Day 110: Friday, May 6, 2011

How perfectly Italian.  Tiny streets lined with the Italian flag.

This morning we woke up to the Tuscan sun shinning brightly through our apartment window.  We opted out of the 10E breakfast which consisted of a croissant and coffee and hit the road immediately.  We had a lot of ground to cover today: Sienna, Chianti Wine Tour, and San Gimignano.  As we approached Sienna, we could see the towering walls circling the entire city.  Sienna was much bigger than Lucca, so when we found a parking spot, we made sure to "save location" in our GPS to avoid getting epically lost in the inevitable maze of a city.  As we walked through the walls, we were immediately bombarded with hundreds of little shops selling anything and everything.  There were purse and wallet shops, wine shops, pasta and bread and cheese shops, pillow shops, pottery shops (of course), and everything in between.  We walked up the main strip, stopping in pretty much every store.  It took us about 30 minutes to go 100 yards!  We realized we had to pick up the pace a little bit, so we started to pass by some of the shops that looked identical to the one next door.  We finally made it to the Duomo, which was spectacular to say the least.  The uniqueness of the structure made it beyond exquisite...the entire thing was black and white stripped.  We took our time walking around the outside of it before making our way inside.

One of the many, many, many pottery shops

After spending a sufficient amount gazing at the zebra inspired church, we made our way to Piazza del Campo, the huge piazza right in the center of Sienna.  It is a huge circle outlined with many restaurants, a few shops, and a bell tower nuzzled right in the corner.  We sat our little butts down right on the pavement for a few minutes, enjoying the beautiful weather, European culture, bustling piazza, and each others company.   

Momma and I in Piazza del Campo

Piazza del Campo

Sienna bell tower in Piazza del Campo

On top of the tower!

After the piazza, we climbed a tower next to the Duomo which offered some of the most spectacular views of the vineyards that surrounded us!  We climbed a narrow, enclosed, cement stair case for about 10 minutes before reaching a narrow platform a couple hundred feet off the ground.  We thought we had reached the top and we were more than impressed with the views we were getting.  We were informed a couple of minutes later that there was another set of stairs leading to an even higher platform, and we were excited at the possibility of an even better view.  And that doesn't even begin to describe it.  After we waited for a couple people to make their way down from the upper deck (because the surface area was so tiny it could only accommodate a few people at a time!) we spiral stair cased  our way up to the top!  And if possible, the view was 100x better.  We could see for miles upon miles upon miles.  We gazed at the rustic tile roofs on the houses below and the endless vineyards that reached all the way to the horizon.  Tuscany has to be some of the greenest country left on this earth.  There wasn't an industrial park, or black smoke, or even a car to be seen.  It was about as serene and peaceful as it could get!

After we made our way back down to the ground, we all wanted to grab a piece of pizza then head back to the car.  Or once again, that was the plan.  For some reason none of us had our bearings at all and we were completely lost.  And our attempt to "save the location" of our car failed...it was nowhere to be found in the GPS.  We walked in circles for about 20 minutes before asking for directions, but even the directions we got were unclear and seemed incorrect.  We decided to just get out of the walls that surround the city, then take it from there.  But even that proved to be a bad idea; we had absolutely no idea where we were!  Thank god we at least took note of the hotel that we happened to park next to, so we could use that as some sort of a landmark as we were desperately trying to make our back.  After many failed attempts, we eventually determined that bus number 2 or 5 would drop us off near the hotel.  So we walked to the bus stop and waited...and waited...and sweat...and waited a little longer...and sweat a little more, until the bus finally came!  There were buses stopping in front us every two minutes, bus number 3, 7, 9, 10, number 3 again, number 9 again, basically every number besides 2 or 5.  It was unbelievable.  When we finally did get on the bus, we realized that we could not have been further from our car.  It was about a 20 minute bus ride to where we were parked, I really don't know how we got so turned around!

When we finally got back in the car, we headed off deep into the vineyards so we could taste authentic Chianti wine.  We had read about a couple spots in one of the tour books, so we set the GPS and off we went.  We stopped in one town that was barley a dot on the map and popped in for a quick taste!  It wasn't as authentic as we had hopped.  The building we did the tasting in was really modern; it was an all white, concrete building with really state of the arc wine tasting equipment.  It didn't feel like we were in the heart of Tuscany!  We tasted about five different wines as we listened to the connoisseur tell us more about what we were drinking.         

From there we went to a teeny tiny little town that was about 10 shops in length.  As we walked through, many had open doors and free wine tasting available.  It was an adorable little street with the friendliest locals.  We bought some strawberries from a fresh market and walked through, tasting a sips of wine here and there.  I bought a bottle of wine for Kevin and his parents at one of the little shops here; I thought it would be cool to bring back authentic Chianti Wine, straight from the Chianti region in Tuscany.

Afterwards, we headed to San Gimignano, another little Tuscan town buried within the hundreds of miles of fields and vineyards.  It was more of the same thing, an teeny tiny little city packed wall to wall with authentic shops.  We walked the streets, blended in with the locals (not), and then stopped for dinner.  After dinner we headed back to our hotel.  We were exhausted from a long day of go-go-go, so we were all more than happy to crawl into bed!  

Sissy and I in San Gimignano

Day 109: Thursday, May 5, 2011

The walls that surround Lucca

Christi walking the walls of Lucca

This morning we all woke up chipper after an amazing eight hours of beauty sleep.  We quickly packed up our suitcases and got dressed, then headed out to check out the continental breakfast.  It was about as expected, random deli meets spread out on a platter, croissants galore, and coffee.  We all grabbed a quick something to eat then headed off to Luca, an adorable little walled city about 10 minutes walk away.  We walked along the walls for a bit, looking at the beautiful Tuscan fields on one side of us and the quaint city on the other side.
As we made our way into the city, it was like we were walking through a city in the 18th century.  Construction workers were using pulley systems to transport buckets of cement and there were wells of water at the end of random streets.  Even the people seemed out of touch with reality, yet more than content with their simple way of life.  We walked through the quiet streets of the town, window-shopping and peering into many of the little shops.  Pottery stores seem to dominate southern Italy, and we had no complaints.  We walked into each and every pottery store and gazed at the intricate details of the bowls, clocks, pots, tables, silverware, platters, cups, dish sets, pretty much anything and everything was sold in these pottery stores.  Yet store somehow seemed to be have its own individual atmosphere.  Different designs, shapes, and color schemes made all the merchandise seem unique and rare.  We loved Lucca, a lot.  While the town was very small, it was still complete with it’s own Duomo, charming locals, unique streets and plazas, and typical European charisma.

Christi and I in front of the Duomo in Lucca

After each store-owner had seen us pass by three times, we decided it was time to leave.  We had exhausted each and every street in a matter of a few hours, so afterwards we had no choice but to move on.  We left the walled city and headed to Montecantini Alto, an even smaller town perched right on the peak of a mountain.  We drove half way up the mountain and then hiked the rest of it.  When we got to the top, there were gorgeous views and a teeny tiny little plaza at the top.   

 

We sat down in the outdoor seating of one of the restaurants and had some lunch.  Mine was terrible; I had a really small, gross, plain salad that I was super bummed about.  Not shocked, but bummed.  When we finished, we stayed at our table for a little bit.  The sun was shinning right on us, and since we were on the tip of a mountain, the heat was high and it felt fabulous.  

Lunch and champagne!

The four of us after lunch

Afterwards, we hiked back down the mountain, then decided to pop into our hotel, drop off our stuff and then visit another little Tuscan town.  Well, that was the plan at least.  The website of the hotel said it was in a great location, right in the middle of Lucca, Siena, and San Gimignano.  Turns out, it was 45 minutes from each of those towns, nuzzled deep in the Tuscan hills, with nothing but winding dirt roads leading to it, and no signs directing us to it at all.  It took us over an hour to find it, mostly because we kept slowing down and stopping because we were sure we were on the wrong route...but we weren't.  We finally reached our hotel that was literally in the middle of absolute nowhere.  And it turns out it wasn’t a hotel, we had our own detached apartment that was nice and spacious, except for it only had one bedroom.  Christi and I had a pull out couch.  However, the view from our apartment was breathtaking.  We were completely surrounded by vineyards, rolling hills, acres of untouched fields, and crisp fresh air.  In the very faint distance, we could see the towers of San Gimanino if we looked really hard.  Christi was super bummed about the placement of our hotel; she really wanted to be in hubbub of things, and in her defense, we couldn’t have been further from civilization.  While we all got over the distance from the other cities, we cracked a bottle of wine, sat out on our own private patio, and gazed into the horizon.  After a while, we took a stroll around the grounds for a bit, mostly taking in the beauty of Southern Italy.  We were lucky enough to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen just as we were booking a dinner reservation with the hotel.

Under the Tuscan Sun

However, by the time it rolled around, we were exhausted and not that hungry.  The dinner included wine and about five courses, each of which could have been a meal on their own.  So naturally, after the first two courses, I was stuffed to the brim.  I told the cook I didn’t want the last few courses, but then everyone made me feel really bad because apparently that was like a personal insult.  Even though Christi didn’t eat virtually anything because she doesn’t eat meat, my mom didn’t eat the main course because she doesn’t like veal, and Ellen left after the first course because she was tired and had a headache after a few bottles of wine.  Somehow I was still made to be the bad guy?  Needless to say, the 50E per person that this meal cost us was a total waste.  Finally, after about two hours and 200 wasted euros, my mom, Christi, and I left to go to bed.  Christi and I pulled out the couch and fell asleep quite easily.  Something about roaming through Tuscan villages wears me out!   

Day 108: Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Me in Parma, Italy

Buying Parmesan cheese in Parma, Italy!

Wow, this morning was brutal.  I had a presentation to give to my class at 9am and I wasn't feeling top-notch.  I found myself leaning against the table throughout it.  At least it was a group presentation, so I pretty much let them take it away!  After class, I jumped in the shower and waited for my family to arrive.  They spent the morning (and when I saw morning, I really mean afternoon...Christi was lucky enough to sleep in this morning) shopping around the city.  They shopped around San Bablia, going in to Bershka, Abercrombie and Fitch, H&M, and others.  When they were done, they picked up the car (bus) and got to my house around 3pm.  We grabbed some pizza from the across the street, loaded the luggage into the car, then headed to Tuscany :)  We literally had the biggest car in Europe, and it was obvious as to why when we were tackling the treacherous roads the lead us into southern Italy.  The local Italians know better than to drive a freaking bus.  We made sure to make some pit-stops along the way so we weren't wasting the day away in the car!  Our first stop was Parma.  Ellen was super eager to get some Parmesan cheese, and what better place than Parma, Italy?  We pulled into the teeny-tiny little town and walked straight up to the center piazza.  There wasn't much going on, so we quickly diverged and went on a manhunt for some Parmesan cheese.  And shockingly, we couldn't find it anywhere!!  Is that a joke?!?  That's like not being able to find hamburgers in Hamburg, Germany, or not being to find Swiss chocolate in Switzerland!  Needless to say, we were baffled, and just about to leave the little town less than impressed, when we spotted some freaking cheese after all.  We pulled the car over, hopped out, and bought the absurdly expensive Parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy, basically just to say we did.

Our next stop was Viaregio, a beautiful little coastal town of Italy.  We pulled right up to an endless, deserted beach.  We walked along the coastline for a few minutes, enjoying the sand at our feet.

Vino in Viareggio

Afterwards, the four of us walked on the boardwalk looking for a good place to sit down and have some wine.  The town was so cute.  Even though many of the stores were closed, you could just tell it was full of livelihood later in the season.  We found the most perfect place to sit down and relax.  We were the only people in the restaurant, so they were unbelievably accommodating.  They let us sit on the outdoor patio, even though it wasn't technically open yet.  They brought us a few glasses of wine, and the four of the laughed the afternoon away.  The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was ideal, the wine was delicious, and the company was unbeatable! :)  I had absolutely nothing to complain about.  When we all had a stomach aches for the right reasons, we left the restaurant and headed back to car.  For some reason, Ellen and my mom and Christi and I got separated.  Christi and I ended up walking aimlessly down the boardwalk, dazed and confused.  When we spotted a store that sounded somewhat, vaguely familiar, we decided to just sit down in front of it and wait for...wait for what?  I don't know what we were thinking.  We sat there until we heard my mom's voice yell at us from about 10 feet behind us.  Apparently, we were never lost.  We were directly in front of our car the entire time, we just never turned around to realize that.  And that's why the store name sounded familiar...because we had said earlier, "Remember this store, this is where we are parked!"  Oops! :)

From there, next stop was Tuscany!  Ellen NASCARed our way into Tuscany, and from there it went downhill.  Unbeknown to us, we drove straight into the walled city.  A city that houses streets no wider than our freaking bus of a car.  (Or so it seemed).  We were all dying as we drove deeper and deeper into the city that seemed to be closing in on us!  I literally thought we weren't going to be able to get of there.  These streets were not made for cars, and certainly not made for the car that we had.  It was a very stressful situation.  We finally found a parking lot that we could pull into, and we decided to walk from there!  We were so lost it was unbelievable.  We started walking trying to find our hotel, and before we knew it, we weren't even quite sure how to get back to the car.  We finally found a little hotel right on the outside of the city walls, with drivable streets leading right to it, and the most adorable owners who welcome us with open arms.  (I think they were slightly worried about us, we were clearly disgruntled).  We all climbed into bed and had a fabulous night sleep after a fabulous day!