Toscana Prato

... headed into the cemetery. It was actually very ornate, the headstones were huge (I remember one being a life size statue of 2 people dancing), and some were in rooms/buildings, I’m sure there is a proper word for them. We each broke off and strolled around separately, then convened together and started walking further up the road. We made it to the Piazza we had wanted to go to, took tons of pictures, and goofed off (I can’t express enough how ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent the morning taking an Italian exam!!! The afternoon was a little more fun, touring Palazzo Pitti with my Art History class.

It was a little strange spending it without everyone but my school put together a little gathering for us. A group of us dined on a typical American Thanksgiving at a local restaurant. We were served Butternut Squash soup with bread, Turkey ...

... photo and video exhibition on display which was really cool - need to look up the Patti Smith video he did and see if I can watch it in full.

Found a stall in the markets selling tripe on bread rolls with parsley and olive oil- super yumm!!! Found out later it's another Florence local specialty.

Went to Farmacia Sta Maria Novella which is a really cool epothicary/pharmacy that has been making lotions, potions, elixers and ...

... whatever we wanted from that room... This was at 3pm too, not like we arrived at some weird hour.
The "dorm" was just an apartment with 6 beds in 1 room, a kitchen and 4 beds in the room joined to the kitchen with no door between - check out the photos on facebook.
Glad we booked the cheaper 6 bed dorm and not the more expensive 4 bed!!!
Found out later that day they have another "dorm" downstairs with a 6 bed room and a double bed in ...

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

... onions tomatoes and garlic in a white wine sauce. They loved it, I guess I'm the chef everyone wants me to come over and cook. We drank wine and talked until 11 when our apt. has to be quiet. Day 6 (Tue) We finally woke up on time, Ti and I stopped at the closest café to our house I can't remember the name right now but I'll remember it after I go again. I had Italian life and culture today, not as jam packed with cool facts but a very nice ...

... was like no other we had seen in Venice! He made the most amazing insects, bugs, birds, and fish you have ever seen. All meticulously done so you would be fooled thinking they were real. His wife was at the studio and we talked to her for a long time and I asked her why there were so few artists in Venice. She said about 10 to 15 years ago the Chinese market flooded the islands with knock offs of the masks, books ...

... is 400 years old according to the very nice and helpful Brazilian man who works and lives here named Giuseppe. Then we headed out to dinner. We stopped and had a two course meal with Chianti, an Italian red wine. My two courses were real Italian macaroni and cheese and grilled chicken and roasted potatoes with rosemary and olive oil...my first meal here was fabulous. It is probably good that we are only in Italy through the week ...

... write the words sometimes. What he's yelling or why, I have no clue. They never explain! The most unusual painting Jen and I saw was some painting where a female Saint was trampling all over a fallen warrior. It was hilarious. The little blurb just said he was a 'fallen warrior at her feet' but she was totally standing on him. We wanted that print. It would have been randomly cool. And as a sidenote - Rick Steeves is ...

... negative about things Italian, the TV here is amazingly bad. There are about 25 channels (at my hotel at least), of which five are home shopping stations, two are music (which aren't too bad because they're mostly in English), and the rest seem to rotate between talent shows minus the talent, elaborate and glitzy game shows and the occasional news bulletin or football game. But the game shows are everywhere and seem to get more and more brainless as prime time approaches.