I never thought I'd make it to Cairo. It's always been a dream of mine to go to Egypt and although I don't have the time to do the long trips around Egypt, I'm so happy that I'm able to experience Cairo. It makes a huge difference of course that Zack has been studying here for 4 months. With his Arabic and knowledge of the city he makes for a pretty good tour guide/bodyguard, plus he's really good at stopping me before I get royally ripped off with just about every purchase.
After arriving in Cairo, Zack picked me up at the airport and we made our way over to the Marriott (thanks mom and dad). Following check in we headed out to my first Egyptian meal. I got some chicken thing (Zack told me it was Egyptian) and he got the rabbit version. Being a cheap student in Italy has really made me protein deprived so I was happy with the chicken (and of course the price). Accompanying our dishes we had lemon juice and peach sheesha...apparently all very Egyptian. I love my authenticity. After dinner Zack treated me to some delicious Egyptian desserts. They were amazing! All basically encased and drowned in honey. The whole night was definitely a nice change from Italian pasta, pizza and wine. We enjoyed the desserts over at Zack's Colgate roommate's apartment while I was introduced to all of Zack's friends. Then back to the hotel for an early turn-in.
Day 2:
As Zack got up at 6:15 for a long day of classes, I slept in until about 10. It was pretty joyous, but I did feel bad that Zack had to get up so early. After lounging around for awhile I decided to get up and go to the gym. It took m awhile to find the gym at the Marriott but I did get a chance to see how amazing the hotel really was. It's beautiful. Following my workout I went back to the hotel room took a long bath and ordered some soup for lunch. Just as I started eating the soup I heard a knock on the door and when I opened it I was thrilled to see Zack! He decided to come back early instead of wait and not get back until about 6:30. It was great. We ended up taking a long walk around Zamalek (the area in Cairo I'm staying in) and then we went to get food at Zack's favorite chicken place. For two 1/2 chickens along with salad, rice, bread and sauce we paid 40 Egyptian lbs, which is equivalent to a little less than 8 US dollars. In Italy I'd be lucky to get a side dish at a restaurant for that price. I love Egyptian lbs. After dinner we went to the apartment again to hang out with Zack's friends.
Day 3:
Today was my first full day in Egypt! Of course, being the lazy college students that we are, we didn't manage to make it out of the hotel until about 12. But nevertheless we had a pretty busy day. We jummped into a taxi and headed off to the 'Garbage City'. There's an Arabic name for the place which is much more appealing but it's also decieving. The place is really a city of garbage. Sound dirty? It was. Sound smelly? It was. Sound cool? Definitely was. Basically there is a community of people in Cairo that collect all the garbage and sort it out. The population is mostly Coptic Christian and they would feed the organic waste to all the pigs. Unfortunatently, as my tour guide Mr. Buzzell told me, the Egyptian government killed more than 300,000 pigs in fear that they would spread swine flu and now there are no more pigs to feed, so the garbage is really starting to collect. Anyways, it was a cool place to walk around and explore a bit. We saw a whole assortment of animals, dogs, goats, donkeys and even rats. We/Zack befriended an Egyptian guy who introduced him to all his friends who then proceeded to surround him. This eventually led to a photo shoot of Zack and his new found friends.
After spending some times with our/Zack's new friends we made our way out of the city and started walking towards the citadel. I don't know much about the citadel but it was beautiful and such a nice change from the churches of Italy. The mosques were gorgeous. I love Islamic architecture. Plus we got a nice panaromic view of the city with a glimpse of the pyramids rising int he background (see photos).
After the Citadel, it was about 4 and we walked to the Al-Azhar park (about 20 min away) to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. Right as the sun set all the minarets around the city blasted the call to prayer, each one trying to out-do the other. Once there was nothing left to see of the sunset we walked to Khan el-Khalili, the giant Cairo bazaar. Since we literally hadn't eaten all day we decided to grab a quick 'snack' at a food stall near the market. I got to try my first falafel (tammeh) in Egypt! I had plenty when I went to Israel but I was excited to try it in Egypt. The man who worked there was adorable. He though we was a genius photographer (he was pretty good) and insisted on taking photos of us. After refueling we ventured into the market. It was incredible! I didn't buy a single thing because I was way too overwhelmed with everything. I did have a minor obsession with finding some cheap gold which I quickly found out is non existant in Cairo. So we wandered and while we walked away empty handed we have every intention of going back.
Following our day of adventures we went back to the hotel to chill for awhile and when we started to get hungry again for dinner we wandered to the streets in search for koshery, the quintessential Egyptian street food. SO good. Scott kept on insisting that I try it and I finally did. I don't even think I could tell you what was in it. Some sort of combo of stuff. But it was good. Another chill night at the apartment until bed time...
Day 4:
Tuesday was another pretty late start for us. We originally planned on going to the Egyptian Museum and then the pyramids but when we realized that it was about 1 by the time we made it out of the hotel, we decided to hold off on the museum. As we were walking out of the hotel we met a driver/tour guide/egyptian cassanova (he apparently had 17 wives)who told us about his very cheap offer to take us to the pyramids and give us a tour. It seemed like a pretty good deal but we wanted to discuss it over lunch. We went to a pizza joint called Mason Thomas (I know, why get pizza in Cairo? But it's one of Zack's favorite and I was curious about Egyptian pizza). While eating our pizza we discussed the offer and decided that we didn't want to be dragged down by a tour guide, instead we hoped into a taxi towards the pyramids! While in the cab, the driver handed Zack his phone so he could talk to the 'manager' of camel/carriage/horse rides in Geiza. Zack politely said that we want to walk around the pyramids and we don't want a camel ride. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Geiza, the cab driver stopped the car and the guy from the phone jumped in the cab and they took us to the 'headquarters' for all the tours. After awkwardly sitting while this man tried to sell us his tour we kindly told him that we were poor students who simply want to walk around the pyramids. It was really really difficult to finally get away from him. By the time we did it was already 3:15! We had the cab driver drive us to entrance and after so altercation with the ticket guy (we bought 2 student tickets even though I left my student card at the hotel so the guy wouldn't let me in even though the ticket had been bought). Zack had to give the guy some bakshish to calm him down.
Finally we made it to the pyramids! They were INCREDIBLE. It's no wonder they're considered a wonder of the world. I really couldn't believe that I was standing there next to them. While we were walking around I foolishly took photos of the men on camels and got ushered into having Zack and I ride one. We both rode around for like two minutes, took some pictures and then poor Zack had to fight with the man because he was trying to rip us off. We walked away paying the guy 20 Egyptian lbs (about 4 US dollars) and I learned my lesson to not be lurred in the scams. At 4 o'clock the Tourism Police kick everyone out of the 'park' but since we had just gotten in there we decided that we would do our best to avoid getting kicked out and hopefully be able to see the sunset. We were extremely successful. We hid underneath a cliff by one of the pyrmaids as the sun was beginning to set. There was literally not a single other tourist out there. Everyone was gone. It was just me, Zack, some randoms on camels and horses and the tourist police...oh and of course the three great pyramids. Definitely one of the coolest experiences of my life. Eventually we decided it was time to head out of the park so we wandered back through the desert, shoes filled with sand. After the amazing Pyramids we went back to the hotel for downtime. Walking through the desert is tiring! For dinner we got Tammeh again and it was an early night for us because Zack had to be at school all day for exams. Alarm is set for 6am!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
è tutto finito
I'm currently writing from my hotel room in Cairo. The semester has finished, I've left Florence and have begun my Christmas break in Cairo/Singapore. I can't believe it's all over. The semester ended really quickly. Finals went well but it was definitely hard to focus. I was ready to leave by the last week and all I wanted was for finals to be over so I could enjoy the last week with my friends. That was a little hard to do, but I did my best. Saturday I spent running errands around Florence, going to the market to buy presents etc. We went to the Christmas market in Santa Croce and wandered around there. It was adorable! Had all the Christmas decorations every celebrating family could dream of. Of course there wasn't a single hannukah decoration but when is there ever? I think the market was suppose to be a copy of the famous German and Viennese Christmas market because there were a ton of food stalls with German/Viennese food...struedal, sausages, giant pretzels etc. There was also a delicious vino caldo stand which served small cups of hot spiced wine. So good! Throughout the last week I would wander over to the market for a breath of fresh air, it was SO cute.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday was spent almost solely on studying with a little packing and a lot of movie watching thrown in there. I managed to sufficiently procrastinate by watching Gone with the Wind (a 4 hour movie)and an entire season of a TV show my friend told me about called Modern Family. Don't worry parents and grandparents, I studied and got done what I needed to. Tuesday night I went to my first Italian apertivo! It's a genuis Italian inventio where you go to a bar, order a drink and get food along with the drink, all for 8 euros. If you find a good enough place you can basically make the apertivo your dinner, which is what my friends and I did.
Wednesday was my "hard" day. I woke up pretty early and went on a run (which ended up being my last run in Florence :( ), then studied a bit and went up to school for my Art History final. After the final I worked on my self portrait painting for my class, took my italian oral and then had my art critique. It all went pretty well! Wednesday night my friends and I went to La Giostra for our 2nd to last meal in Italy. As usual, it was AMAZING. Tons of proseco, wine, limoncello, pasta and appetizers. Delicious.
Thursday was the last day in Florence and we all had our Italian written exam to take. It was basically impossible to study for that test. I, and I'm pretty sure everyone else, was SO distracted with the idea that the semester was almost done. But finally we were all done! Of course we had an unbelievable amount to get done before everyone left the next day. Our aparments had to be cleaned and I had to finish packing! It was an extremely hectic last day. We had a lot of plans for what we wanted to do for the end but unfortunately we had to cut a bunch out because of time. Thursday night Shelly, Jenny and I ate our last meal in Florence at Aqua al Due, where I got the pasta taster with small plates of 5 types of pasta. I figured it'd be a perfect end to Italian food. The night was a late one as we tried to 'live it up' for the last night. I think I went to sleep at about 5am, only to get up briefly at 6 to say by to Jenny and then my alarm went off at 9 30. It was BRUTAL.
Friday morning was HECTIC. Last minute packing, cleaning and goodbyes. SO sad. Jenny left first, then Shelly, me, and last to leave was Nami. I was meeting Joci at the train station at about 11 15. When I finally got into the taxi I started to get really sad and I'd be lying if I said I didn't start to cry a tad. Leaving really is bittersweet. There's no other way to describe it. I was obviously SO excited to go to Cairo and see Zack and then to be in Singapore with him and my family, but I knew that I was going to miss Florence and, more importantly my friends. Every time I saw the Duomo through the buildings as I drove to the train station I started to cry a bit harder. That city is gorgeous. I can't imagine living in a more beautiful city. It's filled to the brim with history and art, which for someone like me, is heaven. I need to go back there when I'm older.
Joci and I, along with my 3 massive bags and my backpack got on the train to Rome where we stayed for the night. By the time we got to the hotel at the airport it was about 2 30. We wanted to go into the city but we either would've had to wait for the free shuttle leaving at 4 or figure out how to take the train from the airport. We choose the later and it was quite the experience. We got on the train that said: Roma Metroplitana (which we assumed meant the center of the city) but we had no clue where exactly we needed to get off. Eventually we noticed that the train was not getting any closer to the center of Rome, but instead was getting further and further away. Joci finally asked someone which direction we were heading in and it turned out that we were in fact going in the opposite direction we needed to go in. We got off at the next stop and figured out how to buy a ticket back to Rome, as well as made the effort to ask, in Italian, how we get to Rome. We made it to Rome at tjust about the same time the bus would've gotten us there. After about 1.5 hours of wandering around and window shopping we started making our way to the bus stop for the shuttle. We were both pretty hungry and wanted to buy some food to bring back to the hotel but we decided that it would be better to find out were the shuttle was going to pick us up and then find food nearby. That would have been a grand idea if only there had been any sort of food store within a 10 block radius of the bust stop. I'm pretty sure Joci and I managed to find THE only area in Italy without food. Score. So we just hopped on the bus and ended up getting the cheapest items on the room service menu at the hotel.
We got up pretty early to get to the airport. Joci had a 10 am flight and my flight wasn't until 1:30, but because my ubelievable amount of luggage, I went to the airport with Joci so she could help me. She was a lifesaver. After saying bye to Joci I hung around for about 2 hours until I was finally able to check into my flight. Lovely Italian style, I got to wait in a line for 45 min, check in and then wait in another line for 20 min before recieving my boarding pass (thanks to baggage fees). Waiting for my flight I embraced the last hour or so I had in Italy and then happily got on the plane on my way to Cairo...
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday was spent almost solely on studying with a little packing and a lot of movie watching thrown in there. I managed to sufficiently procrastinate by watching Gone with the Wind (a 4 hour movie)and an entire season of a TV show my friend told me about called Modern Family. Don't worry parents and grandparents, I studied and got done what I needed to. Tuesday night I went to my first Italian apertivo! It's a genuis Italian inventio where you go to a bar, order a drink and get food along with the drink, all for 8 euros. If you find a good enough place you can basically make the apertivo your dinner, which is what my friends and I did.
Wednesday was my "hard" day. I woke up pretty early and went on a run (which ended up being my last run in Florence :( ), then studied a bit and went up to school for my Art History final. After the final I worked on my self portrait painting for my class, took my italian oral and then had my art critique. It all went pretty well! Wednesday night my friends and I went to La Giostra for our 2nd to last meal in Italy. As usual, it was AMAZING. Tons of proseco, wine, limoncello, pasta and appetizers. Delicious.
Thursday was the last day in Florence and we all had our Italian written exam to take. It was basically impossible to study for that test. I, and I'm pretty sure everyone else, was SO distracted with the idea that the semester was almost done. But finally we were all done! Of course we had an unbelievable amount to get done before everyone left the next day. Our aparments had to be cleaned and I had to finish packing! It was an extremely hectic last day. We had a lot of plans for what we wanted to do for the end but unfortunately we had to cut a bunch out because of time. Thursday night Shelly, Jenny and I ate our last meal in Florence at Aqua al Due, where I got the pasta taster with small plates of 5 types of pasta. I figured it'd be a perfect end to Italian food. The night was a late one as we tried to 'live it up' for the last night. I think I went to sleep at about 5am, only to get up briefly at 6 to say by to Jenny and then my alarm went off at 9 30. It was BRUTAL.
Friday morning was HECTIC. Last minute packing, cleaning and goodbyes. SO sad. Jenny left first, then Shelly, me, and last to leave was Nami. I was meeting Joci at the train station at about 11 15. When I finally got into the taxi I started to get really sad and I'd be lying if I said I didn't start to cry a tad. Leaving really is bittersweet. There's no other way to describe it. I was obviously SO excited to go to Cairo and see Zack and then to be in Singapore with him and my family, but I knew that I was going to miss Florence and, more importantly my friends. Every time I saw the Duomo through the buildings as I drove to the train station I started to cry a bit harder. That city is gorgeous. I can't imagine living in a more beautiful city. It's filled to the brim with history and art, which for someone like me, is heaven. I need to go back there when I'm older.
Joci and I, along with my 3 massive bags and my backpack got on the train to Rome where we stayed for the night. By the time we got to the hotel at the airport it was about 2 30. We wanted to go into the city but we either would've had to wait for the free shuttle leaving at 4 or figure out how to take the train from the airport. We choose the later and it was quite the experience. We got on the train that said: Roma Metroplitana (which we assumed meant the center of the city) but we had no clue where exactly we needed to get off. Eventually we noticed that the train was not getting any closer to the center of Rome, but instead was getting further and further away. Joci finally asked someone which direction we were heading in and it turned out that we were in fact going in the opposite direction we needed to go in. We got off at the next stop and figured out how to buy a ticket back to Rome, as well as made the effort to ask, in Italian, how we get to Rome. We made it to Rome at tjust about the same time the bus would've gotten us there. After about 1.5 hours of wandering around and window shopping we started making our way to the bus stop for the shuttle. We were both pretty hungry and wanted to buy some food to bring back to the hotel but we decided that it would be better to find out were the shuttle was going to pick us up and then find food nearby. That would have been a grand idea if only there had been any sort of food store within a 10 block radius of the bust stop. I'm pretty sure Joci and I managed to find THE only area in Italy without food. Score. So we just hopped on the bus and ended up getting the cheapest items on the room service menu at the hotel.
We got up pretty early to get to the airport. Joci had a 10 am flight and my flight wasn't until 1:30, but because my ubelievable amount of luggage, I went to the airport with Joci so she could help me. She was a lifesaver. After saying bye to Joci I hung around for about 2 hours until I was finally able to check into my flight. Lovely Italian style, I got to wait in a line for 45 min, check in and then wait in another line for 20 min before recieving my boarding pass (thanks to baggage fees). Waiting for my flight I embraced the last hour or so I had in Italy and then happily got on the plane on my way to Cairo...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Beautiful Run
This will be short but I have to document it. I went for a run this morning along the Arno. It rained all day yesterday and so this morning was really cold. The weather in Italy is completely random. One second it's raining and the next it's sunny (reminds me a bit of home). So when I started my run around 8:30 it was cloudy but looked as though it would clear away. About 15-20 min in it started to rain. I ran across one of the bridges on the edge of the city center and started making my way back in, towards the Ponte Vecchio. About 5 min later I began to notice a rainbow forming directly in front of me. Slowly the rainbow became brighter and more colorful, and eventually I noticed that another one was forming directly above it. As I kept running, the cold rain falling in my face, both rainbows got bolder until I realized that they arched all the way across the river and seemed to be forming a bubble around the city of Florence. It was incredible. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The colors of the rainbow contrastly greatly with the dark grey clouds behind them. One end was on one side of the river while the other ended between the Duomo and Santa Croce. INCREDIBLE. Part of me wanted to stop and stare for as long as it lasted, but most of me wanted to just keep running. As stupid as it sounds, I thought I could get to the end and be standing in one of the rainbows. But we all know that's impossible. Duh. So as I kept running the rainbows got more and more beautiful and then in an instant, they disappeared. Just like that. I was pretty bummed that I didn't have a rainbow to keep me company for the rest of my run, but it was truely amazing as it lasted. I only kick myself because I don't go running with a camera...
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Graziegiving and Operation Exploration
So, as of today, November 29th, 2009, I have less than two weeks until my semester in Firenze is over. I can't believe it. It has honestly been a major whirlwind. I feel like it was just yesterday that I lugged my two gigantic suitcases up the three very steep, pitch black stairs of this apartment. Everything has been incredible here. The classes, the people, the travel, the culture. I have loved it all. When I leave Florence on December 11th, it's going to be extremely bittersweet (as most endings are). I'm spending the night in Rome with my friend Joci and then Saturday the 12th I have a flight to Cairo to visit Zack. So with exactly 13 days left before leaving Italy, I have 13 days more of experiencing Florence. I've already done a lot but clearly there is always more to do. It's definitely hard to be motivated to do work when all I want to do is wander around Florence. My friends and I have created quite the list of things to see and go to before we leave and we've started to check things off...
Thursday, was of course Thanksgiving, and what kind of Americans would we be without celebrating? Boy did we celebrate. Shelly and I cooked up quite the feast, all in about 4.5 hours. We made.......stove top turkey, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, green bean casserole, glazed vegetables, parmesean garlic mashed potatoes, italian foccacia stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, and threw in a store bought panetone for italian flair (a type of cake-ish christmas bread). The cooking before the feast was definitely stressful, and it definitely made me appreciate the 1/2 catered thanksgiving dinner I've been to the past couple years. But needless to say, we cooked and cooked and cooked and produced a fantastically delicious feast. I was very proud of myself and Shelly. We got lucky and used Shelly's sister's best friend's apartment (which had an oven!)and we had eleven people at the dinner. It was so much fun! We barely had any leftovers! It was a very successful thanksgiving, and even though I'm really sad I wasn't with my family, I'm glad I was forced to create my own feast.
The Friday after thanksgiving was detox day...ish. I sat in my room ALL DAY writting an Art History paper. I left my apartment once to get some water, but otherwise I was sitting on my bed, laptop on my lap and papers thrown everywhere. By dinner time my paper was done. I was SO productive! Felt lazy as hell, but it's hard to complain considering the amount of work I got done. Basically now, I have two tests and a quiz standing before me and the end of the semester. Beautiful.
Following my extremely productive Friday, Saturday was spent exploring Florence. Shelly and I met our friend Joci at 10:30 at San Marco, the church and cloister. I was suppose to go there for a class but thanks to Florence's stupid museum hours, I had to look up all the images online. It was really cool to be able to see everything in person rather than on Google images. San Marco was the home to, in my opinion, Florence's most evil tyrant: Savonarola. He was a fiery priest who, following the exile of the Medici family, began priesting death and damnation to anyone who was even the tinniest bit 'sinful'. He scared artists such as Botticelli to burn his own beautiful paintings in the middle of Piazza Signoria in what was known as the Bonfire of the Vanities. To make a long story short, he got too much power, started bashing the Pope and the church, so the Pope had him tourted and burned. Great Renaissance story...fascinating for me. So we got to see the church Savonarola preside over and spent most of his time. Pretty cool.
After San Marco we wandered the streets 'piazza hopping'. Usually every Saturday and Sunday there's a market in each of the piazzas, but of course the one Saturday we go looking for the markets, they don't exist. We still wandered around though and a very good time. For lunch we crossed a restaurant we wanted to try off our list, Cafe Za Za in the San Lorenzo market. Very good. Following lunch we did some more wandering, some shopping and then parted ways for some down time before dinner. I've been wanting to get some photos taken of the sunset in Florence so I ventured out at about 4:30 to try and do that. Of course it was a clear night so the sunset was virtually non-existant. Instead I ended up spening a long time in book store,wanting to buy half a dozen books to read, but walking out with one more on Renaissance Florence, a last hurrah.
For dinner we were able to check off another restuarant we wanted to try. We all split three small thinigs, topped off with a glass of wine. Delish. After dinner I went home, crawled into bed and spent two hours laughing and crying over Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias. I can't believe I'd never seen it before!
Sunday is work day again. I'm going to go to a market down the street that's suppose to be selling vintage jewelry. SO excited. 13 more days...
Thursday, was of course Thanksgiving, and what kind of Americans would we be without celebrating? Boy did we celebrate. Shelly and I cooked up quite the feast, all in about 4.5 hours. We made.......stove top turkey, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, green bean casserole, glazed vegetables, parmesean garlic mashed potatoes, italian foccacia stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, and threw in a store bought panetone for italian flair (a type of cake-ish christmas bread). The cooking before the feast was definitely stressful, and it definitely made me appreciate the 1/2 catered thanksgiving dinner I've been to the past couple years. But needless to say, we cooked and cooked and cooked and produced a fantastically delicious feast. I was very proud of myself and Shelly. We got lucky and used Shelly's sister's best friend's apartment (which had an oven!)and we had eleven people at the dinner. It was so much fun! We barely had any leftovers! It was a very successful thanksgiving, and even though I'm really sad I wasn't with my family, I'm glad I was forced to create my own feast.
The Friday after thanksgiving was detox day...ish. I sat in my room ALL DAY writting an Art History paper. I left my apartment once to get some water, but otherwise I was sitting on my bed, laptop on my lap and papers thrown everywhere. By dinner time my paper was done. I was SO productive! Felt lazy as hell, but it's hard to complain considering the amount of work I got done. Basically now, I have two tests and a quiz standing before me and the end of the semester. Beautiful.
Following my extremely productive Friday, Saturday was spent exploring Florence. Shelly and I met our friend Joci at 10:30 at San Marco, the church and cloister. I was suppose to go there for a class but thanks to Florence's stupid museum hours, I had to look up all the images online. It was really cool to be able to see everything in person rather than on Google images. San Marco was the home to, in my opinion, Florence's most evil tyrant: Savonarola. He was a fiery priest who, following the exile of the Medici family, began priesting death and damnation to anyone who was even the tinniest bit 'sinful'. He scared artists such as Botticelli to burn his own beautiful paintings in the middle of Piazza Signoria in what was known as the Bonfire of the Vanities. To make a long story short, he got too much power, started bashing the Pope and the church, so the Pope had him tourted and burned. Great Renaissance story...fascinating for me. So we got to see the church Savonarola preside over and spent most of his time. Pretty cool.
After San Marco we wandered the streets 'piazza hopping'. Usually every Saturday and Sunday there's a market in each of the piazzas, but of course the one Saturday we go looking for the markets, they don't exist. We still wandered around though and a very good time. For lunch we crossed a restaurant we wanted to try off our list, Cafe Za Za in the San Lorenzo market. Very good. Following lunch we did some more wandering, some shopping and then parted ways for some down time before dinner. I've been wanting to get some photos taken of the sunset in Florence so I ventured out at about 4:30 to try and do that. Of course it was a clear night so the sunset was virtually non-existant. Instead I ended up spening a long time in book store,wanting to buy half a dozen books to read, but walking out with one more on Renaissance Florence, a last hurrah.
For dinner we were able to check off another restuarant we wanted to try. We all split three small thinigs, topped off with a glass of wine. Delish. After dinner I went home, crawled into bed and spent two hours laughing and crying over Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias. I can't believe I'd never seen it before!
Sunday is work day again. I'm going to go to a market down the street that's suppose to be selling vintage jewelry. SO excited. 13 more days...
olive harvest and orvieto!
I'm late with my blogging...typical, but nevertheless, I must document everything I've done!
So last friday was the olive harvest! The NYU campus here in Florence, Villa La Pietra, has a ton of olive trees all in the middle 'Death Valley' area. November is the beginning of the olive harvest so for two euros each we were able to spend the day harvesting, with lunch and a oil tasting included in the price! Not too bad. Pretty cheap labor though. The actual harvesting was a lot of fun! It's easier than I expected, but after about 3 hours of picking olives off a tree, I was a bit bored. Basically all that was needed to harvest is a basket and the ability to pull a bunch of olives easily off the branches. We were expert harvesters, plowing down atleast a dozen trees in our alloted time. Finally at 1 they yelled to us: Pronto! (apparently the italian way to let us know that lunch is 'ready'. So we ran up the hill to the giant stone picnic table outside the art studio where lunch was being cooked on a coal fire. Very rustic. Lunch was ribollita (a Tuscan soup of bread and vegetables...delicious) accompanied by real garlic toast and sausages. All very delicious.
Following lunch was our oil tasting. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the tasting, but regardless I was suprised with how it went. I've done my fair share of wine tasting but olive oil tasting is a whole different experience. You're basically taking a shot of oil. Which, yes, was pretty disgusting. We only had to do three (olive oil, virgin olive oil and extravirigin olive oil) but it was still a tad nasty. The guy in charge, Nick, explained to us the olive oil process, the differences between the types and what flavors to expect. My favorite is the extravirgin oil, mildly piccante (spicy).
After lunch we were suppose to do two more hours of harvesting but my friends and I decided to bounce home since we were harvested out. Clearly we're not built to be Tuscan farmers....
The next day me and two other friends (shelly and michael) went to Orvieto! Orvieto is a little town in the south of Umbria, so it was about a two hour train ride from Florence. We left at about 9 20 and got there at about 11 30. After taking the cable-car-like-ride up to the town from the train station, we wandered around a bit and then stopped for lunch. The town is very old with a deep Etruscan history. The Duomo there, basically the main attraction, was incredible. The gothic facade contained beautiful mosaics and sculptural work. I actually had studied this church in AP Art History, I think, but I literally didn't remember anything about it. Pretty sad. Regardless, it was beautiful. I posted some photos of my trip, which obviously has pictures of the Duomo.
After the church we wandered the town and stumbled across a little museum with underground Etruscan dwellings. VERY cool. Small and short, but so cool to see the cellars and wells the Etruscan used 25 centuries ago. After the tombs we decided to head back to Florence and relax for the rest of the weekend. Sunday of course was a day for work.
Unfortunately Orvieto was my last trip outside of Florence for the semester. I decided that I didn't want to spend anymore time or money outside of Florence. For the rest of the semester I want to spend my time exploring parts of Florence I've never been before....
So last friday was the olive harvest! The NYU campus here in Florence, Villa La Pietra, has a ton of olive trees all in the middle 'Death Valley' area. November is the beginning of the olive harvest so for two euros each we were able to spend the day harvesting, with lunch and a oil tasting included in the price! Not too bad. Pretty cheap labor though. The actual harvesting was a lot of fun! It's easier than I expected, but after about 3 hours of picking olives off a tree, I was a bit bored. Basically all that was needed to harvest is a basket and the ability to pull a bunch of olives easily off the branches. We were expert harvesters, plowing down atleast a dozen trees in our alloted time. Finally at 1 they yelled to us: Pronto! (apparently the italian way to let us know that lunch is 'ready'. So we ran up the hill to the giant stone picnic table outside the art studio where lunch was being cooked on a coal fire. Very rustic. Lunch was ribollita (a Tuscan soup of bread and vegetables...delicious) accompanied by real garlic toast and sausages. All very delicious.
Following lunch was our oil tasting. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the tasting, but regardless I was suprised with how it went. I've done my fair share of wine tasting but olive oil tasting is a whole different experience. You're basically taking a shot of oil. Which, yes, was pretty disgusting. We only had to do three (olive oil, virgin olive oil and extravirigin olive oil) but it was still a tad nasty. The guy in charge, Nick, explained to us the olive oil process, the differences between the types and what flavors to expect. My favorite is the extravirgin oil, mildly piccante (spicy).
After lunch we were suppose to do two more hours of harvesting but my friends and I decided to bounce home since we were harvested out. Clearly we're not built to be Tuscan farmers....
The next day me and two other friends (shelly and michael) went to Orvieto! Orvieto is a little town in the south of Umbria, so it was about a two hour train ride from Florence. We left at about 9 20 and got there at about 11 30. After taking the cable-car-like-ride up to the town from the train station, we wandered around a bit and then stopped for lunch. The town is very old with a deep Etruscan history. The Duomo there, basically the main attraction, was incredible. The gothic facade contained beautiful mosaics and sculptural work. I actually had studied this church in AP Art History, I think, but I literally didn't remember anything about it. Pretty sad. Regardless, it was beautiful. I posted some photos of my trip, which obviously has pictures of the Duomo.
After the church we wandered the town and stumbled across a little museum with underground Etruscan dwellings. VERY cool. Small and short, but so cool to see the cellars and wells the Etruscan used 25 centuries ago. After the tombs we decided to head back to Florence and relax for the rest of the weekend. Sunday of course was a day for work.
Unfortunately Orvieto was my last trip outside of Florence for the semester. I decided that I didn't want to spend anymore time or money outside of Florence. For the rest of the semester I want to spend my time exploring parts of Florence I've never been before....
Sunday, November 15, 2009
okupazoine e lucca
Things are definitely slowing down a bit here. I'm not sure if has something to do with my complete lack of motivation to do schoolwork (don't worry mom & dad, i'm doing well) or the lack of big trips, but things feel slower. We're hitting the home strech of study abroad. There's a little over one month left here and like the end to anything, it's bittersweet. I'm clearly having the time of my life in Firenze. It's been an incredible experience, I've made some amazing friends and I've really discovered the depth of where my passion in art lies. This city is filled with art, history and culture and I love it. Of course, studying abroad doesn't come without missing people and things. Soon I'll be back to the beauty of the dollar (singapore or u.s., I don't care which one) and the comfort of my own room, however briefly. But for now, I have one more month to 'do florence' and make the very most out of my time. My roommates and I made a list of what we have left to do and see in Florence. It seems very dooable.
That being said, I didn't do very much this weekend. Friday we had a mandatory 'okupanzione' day. I wish I could explain to you what that meant, but I don't know. Basically what I got from it is that it's a culture day. I signed up to do jewelry making and graffiti. Both fun, neither very italian though. Graffiti was the closest to touching on fundamental part of Italian culture, being as graffiti is EVERYWHERE in Italy. However, we didn't get to touch a spray can, or graffiti a wall. Instead we painted a piece of cloth. I didn't feel nearly as illegal as I was hoping. We painted a giant wine bottle with: pace, amore e vino (peace, love and wine) written in the middle. Quite the graffiti statement. That was about it for Friday, like I said, nothing to exciting.
Saturday my roommates and I decided to go to Lucca for the day. We didn't know what to see or what to do in Lucca but we heard it was a cool place to check out. So we did. Getting a slow start, we arrived around lunch time, got lunch and then wandered. Typical of our luck, none of the churches were open so we ended up walking around this really cute antique fair. It was huge and had the coolest stuff! Unfortunately, everything that wasn't a piece of crap and was worth buying was way to expensive.
Of course, like basically every small Italian town, there was a chocolate festival. It wasn't huge but had some tasty goodies that we had no choice but to try. We headed back to Florence around 4 30 and were back for dinner and bed :)
That being said, I didn't do very much this weekend. Friday we had a mandatory 'okupanzione' day. I wish I could explain to you what that meant, but I don't know. Basically what I got from it is that it's a culture day. I signed up to do jewelry making and graffiti. Both fun, neither very italian though. Graffiti was the closest to touching on fundamental part of Italian culture, being as graffiti is EVERYWHERE in Italy. However, we didn't get to touch a spray can, or graffiti a wall. Instead we painted a piece of cloth. I didn't feel nearly as illegal as I was hoping. We painted a giant wine bottle with: pace, amore e vino (peace, love and wine) written in the middle. Quite the graffiti statement. That was about it for Friday, like I said, nothing to exciting.
Saturday my roommates and I decided to go to Lucca for the day. We didn't know what to see or what to do in Lucca but we heard it was a cool place to check out. So we did. Getting a slow start, we arrived around lunch time, got lunch and then wandered. Typical of our luck, none of the churches were open so we ended up walking around this really cute antique fair. It was huge and had the coolest stuff! Unfortunately, everything that wasn't a piece of crap and was worth buying was way to expensive.
Of course, like basically every small Italian town, there was a chocolate festival. It wasn't huge but had some tasty goodies that we had no choice but to try. We headed back to Florence around 4 30 and were back for dinner and bed :)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Venezia
Finally I went to Venice! I've been wanting to go for so long and with the semester coming to an end, it's about time I went. We left early friday morning and stayed for only one night, to save money. The entire experience was amazing! One of the coolest and most picturesque cities I've ever been to. You don't get what it's all about by just looking at pictures. You have to see it for yourself. And I did! Finally! The train ride was about 3 hours, which I of course slept through all of. When we got there we jumped right on a water bus to find our cute little Bed and Breakfast! I found a place in the San Polo area and for one night and such a good location it was perfect. After we wandered the streets and found the B&B we went to get some food. One pizza and one stupidly slow waiter later we were finally ready to go out and see the city. First stop: St. Mark's Square. Such a cool place. The buildings are like nothing you've ever seen before. Incredible. We went into St. Mark's Basilica and it was gorgeous. The entire ceiling is COVERED in gold mosaics from all different artistic periods: Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque. I wish it was brighter there so I could've gotten some good photos. It was incredible.
After the Basilica we walked along the water stopping in some free exhibits for the Venice Biennale. We wanted to go all the way to the Garden to see the main exhibit but once we made it over there it started to rain so we decided to skip out on the outdoors stuff and find something to do inside. Our solution: The Peggy Guggenheim museum! I'm so glad we ended up going there. It was filled with Picasso, Klee, Miro, Dali, Koonings, and so much more. I LOVED it, which says a lot coming from a Renaissance obsessor. Modern art is really growing on me...
After the Guggenheim we wandered back to the B&B and grabbed dinner. Back in our room by 8 and in bed by 8 30. Beautiful. Of course, we didn't actually go to sleep until 11, which is still pretty early.
We got up at around 8 and were quickly welcomed by a quaint breakfast, which we ate quickly so we could get out and be productive. And productive we were. First stop, and the one I was the most excited about: Murano! I LOVED it. I read a book this summer called the Glassblower of Murano and it made me so excited to see it all. We took the water bus over and right when we got there went to see a glass blowing demonstration. SO cool. He made a horse out of a single piece of glass. Awesome. We got some stuff at the store and then went to wander around Murano. I never thought I'd like glass so much but I found myself wanting to stop in every store to look at all the crazy glass art. I'll have to go back there when I have the means to afford all the stuff. I did walk away with some jewelry so I can add it to my collection.
After Murano we made another attempt to go to the Biennale exhibit at the Garden, only to veto the idea when we found out that the entry fee was 8 euros, with student discount.
With about 3.5 hours until we had to get on a train back to Florence we walked on the water again to San Marco to go to the Palazzo Ducale. The Palazzo Ducale was the palace of the Doges of Venice. Pretty high class guys but apparently barely had any power. The Palazzo was beautiful. The rooms were ornate and massive, covered in paintings, fabric and wood carved ceilings. We even got the chance to walk through one of the biggest rooms in Europe. No kidding. We were trying to figure out how much it would cost to rent out for an event...but seeing as we couldn't afford entry into the Biennale exhibit we probably wouldn't be able to afford the room. After going through the Doge's apartment and all the government rooms we went across the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) over to the prisons. Can't help but love prisons. When we left the Palazzo, the Piazza was completely flooded and there were small boardwalks set up for people to get across. Shelly and I had our rainboots on, in true Venetian fashion, and waded through part of the water, until we decided it was getting too deep. Venice is basically one gigantic puddle. After the Palazzo Ducale we stopped somewhere quickly for lunch and then made our way across the Grand Canal to find the Sucola di San Rocco. True to tradition, once we found the place, we decided against going in because of the entry fee. Instead we went to the train station and were able to get on a train back to Florence much earlier than we thought. While we were sad to leave Venice when it seemed like we had so much more to explore, we were definitely happy to get back to our cold, yet suprisingly cozy, apartment. We finished our night with sweatpants and watching Clueless. Perfect end to a great weekend.
After the Basilica we walked along the water stopping in some free exhibits for the Venice Biennale. We wanted to go all the way to the Garden to see the main exhibit but once we made it over there it started to rain so we decided to skip out on the outdoors stuff and find something to do inside. Our solution: The Peggy Guggenheim museum! I'm so glad we ended up going there. It was filled with Picasso, Klee, Miro, Dali, Koonings, and so much more. I LOVED it, which says a lot coming from a Renaissance obsessor. Modern art is really growing on me...
After the Guggenheim we wandered back to the B&B and grabbed dinner. Back in our room by 8 and in bed by 8 30. Beautiful. Of course, we didn't actually go to sleep until 11, which is still pretty early.
We got up at around 8 and were quickly welcomed by a quaint breakfast, which we ate quickly so we could get out and be productive. And productive we were. First stop, and the one I was the most excited about: Murano! I LOVED it. I read a book this summer called the Glassblower of Murano and it made me so excited to see it all. We took the water bus over and right when we got there went to see a glass blowing demonstration. SO cool. He made a horse out of a single piece of glass. Awesome. We got some stuff at the store and then went to wander around Murano. I never thought I'd like glass so much but I found myself wanting to stop in every store to look at all the crazy glass art. I'll have to go back there when I have the means to afford all the stuff. I did walk away with some jewelry so I can add it to my collection.
After Murano we made another attempt to go to the Biennale exhibit at the Garden, only to veto the idea when we found out that the entry fee was 8 euros, with student discount.
With about 3.5 hours until we had to get on a train back to Florence we walked on the water again to San Marco to go to the Palazzo Ducale. The Palazzo Ducale was the palace of the Doges of Venice. Pretty high class guys but apparently barely had any power. The Palazzo was beautiful. The rooms were ornate and massive, covered in paintings, fabric and wood carved ceilings. We even got the chance to walk through one of the biggest rooms in Europe. No kidding. We were trying to figure out how much it would cost to rent out for an event...but seeing as we couldn't afford entry into the Biennale exhibit we probably wouldn't be able to afford the room. After going through the Doge's apartment and all the government rooms we went across the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) over to the prisons. Can't help but love prisons. When we left the Palazzo, the Piazza was completely flooded and there were small boardwalks set up for people to get across. Shelly and I had our rainboots on, in true Venetian fashion, and waded through part of the water, until we decided it was getting too deep. Venice is basically one gigantic puddle. After the Palazzo Ducale we stopped somewhere quickly for lunch and then made our way across the Grand Canal to find the Sucola di San Rocco. True to tradition, once we found the place, we decided against going in because of the entry fee. Instead we went to the train station and were able to get on a train back to Florence much earlier than we thought. While we were sad to leave Venice when it seemed like we had so much more to explore, we were definitely happy to get back to our cold, yet suprisingly cozy, apartment. We finished our night with sweatpants and watching Clueless. Perfect end to a great weekend.
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