Villa Ridi Impruneta

... museums and this one was expensive). While Steve was in the museum, I got separated from Ali and Kelsa, so I spent the time shopping here and there. We all met up, and decided all the girls were in total shopping mode, so Steve went off and did his own (manly) things while the girls shopped. That night, we just kinda chilled at the hostel.

The last day in Florence was beautiful. Clear skys, great temperatures, so we decided to go across the ...

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 ...

... 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

Finally we are at a hotel that has a working internet system. The last two nights we stayed at a hotel that was a bout 1 1/2 hours from Rome along the Apian way right by the Pope's summer home. It was in a pretty location but the rooms were...let's say rustic. It was amazing because there was one computer in the lobby that had an internet dial up system. When people were on the ...

... 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 ...

... chatting and turns out she and her husband are originally from Sweden...just south of Stockholm and of course knows where Sala is!!! :-) and so we chat chat and they have been living in Italy for a while now but her husband is getting ready to retire so they will head back to Sweden and what a wonderful thing i am doing etc. so we get to this part where i ask where we are and she says you did not come this way? no! she says oh well i have my car i can give you a ride back to city ...

... him. Finally, we headed back near the Duomo and had a tourist menu dinner in a restaurant called Antica Pizzeria Ristorante Nuti on Via Borgo. The dinner was not good (of course) but it did cost only 10 euros, so I'm not complaining. But not recommending the menu for anyone, either. By the way, I really became a fan of Leonardo da Vinci after the exhibition. Oh, to be a renaissence person, that's a noble goal...

... the rear of the statues because they would be mounted on a building and no one would see it. However, Michelangelo being the kind of perfectionist person he was, finished the rear. (I guess that took at least one of the three years that were needed to sculpt the piece.) As soon as the city fathers saw David, they were so taken with him, that they never put in on the building but instead mounted him pretty much at street level, and out from the building so ...

... now. Before long I moving on to the only English bookstore in town. The *******s haven't reduced the price on the Lance Armstrong biography. They said ciao, even though the can speak English. I went to the Festival di Gelati for one last Fragola e Limone, before heading to the Geletaria at the corner of Via della Scalla and the Piazza near Santa Maria Novella, for one last Frutti di Bosca e Caramel. Only 28 flavours to ...