Living in Milan is wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I have to admit, most of the time it doesn't feel like the "bell'italia" place that I've always read about. I mean, it's a huge city that's mostly gray and covered in graffiti, where people are in a hurry, and don't even stop for lunch. It's not really like the beautiful rolling meadows and tall mountains, and cypress trees, and yellow villas that you always see on postcards and calendars. So, when heading south to Tuscany last weekend, I was looking to find me some of that "la dolce vita" that I've heard so much about. And, of course, I did!
We started out in Pisa, because, let's face it, there's no way I could spend 5 months in Italy and not see the Tower. Some say it's THE symbol of Italy, right behind a bowl of spaghetti. After a 4 hour train ride (in a private car, though - 4:00 on a Thursday is a good time to travel!), we got into Pisa after nightfall, and had to find our hostel. After getting a little bit lost in the back streets, I literally stumble upon the LEANING TOWER. I did not even see it coming - what a cool way to find such a famous monument. Because Pisa is such a day-trip destination, it's very deserted at night, so we pretty much got to enjoy it all by ourselves! It's really striking to see - smaller than I thought, but REALLY leaning! And at night, there's no people and all the souvenir stands are closed, so you can really enjoy it. It's placed in what they call the "Campi dei Miracoli" (Field of miracles) along with the Duomo and the huge Baptistery. Che bella!
After staying in a really cute guest house north of the Tower, we got up early the next morning, and beat the crowds to get the famous "holding up the tower" picture - which I don't have quite yet, because it's on Sam's camera. But, literally, at 9AM sharp, the floodgates open, and the tourists invade.
So, by 9:30 we were on a train to Lucca, and small town about 25 minutes east of Pisa. It's completely surrounded by high walls, left over from Medieval times, and is an absolutely adorable city. The birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, Lucca is a great place to spend the day, especially if you're into riding bikes! Everyone rides a bike here, probably because the streets are so small - even though that doesn't stop the city buses from flying by ever few minutes, with or without concern for pedestrians. So, naturally, we found a place and rented two bikes, mine with a basket and a bell, of course. After a little ride around the town, we got up on top of the city walls, to ride around there, and then OUTSIDE the walls for a little countryside bike ride. We found a trail that lead up and down the river, where we saw some beautiful sights, and soaked up the sun. (It was 65 and sunny - I had on short sleeves!)
That night we made our way to Florence, where we met my roommate from Georgetown, Carol, who is studying there for the semester. Saturday was spent doing touristy things, which is fine because there are about 10,000 other tourists there doing the same things. Florence, while a drop-dead gorgeous city, is very American (a significant part of the population is American study abroad students), and very crowded. But, same as I said for Venice - there's a reason so many people come here from all over the world: because it's beautiful, and home to so many important things!
So, we endured the 2 hour line at the Uffizi (yes, two hours), paid the €10 (NO student discounts for foreigners, even after putting on my most convincing Italian accent), took off my belt to get by security, weaved in and out of Japanese tour groups, and FINALLY saw what all the fuss was about: breathtaking paintings and sculpture by all of the greats: Da Vinci, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Rapheal, etc etc etc! This, of course, was followed by a trip to the Accademia to see Michaelangelo's David - again, breathtaking in real life.
We had a lovely dinner, and a great night out (weather was AMAZING!), followed by a relaxing Sunday morning at Santa Croce, a beautiful church that houses the tombs of some of Italy's finest (Galileo, Michaelangelo, Dante, to name a few). That afternoon, we took the bus up to the small hill town of Fiesole: Tuscany's finest, if you ask me! Georgetown owns a villa in the hills there where a bunch of kids study each semester, lucky them. It has amazing gardens, and the best view of Florence, and the hills. It was a lovely place to spend a sunny afternoon.
So, I finally found the Italy of Cypress trees, sunlight, vineyards, and rolling hills!! What a great weekend!
Next week, Jen leaves the country for the first time for the Emerald Isle.. can't wait!
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