano is challenging.  The following week when we washed clothes we found out the spin cycle on our washer was broken, which left our clothes dripping wet.  The washing machine won't be fixed until a technician can come to fix it.  Two of my roommates wanted internet installed, which took several trips to Solving Problems and then, 10 days later Telecom finally checked all the cables and the handyman from Solving Problems installed a broken modem.  The handyman will be back to fix that again as well.  To top it all off our kitchen sink started leaking, there was a huge puddle under one of the floor mats.  We are all taking things in stride and probably dealing with it all better than we would in the States.  We still have hot water though, which is more than I can say about some apartments.  

The day of the Feast of the Annunciation.

Monday September 8th was the Day of the Feast of the Annunciation.  In honor of this event the outside of the Duomo is decorated with blue flags and the terrace on top is opened for the public to enter free of charge.    

I was able to get a couple good shots of the dome and one great one of the baptistry.  

Theses last couple are just of the Florence skyline.  There are really only a few good places to see it and on top of the cathedral is one of them.  I haven't hiked to the top of the dome yet, we're still waiting for some of the tourists to thin out and for some cooler weather.

Pictures!

I was finally able to get my pictures labeled and can now easily post them on the site here are a few from the previous posts... 

We learned how to make the dough for egg noodles and all of the filling for ravioli.  I helped roll for a little bit but it has to be done quickly so the two halves still stick together.  We also cooked garlic bread in the fireplace inside the house.

The last picture is Caitlin and Miles, the resident art dog.

We also went on a day trip to Siena and Verrazano vineyard.  Here are just a couple of the spectacular views.

The Directors house

Saturday we went to the summer house our director grew up in, located in the hills of Tuscana. We basically ate and cooked all day, and sat around looking at the beautiful hills around us. We learned how to make noodles and ravioli filling from scratch. Maybe I will attempt to recreate it after returning to the states. Again I have more pictures but they are stuck in my hard drive with convenient tags like IMG o34 and IMG 142. I will get on a computer at school so I can upload my photos.

Sienna & Verrazzano Vineyard

We visited Sienna as our first trip away from Firenze, it is a beautiful city, smaller than Firenze. Most of our time was spent in the Palazzo, the main government building. (Dr. Sloan, if your reading this we saw the original Good Government, Bad Government fresco) We also climbed to the top of what was supposed to be the new expansion of the cathedral, which was abandoned when the Black Plaque hit in 1348 and wiped out half of the cities population. I have some great photos from up there but my pics aren't labeled and the computer I am at will not read them as images. I would just be guessing at which picture to up load. (I got lucky with the apt pic, it was the last one I took) I'll post pictures sometime this week.

The real treat was the Verrazzano vineyard. We toured the cellars where they store the wine and got an overlook of the vineyard from the castle. The make Chianti Classico which follows very strict regulations. If they have a good year they make a reserve as well. There other wines include spumante white bubbly wine, a rosso table wine, a super Tuscan and Vino Santo, holy wine that is more concentrated because the grapes are dried for a while before hand. From the grape skins they make water, 43% firewater, called grappa. The also make olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Then they treated us to dinner at the vineyard.
First we had Spumante and olives as an aperitif.
Then prosciutto crudo (salt cured ham), wild boar salame, garlic bread with olive oil, and the table wine.
Then penne pasta with tomatoes and Chianti Classsico.
Then salad and honey roasted pork with Chianti Classico Reserve
Then two kinds of cheese with balsamic vinegar and the Super Tuscan.
Then Vino Santo with Biscotti followed by a small sip of grappa.

It is considered rude in Italy to drink wine without eating and vice versa.

My Apartment

Hey guys, here's one picture of my apartment. Its bigger and way nicer than any of us expected it would be. The building is over 5oo years old (I think) and still has original frescos on the ceiling. (Fresco is a type of painting where wet plaster is applied to stone and pure pigment is added to the plaster to color it, very tedious and a studio has to work quickly before the plaster dries) The roommates are great, we are getting along pretty well and they are all art students as well. The apartment is located 2 blocks North of the Duomo(the main Cathedral of Firenze) on Via Ricasoli and two blocks North of our building is the Accademia, the museo that holds Michelangalo's David Statue. We are also within walking distance of just about everything in the old city of Firenze.