Day-Tripping: Siena

Saturday brought the train to Siena. My roommates and I had originally intended to wake up early and catch a 9:10 train, but after our Viareggio and Pisa adventures, we didn't make it out of bed until 11.

After breakfast at Astor (one of the various restaurants by the Duomo that offers American breakfast!), we rushed to the Santa Maria Novella train station and caught our train within minutes of its departure.

The more I travel by train, the more relaxing and wonderful I find it. Each place we travel to offers different views and different people-watching. While nothing truly exciting happened on the train, I did break out my Rick Steve's guide book to read up on our day's destination. And thank god I did or else we would never have found the bus stop that takes you into the town center!

While the bus drops you off in front of the train station on the way back, you have to go across the street and down the the basement level of the shopping center across the street to catch it. Tickets for the bus were 1.20 euro and you have to buy them at the tabacchi in the train station.

Up the hills we went as we ascended to Siena's center. The bus left us off a little before it (as Siena seems to have even more pedestrian areas than Florence) and we made our way through the winding cobblestone streets to Siena's Duomo. But alas, for that and the rest of the day's activities, you'll have to read my next posts ;-)

Day-Tripping: Pisa

On the way back from Viareggio on Friday we decided to stop in Pisa. A quick 20 minute train ride for 3 euro got us there and boy was it worth it.

My roommate, Veronica, had been to Pisa before, so we entrusted her with getting us to the area containing the city's main attractions. After a quick city bus ride we walked towards the main attraction: the leaning tower.

View from the city bus. Pisa actually seemed like a very nice and pretty city. 

Your first view of the leaning tower happens through a large archway. Personally, it was a "woah" moment for me. I was expecting to be underwhelmed by Pisa, which I had heard only takes about an hour to see from various sources, but I stood in giggling awe at the sight before me.

My initial view. Ignore the tourists. 

Walking through the arch, the entire area came into view. It's called the "Field of Miracles" and contains the Duomo, the baptistery, the Duomo museum, and the Tower. Green lawns stretch out in front of the main attractions.

The Field of Miracles

According to my guide book, the Tower is approximately 200 feet tall, 55 feet wide, weighs 14,000 tons, and is leaning at a five degree angle. This time around, we only took classic pictures in front of it (holding it up, pushing it down, leaning on it, etc.), but after being there we want to go back to climb it (and that's safe, as the Tower has supposedly been stabilized).

Greetings from Pisa!

As we were taking pictures, we picked out our favorite group of tourists. A gaggle of young Chinese men were huddling around each other, trying to lift one up onto their shoulders to take a picture of him striking the Tower down. They were at it for the entire time we were there. Now that's what I call photographic dedication.

Our bus tickets were valid for a full 90 minutes, so we hopped on a bus within that time frame to go back to the train station. A quick gelato was had nearby that had Audrey Hepburn in Tiffany's on one of its walls. And then we journeyed back home.

Not bad for a day's work.

Day-Tripping: Viareggio!

On Friday, a few friends and I hopped a train from Florence to Viareggio. What's in Viareggio? The nearest beach! And what a beach it is.

In the train and on the way!

The train ride that took us to this part of Versilia brought us past sunflower fields, hill towns, and Tuscan mountains. Upon getting off the train, it felt like we were in the European version of southern California. The houses that line the streets are colorful, lights are strung from the tops of them across the streets, and you can even find hearts painted on the sides of buildings.

An extreme example of the hearts. 

The walk to the beach led us to the Officina del Caffé, where we grabbed a quick and delicious bite to eat. It was here that we ran into our first character of the day: an older man, probably in his 80s, white-haired and short. He had a kind face and we responded to his smiling "ciao" with a "ciao" of our own. He then proceeded (from what we could gather with our basic italian knowledge) to tell us about his experience in the war. We also found out that he could speak Swahili as he lived in Africa for over a decade.

Our delicious chocolate-filled snack!

The safe-feeling and sunny area leading up to water immediately relaxes the senses, which become aroused again when they see the chair and umbrella lined beach that stretches on and on (in fact, it keeps going for 20km). For 15 euro, we were able to secure an umbrella, four chairs, and towel-access to the sand by the water.

An example of the beach set-up. Oh how I wish I could be there at daybreak for better pictures.

Our umbrella with one of its accompanying chairs.

If more Fridays end up like this one, I'm never going to believe that I'm in school. Even if I choose to read Museum Basics for my Visual Literacy: Art Collecting and Museology class while lounging.

I really wasn't kidding.

Lunch was fried shrimp from the somewhat famous "fish and chip boat." Every morning, fishermen bring their fresh catch up the Burlamacca Canal and sell it! Seeing as how I was talking about shrimp all week, this was the ultimate in beach food for me.

Lunch and a view!

The people watching throughout the day was also quite entertaining. While my friends came back with stories of topless British sunbathers, I saw my share of little girls running around sans bikini tops. The speedo vs. swim trunks issue ran about 50/50. Two older women to my left sang scales for a solid half hour. The manager of one of the umbrella sections made people move their towels by under a foot so that they wouldn't be on "his part" of the beach. The guy who sold us our area was reading a guide book on Cambodia.

But as a fashion person, my absolute favorite detail was the older Italian women...who all wore bikinis. While at first it was a strange site, I found the fact that they all wore colorful bikinis (regardless of their size, body shape, etc.) to be very empowering. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned there.

After lunch, I walked a few hundred yards to the water to dip my feet into the Ligurian Sea. The water was cool and refreshing compared to the baking sun. Looking off into the water in front of me and back to the mountains rising up behind the beach town to my back, I took in the wonderful day. And then proceeded to have a blissful nap by the water as my iPod played a mix of Frank Sinatra and musical soundtracks.

And in the words of little orphan Annie, I think I'm gonna like it here.

Greetings from Viareggio (pronounced ViarEEjoe, essentially) :-)

Kristen in the Kitchen - Part One

In case you're wondering, I have not been eating out every night in Florence. It isn't monetarily practical or timely. Plus, if I'm in Italy, where food is its own activity, I should cook. And learn to cook different things!

For the first few nights of cooking for myself, I decided to go easy with salad. I tossed up some leafy greens, cut up red and green peppers, shredded carrots, mozzarella cheese, and emmental cheese. Dressing was a combo of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Along with my salad I always ended up bumming at least a plate of pasta off of people who had made too much for themselves.

The colors look a little better in person. 

This evening, I decided to get a little more daring. For my main dish, I got a pre-made breaded chicken breast with potatoes from the supermarket. But for my appetizer, I made my own bruschetta. The kitchen in my apartment came with pots and pans, plates and bowls, cooking utensils, and even a cheese grater! So, I whipped out the cutting board and started by chopping up two fresh tomatoes. In a bowl, I mixed the tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, freshly washed and ripped up basil, salt, pepper, and garlic.

At il supermercato, I managed to find pre-sliced bruschetta bread. The catch was that it was soft. So I spread some olive oil and garlic on it, put three slices in a pan, and put the pan on one of the stove's heating plates. I watched the slices until they started to brown and harden (flipping them every once in a while). When they were just about ready, I spooned my tomato/basil mix on top of the bread and let it heat a little more.

Preparing my bread in the skillet!

Then it was time to eat. And it was the most delicious bruschetta that I have ever tasted. Definitely gave me the confidence to try cooking more things. And it also gives me something to treat my apartment-mates to at Colgate in the spring.

The finished product!

Close-up! 

Sbandieratori

On Saturday, the last part of orientation for NYU Florence took place. During the day I was able to get my student card and bus pass (as I take public transportation to campus every day), sign up for day trips, and get a few useful tips about traveling.

As the promise of free food lingered in the horizon, my friends and I stuck around campus for a while after we finished orientation events. The one caveat to free dinner? We had to watch an Italian flag throwing ceremony.

At first it sounded very lame and we were all quite hungry, which didn't help matters. However, I'm really glad that we had to watch it as it was a very cool and uniquely Florentine experience (or perhaps you would see it at Disney World, but that's a different matter).

The people running the program only told us that it was a Florentine tradition, but failed to give any back story. My research didn't turn up much, but it seems like these flag throwers are called "sbandieratori." The group we saw was most likely part of a reenactment group that does public performances around Florence. In the old days, flags were used to distinguish guilds and nations. As they were such weighty symbols, they were not supposed to touch the ground. Hence the throwing. The performances always start with a drum processional and follows with music. As the music plays and builds, the flag throwers jog into specific formations with perfectly synchronized footsteps. As the music crescendos, they get ready to toss the flags (sometimes to each other and sometimes straight above their heads). A solo flag-throwing performance even took place during the one I saw.

And just in case you can't picture this acrobatic, militaristic, and historically-costumed practice, I have a couple pictures for you:

The drummers! Must say, as a costume design/fashion nut, I love their outfits. 

An example of one of the flag formations.

Flags in action. I wasn't able to capture the throwing with my phone camera. 

If anyone knows anything more about the historical significance of flag-throwing, please let me know. I'm actually interested. 

The Little Italian I Now Know

With four classes of Intensive Elementary Italian under my belt, I can actually say a few things about myself!

Mi chiamo Kristen. Io sono americana. Studio all'universita (my accent marks fail on this) di Colgate. Sono una studentessa. Nel tempo libero visito i musei. Mangio gelato.

I can ask people how they are: "Come stai?"

I can say that I'm tired: "Sono stanca" or very well "molto bene"

I can say "I would like": "Vorrei" (which never ceases to make me think the word "voudrais" in my head...I guess Paris refuses to be forgotten)

Going back to the gelato thing, I'm starting to learn how to say various fruit names in Italian because of it: fragola is strawberry, limpone is raspberry, mirtillo is blueberry, peach is pesca...etc.

I can also count to 100, ask how to say something "come si dice" (which always makes me revert to my spanish "como se dice"), say that I like something "Mi piace...", and a few other things, but I shant bore you with all of my newly found vocab.

Not too shabby, right?

Be Jealous

In the building with all of my classes, also resides the library and the café. While I do not spend even a small fraction of the time that I spend in Case at this library, I have ventured to the café almost every day. I mean really, who could resist this beautiful cappuccino for 80 cents?