Under the Tuscan Sun

So I had survived a trip to London, my first opera experience, and now I was about to embark on a different adventure: traveling to the region of Tuscany. Tuscany is known for its wine, beautiful rolling landscape with rolling hills, cloudless blue sky, and too many vineyards to count. This is what many people think of when someone tells them about the countryside of Italy. Don't get me wrong, the city of Rome has a certain charm about it- I'm not sure if it's the graffiti or the people or the delicious food, but I was excited to explore my way around a different part of Italy.

I booked this trip through AUR, so we had to meet at the school on Friday, September 25 at 7 AM! That meant being at the bus stop by 6:15 to be sure we caught our bus to Pisa. I slept most of the way to Pisa- yes, like the Leaning Tower! It was about a four hour bus ride there, with one or two stops to re-energize. When we got off the bus in Pisa, we were bombarded with salesmen trying to sell us anything from necklaces to purses to watches to sunglasses to umbrellas. It reminded me of the street vendors in New York who want you to buy their Rolexes, only you know they're not real Rolexes. Same idea here. Next, AUR had arranged a walking tour of Pisa with a tour guide, so we did lots of walking and saw the outside of the baptistry, basilica, and the famous Leaning Tower! I learned the Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, and from my opera class, I knew that Galileo's father was a composer who helped write the first rules for opera. After the tour, we grabbed some lunch, and then decided we wanted to attempt to get our pictures next to the Tower, pushing it away or leaning against it. Our attempts for all our pictures was pretty hilarious- I think we might have spent almost an hour taking pictures of the six of us- it was me, my roommate Shelby, my friend Megan and her roommates, Katie, Liz, and Melanie. Then, we found out that there were no more tickets left to climb up to the top of the Tower, so we decided to see the basilica and the baptistry. Both were really pretty buildings with lots of beautiful artwork. However, I unfortunately didn't realize that we would be going into a church, otherwise I would have worn a shirt that covered my shoulders. Melanie, Katie and I all had to wear this ridiculous paper robes to make sure that our shoulders were covered. If you look on my Facebook pictures, Katie posted a picture of the 3 of us in the robes. Pisa is a pretty small town, though. It was nice for a day trip, but we were all excited for what was to come on Saturday- Florence! We enjoyed dinner at the hotel and explored the night life near our hotel.

Saturday, September 26- I've finally arrived in Florence. My friend from this summer, Leilani, had studied abroad here and told me it's one of the most beautiful places she's ever been. Well, she's right! There is so much to see and do in Florence and so little time! After breakfast at the hotel, AUR arranged for another walking tour of Florence, which ended at noon. On the tour, we saw a copy of the famous David statue sculpted by Michelangelo. We also saw the gorgeous city hall of Florence, lots of fountains, the guilded bronze (looks like gold) doors of the baptistry, and the outside view of the enormous cathedral. Our tour guide also pointed out the best gelato place in Rome, but more on that later. They gave us much more free time in Florence, and the girls and I were ready to go the leather market and shop til we dropped! At the leather market, I decided on a jacket. But then, of course, I saw a purse I liked just as much, so I couldn't resist and bought both! I also purchased lots of Christmas presents and I can't wait to come back to the States and give them to my family and friends. :) We ate lunch near the market and I had a ham and pineapple pizza that was actually good, even though it doesn't sound all that appetizing. After everyone was mostly done with their shopping, we decided to climb to the top of the duomo (the dome of the cathedral). Liz, one of Megan's roommates, wasn't feeling all that well, so she graciously watched our shopping bags while we climbed the 463 steps to the top!!! As we were out of breath and struggling to make it to the top of the dome, we realized the view was totally worth all that hard work on our bodies. Florence is a beautiful city with the view from above. Many people have told me that I need to climb to the top of the dome in St. Peter's to see the view from Rome, but I can't even imagine that it could be more breath-taking than this view. We snapped lots of pictures before making the climb back down to the ground. It was time for some gelato at the place where our tour guide suggested. The name of the place is "Perche no?", which means "Why not?" And after eating my strawberry and lemon gelato, I kept asking myself, Why not come back to Florence for this delicious dessert every day? That would be a dream come true. We didn't make it down to the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), where Megan said there's an amazing view to take some good pictures, but I was happy that I had my leather jacket and purse and got to see that great view of the city. We also didn't get to see the original statue of David, which can be found in the Academia in Florence. There were many art museums in Florence, and from my opera class, I knew that opera had been invented in Florence, so there were many music museums as well as theaters. After going back to our hotel for dinner again, we decided to go back to the same bar and just relax while having a couple glasses of wine.

Sunday, September 27 meant Trequanda! Those of you who have been to Italy before might not even know what I'm talking about. Trequanda is a really small old medieval town in the region of Tuscany. But to the members of our traveling group, it meant a day of wine tasting. We had breakfast at the hotel again and checked out by 8 AM. "Fattoria del Colle" was the name of the place where we would be having our wine tasting. In addition to a vineyard, it's also a resort with multiple swimming pools, an amazing view of the Tuscan landscape, a walking path through a small forest and a restaurant with delicious food. They showed us how they make their wine and then gave us a cooking lesson! I even got to roll my very own pasta- and I wasn't too bad, if I don't say so myself. LOL After telling us all about the wine and food culture of Italy, they finally decided to give us a taste. We tasted 4 different kinds of wine before they let us try the food. There were soooooo many courses- a meat and cheese platter as the antipasto, freshly made pasta with Bolognese (meat) sauce for the first course, second course was chicken and potatoes and green beans with lots of flavor, and dessert was a berry tart. It was the best meal I've had in Italy so far! And of course, they kept filling our glasses with lots of wine, since it was a wine tasting. There were plenty of photo ops and it was so nice to relax "under the Tuscan sun" by the pool on the property. It was a relaxing day after all the traveling to Pisa and Florence. I was glad to be back in my apartment in Rome, though. Traveling is worth it because you see so many new and exciting places, but sometimes it's exhausting and you just need somewhere to come home.