La Republica di San Marino e La Citta di Ravenna

01 novembre ’07 alle 05 novembre ’07

On Thursday morning my friend and I departed for the Republic of San Marino, the third smallest country after Vatican City. It is located in north eastern Italy, approximately 100 kilometers south of the city of Ravenna. This small Republic was formed during the medieval period of Italy and always stayed a separate part from the rest of Italy. It originally was formed as a small Christian society.

The train ride to San Marino was smooth and uneventful. I do like the EuroStar trains, they are comfortable and smooth. We arrived in the city of Rimini located outside of San Marino. Upon our arrival we had no idea how or where to catch the bus to the city of San Marino. We eventually found out how and boarded a bus where it dropped us off somewhere near the top of San Marino. From there we had to walk a few kilometers to our accommodation which was a little ways from the city center. Our accommodation was quaint and seemed to only accommodate us. The owner was very friendly and we felt compelled to try his restaurant the following day for lunch.

The first night in San Marino we basically covered the entire town. It was simple and not as complex as I thought it was going to be. Lots of stairs, hills, and trees. It was a nice break from busy and dirty Firenze. San Marino was busy with lots of tourists, however, not international tourists, but mainly Italian tourists. It was a nice break and everyone seemed to treat us as Italian tourists, since we tried to use our Italian as much as possible.

The first full day in San Marino we went back to the city center where we visited the three guard towers of the city and hiked through the small woods of the city. The next thing we did was basically walk through the town maybe 7 times before heading back down to our hotel where we ate a fantastic lunch of grilled tuna and blue fish, with a perfectly matched red wine and homemade bread. After lunch we went back up to the town center and basically repeated again what we did earlier. The views from the top of the town were amazing and we definitely window shopped the rest of the evening.

The highlight of the night was that we were able to find the tourist information desk where we could get our passports stamped with the seal of San Marino! It was truly worth the 2.50 euro for the visa! San Marino was a pleasant visit, however, we should have made arrangements for one night instead of two, but it was pleasant to relax and take our time.

Saturday, we departed back for the city of Rimini and boarded a train to the city of Ravenna. I love the trains here in Italy. They are efficient, but not always fast, cheap and area always running.

We arrived in Ravenna around 3:30pm and checked into our hostel called Ostello Dante, a member of Hostelling International. We both are now members and for a year we can stay in these hostels for relatively cheap…yeah?

Alright, so Ravenna was definitely a city that I would love to live in. It clearly was a family oriented town and full of friendly people. The city was full of ancient history and mosaics. We bought a student pass to five of the most popular churches with mosaics in town. We visited three of them and found them utterly breathtaking. The mosaics were beautiful and full of history. The city itself was exciting and easy to explore. The center of town is surrounded by pedestrian only roads, which were always filled with residents cruising the streets. That evening we strolled down Via Cavour, which was lined with multiple high end stores, and every single Italian was wearing black. I really stood out amongst them wearing my north face coat….I was the only one not wearing wool!

In addition to enjoying myself in Ravenna, we met two Mormon missionaries who had been in Ravenna for three months. To my surprise they hardly knew any Italian, and had no immersion of cultural awareness of the Italian culture, and they were going to be there for two years! It was amazing and astonishing that they were there in a country where Catholicism was number one. Also, I was amazed that they had to be in by 9:00pm each night. Interesting. (Here is a photo of a crypt that was filled with water and gold fish, the church is the one below this photo)

The next full day we visited more of the churches and rode the free bicycles the city gives to tourists and its residents. We covered a lot more ground and saw a lot more than if we were on foot. We went to church in one of the several cathedrals and were amazed at how many Jesuit houses there were throughout the entire city.

Ravenna is definitely one of my favorite places that I have been so far in addition to Southern Tuscany. It was nice to not be in a large group and to really experience Italy without always being mistaken as Americans right off the bat.
(Here is Dante's (the author) tomb)

The trip back to Firenze was an interesting experience. Instead of taking a direct train home around 4 in the afternoon we chose to take a bus to the town of Faenza and then connect to a train to Borgo San Lorenzo and then take a train from there to Firenze. This was actually a nice little side trip in itself. The bus ride was easy and a forty five minute trip outside Ravenna. We then boarded a train from Faenza to Borgo San Lorenzo. I really enjoyed this part, because the train, which consisted of only two train cars, passed through mountains and small little villages that looked like they came from picture books. It was great to see this side of Italy. Fall colors were in full bloom!

Enjoy the photos!

Also, before I left for San Marino, I finally bought a wool coat. I will post those photos as well. Its nice, a blend of cashmere and wool, dark blue, and I bought a nice “traveling” hat to go a long with it. With my hat on, it looks like I could be a friend of Dick Tracy!
Here is my new coat and "traveling" hat:

Here is what I would look like with Argyle. Im not a fan of it...but i guess i could pull it off.

Sud Toscana! October 26th to 28th

I finally found time to write a lot of make up work for not being up to date on my blogs. I apologize for keeping ya’ll waiting.

I first will begin with Southern Tuscany. Of the first four weekend trips, this was my favorite. The rolling hills and lush countryside reminded me of home and the changing of all the leaves was amazing to see. Friday, we departed early and arrived at the Bagno Vignoni hot springs in the town of Bagno Vignoni. The group of sixty was split into two groups. One for hiking and the other for relaxing at the hot springs. I chose to relax and hung out in the pool for several hours. The weather was perfect for staying warm in the hot springs, a little overcast and an occasional mist of rain.

After the relaxing experience in the nearby park we had a picnic of pecorino cheese, bread, salami, olives, water and proscuitto. It was great!

After the picnic we departed for a Romanesque Churched named Sant’Antimo. This old church was nestled in a little valley where it was an important strategic point for war during the ancient times. We then went to the town of Montalcino, famous for its Brunello wine. Here it was overcast and not a single sign of other tourists. We split into small groups and explored the medieval town. Here is where I found a pair of new gloves, and tasted the famous Brunello wine. It was great, if only I had 100 Euro to bring home a couple of bottles for sharing…too bad. Instead, I bought a good dessert wine called Moscadello di Montelcino for a more modest price. After the wine experience we left for our hotel in Vescovado di Murlo. The hotel provided us with some fabulous food for dinner.

The next day we went hiking through the vineyards of the countryside and arrived at the medieval town of Murlo. Here in Murlo, an ancient town that once thrived, but only now housed 20 full time residents we dove into history of the Etruscan period by visiting the small but informative Etruscan Museum.

After visiting this museum we proceeded to hike to the Campriano Wine Estate. Here we had some great wine and an awesome experience of how to taste wine and eat freshly baked foccaccia bread. We tasted three different types of wine, a white, a rosso (mixed wine), a red, and a reserve red wine which was excellent. I highly enjoyed the white wine and bought a bottle for the asking price of 5 euro. All of the wine was pressed from the estates’ forty acres of grapes.

We all loaded back onto the buses and departed for the town of Pienza. Here, Pope Pius II was born and raised here. This was a great little town. It was a very cute little town that had three different roads leading to a nice panorama of the valley; such as Kissing street, Street of Love, Street of hugs, etc.

Here in this town I experienced great food. I ate at this tiny little family owned crepes restaurant where I had a crepes with cheese, salami, and spinach. It was fantastic!

The last day in Southern Tuscany we took our bus to an old abbey that had been abandoned a long time ago. The remains of San Galgano were still intact, but there was an absence of its roof. It was very interesting. About a 1 kilometer walk up a nearby hill we visited the chapel of Monte Siepi where the story of the legendary Sword in the Stone was “Created.” It was interesting, yet not that amazing to see since the actual sword was replaced with a replica. After this visit, we headed home and this concluded the Italian experience in Southern Tuscany.

Fiesole, Firenze, David

This weekend there was no planned trip to the Italian countryside. Instead, I chose this weekend to explore Firenze and relax. Friday night was my first night out in Firenze (as in going out drinking). The going out atmosphere here is very different from the United States. Most college students in the US are known to be excessive drinkers and having no limitations to moderate themselves. Here in Italy the US college students are still the same and stick out. The Italians on the other hand drink to have fun, but not to the point of not remembering what they did the night before or blacking out. The pub that I went with some friends was called Public House. It was a small pub that was overflowing into the streets with drinkers. I find it fascinating at despite having no laws banning public drinking I have yet to see any Italians or Europeans drinking out on the streets irresponsibly. Anyways, the night was fun and the drinks were good. After flowing out on the streets we walked home quickly because of the drop in temperature from the early evening. Its averaging about mid 50s to low 60s now and at night it seems like its dipping into the lower 40s.

I wish I had brought more heavy winter clothes.....thats where I guess packing light has its consequences; however, I went window shopping with my roommate and found some nice winter accessories that I hope to purchase. I have decided that instead of purchasing some nice Italian leather shoes, I will buy myself a nice wool peacoat instead, since the temperature is getting to be quite uncomfortable. I have been browsing for this peacoat and have found possible places; however, I think this will be my only purchase of this nature while I am here...prices range from 100 euro to 140 euro for the quality and material that I am looking at....yes...quite pricey, but something that I could and would wear often. In addition, I have found some nice sweaters to compliment the coat.

Besides window shopping and wishing I had a job to help supplement my wants of some European fashion, all day yesterday in Firenze was exciting. At 7:30am, I woke up and headed to the Academia with some friends. We waited for the Academia to open and wondering through the sculptures of Michelangelo and other famous Renaissance artists. It was amazing to see how these artists were able to take a slab of marble and intricately carve a human figure from nothing.

The center piece of course of the Academia was the statue of David. Standing 14 feet tall and having the details of a mighty human, David was an utterly amazing spectacle to witness. It was well worth my 10 euro for entry and can now be checked off my list of things to accomplish while I am here in Firenze.

Saturday afternoon my roommate, Lucas and my friend Elizabeth journeyed on the public bus up to the small town of Fiesole above Firenze. It was a beautiful vista and on top we visited a convent and monastery of St. Francis. At a public park we cracked open a bottle of Chianti, sliced a loaf of ciabatta, sliced some pecorino formaggio and laid out some freshly cut salami. It was a pleasant early evening picnic that overlooked the Firenze valley at sunset.

Today, I am headed to another calcio game. Firenze vs. Siena. I hope this time Firenze wins since last time it was a tie against Roma.

In between the calcio game before and after, ive been trying to slip in time for homework and studying since this week is midterm week. It does not feel like midterms at all and I think I know why....because we hardly are in class.

Some wishes:

I wish the classes were actually teaching me something
I wish they were a little bit more challenging.
I wish they had a more credited business professor for both my Operations Management class and my Management class.

Content:
I enjoy my drawing class
I enjoy my Italian language class
I enjoy my Global Economics Class.

A masterpiece

Yesterday in drawing we learned to use the technique of Rubout. This involved blackening our pieces of paper with charcoal and then using our erasers and rags to rub out areas to create our sketches. We sketched our sit in model who comes to every class. So far this class is very frustrating; however, this time I was very pleased and proud of my accomplishment.
Today also, I bought another ticket to the Fiorentina vs. Siena game this Sunday at 3.30pm. I hope Firenze wins since last time they tied to Roma.

October 12th to 14th Amalfi, Sorrento, Island of Capri

The land of Limoncello and all things touristy. That is where I went this past weekend. To the Amalfi Coast, Pompei, Sorrento and the Island of Capri. A long five hour bus ride to Sorrento was grueling and involved pretty much sleeping the entire way. We left Thursday afternoon around 3:40 pm. We arrived at the campground around 11:00 pm. The lodgings for this weekend’s trip was very different from our typical set up. We were camping, European style, which meant not camping in tents but in trailers. These trailers were small little green boxes that had three beds (a twin, and a bunk bed) and a small bathroom that was too small to be considered a bathroom. For the next three nights these little boxes would be home. It was not a great start to our weekend trip, since all we were provided for linens was a thin blanket to supposedly stay warm in the cool October evenings. The first day in Sorrento was a ferry trip to the town of Amalfi. The beautiful town of Amalfi was one of my favorite cities that we toured through. It was a small quaint town at the base of a tall cliff. I ventured with two friends and our Jesuit, Fr. Paul. We toured through the old town after embarking on an hour long ferry ride. We bought an all day bus pass and hopped onto a city bus that was too small to accommodate forty passengers up the narrow and winding roads of Amalfi. We took the bus to the small town of Ravello which is perched a top the cliff above Amalfi. It was a beautiful view from atop and we walked through the old piazza, an old Franciscan Monastery and a small Limoncello factory. It was a nice resting place and a place a far from the 130 other Gonzaga students in the small towns.

After visiting Ravello, we climbed back onto the small city bus and took it down the mountain to Amalfi. There in Amalfi we toured through the Cathedral, where we saw the relics and bones of St. Andrew in the crypt.

Instead of taking the expensive ferry back to Sorrento, we used our day pass and road the bus back home. The two hour bus ride was exciting and hair raising. I am so amazed at how skilled the bus drivers are here, especially when the roads are only one lane wide and the buses are over filled with passengers. It was a great start to the three day weekend.

That evening we dinned in a restaurant near the campground. Our campground was a twenty minute walk above Sorrento. The restaurant was affordable and I ordered an unique American dish of a sausage pizza with French fries. It looked interesting but it tasted great! An ingenious idea!

The second day, we wandered around the Island of Capri. A thirty minute ferry ride from Sorrento the Island was a tourist trap. Thousands of tourists from every nation was there. It was a beautiful place; however, due to the flood of tourists this was not my favorite place to visit.
We caught a bus to Anacapri which is located above Marina di Grande where we landed. Here we chose to walk down to the Blue Grotto. After walking down hill to the place of the Blue Grotto, we arrived where there were hundreds of tourists waiting in boats and line to see the natural wonder. It was a sight to see. Twenty to thirty small little boats each commandeered with a tour guide the Blue Grotto seemed too much of a hoax than a museum. We loaded into one of these small boats that held only five at a time. Low in the water, we entered the Blue Grotto. It was an amazing sight to see, but also a disappointment at the same time. 10 Euro was not worth the five minute visit. Oh well…..oh yea…women were the center of attention too for all of the guides. They blew kisses to them, threw water at them and sung to them, of course all for a kiss or a nice tip at the end. It was a little over the top. Oh well…..tourist things are sometimes something you just have to do.

After the Blue Grotto we took the bus up to Anacapri where we took a chair lift to the top of Mt. Solerno. A top of this mountain was a beautiful vista point and an unbelievable view of the Italian coast.

After disembarking from the chairlift down, we headed to the ferry terminal and returned to Sorrento.

That evening in the Marina di Piccolo of Sorrento a large Fish Festival was being held. We headed down around 8 pm and stood in line to claim our five euro plate of freshly fried Calamari and fish. It was a good taste of traditional cuisine; however, it was a little bit too salty. Well a perk was that there was free wine. Our group of 130 students definitely stood out and were the only ones singing and dancing. The band playing seemed to enjoy our attention and continued to sing American songs. The Italians were great observers to our dancing and singing. The night ended with a wonderful fireworks show.

Our last day in Sorrento we headed to the city of Pompei. This was my favorite part of the trip. We had a short three hours to explore the city and wonder through the ruins. It was amazing and awing.

I will post some of my photos of Pompei and let you see visually what I saw during my visit.

We returned to Firenze around 10:00pm and I immediately crammed my homework and slept after a long night of studying.

Currently there is a bug with the software on blogger. I will post more photos soon!

Cinque Terre

October 9th 2007

70 steps every day, multiple times. That’s how many steps it takes to get up to my pensione (Hotel). These steps are what I had hoped would train me for my experience in Cinque Terre. This past weekend I experienced one of the most beautiful places in the world. An area that stretches only about 12 kilometers long on the outer coast of the province of Liguria stands these five quaint seaside towns.

Arriving in the town of Monterosso around sunset I was glad to get off the bus after a 4 hour bus ride down winding roads that only seemed to fit one bus instead of two. 110 students invaded this quaint seaside town of several thousand and we filled two hotels that seemed to small to fit us all. An American flag greeted us at the Hotel Souvenir!

The first day (Friday) 110 of us took to the hardest trail between Monterosso and Vernazza. After 2.5 hours of intense hiking and possibly accomplishing 1000 steps we arrived in the small port town of Vernazza. My favorite of all the five towns, Vernazza is complete with a small cove for a marina and a compact feeling of serenity and peace. After a 20 minute break we continued our hike through vineyards, pines, and cliffs to the town of Corniglia. After another 20 minutes we then proceeded to the town of Manarola. As the hike continued the hiking got easier as well. In addition to the trails being narrow and dusty, the temperature was averaging 80 to 90 degrees. It was hot and sweaty! I definitely turned a few shades darker after this weekend. The hike concluded in the town of Riomaggiore. Here in this town we went swimming and cliff diving. I chose to pass on cliff diving since it was somewhat of drop and choppy sea. The water here was much more blue and pristine than on the Island of Elba.

Each town had its own unique personality and each was very different than the first. Some had marinas while others didn’t. The one thing that was very interesting about the Cinque Terre is that they are all interconnected via an elaborate and impressive network of trains. The trains go through kilometers of tunnels and the cost of riding is fairly cheap, comparable to riding the bus, 1.20 to 1.80 a trip. It was at first a challenge to learning how to use the railway system but after a few mistakes it was a breeze.

On Friday night after a long day of hiking, swimming and sunbathing the school provided us with a meal at Restaurante Belvadere in Monterosso. One of the most popular restaurants in the town we had the traditional Trophie Pasta with Pesto, potatoes and green beans. This was only the first course. In addition to a magnificent start the restaurant provided us with fantastic Cinque Terre biano vino. Bottemless to be exact. It was a great time! Our second course was pan seared swordfish with potatoes and for dessert the exquisite pudding called tiramisu! It was a great evening and of course having too much free wine to drink we kept the town of Monterosso up for a long long time.

Our second day in the Cinque Terre I chose to get up at the crack of dawn…9:00 am and hike to a small hermitage on top of a nearby butte. I was expecting it to be an easier hike than the day before, however, I was unprepared for 80 degree weather at 9:30 am and an incline of 500 meters in less than an hour. It was grueling, probably climbing a couple hundred steps chiseled into the mountain. At the top was a small ruin that was formerly a Benedictan hermitage. As a group we took a group photos by sex, boys and girls. We then strode down the mountain to the town of Levanto, north of Monterosso and a lot larger. There, a 3 kilometer sandy beach greeted us and a backyard stroll through Ferrari’s and Fiat’s summer villa. In addition, we also walked through a wedding at one of the medieval churches. We (20 of us) stopped to congratulate the bride and groom. The large wedding thanked us and also threw rice at us to ensure that we all grew up to be great husbands and wifes as well as being very very fertile. It was a great cultural experience.

In Levanto our tour guide, named Peter, an Austrian who knows several languages and serves as our travel agent brought us to a historical bar where he shared with us a large traditional Levanto Cake. It was delicious, a split between a pound cake and coffee cake. For a late lunch we stopped at a Foccaccia restaurant, freshly baked and tasty. Foccaccia and pesto were founded in the Cinque Terre. The rest of the day we basked in the sun on the beach and swam.

That evening a summer festival in the town of Bonassola welcomed us to witness thousands of paper lit lanterns floating in the bay and a grand spectacle of fireworks. The festival was a celebration called FESTA DELLA MADONNA DEL S. ROSARIO. A large storm passed through the festival and I thought for a moment the festival would be cancelled. I was wrong. Luckily the storm passed and the festival continued. I participated in one of the activities known for the festival. Basically a lottery game, I entered my two euro for two tries. I pulled out two numbers and whatever my numbers were, I would get two prizes based on the numbers I pulled out. My friend Elizabeth was lucky on her first try, coming away with a Cinque Terre wine. I on the other hand won a cheap can of Danish Beer and a small bowl of apple sauce. There were many other prizes that I wish I could have won. I restrained myself from spending more of my euro and proceeded to watch the fireworks show that began at 10:30pm. It was an amazing show. The fireworks were shot into the water and explode before hitting the surface causing a great shower of flame and sparkles. Thousands gathered on the beach and old railway viaduct to watch the amazing show. It was a great conclusion to our trip in the Cinque Terre. Italians do know how to party or at least celebrate Patron Saint days!

Sunday, I awoke early and met with my friend Elizabeth, Kristin, Jessica and Debrah at 9:00am. We checked out and made our way to the train station. We joined a few other Gonzaga students as we boarded our train for Pisa. Here is where Elizabeth, Debrah and I experienced how the Italian train system can be confusing. We boarded the Intercity Plus train to Pisa, we bought our tickets from the automated ticket machine. Apparently, the tickets from machine were only for regional trains not for intercity plus trains. The conductor thankfully was kind and let us supplement our tickets for a few euros more instead of a massive 100 euro fine. Our small group made it to Pisa where we left the rest of our peers as they headed back home to Firenze for homework. We stayed and walked our way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Definitely a tourist trap we made it to the piazza and did touristy things such as taking goofy photos with the tower and walking through the city. Too expensive to climb the tower (15 euro) we visually pleased ourselves instead by looking for free. Pisa was fun and was well worth the short stop to see the famous tower.

I have taken so many photos that I wish I could post them all up. When I return I will be so happy to show them all to you. However, at the moment things are going soo good that I kind of wish I could stay longer.

Classes are going well. I have an animated Economics professor who has a thick Italian accent and loves to use his hands to describe the global economy. I have a sweet professoressa for Italiano and an interesting professor for Management and operations. He loves himself and seems to lecture only about his experience at Procter and Gamble and how he is trying to increase our learning here in Gonzaga in Florence. He loves teaching us online……I think he is just lazy. Besides my disappointing business classes I enjoy my other classes. Art is fun, yet at times frustrating. I am having a great time and am looking forward to all of the things I have yet to do and explore.

I have truly decided to stop worrying about money. Its too hard to write everything down on what I am spending on….mostly food and not enough on exploring or traveling. My trip to Spain was cancelled after the fares increased too much and my planned trip to Ireland also may be cancelled since I only have two weekends to do it in and the prices are somewhat unfriendly as well. Instead from Oct. 31 to November 5th my friend Elizabeth and I will be taking the Eurostar speed train to San Marino and Ravenna for a five night exploring on our own away from the crazy Gonzaga trip to Bosnia and Croatia. It is costing me a little bit more, however, I think its worth learning how to travel in a foreign country and trying to communicate with the locales, especially the ticket agents who don’t speak English!

This weekend we are off to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Naples, Island of Capri and Pompeii! We leave on Thursday at 4:00 pm.

Today I bought a small pocket AM/FM radio or if you are older a small pocket transistor radio. I love it! Italian music and talk shows are entertaining and I am able to understand bits and pieces.

Oh yea and also tomorrow Wednesday, I begin volunteering with my friend Stephanie at a soup kitchen for several hours during lunch. It should be fun and interesting to witness how Italy’s social welfare system works. In addition to volunteering I am meeting with my Italian conversation partner from the University of Florence. She seems like a well rounded individual who dances ballet, and jazz and knows Spanish and English fairly well. Hopefully this will be a good sign and indicator that she will really help improve my Italian.

Its getting late almost midnight. Tomorrow will be another fun and exciting day. Ciao for now!