Under the Tuscan Sun

  Piazza della Signora in front of Palazzo Vecchio

After spending a lovely weekend in Tuscany, seeing the Chianti wine region, and basically fending for myself in the rain (again) I returned home last Sunday too exhausted to write this blog. And while the weekend was wonderful, I am a bit late on filling everyone in on the excitement. 

Florence was, as you may expect, wonderful. I could totally live there. Almost all the quips of Naples that I loathe so much dont exist there. Now, this could be because of its touristy things, but even with those, the splendor, and beauty that Florence possesses, I could get over the crowds.  Plus, the general niceness of people was unexpected.

 View from the Uffitzi of the most famous bridge in Florence, Ponte Vecchio

We arrived early, and spend the good part of the first morning visiting the Uffitzi Gallery. I saw amazing paintings from Boccelli, Leondardo DaVinci, and just amazing pictures that are older than I could imagine. Seeing these just makes you know things in the world are larger than yourself, and there were people who had the same problems, even more than yours, long long ago, and that they found beauty in things you cant even think about. It was awesome. We decided that one museum was enough for us, as we spent about 4 hours just in the Uffitizi, including waiting time. but it was well worth it. The shot below is of the famous Duomo which we stayed very near in our hostel, but got this great shot from the roof of the museum.

View of the Duomo 

 Pinnochio

Santa Croce, where many people are buried

 Enjoying some pasta and Wine

As you can tell, it rained. The entire time we were there. And sometimes not just a little rain, a monsoon. Which, I guess, is appropriate since in Naples it was beautiful that weekend. Oh well, I didnt let it ruin my good time. However, it did make me cold and tired at times, which means I turned in early and didnt do much nightlife. Which is fine for me. Ive done it, Id much rather, even if it is just for this trip, be relaxed and still have a few euro in my pocket than go out and try to dress up, walk in heels on cobblestones, and fight the tourists for a 9 euro drink. No thanks. 

We were able to see a lot of things in our whirlwind trip; Santa Croce, which I believe is the most beautiful church I have ever seen from the outside, The Duomo, which was just amazing architecture, and I couldnt believe someone built that so long ago, and just little Florence streets where if I were to have the time I could relax with a coffee and just watch the world go by. It was definitely my kind of town.

A rainy day in Florence in front of the Duomo

Inside the Duomo

 The Duomo at Night

 Santa Maria Novella Cathedral

 On Piazza Michaelangelo, the best view of the city

We were able to go and see the most amazing view of the city. We walked up a giant hill, and were atop a place where tour buses sometimes park. My friend Dianne, who had been here in June, recommended this as well as some other people in the city did. It was worth the hike up. We sat down on a set of giant steps with some water and some chips, and and listened to a guy from Amsterdam play his guitar. It was picturesque. Definitely. 

On the last day we were in Tuscany, I suggested that we go on a guided tour of the countryside. It was awesome, and worth every penny. We started the day by going to a UNESCO heritage site ( another one) where it was a medieval town that still looked like a fortress. It was awesome. So beautiful, and the picture above was from the gate.

View of Tuscany, San  Gimignano

 Best Gellato Ive eaten!!!

Next, we traveled to Siena, which is the arch rival of Florence, and was built on three giant hills. They have a horse race twice every year here to show some part of their history. It is said to be created by two people who were expelled from Rome, and were raised by a she wolf. Now, Im not sure if any of that is actually true, but Siena was gorgeous. You felt like you were just a small peon between these huge buildings. I loved it. It was all so much the same, but different as well. There was medieval architecture, as well as gothic archetecture. Since being in Italy, I quite enjoy looking at the different buildings, they are just so different than being in the states, where the oldest buildings I have seen are in Boston, and cant even compare to this. 

Upon arrival into Siena, we got to enjoy lunch with some of our other tour travellers. And that was awesome. While the first part of the trip many of us didnt talk with each other, this opened us up to being able to share experiences. And let me say this here, while I know a lot of people, especially young people, look down on taking a day tour and say " oh no, thats not travelling. You have to find things yourself and only old people do tours" I very very heartily disagree. I have taken tours in several of the places Ive travelled, and let me say, they are awesome. You get to meet people who are taking the same adventure as you, some even more adventurous, you get to swap info, and you get to enjoy some sights that you may have never realized would be so amazing. I always try to see if I can do a day trip somewhere with a tour group. Theres my spiel, now Im done ranting. But we met two guys from Singapore, a girl from Canada, a family who just relocated to Paris, three lovely women from Leeds in the UK, and a girl travelling from Venezuela, along with our Brazilian bunk mate who palled around with us and a woman from Mexico. It was great fun, and am so glad that we did it. 

 Siena, Just another one of the UNESCO heritage cities in Italy

This was a tiny little medieval town, with a total of 58 people who live inside it. We were able to look a little bit in there, and take some nice pictures.  It was nice to just get a look at something that was so old.

Overall our weekend in Florence, was awesome. I wish I could go back on a beautiful, sunny day. 

As for the rest of the week, it was a bit crazy. We had our election night party, got to go to Rome for a day, which was amazing. I got to meet with some people from the UN and get a feel for what they do, and it was totally inspiring. I was happy and really interested in what they had to say. It made me feel like the choice I made to come here was good, at least for that .

This weekend has been a lazy weekend. While originally I was planning on going to Berlin, it just didnt work out. Im hoping to head there over Thanksgiving weekend to make it a little bit more affordable. But we will see!!!