Immediately following Lara’s departure, I set out on a day trip with Drew and Nicole to the nearby town of San Gimignano. We took a train to the nearby town of Poggibonsi, where we waited about an hour for a bus to continue on our journey. Luckily, vicino al (right near) the train/bus station in Poggibonsi, there was a café which offers 32 different gusti (flavors) of hot chocolate. I chose the banana hot chocolate, which was quite syrupy and rather delicious and flavorful. As soon as we arrived in San Gimignano, we headed for the highest point where we could look out at the hills in the distance. At this point, my camera tragically died. Drew and Nicole did take some good pictures, and I’ve selected a few for this post, below. We spent the rather chilly afternoon walking around the small, extremely low-key town and looking out at the incredible views. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant “off the beaten path” and had an authentic Italian experienced devoid of any English conversation ordering and consuming our pasta dishes. After walking along the city walls, Drew and I climbed up a tower. San Gimignano is a nice place to visit, but hardly a terribly exciting one, and it was an especially cold day. Regardless, we had a nice trip back, during which time I stopped once again at the 32 gusti hot chocolate place and once again ordered the banana hot chocolate. This time it was hardly as syrupy but still just as good, despite the fact that I burnt my mouth quite a bit in my excitement to drink it. The day wasn’t over once we got back to Florence. We joined forces with David, Ellie, and visiting NYU student Mitch and headed to check out House of Sizzle, a restaurant recommended by Florence for Fun along with that delicious Angels American Brunch I love so much. Feeling hungry and seeking a large amount of food, I bravely ordered the 700-gram steak (priced per 100 grams, 700 gram minimum). It was quite large, and also pretty good. Drew did help me out with 100 grams of it so that I didn’t eat my body weight in steak. That weekend day was a good instance of a packed day full of new experiences without the necessity of traveling far away and staying anywhere overnight.
32 gusti di cioccolato caldo! Gusto di banane!
A shot from a high point in San Gimignano
Another shot from a high point in San Gimignano
One more shot from a high point in San Gimignano
Talking with Drew; hills in the background
Drew and me exploring a tower!
700 grams of steak!!The following Thursday, I took part in two first-time experiences (that I have yet to repeat) in Florence. The OSL (Office of Student Life) organized a trip to go bowling at a (or rather, the) nearby alley. I took the bus for the first, and still as of now only, time. It was a fine experience, and after taking buses in a number of countries and cities this semester, I’m not actually as against them as I originally purported to be. The main thing for me is that I tend to get very bad headaches when I’m on buses, but I think that’s mostly relegated to stop-and-go city driving. Something to note about Italian, and for that matter European buses, is that you carry a ticket which you have to validate in order to show proof of payment for the specified ride. Most people I know who take the bus to campus daily carry around unvalidated tickets and risk 50 euro fines in order to avoid paying the 1,20 euro ticket price. I haven’t had to deal with this yet, since all of my bus and train experiences thus far have been properly validated (save for a train to Pisa, but I quickly validated mid-trip once I realized). The bowling alley itself, approximately a half hour ride away, was very much like an American bowling alley, and interestingly, cheaper than usual. 5 euro covers a game and shoe rental. The game was a lot of fun, and though I started out quite poorly, I was the first to manage a strike in my lane, and managed another strike and two spares before the end of the game. I ended up coming in second place, behind Laura’s impressive streak, which included the “turkey” of three strikes in a row. Banana gelato was also sold and consumed by me at the bowling alley, and its great taste went against the rule I’ve often heard about yellow banana gelato being far inferior to the whiter mixes. All in all, it was a good experience I wouldn’t have expected to have in Italy.
Validating my ticket on the bus for the first (and only) time!
Me, Nicole, and Laura at the bowling alley
Alicia, me, and Nicole
BowlingDue to my attempts to catch up with my blog after falling behind, the weekend at this point in the timeline was my trip to Venice. The next weekend I opted to stay in Florence for a few days before the following two weeks of intense inter-country travel (more on that in the next blog post). Drew, Nicole, and I divided each day into different day trips. Friday we went to Arezzo, a small town about an hour away from Florence. It’s famous as actor-director Roberto Benigni’s hometown and the setting for many of the scenes in Life is Beautiful, as well as bronze statues of the mythical chimera composed of body parts of three different animals. It was a calm day where we walked through the town and took lots of pictures, and had a nice and shockingly inexpensive meal (my veal was quite scrumptious). The best part of the day was our authentic Italian experience with a woman at an antique shop who spoke no English and interacted with us completely in Italian. The conversation was fully effective, and I think that’s one of my favorite things about being in Italy. It’s nice to speak the language, and it’s even better when people actually speak it back to you.
Arezzo
View from Arezzo
Another view from Arezzo
The famed Chimera
Nicole and MeSaturday our plans to go to Bologna were foiled by unpromising weather reports of heavy rain. Drew and Nicole actually stopped in Bologna on the way back from Venice the week before, only to find their visit dampened, quite literally, by inclement weather. We wasted no time in finding alternative plans, permitting several extra hours of sleep in the morning before beginning our day in Florence. Since I’ve been here the whole semester and still haven’t done some of the requisite touristy activities, I decided it might be good to visit the Accademia. Our handy Amici dei Musei (friends of museums) cards allowed us to skip the incredibly long line for the gallery and waltz right in (for free!) as if we had a reservation. We looked around at the paintings and of course stopped to see the famed David sculpture. Lara, in her visit several weeks earlier, was brave enough to sneak a few pictures, but as a straight-arrow rule-follower, I declined to do so. It was quite a sight though, and as many say, it’s much bigger than you might expect. Before and after the Accademia, we sought out cinnamon gelato, in the morning for Nicole and in the afternoon for Drew. In the evening, we dined at Amor del Vino, the fantastic restaurant in San Lorenzo that Lara and I had found a few weeks earlier. Most of the recent weekends I’ve spent traveling outside of Florence, but it’s clear that Florence does have a fair amount of activities to offer, and there are still things are have yet to do in this city.
Sunday morning, I made an enormous effort to eat at my beloved Angels American Brunch, and even managed to encourage Nicole to join me after I had already sat down. After a perfectly satisfying French toast meal, I met up with Laura and Nicole. We had planned out a two-and-a-half hour trip to Siena, coordinated with respect to hourly train times. The train part was easy, but once we got to Siena, we wandered uphill through a deserted town for a good forty-five minutes until we saw any hint of civilization. In Siena’s defense, it was Sunday, and Palm Sunday at that, and therefore most of the residents were in church when we arrived around 3pm. Once we found people, we found a lot of people. We walked through the streets and located the Duomo, where we went inside and took a look around. After that, we got gelato and made our way to the central piazza where we sat for a bit. I got my token melon and banana flavors, and decided to be adventurous and sample the albicocca (apricot) gelato. It wasn’t for me – far too strong, but Laura and Nicole liked it quite a bit. We took the “short way” back to the train station after our brief visit, and made it just in time for our train back to Florence. It was perfect for me, because I was able to go to La Ghiotta, the very inexpensive but terrific restaurant where I go every Sunday night. I’m proud to report that this past Sunday, the waiter was able to recall what I ordered before I even said a word. I’m making a mark on Italy. It’s great. Photos from Siena, the Duomo and the main piazza:
Since then, I’ve made it to two entirely different countries, but I’ll have to save that for future posts. I’m coming home in less than two weeks, so I’ll need to really get my act together and post about those in the coming week. I’m also headed to the Amalfi Coast for my last out-of-Florence weekend adventure. Several more blog posts coming, so check back frequently!
In other exciting news, I had another Florence first – I went to go see a movie! The Odeon theatre shows movies in English on some Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I went to go see The International with Clive Owen, which was dismally terrible. The Italian movie-going experience was interesting in that my 5 euro popcorn was great, the seats were comfortable, and the intermission at an exact moment right in the middle of a scene was abrupt but not an awful idea, in my opinion. My first “Movie with Abe” in Italy was quite successful, with five attendees plus myself, including Laura Krule, Nicole Haslett, Nicole Reddick, Drew, and Blair. Laura filmed a Minute with Abe outside the theatre, but tragically realized that she filmed it vertically rather than horizontally and it won’t be easily possible to rotate (if anyone knows how, let me know!). That Minute with Abe will become a lost artifact in time – maybe you’ll be able to buy it from eBay someday! I have two movies I’d like to try to see in the coming week, and once I’m back in the United States and finished with this blog, I’ll be returning to updating my movie and TV blogs regularly. I’m sure I’ll also have a lot of movies in the U.S. to catch up on!
For the moment though, I have less than two weeks left in Italy, and I’ll try to fit a lot in while updating you on my recent travels! Now is the time if you have any restaurant recommendations, and I’ll try to make it everywhere I can!
Celebrating belated March birthdays with cake: Laura, me, Ellie, and Zandi
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