Casanova di Pescille San Gimignano

... mind up that I was going to wait until I got back, but I didn’t want to wait any longer. So Katy and I weaved our way through the booths looking at purses and going back to look at purses and being positive that I was getting the right one. I had seen several I liked in Venice, and I found them again when I got here, but nothing was sticking out (except, of course, a purse that was WAY too expensive). So I kept looking. FINALLY I saw one that I ...

... Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing, Potatoes, and Mixed Vegetables. For dessert pumpkin pie, ice cream, and apple cider! It was nice to spend the night with classmates and a few professors.

Friday night, we had yet another Thanksgiving with all of my friends. Everyone prepared their favorite dish and we spent the night telling stories of our families Thanksgivings.

I'll update you soon,

Siara

... life time on this trip already!
Climbed the tower in the main piazza, saw an enormously large pizza and had wild boar sausages for lunch which were a bit gamey but nice.
Went for drinks at Lochness bar and ended up drinking long islands as there wasn't much in the way of wine or beer there.

Hi Everyone!

After an exhausting weekend in Brussels, I was in for yet another treat with cooking classes in Florence. Organized by my school, a group of us met with a chef for some lessons.

We were taught how to prepare typical Tuscan cuisine including Ribollita and Stuffed zucchini-flowers.

Everything was delicious & I look forward to trying these recipes at home!

I'll update you soon,

Siara

... worry proves to be unfounded. Both in my personal experience and hearsay, the test last Friday seemed a lot easier than was anticipated, which was a breath of fresh air for me, as I found myself feeling more than a little unprepared for it. But I think all went well. Either way, it was a great lead-in to an even more wonderful weekend.

On Saturday we took our first field trip down to southern tuscany and visited the ancient towns of Volterra and San ...

... shop in town. At 1:30 it was closed so we continue into town to check out some shops and a few of the sights around town.

On the way we found the piazza Campo and the tower there. We also saw a few churches. We stumbled upon a photo shop that had a replacement battery for my camera. After additional exploration we made it back to the bike shop. We went inside to find an old shop with not allot of merchandise. We were looking for a water bottle for Kathie and a souvenir ...

... somewhat into near oblivion. Today was a special day to celebrate the cheeses of the region, with a pavilion set up in one of the piazzas where we could sample all different sorts of cheese. We were also lucky to witness a demonstration of flag throwing by a group of people in period costume. This was then followed by the cheese race, where each of the factories raced each other rolling a full circle of cheese down the cobblestoned road between bails of hay. TV cameras ...

... are two feet wide, everything is cobble stone, and there are bikes, vespas, and cars everywhere! And random chain "barriers." Well a guy on a normal bike almost ran into me, so I attempted to jump over a chain barrier...I managed to get my weight over my feet...so I kept trying to take those huge steps/lunges to catch myself. But the inevitable happened, I fell. My phone flew behind me, I attempted to break my fall with my hands and landed in a ...

... into two levels, with a beautiful pool and pretty garden. The restoration of the house is great. We've been on the move since we got here, with one of the highlights being watching the World Cup Finals in the piazza here, surrounded by hundreds of locals, tourists, and seven hundred year old buildings. The town went mad when Italy won on penalty kicks, with vespa riders tooting their horns and leading ...

... is full of backpackers anyway. It's costing about ?20 per night each, but it's a bed and is clean so it's fair for a city. I hope we don't see another hotel like the one we had in Marseille again, that was a seedy looking affair. Last night camping wasn't too bad, beautiful view from the campsite of some old rustic buildings, and what was presumably a church on a hill that the sun disappeared behind, but I ...