The Cinque Terre-- "The Five Lands"

This weekend we went to the Cinque Terre... famous for its beautiful little towns built into the cliffs of the Italian Alps, right on the Ligurian Sea. It is also the region of pesto! There are five towns in the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. There is a train that connects the towns and the ride takes anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes between towns. We chose to hike our way through the mountains this weekend... one of the best and most enjoyable work outs I have ever had. It was incredible. We began in Riomaggiore on the Via dell'Amore (The Road of Love). Lovers had put locks all over the trail and paths in hopes of everlasting love together. The path in Manarola was closed due to a landslide (something that is fairly frequent in the Cinque Terre due to the steep edges). We continued our hike in Corniglia where we stopped and got a fresh nectarine and walked around the small town. There was a pretty little church in the center of the town that reminded me a lot of the chapel at St. Ursula. After taking a break there we began the hike to Vernazza. This was the tough part... We had heard that the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso was the most difficult, but after doing the entire thing, my roommates and I agreed that Corniglia to Vernazza is the hardest!!  Along the way through all of the towns the views were spectacular. Being from the Midwest, we don't see a lot of mountains and oceans unless we go on vacation. In Italy you get to see things like that all the time and many times the ocean and the mountains are in the same place... its absolutely breathtaking to me.

When we finally made it to Vernazza, we were exhausted. We put our swim suits on and dove right into the harbor there in town. After a swim and some relaxation, we had a traditional Cinque Terre meal of pesto pasta. It was very, very good. After dinner we got some gelato (mine was some fancy name that tasted like cake batter) and watched the sun go down on Vernazza. There are anchors and nautical trinkets everywhere!! I bought a t-shirt that said "The Original Sailor, Cinque Terre, Italia" and it has a big anchor on it! Anchors away!!

The next day we were refreshed and ready to go and began our hike to Monterosso. The beginning was challenging, but we persevered and made it through. Once again the views were to die for. The water was a deep teal and you could see right through it down the rocks. The mountain's vegetation was a bright green with these vibrant purple flowers growing randomly. We were in the heart of the mountains... at this point the trails were very narrow and sometimes kind of scary! We enjoyed the hiking very much and it felt great on our pasta bellies!! When we made it to Monterosso we enjoyed a dip in the ocean and layed on the beach for the rest of the day... it was so relaxing and amazing. Amo la spiaggia!! I love the beach!! I get that from my Mama for sure! When we left the Cinque Terre we had another issue with the trains but we realized it was because they have been on strikes lately... annoying and very inconvenient. But we always seem to find our way back to Florence safe and sound :)

This trip was simply beautiful. I would love to go back and spend more time there... the whole vibe of the Cinque Terre is so neat. They have very few forms of technology... only a few places have internet or phones. Most of the locals own restaurants, are fishermen, or own small shops in the towns. The lifestyle there is simple. It's about the land and the water... about family and good food and wine... about their blessings from God. To me, it seemed like they had their priorities straight. In the United States, and even cities elsewhere in the world, our lives are always on the go. How can we get there faster? What can we do to fit this all in within a few hours? Our lives are jampacked with places to go, people to meet, things to do... and we do them all so quickly. In Italy, especially the Cinque Terre, people just sit. Relax. Take in the beauty of life. Kids play futbol on the sand. Families and friends enjoy long meals with a glass of vino and a caffe at the end. Time seems to move a bit slower there. Technology doesn't get in the way of their daily lives. They don't care about how fast it takes to get to the next town... they will probably take their little rowboat and row on over to Monterosso even if it takes 2 hours. I take back what I said about retiring to Burano... I think I'll move on over to the Cinque Terre.

This week I began my second course... Tuscany and Its Wines. It has been very interesting so far! I have tasted five different Italian wines in the past two days... it truly is a neat, neat class. I surprisingly did not enjoy a few of the wines today. One was a sweet wine.. amber in color with a intense aroma. It was very high in alcohol and it tasted as such... not my favorite. The white we had today I was not crazy about either... It was cheap we realized. Our professor fed us cheap wine!! Rude! I learned that if the finish on the wine is quick... it ends just as soon as you swallow, then that is the sign of a low quality wine. On the other hand, if the finish lasts a while and the flavors remain in your mouth after swallow it is probably an aged or at least a fine, high quality wine. We had a red, vino rosso, like this today. It was pretty good. Definitely very different than the wine I have had back home! I'll keep adding things when I learn them, so stay tuned!

Thanks for the mail, Gaga and Popsie and the McAfees! I honestly am not homesick... but I definitely miss being surrounded by my family and friends. I wish you all could join me in Bella Italia! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm sending my love from across the world!

Ciao for now!
Kimmy

Riomaggiore

Love

Anchor Gate in Corniglia

Mountains with Purple Flowers

Corniglia

We made it!!!

Sunset in Vernazza

Vernazza

Beautiful Water

Church in Corniglia!

Venezia... like no place on Earth!

Canal Running through Venice

Piazza San Marco- Top of the Cathedral

Burano :) 

Isn't it amazing?!

2 of the 4 from the Beatles Band!! 

Ciao! Here is an update on the past week!!

My roommates and I returned to Firenze from Venice Sunday night. It was our first trip completely on our own!! We were amazed with how "smooth" it went... Getting there was no problem since Ashley had been there a week before for a Coldplay concert. She knew exactly where to go and got us a sweet deal on a hotel. On Saturday we toured Venice and Murano. Venice was amazing... small streets all closed in by shops and hotels and restaurants and surrounded by the Adriatic Sea. Canals run through the entire city and its just so surreal. There truly is no other place on earth like Venice. Here everything was a little run down and authentic looking. Very few places had been touched up with a new paint job or wood work or anything... it was very vintage and very cool. There are masks everywhere you look in Venice! They were so neat to look at and play with... I bought a pink and silvery gray one to match my new room at Butler :) After walking through Venice to Piazza San Marco (the only piazza in Venice and its HUGE with a large cathedral right on the sea) we took a water taxi to Murano. This is place famous for its blown glass. It was everywhere!! I wish we could have seen a maker blowing the glass... that would have been so cool! The glass was very pretty, not so much my style, but pretty to look at nonetheless. That evening we had dinner on a canal and went to a "Beer Fest" in Campo Santa Margherita. Now I know what you're thinking... its exactly what we were thinking too... like beer pong and lots of people drinking lots of beer. Well we were very wrong. "Beer Fest" was at this little bar in the corner of the Campo with about 8 tables outside. They were highlighting Birra Venezia for the night and decided to call it a Beer Festival......... weird. Anyway, we got a free t-shirt and some beers. All in all a pretty fun evening. It was easy to get lost in Venice, even when Mara told me that before hand I figured it wouldn't be too bad... it was so difficult getting around the place! I had to use a little of my very poor Italian to get us directions back to the bus station.

On Sunday we took another water taxi over to Burano. Burano is lesser known than some of Venice's other islands, but this had to be one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. It was absolutely incredible. The kind of place I would love to retire to. You could see the island from a great distance away due to its famous brightly painted houses. When this village was settled many years ago it was a fishing town. All of the fishermen decided to paint their houses vibrant shades of red, blue, pink, purple, green, etc. so that they could spot their house from sea and know which direction to head. It was amazing. Aside from the color, it was quiet and quaint. It seemed as though nothing could disturb this peaceful little town that is also famous for its hand stitched lace. I mean seriously?? A little island of pastel houses that hand stitches lace for a living? I'll take the next boat, please. I did get to see an old woman stitching lace inside a shop... so cute. We didn't have long in Burano because we had to get back to catch our train, but the four of us could have stayed there for days. It was so wonderful. I am so happy I was able to see this place. I fell in love with Burano in less than 20 minutes.

And then we had a lovely experience with European public transportation. To make a long and complicated story short... we essentially missed our connection train to Florence from Bologna. Oh and before that we had to stand on the train to Bologna from Venice. I legit sat on the floor in the aisle of a train... sheesh. So we finally made it back to Florence around 10 or so. We were all exhausted and of course I had to get up for class at 8 while the rest of the group got to sleep in. Oh well! This is our last week of classes for this session. I just got home from presenting my oral speech in Italian. I had to choose a topic and talk for 3 minutes. I chose to describe mia famiglia :) I talked about each person, how old they were, if they worked or studied, what they liked, what they looked like, etc. I even brought my picture of the family to pass around class... so hopefully that gets me at A :) Tomorrow I take the written final exam... ugh that's going to be horrible. So we are all staying in tonight to get some study time.

Last evening we went to our favorite Tuesday night hotspot... BeBop. Every Tuesday they have a Beatles cover band!! Its so fun!! They are four Italian guys that surprising look and sound exactly like the Beatles. Last night they even came out after intermission wearing the Sgt. Pepper's outfits! So fun. But I met my first person from Ohio there! It was so funny. He is really close to us... right near the outlet malls on the way to Columbus. I told him I lived in Cincinnati and he asked if I missed skyline.... obviously. We chatted for a while reminiscing on Ohio.. it was pretty funny.

On Friday we are off of school because its a holiday for Florence. It is celebrating the feast of their patron saint... John the Baptist. Friday night they have fireworks to celebrate John the Baptist. We are very excited!! Then we are taking a trip to the Cinque Terre... something I've been looking forward to since I found out I would be able to come here. I am so excited to go and I can't wait to tell you all about it after the weekend.

Hope everyone is doing well. Love and miss you all!!

Verona and Lake Garda: My Favorite Trip So Far!

View of Verona

Juliet's Balcony

Old Roman Vacation Spot

The Lake

Wow. There is going to be a lot of "it was amazing" "incredible" and "beautiful" in this blog, so bear with me through the repetition. I'll try to use my thesaurus :)

On Saturday morning we left for Verona, about three to four hours to the north by bus. It is the City of Romeo and Juliet, The City of Lovers, and an absolutely amazing city. We arrived at the Hotel, just north of the main piazza, "Piazza Bra", and settled in before a bus tour and walking tour. Our bus tour climbed the mountains surrounding the center of town to a church on top of a hill. From here we had a spectacular view of all of Verona. I couldn't stop taking pictures because I wanted to be able to see this view again every single day, even if not in person. It was breathtaking! Every which way you looked there was something that would catch your eye and you would need to adjust your perspective on this tiny town once more. Vineyards wrapped the city's edges with large gardens and much greenery. In Florence, there is very little green. You need to walk about 35 minutes from my apartment to find the Boboli Gardens which I have not yet explored. It was nice to see grass and trees again. Behind the city, more mountains surrounded it, nestling little Verona in a beautiful valley. A river ran through the north of the town, as many do in the Italian cities I have visited so far. This view was simply amazing. We then took a walking tour through the town. We started at the Old Roman Bridge and headed south through the city. You could tell this was a not a touristy town. Very little English and lots and lots of Italian. It was quiet, relaxed, elegant. We traveled near old churches with amazing bell towers. In Verona all the towers had giant clocks on them too, very unique to this particular town. Of course we then traveled to Casa di Guilietta... I was so excited!! We walked through a little tunnel to the courtyard. Allllllllllll over the walls people from around the world have written their names for Juliet to protect their love. We walked into the courtyard and in front of us was the statue of Juliet and her balcony above. Ivy was growing on two of the walls, it was very beautiful. Of course they are not certain that Romeo and Juliet were real lovers, but they know that two families, the Capulets and Montagues lived in Verona around that time. Our tour guide said it was up to us to believe if they were real or not. But that was the thing about Verona... there was love everywhere. Young and old, all over the city people were in love. Everyone was holding hands walking down the street, eating gelato together, laughing and smiling while having drinks on the piazza. The whole feel was very romantic, much different than Rome and Florence.  So whether or not you believe Romeo and Juliet were real lovers in Verona, the town is basically in love anyway. Something about it screamed peace to me (ironic sentence, excuse me). I felt very content while in Verona, and it was difficult to leave. That may be partly because right outside our hotel was a giant anchor statue... I mean the place was pretty close to perfect! Oh and did I mention its one of the most expensive cities in Italy? Yeah... the place was full to the brim with designer this and that, making the city even more aesthetic. Now do you see why I liked it so much? :)

Now Lake Garda, or Lago di Garda, was pretty special as well. This place was unbelievable. We couldn't have asked for better weather first of all: bright blue skies and brilliant sun and a few thin wisps of clouds scattered occasionally. A nice cool breeze in the hot sun felt amazing. Around the lake were the huge Italian Alps. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. We took a boat tour around the peninsula of Sermione, apparently the best place on the lake. Our "captain" was obsessed with the water. He told us he liked to drive his boat in between the mountains during a thunderstorm because he felt so small in the world. He said it was "pure nature". He was pretty adorable. He showed us an old Roman Castle that the ancient Romans would go to on vacation, it is the largest in the northern region of Italy. After the tour he dropped us off and we had the afternoon free to soak up the rays. My roommates and I laid out on the dock over the clear blue lake for a good three hours until it was time to head home. All of us had never had a more tranquil weekend. It was incredible how in less than 48 hours we were attached to this place and were not ready to go back to Florence.

And now we are safely back in Firenze. No big plans for the week except school and some fun here and there... look for a post at the end of the week. For now look at my pictures on Facebook of the Lake and Verona!

Hope everyone is safe and having a great summer so far.
Love!!
Kimmy

I think I could live here forever...

... I promise I will come home, but no promises that I'll stay long ;) I am having a fabulous time. I will tell you about some of my highlights here, but look on facebook for lots of pictures!

On Monday I went to the Mercato Centrale, literally the Central Market (although its not really centered, its a large, can't miss it kind of building). Outdoors there is a continuation of stands from the San Lorenzo Leather market... this is kind of the cheap and not so real leather. The real leather market it amazing, but I'm getting side tracked! The market was so neat!! Inside was all this fresh meat, cheese, fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts, everything! So cheap, fresh, and mostly healthy. The first booth I went to was for verdure and frutta... this adorable older woman was bustling around humming to herself. Keep in mind I only had two days of Italian class at this point... so I said "vorrei piccolo pomodoro e fragola (I would like small tomatoes and strawberries)... and do you have lettuce" I tried really hard to say everything in Italiano but I didn't know how to say lettuce. She kind of giggled at me and I paid her 2 euro and went on my way. Next I got some fresh bread, pane, brie cheese, and walnuts. I didn't pay more than 7 euro for all of my goodies!! Awesome!! Can you guess what I've been eating with all that?? Salad and bread :) Although simple, very delicious and fresh from Toscana!

Also on Monday, I went to a panini place for lunch called the Oil Shoppe... AMAZING! One of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. This is just a little hole in the wall shop that sells delicious panini until the bread runs out. If it runs out at noon, they are done for the day! They have a great deal of a panino, fries (one of the only places to find them I hear) and water for 5 euro!

Tuesday night my roommates and I went to a bar called BeBop. On Tuesdays they have a Beatles cover band that plays. It was soooo cool!! It was downstairs and the band had a little stage... we just jammed to some good old Beatles and had a great night.

It has actually been rainy and stormy this whole week! I haven't done as much exploring as I would like to because of the unusual weather, but hopefully I will get to do more soon. Last night we went to the other side of the river, The Oltrarno, and had dinner. We went to a trattoria/pizzeria called Dante's. For student, you pay a flat fee and receive unlimited wine... obviously we had to go! A friend had recommended the "striped macaroni" and white wine. Delicious. Probably my favorite meal in Italy so far. We had an antipasto of cheeses and meats before our meal which was excellent as well. And of course we had dessert too... tiramisu and something else incredible that I don't remember the name of! Very delicious.

I guess I should talk about my class since, as my Mom reminded me today "that is what you are over there for..." There are only nine of us in class, so it is quaint and intimate. Our professore, Marco, is very animated, friendly, and helpful. But... the class is basically all in Italian. He rarely says anything in English, so it is sometimes hard to keep up. I have a quiz tomorrow! My first Italian quiz... say your prayers.

Today I went for a walk after lunch to the Oltrarno again. I just kind of wandered around taking pictures of things. Everywhere you look there is something beautiful or old or unique... everything here is so interesting to me. I want to know all the history, where it came from, how long its been there, who is it for, what's its story. When I turned the corner after walking for a while I ran into this HUGE palace on a hill. It is called the Piti Palace... it was again very beautiful and large. People were lounging in front of it reading, laying, talking... it was really cool. Look for some pictures below and on facebook.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hope those of you reading going to Florida travel safely! I'm sure I will speak with you soon. I am going to Verona and Lake Garda this weekend, so look for a blog on that after the weekend! Love you!!

Ciao,
Kimmy

 Bridge over the Arno and Hills of Tuscany

Piti Palace

Duomo at Night

I made it to Firenze!

Hi Everyone!

Wow, we just got to Florence. The Eternal City was absolutely incredible though. Everywhere we went was incredible. I have lots of pictures on facebook. 

If I had to choose I would pick the Trevi Fountain as my favorite place in Rome. Aside from the crowd, it was absolutely stunning. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was tucked back in this little piazza and it was HUGE. SO COOL! It was amazing. However when we went to Vatican City I was so humbled. I was so proud and excited to be Catholic. The basilica and chapel were probably some of the most beautiful places I have ever and will ever see. La Pieta... there are probably no words to describe it. I couldn't stop staring at the statue. I get chills every time I think about it now. I am so grateful for my experience in Vatican City. 

And now we are in Florence! Our apartment is incredible! Its so cute but big enough for the 6 of us definitely. I am loving it so far. I am loving it already! Look for more at the end of the week! 

Love you!

Kimmy

Ciao!!!

I made it safely to Italy! Today has been surreal... with the time change and jet lag I feel as though I've been in Roma for a week instead of 12 hours! It is BEAUTIFUL here. Today my roommates and I went for a walk to find a quaint little lunch place.... we turned the corner and dead smack in front of us was the COLOSSEUM!! We literally couldn't believe our eyes. We had a pizza and chianti lunch and then walked over to take pictures of the Colosseum and the Palentine Hill. Look for pictures below.

Tomorrow we are taking a tour of Vatican City and Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel. I cannot wait. Tomorrow is also a national holiday in Italy. Similar to our Fourth of July, June 2nd celebrates the end of Mussolini's fascist regime and the takeover of the republic. The city is basically shutting down for a big military parade throughout the streets. We were warned to be extra careful walking around tomorrow. So far we haven't had any problems with that sort of thing!

Friday we are taking a tour of the major sites... Fontana di Trevi, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc. I will keep blogging as much as I can, but look for more when I finally make it to Firenze on Saturday!!

Love and Miss you all!!
Ciao for now :)
Kimmy