Podere Etrusco Volterra

... I have to walk across town to get to class now. One good thing that came out of this, however, is that because we were so close to her apartment she decided to invite the entire class over for a tea party after class today. Not sure why or how she came up with this idea, but I thought it was really cute.

This was the first genuine Italian apartment inhabited by genuine Italians that I ...

... suits and the women sexy short dresses. There was a live band and huge dance floor with couches and seats all around. Everyone was out on the floor dancing but not your typical club dancing but waltzing, tango, and other ballroom dances. They all floated across the floor professionally flowing perfectly around in a uniformed circle. During fast modern songs they stood a few feet apart from eachother bouncing and bobbing their heads like at an 8th ...

... one of Italy’s greatest Gothic churches, and we could see why. Like the famous Duomo in Florence, Siena’s Duomo – completed by 1215 – was quite beautiful from the outside, containing a gorgeous red, white, and green marble façade. Inside, however, the Duomo was even more spectacular; it has an exquisite patterned marble floor that contains 56 different panels depicting historical and Biblical subjects!

If the ...

... un prix pour s'assoir a une table! ici c'etait 2 euro par personne! mais sa en valais la peine, les bruchettas., les gnocchis et l'osso buco etaient tous delicieux.

ensuite, la piazza del campo ou il y a un gros chateau avec une tour tres haute, pui une visite a la piazza du duomo pour y voir la seul eglise completement baroque ...

... kitchen.I went down later that eveing to chat to the people staying there and marvel at the double bed inthe kitchen.

Really quiet in the off saeason with a lot of places noteven bothering to open or open reduced hours.

Was sitting outside the only bar in RioMaggore and Jess who I shared a dorm room with in Salzburg walked past. Turns out she's staying in the same dodgy room as me again!

Was lucky there was a bunch of good people ...

... capital of the world. After trying on a few jackets, we found a very nice black leather one with a zipper that I was able to bargin down to about 110-not bad. Once again I had to wait for the sleeves to be adjusted because my arms are so short, but it was worth it. As I waited, I talked with the owner's wife about Florence and the leather craze here. She was telling me that leather is very important here and that everyone, even the ...

... the town square. They take it very seriously (going so far as to fight). Each contrata (neighborhood) has a specific flag, song and mascot. I picked the snails and Jason picked the turtles. It turns out that because their neighborhoods are right next to each other, they are bitter rivals! So, the actual race is tonight. We'll have to wait until then to see who wins. My snails were favored, but their horse was hurt in a ...

... sky ride at the Oakland zoo), or the donkeys-they took the same ticket! The Greek men who ran the place were stereotypically Greek men who were not very polite, yelled a lot and love to smack the donkeys with sticks. It was complete chaos! I am surprised that no one got hurt. Many of the donkeys turned around and started going back up the hill. When were at the end, he simply yelled "OFF" repeatedly. We walked the rest of the way down and got back on the tender back to the ship. That ...

... and pastries and all kinds of amazingness. We saw the Duomo, which was pretty neat, especially since we jumped a 30-minute line to see it. We went shopping, we ate, we saw statues and architecture. Jessica convinced me not to buy an awesome super euro-trashy jacket--only 100 Euros, a steal!--In the afternoon we saw Pontevecchio, an old bridge lined with nice and ...

... too. Plus, I didn't know that Brunelleschi's dome (built years later) was the first of it's kind to really have no internal support and be so large...I thought of Matthew during this of course, because most of us have seen his geodesic dome presentation by now!!!! I can't wait till next week's visit and Friday's seminar, and the best part is that most of them are free!! Matthew and I also signed up for a bunch of free social events with our advisor, like a thermal spa day in ...