TravelStream™ news feed for member edevalla on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/edevalla en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:35:32 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1214829180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1214829180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1214829180/tpod.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:35:32 -0400 Study abroad in Florence.

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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Day 40 (M)     Today starts the last week that I get to spend in Italy.  I went into CAPA early in order to print of my paper.  Class today was at the Santa Felicita we looked at a mannerist work of art in a chapel it was very cool we learned how the whole space works with the painting to give it meaning.  The painting is called the entombment it is very cool it is non-naturalist and it appear that the women holding Christ's body are going to lower it out of the frame and on to the alter which would act like the Stone of Unction.  The whole space is a mini holy church of the Seplucure which is the church that housed Christ's tomb.  This works with the meaning of the Christ being entombed and then rising to heaven.  It is a very complicated painting would take for ever to explain and probably bore some people to tears so I will spare all of you.  After class Ti and I stopped in a panino shop right next to the church.  I got a great panino on schiaschata (sorry for spelling) it is a flat bread and I got a nice dark red ham and pecorino on mine it was very good.  For dinner we went over to the girl's house and we helped them cook some dinner it was good.  We just hung out with them for a while.Day 41 (T)       To day is the last day of class for Italian life and culture because Thursday is our exam.  We watched a movie about Albanian immigration to Italy not the greatest movie.  After class Ti and I set of to find something to eat we wondered pretty far and then out of no where we found a small shop that sold fruit and veggies and also made sandwiches I was very excited I saw that they had boar meat but they were out so I got salami Tuscan style with Gorgonzola cheese and Ti and I split a fig, not a whole lot of flavor but it was good.  I can't we went to a Middle Eastern restaurant for Dru it was ok but just got the cheapest thing because it was expensive.  After that we headed to the Lion's Fountain to watch the Italian match against France they have a good shot of advancing they need to win and Romania needs a tie or worse.  It was a very exciting game Italy played really well and they scored on a penalty kick that a French defender got a red card on.  Two Italian players picked a yellow in back to back games so they will miss the game against Spain.  One of the younger guys added a goal on a nicely designed free kick play it deflected off of Henry and to the opposite side that the goalie had gone.  The Italian guys behind us celebrated with us because he said we weren't like all the stupid American tourists that have no reason or idea what they are cheering and celebrating.  That was cool it made us feel at home and we made fun of the dumb tourists together.  On the way back to the apt. we stopped and got some gelato.Day 42 (W)     Last day of class in art history for class we went to the Medici crypts and the Medici chapel design and sculpted by Michelangelo.  The room remains unfinished Michelangelo escaped the rule of the tyrannical Medici Dukes and would never return to Florence.  His understudies would be responsible for placing the sculptures in the room even though not all of them were finished.  The chapel houses the ashes of the two Medici captains of the Catholic Church.  It is a mannerist room everything works together and an engaged viewer is needed for the meaning to come out.  This is why Pope Clements 7th, a Medici, passed a law that said a priest must be present at all times and give the four masses of the day at their correct times.  (.....)(look at class notes to finish).  After the Medici chapel he said the rest of class was optional because we had turned our finals in at the beginning of class he said that it was a lame duck lecture.  For those of us who stayed we went to the loggia Signoria to look at the rape of the Sabine Women and the Purseus.  (CLASS NOTES)  For lunch I went to the trepparia next to Dante's house to get my favorite panino, which is the panino con lesso, for the last time.  I will remember that sandwich and I plan on trying to make it, but it will not be as good as Giovanni's.  We didn't stay at CAPA long we had some cleaning to do before the apt. check.  Jerry had to study for his two finals tomorrow so Ti and I took Dru to a vegetarian apparativo in Piazza Santa Spirito.  They place was kinda funny blaring Busta from the 90's unedited.  Going to this place reminds me of a time when Mom took us to eat at some local place and there was a bunch of hippies, pretty much the same thing with a little PEDA thrown in there since it was vegetarian.  It was definitely an interesting experience but hey I'm not going to complain about all you can eat for 5 euro and we could have eaten and ran out because no one really cared I think they were all a little to high.  On the way back we finally did something that we wanted to do the whole time we sat on the triangle of the support of the bridge that faced the Pointe Vecchio.  We hung out here for about an hour then headed back we were excited to see the street festival.  When we crossed the main street back to our side of town the whole street was filled with people the whole mile back to the apt.  The festival was called Rock around the shop all the shops were open and some had sales and samples in the street.  We went to Luigi's and tried a local specialty beer it was ok it tasted like honey, way to sweet.  Those were the low lights of the festival listening to Italian people sing American rock & roll songs was hilarious.  This could have been one of the funniest things I have ever seen, people were dancing to the hand jive, rock around the clock, sweet home Chicago, and the YMCA.  The YMCA was the best because they didn't really know the dance and they were dressed like hippies.  For the dance they kinda got the first two letters correct but after that they just waved their arms back and forth.Day 43 (Th)     This is my last day at CAPA and we have the farewell dinner tonight.  For the final in my Italian life and culture class we only had to answer 3 essays questions it was very easy and I most likely got an A in the class.  We waited around for Jerry to finish up his final in Italian class.  After he was finished we went with him and his class to get gelato for the last time.  We walked home with one of the girls that lived in the same direction, we followed the Arno until we were at our street it was a great walk.  The other apartment of guys came over before our dinner and we played some card games and had a few drinks.  The dinner was very good once again my favorite was the pesto bowtie and liver spread.  Everyone went out afterwards to bars near by we even got our friend Saverio to come out for a little bit.Day 44 (F)       We spent most of the morning cleaning up the apartment.  Then we sat down and decided how we should spend our last day.  We decided on the Boboli Gardens.  It was very relaxing I sat under a tree in the shade and stared at the city below that I had called my home for the last 40 some days.  After about 2 hours by my-self Ti and Dru showed up and I showed them around the rest of the garden.  As we made our way back to the front they were setting up for a banquet for the Florentine fashion week that was coming to an end.  There were models and designers already showing up to look around the gardens.  I didn't care about them to much I was more interested in the antique cars that lined the outside of the amphitheater.  It was already 7 by this time so we headed out to have our last dinner as the meat locker.  We walked to Aqua al Due but they told us that we needed to have a reservation even though there website said no reservations needed.  So we started walking around trying to find something else.  We ended up finding something right next to CAPA.  We all (minus Dru) ordered the balsamic glazed steak and since it was a special occasion we ordered Brunello.  Brunello is a very expensive wine we paid 40 euro for the bottle.  It was well worth the money it was far better than anything else we have had.  After having an amazing dinner we walked around the city one last time together.Day 45-46 (SAT-SUN)           These two days would be very long.  Saturday we slept in and I woke up right before Jerry left for Rome to meet his parents.  Ti had gone to meet his friend at the train station.  So Dru and I went to COOP to get some food.  I spent my last 5 euro on a 2 foot baguette, a hunk of Asiago cheese, and two packs of salami.  This would be my food for the rest of my time in Italy.  We took a two hour nap so I would be alert all night at the airport.  Since I had no money Dru offered to let me take his taxi with him to the airport at 4:30.  So I went at that time I helped Dru carry all his luggage.  I waited with him, we had a hard time with getting his luggage to India because the rules are different.  He finally got it all sorted out I said good-bye and I was on my on for 12 hours until my plane took off.  I sat outside and finished my food through out the night and I played solitary games and read by Sherlock Holmes book.  The time went by some what quickly.  I meet some girl from Iowa State as we waited in line so I had someone to talk to.  Sitting at the gate I ran into 3 girls from my program and they gave me some Dramamine to help me sleep on my long flight.  The flight to Munich was pretty short they girl I had meet had to run through the airport because she had to get to her next flight it was pretty funny.  I made it through all the security and sat and watched all the planes take off.  I flew Lufthansa which I love hope the next time I go abroad I can fly with them again.  This trip I had my own TV.  After lunch I took both of my Dramamines and I felt my self get some what tired but I look like an animal shot with to low of a tranquilizer dose.  I couldn't fall asleep but I could barely move I finally fell asleep for about 2 hours.  Over all a great flight and I was finally back in the US.  It was weird to have everyone speaking English around me.  The flight to Indy was very bumpy with all the storms in the Midwest region.  I had made it home in one piece thank for taking the time to read my blog hope you all enjoyed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802340/tpod.html Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:20:09 -0400 Study abroad in Florence.

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Monterosso, Italian Riviera, Italy

Day 39 (Sun)   Jerry and I left Ti and Dru behind at the apt. because they were running behind and we didn't want to miss our train ride to cinque terre.  We made it in plenty of time the train was a little late getting to Florence which was good for Ti and Dru they showed up 5 minutes after the train was scheduled to leave they are lucky this is the first train we have been on that was not on time.  We got to the first city 2 ½ later on the way I forgot my book so I read Ti's about Anthony Bourdain's path to becoming a chef it is a very good book and kinda funny. (for an adult audience)  The first city was Riomaggiori it was raining when we got there.  We really didn't get to see much of the town because we headed Northwest on the trail.  The path wound around the cliffs over looking the sea it was beautiful.  The path took us to the next town which was Manarola one of the bigger towns.  We stopped for lunch I had swordfish spaghetti very good and very cheap only 6 euro.  After lunch we continued down the path at one spot they had a path that took you down to sea level and we watched the waves crash on the rocks Jerry and I considered going snorkeling here but we didn't want to be wet the rest of the trip.  As we got back on the main path a gate was closed by this time had stopped and the sun was coming out, but the rain made the path to dangerous.  We went back into Manarola and got on the train and took it to the third town Corniglio.  Here the path went up from the train station to the town it was funny to see people slowing down as they got tired it was a long climb.  Corniglio was a nice little town we had some great views of it as we left it.  Here the path went back it the mountains for a while along olive groves and fruit plots.  Every once and a while there was a place to stop that you could see the sea with a great view.  On the way to the next town we struck conversation with a lady from Melbourne, Australia.  She had been in Florence just a few days before and I got to use some of what I learned in art history to tell her some things.   Jerry and I took a picture for her at the next town Vernazza and she took one of us.  The first view of the town was probably one of the best views of a town that we got, not like all the others were bad but this one stands out.  From there we headed to the last town Monterosso to get in the Sea.  The path between these two towns was great it got kinda narrow in some spots.  We ran into some people that were wearing Purdue stuff so we stopped and talked to them they had kids that just graduated.  Right before the last town we had to walk next to a lemon plot and there was a guy with a lemonade stand.  We stopped and got the freshest lemonade ever right of the tree.  We finally got the chance to get into the water so Jerry and I armed with snorkels jumped in and right away there were some little fish in very shallow water so we watched them for a while.  A little further out we found a school of fish were the smallest might have been about 8 inches and the biggest around 14 inches it was fun to follow them around.  The water was murky because of the sand beach so you couldn't see down that far.  We got out to a point were we could touch about 10 ft deep or so and it wasn't clear but the color of the floor change so we took a deep breath and dove down.  It was a rock bottom with sea grass growing out of it we only saw one fish when we dove.  Most of the fish we saw had strips down the side and a black dot right before the tail but I have zero idea what it is.  After we enjoyed or snorkeling for a couple of hours we needed to get dinner and get on a train.  I had a very good dinner I got the fresh noodles with lobster sauce.  It came in an enormous thing with the lobster just cut into six sections with the legs and claws.  Before the dinners came out Ti and I shared anchovies (fresh) very good a lot better than how you get them in the states.  They were served headless and butterflied with a lemon olive oil over it very good.  We bought cremi di melone, a melon cream liquor.  We headed to the station because we didn't have tickets home yet.  No one was working so we just used the machine and got ticket for La Spezia where would try to get tickets home.  When we got there we couldn't figure out what we needed to do because there was no ticket man and we had to use the machines again.  We ran into some girls from Montreal that needed to get back to Florence as well because they were studying there too.  They found a train ticket checker he told us to get on a train for Pisa and he would sell us tickets on the train.  He hung out with the girls from Montreal on the way back they were basically trilingual.  They helped out a lot.  The ticket man hadn't made it to us yet and we heard the speaker say that we were at Viareggio and that there was a train for Florence at binario 1 so we got off and didn't have to pay and that was good because we were on the fast train.  Then in Viareggio we got on the train again and waited for the ticket man to come around which he never did so the ride home only cost us 1 euro for the train to La Spezia.  We talked to the girls for little longer then said thanks and started to walk home.  As we passed the bus stop we saw the bus that goes to our apt. which isn't suppose to be running on Sunday but we didn't ask question we just got on and got home quickly.  Ti and Dru started to work on their paper that is due tomorrow; I have already finished mine so I went to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213802220/tpod.html Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:18:08 -0400 Study abroad in Florence.

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Cinque Terre, Italian Riviera, Italy

Day 39 (Sun)   Jerry and I left Ti and Dru behind at the apt. because they were running behind and we didn't want to miss our train ride to cinque terre.  We made it in plenty of time the train was a little late getting to Florence which was good for Ti and Dru they showed up 5 minutes after the train was scheduled to leave they are lucky this is the first train we have been on that was not on time.  We got to the first city 2 ½ later on the way I forgot my book so I read Ti's about Anthony Bourdain's path to becoming a chef it is a very good book and kinda funny. (for an adult audience)  The first city was Riomaggiori it was raining when we got there.  We really didn't get to see much of the town because we headed Northwest on the trail.  The path wound around the cliffs over looking the sea it was beautiful.  The path took us to the next town which was Manarola one of the bigger towns.  We stopped for lunch I had swordfish spaghetti very good and very cheap only 6 euro.  After lunch we continued down the path at one spot they had a path that took you down to sea level and we watched the waves crash on the rocks Jerry and I considered going snorkeling here but we didn't want to be wet the rest of the trip.  As we got back on the main path a gate was closed by this time had stopped and the sun was coming out, but the rain made the path to dangerous.  We went back into Manarola and got on the train and took it to the third town Corniglio.  Here the path went up from the train station to the town it was funny to see people slowing down as they got tired it was a long climb.  Corniglio was a nice little town we had some great views of it as we left it.  Here the path went back it the mountains for a while along olive groves and fruit plots.  Every once and a while there was a place to stop that you could see the sea with a great view.  On the way to the next town we struck conversation with a lady from Melbourne, Australia.  She had been in Florence just a few days before and I got to use some of what I learned in art history to tell her some things.   Jerry and I took a picture for her at the next town Vernazza and she took one of us.  The first view of the town was probably one of the best views of a town that we got, not like all the others were bad but this one stands out.  From there we headed to the last town Monterosso to get in the Sea.  The path between these two towns was great it got kinda narrow in some spots.  We ran into some people that were wearing Purdue stuff so we stopped and talked to them they had kids that just graduated.  Right before the last town we had to walk next to a lemon plot and there was a guy with a lemonade stand.  We stopped and got the freshest lemonade ever right of the tree.  We finally got the chance to get into the water so Jerry and I armed with snorkels jumped in and right away there were some little fish in very shallow water so we watched them for a while.  A little further out we found a school of fish were the smallest might have been about 8 inches and the biggest around 14 inches it was fun to follow them around.  The water was murky because of the sand beach so you couldn't see down that far.  We got out to a point were we could touch about 10 ft deep or so and it wasn't clear but the color of the floor change so we took a deep breath and dove down.  It was a rock bottom with sea grass growing out of it we only saw one fish when we dove.  Most of the fish we saw had strips down the side and a black dot right before the tail but I have zero idea what it is.  After we enjoyed or snorkeling for a couple of hours we needed to get dinner and get on a train.  I had a very good dinner I got the fresh noodles with lobster sauce.  It came in an enormous thing with the lobster just cut into six sections with the legs and claws.  Before the dinners came out Ti and I shared anchovies (fresh) very good a lot better than how you get them in the states.  They were served headless and butterflied with a lemon olive oil over it very good.  We bought cremi di melone, a melon cream liquor.  We headed to the station because we didn't have tickets home yet.  No one was working so we just used the machine and got ticket for La Spezia where would try to get tickets home.  When we got there we couldn't figure out what we needed to do because there was no ticket man and we had to use the machines again.  We ran into some girls from Montreal that needed to get back to Florence as well because they were studying there too.  They found a train ticket checker he told us to get on a train for Pisa and he would sell us tickets on the train.  He hung out with the girls from Montreal on the way back they were basically trilingual.  They helped out a lot.  The ticket man hadn't made it to us yet and we heard the speaker say that we were at Viareggio and that there was a train for Florence at binario 1 so we got off and didn't have to pay and that was good because we were on the fast train.  Then in Viareggio we got on the train again and waited for the ticket man to come around which he never did so the ride home only cost us 1 euro for the train to La Spezia.  We talked to the girls for little longer then said thanks and started to walk home.  As we passed the bus stop we saw the bus that goes to our apt. which isn't suppose to be running on Sunday but we didn't ask question we just got on and got home quickly.  Ti and Dru started to work on their paper that is due tomorrow; I have already finished mine so I went to bed.
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Florence, Italy

Day 35 (W)     Io ho svegliato tarde cosi no coffe e cornetto per me stamattina.  Today we are meeting on the steps of the Duomo before we get to go see Mike's famous David, I'm sure the rest of today's reflections will be filled with everything I take away from today's lecture.  The David is simply amazing, turning the corner and staring down the 17 foot David was like Christmas day when you were a little kid.  The corridor was lined with 6 unfinished works that were suppose to be on the French Cardinals that had him do the Pieta, but after the cardinals death other Cardinals cut the payments so there had to be reductions.  We learned about all the middle steps of making a sculpture and how it was a legal process and Mike destroyed most of the middle works.  The David was originally for the Duomo and the artist was Augusto, but when the huge slab of marble made its way to Florence Augusto messed up and exposed a huge imperfection in the stone.  Augusto ran way from Florence, and the million dollar block of marble sat collection dust in the offices of the Wool Guild.  Until the republic was reinstituted and the new president brought Mike back from Rome and convinced the guild to give Mike the marble block.  Mike worked for two years before he started to see that his work was not going to be fully appreciated on the roof of the Duomo.  He laid the idea before the president and said that this should go next to the Palazzo Vecchio as a symbol of the new republic.  The city held a meeting and after the meeting the location was changed to the left side of the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio.  Mike had a Neoplatonic view of the arts and sculpting most sculptors of the time sculpted different sections separately and then stuck them together with mortar.  Mike believed this was not art and that it was not divine.  The Neoplatonic viewpoint came from the idea of the creation of the world.  Plato believed that the "Great Artisan" reached it to a gray mass and started removing all the unneeded things and then out of the center he pulled the earth and man's spirit.  So the "Great Artisan" created by taking away not adding so Mike thought that the best type of art was sculpting ex una lapide, which is the sculpting of a piece from one block of marble, creating by taking away.  For this he viewed him-self some what divine.  So back to the David he got the same piece of marble that had been messed up years before.  It took a total of around 4 years to complete.  The statue was huge and it took a week being pulled by Oxen to be moved from the Wool Guild's offices to the Piazza Signoria under armed guard.  Medici supporters sent out their teenagers to try and destroy the statue and the symbol of the new republic, but it reached its new home safely.  The statue has two main view points each with a different meaning.  In its original position, as you approach from the front the message of the statue is its strength and power.  The muscles are perfect there is a lot of strength in his right arm and hand hanging straight down.  The veins in his right hand are bulging out but are also anatomically correct.  Mike supposedly made a deal with some local friars to perform dissections on the human body for data on this.  You can only see the right side of his face and it too looks strong and confident.  In the old days as you would move to enter the Palazzo Vecchio right as you get near the door and you turn and look up at the huge figure you would see something completely different.  You can now see the whole face and from the side profile you can't really see all the bulging muscles and the strong right arm and hand.  This takes on the meaning of thought, calculation, and contemplation.  This view shows David calculating and judging the distance to Goliath, this is his thinking side.  Mike did this to show the two sides of the human life the strength and the thinking sides.  Most people look at him and try to find flaws which I find stupid why can't people just enjoy a near perfect piece of art that most people will deem the best sculpture ever.  If you do go see it there is one thing you will notice his hands are very large and look very strong.  This was originally thought to have been from original foreshortening because it was going up on the back of the Duomo.  (Foreshortening is when and artist will change the dimensions of the body to make it look normal once placed up higher it is kinda cool).  Recently someone has combated that theory saying, "Mike found out that the statue wasn't going up on the Duomo 2 years before he finished it.  Don't you think the world's greatest sculpture might have been able to change the hands to fit its new location?"  This guy was a linguist not any sort of art historian, so he attacked it from a different angle.  He took the name David from old Hebrew and translated it into Latin, "mani forzi" this means strong hands, and so this could be the reason.  The statue is just magnificent, one thing I almost forgot the David has an abnormally wide stance because Mike had to work around the huge vein in the stone that Augosto had exposed.  The rest of the day I took some time to wonder around the city I really like this place and I wish I didn't have to leave.  For lunch Ti and I went to get lamprodoto from a small little place right next to Dante's house (the fake one) this was the best lamprodoto that I have had very good not to chewy, not to salty, but just right.  The rest of the night I studied for my quiz tomorrow.Day 36 (Th)     I went into CAPA early to study for my quiz but I spent most of my time looking at espn.  Penn State looks like they are going to have a good recruiting class for '09.  The quiz was fairly easy and it took me no time at all so I went with Jerry to get lunch because I had about an hour to get lunch before class started again.  We went to a little pizza place that was tucked away in the back streets we both got a stuffed flat bread, it tasted like a ham and cheese hot pocket but better and it was huge and only cost 2 euro.  When class resumed we finished up the food topic.  After school I headed back to the apt. with the guys Jerry and I bought snorkels.  We got ready and headed to a Mexican restaurant for Dru so he could get something spicy.  It wasn't bad but once again I didn't come to Italy to eat Mexican food.  I can't remember what we did the rest of the day but we went out to the bars where our friend works.Day 37 (F)       We went with Jerry to see the David and Ti wrote down ideas for his paper.  We spent 2 hours in the academia which about an hour and a half was spent in front of the David.  I love it, it is just amazing.  We then walked over to the train station to get tickets for our trip to cinque terre on Sunday.  When we got there we ran into Jerry's Italian professor and his wife, we have all gotten to know him he is very nice we talked to him for about thirty minutes.  Then we decided that the line was to long to wait for tickets so we tried to get tickets for the calcio storico game on Saturday only two problems first the ticket office was closed and second they had a sign that said that the game was sold out.  So we headed back to armadietto di carne to get ready for people to come over and to go see the Italian soccer game hopefully they can win this game.  We went to the aperativo at Kisch again I had a drink that my mom would love, Tiger's Milk, it had milk, chocolate powder, Kalhua, and Bailey's Irish Cream.  We watched the game at the Lion's fountain, at half it was all tied up.  In the second half the score was 1-1 when there was a penalty in the box and Romania got a penalty kick.  Mutu the player that just left Fiorentina for more money was the one that took the kick so everyone hated him, Buffon blocked the kick to keep it tied and the place loved and the game ended 1-1 so for any chance of advancing Italy needs France to lose to Holland.  Later that night Holland beat France by three just like Italy so they both have one point.  So on Tuesday Italy needs to beat France and needs Holland to tie or beat Romania.Day 38 (S)       We woke up very late and watched 5 South Park's episodes on Jerry's computer.  After that Jerry went to the Arno River to play his guitar.  Ti napped and I worked on my ekphrasis for class.  For my paper I chose to write about Michelangelo's Bacchus.  At 3 we meet Jerry over at the train ticket office to buy tickets for the train trip to Cinque Terre.  I forgot Dru want with some of the girls to Venice.  After that we tried to watch the calcio storico game from the street but you couldn't see anything and it was almost over we did get to see a little of the parade.  Then Ti wanted to go get gelato at the best place in Florence according to his book.  Funny enough when we got there we have already been there we just forgot about it, I got strawberry, raspberry, and coconut very good.  After that we tried to find the theater where our friend Dan from Demis was having his play.  It was going to be great put we couldn't find it.  So we just went to dinner at the Japanese noodle place.  On the way back home we stopped at a bookstore that had books in English.  No that is not a typo I went to a bookstore.  I got a book with 10 cases of Sherlock Holmes, for the trip tomorrow and my flights home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213187280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213187280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1213187280/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:30:21 -0400 Study abroad in Florence.

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Florence, Italy

Day 33 (M)     Today started like most school days I woke up took a shower and headed to Demis for some caffe.  For class we went to a museum that is dedicated to Michelangelo, it is in a house that he once lived in.  The two pieces of art that we looked at are his earliest surviving pieces.  The earliest is lost to time but is documented in Michelangelo's journal, it was a recreation of a faun's face in the garden of Lorenzo the Medici (he was there because he was a neoplation scholar) Lorenzo after meeting him invited him to come and live in the palace with his sons and receive the same education.  So the earliest pieces were probably commissioned by Lorenzo and he would have received guidance from the older scholars.  The first piece was done when he was only 15 years old I wish I was that talented.  It is his Madonna and the stairs, it would have been a  pray piece for someone to pray to.  It is one of this only works in relief.  The piece takes the shape of an ancient grave marker, it pulls from main different things including old Etruscan art.  The Madonna and baby are depicted in a very clever way it obviously shows the birth of Christ but the way the baby is with grown up muscles and in pieta pose also gives it the meaning of Christ's death.  These two figures are just in front of the stairs showing that through Christ you can reach the stairway to heaven.  The next is a semi relief sculpture but he does it in a way that shows that he will forever give up relief and focus on the 3d view of the human body: he is only 17 when he make this.  This piece resembles a sculpture on ancient sarcophaguses and depicts the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs.  It is a great story you should look it up and read it.  The figures are nudes to make this piece timeless and it shows the inner struggle between the civilized side of the mind and the wild animal instincts in the mind this concept is important for another work he does when is around 17 or 18.  He next sculpture is in the Bargello museum but when our class walked there it was closed for some reason so we went back to the classroom to look at his Bacchus the Roman god of wine.  There is a long story that leads into it; the basic of the story are Michelangelo was poor and someone helped commit art fraud, but the seller stole the money so Mike exposed him self but the buyer liked so much that he commissioned him to back a Bacchus.  Mike read that art of the gods must depict what they were the God of and also the effect of that thing.  So Mike's Bacchus is done in a very cool way called dynamic revelation, this is when the sculpture slowly reveals its meaning as you move around it.  Mike's Bacchus appears to be drunk from the wine that he is the God of, and he appears to be stumbling.  It is a very cool effect, but the guy that commissioned it hated it, but the agent that stole the money from the first transaction bought to save face in front of Mike.  He displayed it in his garden were a French cardinal saw it and loved and then commissioned Mike to make the famous Pieta that is in the Vatican City.  For lunch we went to a sit down restaurant just around the corner from CAPA, it is the same place that I got pasta with hare.  This time I got risotto (which is a northern dish) di mare.  It didn't saw what type of seafood was in it so I was excited to get it.  When it came, it had claims, mussels, and octopus tips in it.  Wow octopus was great it was even better than most fish.  We returned to CAPA and waited for Jerry to get out of class.  After school we ran home for a bit DRU and I ran to get some white wine to make our stewed rabbit for class on Tuesday.  Ti went to a public phone to use his phone card to call his family.  After we got all of that out of the way we went to a restaurant slash bar for aperativo.  Aperativo is similar to American happy hour but so much better, it cost 7.50 euro for a cocktail and all you can eat antipasti buffet.  The aperativo was open until 11 which is rare to find one that is open that late but we couldn't take advantage of that because we wanted to watch the Italian soccer game.  Earlier in the day my art teach Frank told us where the best place was to watch the game in a little park close to us were they project the game on to a screen.  If you didn't know Italy lost their captain and best defender to an Achilles ankle problem.  The Italian defense suffered, from what I could make out of someone's yelling "they played like school boy *****es."  They still have a chance to advance because Romania tied France.Day 34(T)        This morning started with a trip to the market to get fresh ingredients for our coniglio cacciatore which means rabbit hunter's style.  It took about an hour and 10 minutes to make which left us with just enough time to get to class.  Class also served as our lunch because we got to try everyone's food.  Most of the food was very good some not so great other than ours I would say that the lasagna was the best Italian lasagna is much different from what we eat in the states and much better.  Class got out about an hour early so I had tons of time to just mess around on the internet.  After Jerry gone done with class I headed back to the apt to change, on the way back Jerry and I stopped to pick up snorkels for our trip to cinque terre this Friday.   For dinner we tried a Mexican restaurant because Dru doesn't like much of the food because he is accustom to a ton of spices on his food and Tuscan cuisine doesn't have a lot of that.  Even at home he puts all the spices we have including cinnamon, lemon zest, and pesto on everything.  So we went somewhere so he could get something spicy.  After that I headed back to the apt to shave and we were going to go back out but my eyes were bothering me, I think it is from all the people that smoke here.
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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Day 31 (Sat)    We walked to Demis in the morning to get some breakfast we talked to our friend Dan, he is going to acting school and he has a performance next Saturday which we might go see.  Well we forgot that we didn't pay before hand like normal because no one was at the register.  Well we walked out and the nice lady that works there came out and asked us to pay it was pretty funny, but you had to be there.  Jerry and I of course got ready way before Ti and Dru, Jerry and I got to town at 10 and we were going to meet them at 12 at the Duomo.  Jerry and I did some shopping and we both got the same Firenze jacket, it is blue with Firenze written in red.  We also went into universal sport to look for a snorkel.  Here in Europe they have a different style of the Nike shox they are for causal wear and I love them only problem is they cost 110 euro or around $170 that is a little more than I can afford.  We continued around the store and they had a room filled with Fiorentina gear (the local soccer team) I like a couple things in there and I might buy a jersey, it is a lot higher quality than on the street.  As we were taking the escalator upstairs we saw a cool pair of shoes that had a fleur-de-lis on it which will have to go back and look at.  For lunch I took Jerry to the triperria near Dante's house to get the panino di lesso.  Finally it was time to go meet the women of our apt at the Duomo.  We climbed the bell tower of the Duomo it had some great views; I almost dropped my mom's camera off the top.  We stayed up on top for about 30 minutes until the girls got there to continue shopping.  We headed to the market to get Ciao bella shirts we needed the girls to tell us which size would fit them so we had an idea of what size to get.  After looking around the market for an hour or so we headed to the shopping area of the city down Via Roma.  Here in Italy they have men's underwear in stores that are like Victoria Secrets, so I went in just because to look at them first of all underwear should not cost 13 euro per pair and there should not be changing rooms either, the lady working asked with I wanted to try them on, I quickly said no.  As I turned around, but right behind me were the dressing rooms and they were just little curtains that didn't even cover the whole door so I saw 3 ladies trying on stuff that was enough for me.  I guess that's what I get for going in there in the first place.  The day didn't get much better after that I really wanted to get a nice polo or something.  The first store we went into the clothes looked like they were straight from San Francisco's rainbow district if you know what I mean.  After that we walked buy stores that it didn't look like I had the right to enter, each shirt had its own 12X12 display case.  After that we went to a little mall that had all the brands in one place, I found a bunch of stuff I like the only problem is I don't wipe my-self with $100 bills.  The cheapest polo was 80 euro about $124 I walked over to the underwear section not much better underwear cost 28 euro per and the plain white tees cost 32 euro.  Armani polo cost 100 euro and Versace cost 110 euro.  So before we got to depressed we went to look at the cologne, oh it got much better.  Right after we walked into the aisles with Armani in it someone came up and offered to help, good lord my gaydar over heated and blew up when he came up to us.  He showed us the most expensive type then he paused and said to expensive and laughed I wish I could have whooped the ever loving crap out of him, but he probably would have liked that.  After that we headed to the Pointe Vecchio to look at gold great that's not expensive.  The girls went into one of the store to look at leather bracelets with gold clasps and a gold band under the leather.  We stood outside in the display case behind us was a watch that cost 16,800 euro or $26,040 if I every buy a watch that costs that much it better do a whole lot more than just tell time, it better be like Gadget's watch but work correctly.  Then to make this day a whole lot better we stopped and got gelato, Allison was the last one to get her gelato and the girl asked if I was her boyfriend she said no and told her to tell me to come back and get some more gelato sometime, I think I'll pass.  So that made my day better, but of course it could end like that on the way home it just started pouring rain and Jerry and I didn't bring umbrellas but it eventually stopped and we walked home and on the way picked up some stuff for dinner.  For dinner we made rabbit pan stew, it was carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and tomatoes in oil and white wine then I added the rabbit and turned the heat down and added some flour.  It cooked for about 45 minutes, it was very very very good I loved the way it tasted and it went very well with the veggies, it was full of flavor.  At the store we also picked up some limoncetto cream, it is like the limoncello I told you about earlier but with cream.  I think will be one of the things I am bringing home in my suitcase.  Jerry told me that he thinks that you can have up to $50 worth of gifts like that in your bag but you needed to have proof of purchase.Day 32 (Sun)   Ti and Dru paid 60 euro to go on a bike ride around the countryside that was just a little too expensive for me even though they said it was well worth it.  Jerry and I walked into the city to go to some museums we packed our lunch so we could eat on the steps of the Duomo, but Jerry forgot his lunch so I ate by my-self on the steps it was very nice just sitting there enjoying lunch.  On my sandwich today I tried celery greens which I loved it has a little different flavor from the celery but I liked it.  When Jerry got back from getting his lunch from a tourist pizzeria place because it was too far of a walk to get away from the tourist places, we headed to get him an Uffizi card.  The Uffizi card cost 40 euros but it gets you into any museum and you don't have to stand in line.  After he got his card (I already had one from class) we went to the Uffizi gallery and skipped in front of the 2 hour line.  We had a little more time to explore this time because Dru wasn't there to get hungry 30 minutes into the museum.  Once again the museum didn't disappoint I love a lot of the works of art in there it is too bad that I'm not allowed to take pictures, I might purchase a poster of Primavera and a few postcards of other works that I like.  There are also a couple of very nice books that would be interesting to read but I beat you could get them much cheaper in the states.  After weaving throw the mess of gift shops on the way out of the Uffizi we headed to the Palazzo Bargello museum.  At the entrance I almost forgot my bag at the security check point it is a good thing I know some basic Italian or it would have been much harder to get it back.  The museum had just opened a new exhibit on Danti (not Dante the writer) a sculptor he had some very large beautiful works.  The inside of the courtyard had some stupid modern art piece with recycled bottle it was very stupid to me.  The walls on the inside were filled with coats of arms from 4 centuries very cool.  Upstairs, in the back rooms, was filled with a ton of old artifacts ranging from armor and to ivory pieces to table settings (vases, plates, pitchers, and large serving bowls.  They also had some ivory musical instruments and a whole display case full of ancient jewelry you should have seen the size of some of these rings.  In the main room of the upstairs there are some pretty interesting works of art: Donatello's St. George, Bronze David, and Amore Assiti.  Also in the same room you can find the competition panels for the east doors of the baptistery (which Lorenzo won and his doors were moved to the North side after he made the famous ones that are on the east side now, well the replicas of it).  We had a pretty full day so we headed home and got back to the apt. around 5.  For dinner we went to a local restaurant that is about two blocks from where we live it was a great experience because only one understood basic English, so it was fun trying to communicate in Italian.  I think we surprised them with how much we actually knew.  I order spaghetti carbonara di mare, so carbonara with seafood.  It didn't say what seafood so I was excited to see what came on my plate; Jerry ordered penne with salsiccia di cinghiale.  When my food came it looked and smelled and looked great it had lagostinos, octopus, squid, and mussels.  It was very good octopus was better than expected and all around a great dinner.  It was the type of place that everyone that comes in knows everyone so I could tell that we gave everyone something to talk about.  Ti and Dru went off on their own to do something, it was like Ti was trying to get Jerry and I to exclude him so he do something by him-self, with out coming out and saying I'm going out by my-self it was very weird.  Got back to the apt and I helped Jerry study got his Italian which also helps me brush up on it as well.  Before bed we tried to get the TV to work so we could watch the European cup matches.  Italy plays on Monday and we are going to a pub to watch them tomorrow.  
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Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

Day 30 (F)       Woke up early and took a bus to the bus station for our day trip to Pisa and Lucca.  Our boy Saverio was our chaperon again.  First stop was Pisa, we walked along side the old wall of the city to the entrance into the huge piazza where the cathedral, baptistery, cemetery house, and of course the leaning tower stand.  It was a great view upon entering the wall.  Our guide told us that just outside the wall where we where there was a lagoon a long time ago that connected to the sea.  Pisa's church was very cool the inside of the church was very pretty and decorated in gold.  The church was the largest at the time it was built the architect that was said to be better than Odysseus and the guy that slain the Minotaur in the labyrinth and made it out, because he used math from the Moors to build the cathedral.  He got monoliths from the surrounding marble quarries and he developed a way to lift them into place that "10 virgins could have placed the pillars.  Next we went inside the baptistery which had a large fountain from the 12th century.  In the 18th century someone discovered the inside echoed and sounded like an organ.  Now it is a 300 year old tradition every hour they shut the doors and someone comes in and plays the "mouth organ" it sounded very cool, Ti got it on video so I'll get that from him so you guys can listen.  The tour ended at the famous leaning tower he told us all about it most of which everyone knows, but he did tell us a couple of cool things about it.  He told us they should change the name because not only is it leaning but it is also sinking, bending, twisting, and expanding, but that name doesn't quiet roll of the tongue.  In person you can see that the tower is shaped like a big banana, it's hard to capture it in a picture sorry so you will just have to take my word for it or go and see it your self.  We then did the tourist pictures with the tower we got some good ones.  I got a great picture of a Chinese man "holding up the tower" but I took from a different angle so you can see the tower he looks pretty fun.  After that Saverio took us around the city until we had to go back to meet the group and head to Lucca.  The whole way to Lucca Ti and I used our books to come up with stupid sentences in Italian we had Saverio and the bus driver laughing the whole way to Lucca.  We had the same tour guide for Lucca that we did for Pisa, he actually lives in Lucca.  Lucca is a small Tuscan town that is surrounded by a wall that has running and bike paths on top of it today.  The guide took us to his favorite spot on top of the wall the view was very nice across the open green field.  Next we walked along the top of the wall until we were looking in toward a beautiful garden behind a large mansion they filmed the movie Portrait of a Woman there.  The town during the middle ages had 100 families in charge of the silk production and trade.  The town was very wealthy, the only person to ever conquer the city was Napoleon who left his sister in charge of the city and she modernized the city and now there is a square in her honor. The last stop was the main cathedral on the outside near the door carved into the wall was a depiction of the labyrinth which had a ton of meanings but I forgot them.  Also the code for the De Vinci code the symbols on the outside had something to do with I couldn't really hear sorry.  Inside there was something that was very cool that not a lot of people have hear of.  There is a wood carving of Christ on the cross, but this one is different Christ is depicted with dark skin and dark hair a Middle Eastern depiction.  It is said to have come from Turkey sometime before the first crusade, there are documents that show that the Pope came to Lucca and blessed the troops that passed by outside the wall with the crucifix next to him.  That was the end of the tour and we took our guide's advice to rent a bike and ride around the 3 mile wall that circled the city.  The bikes only cost 2.50 euro to rent, well worth the beautiful views and the break from walking every where.  The bike ride was very relaxing and it was the first time I had been on a real bike since I was 15.  After the bike ride we stopped and got some gelato, I got coconut, cream, and peach very good.  On the bus ride home it started to rain, everyone was pretty tired and most of the bus was napping including my-self.  Everyone woke up just as we entered Florence, for the last 10 minutes of the ride Ti was trying to convince us to go to a traditional Japanese noodle restaurant.  We finally gave in and went with him to the restaurant I'm not exactly sure what I ordered but I got fried dumplings with it which were very good and the noodles were good as well but I wasn't a fan of the braised pork that was with my noodles.  It was a good dinner even though it took us for ever to find it following Ti, he took us the long way he turned what could have been a 5 minute walk into a 20 minute trek in the pouring rain.  Following Ti was like following a blind man through the woods.  We walked back to the apartment the rain had let up a little bit but my umbrella broke half way home.  Back at the locker we watched some South Park episodes.  Ti is a BGR leader, BGR is Purdue's freshman welcome week, so he knows a bunch weird little games and he always brakes out a game called top 5 were he will say top 5 then name a category like top 5 south park episodes, that is what brought about the watching of South Park.
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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Day 27 (T)       It was hard to get up so I left later and just took the bus when I got to CAPA there were no computers so I just waited for class.  Class was fun we started to talk about food my favorite subject.  For lunch I got pasta from Stephanio and Stephania it was very good.  I didn't stay at CAPA to long I headed home so I could start on my Midterm for art history that is due on Tuesday.  After Dru got home we went to the store to get stuff for dinner, and try to make a couple traditional dishes that we could use for our food project in class.  For dinner we tried to recreate the spaghetti Atrani which I think I did a pretty good job of even though I had to use a different pepper.  We also made "left over" meat balls you are suppose to use left over beef and potatoes, but we didn't have those so we just used ground beef and I mashed potatoes they turned out well.  Oh in Italy they never eat spaghetti and meatballs in a red sauce as a single dish.  They are two different dishes a pasta dish and then the second dish would be meatballs without sauce.  It took me until 11 to finish my midterm.Day 28 (W)     I woke up later than Jerry so I just headed into CAPA on my own and stopped at Demis for a cappuccino, a cornetto filled with apple jam, and to talk to Dan.  For class today we went to the Uffizi gallery.  The artist we talked about today was Botticelli and his Adoration of the Magi, Primavera, Birth of Venus, and Calumny of Apelles.  I took about 4 pages of notes so I won't write all of them but I'll try to give you the gist of what we learned.  The first three paintings were part of the neoplatonism movement to translate ancient myths and writings into Italian and give them relevance and alter them to life in present day Florence.  Primavera was commissioned by the Medici and was placed above a day bed that the Medici wife would receive guests on.  The painting is of a garden in spring with 45 types of flowers and golden fruit (oranges) hanging from the trees.  Medici means doctor or that's were the name came from.  In the old days doctors handed out citrus fruit for cures to things, so the oranges represent that.  Venus is in the middle the God of the new bride (painting was a wedding gift).  To the left of her are 3 graces the protectors of new brides are doing a wedding dance conducted by Venus.  To the left of them in Mercury waving a wand to keep clouds away from the perfect garden.  This shows the Medici power of protection.  On the other side of the painting is the story of Fiora the Goddess of spring and flowers, how she became a  Goddess from being raped by the God of the West Wind.  This represents the city of Florence.  Florence was founded by Julius Caesar in 56 BC during the festival of the Goddess Fiora so in honor of her he named the city Firenze in latin after her.  The last painting we looked at the Calumny of Apelles, showed Botticelli's support of Savonarola a weird guy that opposed the Medici and thought he was a prophet sent by God to clean up the city.  Well the Florentines hated him after a few years and burnt him in piazza del signoria.  The painting is that of someone in ancient history that was falsely accused of something.  In the painting King Midas known as the unfair judge is sitting on a throne with asses ears.  Whispering in his ears are Rumor and Suspicion.  Hate is dress in a brown cloak leading calumny (lies) which is dragging the wrongly accused in front of the judge King Midas.  Decorating Calumny's hair with jewels are Fraud and Vanity.  Off to the left of the painting is naked truth pointing to the heavens right next to her is repentance.  This is saying that Florence needs to repent for what they did and God is the only one that can save you.  The first part of the painting means false judgment is fueled by suspicion and rumor, which leads to hate which is lies and false persecution.  After class we walked around the Uffizi for about 2 hours looking at the amazing art.  For lunch I got that stewed beef sandwich again.  For dinner we went out with some of the girls because one of their friends is leaving tomorrow.  We got the pasta sampler which was 5 types of pasta it was good the last of the five was a ricotta cheese ball in tomato sauce my favorite of the 5.  The main course was a fillet of beef that was covered in a blueberry glaze.  The best steak I have every had the glaze was very different from anything I have had it was oh so good.  I'm going to try and find the recipe online.  After dinner we went out to a bar where we know some people that work there.  I didn't drink, drinks here cost around (converted into dollars): beer $10+, shots $5+, cocktails $15, staying sober and watching everyone else waste their money PRICELESS.Day 29 (Th)     Today in culture class we get to learn about wine and wine tasting it should be the best lecture of this class.  Class was full interesting facts and tips today.  First he taught use how to look at the label and what everything meant.  In Italy and the rest of Europe most wines are named after the region from which the wine traditionally comes from and the traditional grapes of that region.  We learned about the different classifications and what they mean.  DOCG means that the government is guaranteeing that the grapes that made this wine are the classically grown of the region specified in the title.  For example Chianti can only be made from Sangiovese grapes grown in the area of Chianti a stripe of land from Florence to Siena.  So Chianti can't be made from Sangiovese grapes grown anywhere else, along the same lines it can't be made from any other grape grown in the Chianti region.  Most wines have a percentage that must be made from the traditional grape, for example Chianti must be made from no less than 80% Sangiovese.  There are 36 DOCG wines in Italy and they are marked by colored tags wrapped around the bottle of the neck, green for white wines and pink for red wines.  Then there is DOC which is the next step down these wines are still of a high quality and they are made from grapes from the traditional region just like the DOCG but they just aren't guaranteed by the government.  After that there are IGT and Vino Tavolo which don't have to follow any guide lines as to what % of grapes they use from a region so there is no region of origin.  Jerry and I went to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner and pick some stuff up for the weekend because we chose to wait until next to week to go to Cinque terre on the coast because it is going to rain there all weekend not much fun.  We took some time to explore the store and we found that they sell coniglio (rabbit) so we picked some up.  I think we are going to make our dish for our class project with rabbit.  We also picked up some Disaronno because it was only $14 a lot cheaper than in the US.  On the walk home we saw our friend Luigi the owner of the wine shop.  Speaking of wine I looked into how much money it would cost to send 6 bottles of wine home not to mention the cost of buying the wine it would cost 242 euro which is around $375, not even close to worth it.  For dinner I made spaghetti with olive oil, olives, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers it was very good.  So after dinner we played some cards and had some Disaronno.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1212594840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1212594840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edevalla/1/1212594840/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:55:26 -0400 Study abroad in Florence.

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Atrani, Campania, Italy

Day 25 (Sun)   We woke up before we were allowed to check out so we got on the computers for a little bit and waited for breakfast.  Breakfast was boring and not very good again so we checked out and headed to Sorrento.  We got to Sorrento an hour later here we got on a bus for Amalfi.  The bus ride weaved all over the peninsula before heading down the coast; the views from the top of the peninsula hill were great.  The bus ride to Amalfi was filled great views, breathtaking scenery, and times of fearing for your life as the bus flew around hairpin turns hundreds of feet up on a cliff with a 2 foot barrier between us and the fall.  The bus ride took 2 1/2 hours to get there.  We took our bags and walked on the street around the corner to Atrani where our hostel was.  The beach there was a little crescent shaped black sand beach surrounded by large walls with a tunnel leading through the wall to the city.  We checked into our hostel where we were supposed to stay in the men's dorm but we were upgraded to a private 4 bed for free.  The twins that run the place are very nice probably the best place I have stayed at so far, even the bathroom was a small 4x4 area with a crapper a sink and shower all in that tiny space.   We headed to the beach and hung out on the black sand and went swimming in the clear blue water.  Jerry and I came up with the idea of getting a snorkel and goggles for our next weekend at the beach.  After the sun went down we headed back to the hostel to take showers.  We then went to the Luigi e Luigi ristorante (the Luigi and Luigi restaurant).  We got the local pasta dish spaghetti Atrani.  It was spaghetti with oil, garlic and pakili peppers, very tasty and kinda spicy.  We hung around for 6 hours having some drinks and talking with the Luigis it was a great time two of the coolest guys we have meet.  We tried the limoncello a lemon liquor that is better in the south due to the freshness and type of lemons.  We also tried a cocktail with vodka, limoncello, and orange juice it was very good very fresh.  We walked over to Amalfi and hung out on the peer the city was very beautiful at night but I couldn't get a good picture sorry.Day 26 (M)     Woke up and headed for our free breakfast.  It was very good the best breakfast I've had.  Freshest and the best orange juice ever, the best cappuccino with a chocolate powder smiley face, and a cornetto with simple frosting and powdered sugar on the outside and filled with a peach jam, I wish I could have box some up and sent it home.  We had to catch a bus at 12:12 for Sorrento so we could get back to Naples and get a train for Florence.  We went to the beach until we had to go get on the bus.  The bus ride back I got on the side of the bus that faced the coast so I could take pictures.  The bus ride only took an hour and 50 minutes this time.  We got on the local train from Sorrento to Naples it took 2+ hours to get to Naples where we had to buy a ticket to Rome because there was no train to Florence left.  I had to stand the 3+ hours on the way to Rome and the second stop in a family of about 25 got on, not even joking that might be an under estimation.  They looked at me like I was a giant because the tallest one of them was about 5'6".  They were funny though I could understand some of the things they were talking about.  The only Burger King in Italy is in Rome where they were going and the one kid kept talking about how great the burger was going to be.  Well after that long hot ride we got tickets from Rome to Florence but standing room only.  So we got a back section so we could sit in the aisle.  We played cards the whole way home and it made the trip go by quickly.  We got back to Florence around 10:30 so we traveled for 8 hours today.
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Capri, Campania, Italy

Day 24 (Sat)    We woke up a little later than expected and ate some ok breakfast and set out for Sorrento to catch a ferry to Capri.   We got to Sorrento and there was a parade for the up coming republic day, there were a bunch of little kids so the girls though it was very cute so watched for 10 minutes.  The street we took to get to the dock gave a great view of the harbor and the coast line from an elevated place got some good pictures.  The ferry took about 15 minutes to get to Capri; upon getting close to the island the large cliffs are magnificent looming over the arrival very cool.  We pulled into the dock and walked to the main road of the town.  The scene of the harbor and Main Street together is very cool.  The beaches were white stone and nice to look at not so nice for walking.  We left our stuff with the girls on the beach and bought tickets for a boat ride to the blue grotto and a ticket to take a row boat inside.  We waited in line on the boat to get into the grotto for about an hour but it was nice to relax on the boat.  It was kind of over cast when we entered the cavern through a small hole that everyone had to lay down on the floor of the boat while the guide pulled us through on the chain.  After we got inside the grotto the sun came out a little and the cave exploded in a blue color from the sun light reflecting off the rocks, under the water.  Jerry took his camera and I left mine behind so you will have to wait until I get those from him before you can see those.  After we got back to the beach we laid out under the beautiful sun and played in the very blue clear water.  We also explored the rock outcrop that went out into the water and laid around on those as well.  It was a beautiful day in paradise, quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been, besides PA of course.  We headed back to Sorrento for dinner since things are a little less expensive there.  I got the fresh fish of the day which was red snapper with pasta, very good, very fresh.  We got back to the hostel and went to bed so we could get up early and make our way to Amalfi and Atrani. 
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