Picture Day!

OK, so after a week of no pictures, I am finally posting some today.....

However, I have to let you know that I did not make it back to Cinque Terre this weekend as I woke up yesterday morning not feeling well and decided to stay home and work on my paper and study all day, which actually ended up being pretty productive. I was very sad that I had to miss the trip there, but also ok with it as I'm pretty sure I will be back someday. You can't always fit everything in to your trip that you want to.

I did make it to Pisa and Lucca this weekend though. Pisa was pretty cool, but I was seriously impressed with Lucca - what a cool and cute little town! Appparently, when Napoleon conquered Lucca, he liked it so much that he gave it to his sister as a gift. After he died, his wife and sister made the medieval walls of the city into a great promenade that you can walk and bike on. It was seriously cool.

With that said, here's a snapshot of my weekend, my trip to Siena last Thursday and a few pictures I had promised from Mercato Centrale:

SIENA:

The cathedral in Siena was incredible:

You can't really tell from this picture, but the ceiling was painted dark blue with golden stars to look like the night sky. I loved it.

Me and the enormous Piazza del Campo (I think that's the name) in Siena:


PISA:

The cathedral and the Baptistry were both very moving. The Baptistry was very sparsely decorated, but while we were in there and up in the gallery looking down, a man started singing creating some beautiful harmonies with the acoustics and echos and totally gave me goose bumps all over my body. It was a cool, unexpected experience and I was glad we had a chance to witness it. After he was done singing, he began preparing to baptise a little boy whose family was gathering to witness the event. Pretty cool.


LUCCA:

Part of the park on top of the walls around Lucca:

Piazza Napoleone in Lucca:


and some random shots around town:

Hopefully that will be enough photos for now as I have to run to class. Ciao!!!

No new pictures yet, but.....

Hello all my wonderful friends and family!

Obviously, as you can tell from the pictures below, the Amalfi Coast and Capri was breathtaking. Walking through Sorrento, a boet tour around the Island of Capri, hiking from one side of Capri to the other to have a lovely lunch and lay on the beach, walking through Positano and laying on the beach for the afternoon, and an afternoon of exploring the amazing Pompei is certainly something I will never forget. I highly recommend making the trip there if you ever find yourself in Italy. It's hot, beautiful, picturesque and the most sapphire-blue water you will ever see. Truly amazing. It can be expensive and time consuming to get there by train and to plan the trip yourself, so I would recommend taking an organized trip like I did - just make sure that there is time for you to do you own thing if you're like me and hate organized touristy stuff. I was glad I got to have time to myself and do whatever I wanted to do while there.

I will say though, try to get a hotel where a group of 12-14 year old french kids are NOT staying - they were absolutely obnoxious and woke us all up screaming and running through the hallways and stomping up and down the stairs at 6:30am on Sunday. People don't understand that when they are abroad they are representing their country and behaving like that does not give people a very good impression. I know they are just kids and don't get it, but seriously. And their teachers traveling with them didn't seem to care at all. Just awful. Thank goodness I already had a good impression of French people from my trip to France years ago or I may have been swayed.....

It's about 1:30pm local time and I just returned to school after having lunch at the Mercato Centrale in Firenze. I had the most amazing roasted pork sandwich (second only to my mama's famous pulled pork) and the Mercato is definitely a sight to behold. Can't believe I forgot to take my camera with me, so I will be returning there tomorrow with camera in hand and try some more delicious food!

This weekend's plans look to be shaping up nicely, though I need to work a little more on them (which I will be doing tomorrow morning). I have come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to see everything I had planned on seeing, and will be going to more of the big sights on this trip, as I will definitely be returning someday. So, with that said, I will be going on a group trip to Siena this Thursday afternoon will all the people in the Gonzaga Law Program, on Friday I will go to Pisa and Lucca by train (haven't decided if I will stay the night or not yet). Saturday I have to get this paper finished for my Justice & Society class because we have paper presentations next week and the paper is due next Friday. Sunday I will go back to Cinque Terre for a day trip since we were rained out the first time we tried to go and I now can go back with a group for free. So far I'm feeling pretty good about that. Next week I have finals on Friday, but will try to get in some sightseeing during the week. It's just a little difficult to plan as my classes are so spread out during the day. I likely will be going to the Science Museum to see Galileo's telescopes and Galileo's finger in a jar between classes soon, or maybe in the morning. I still have yet to go into the Duomo, so I must do that too, and am also planning on going to see Dante's house and his church, which I've heard is very moving. Then I will try to make it to Santa Croce, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. I think I will likely go to Fiesole to see the Etruscan Ruins there next Saturday or Sunday and then will begin my journey to Venice and then onto Poland and Germany on Monday the 22nd. I'll likely go to Venice and spend the afternoon there to see the city, then stay the night and begin my journey to Krakow, Poland the next day.

Phew!!! I have a lot to do and the sand just keeps trickling through that hourglass!! Hopefully, if I push myself hard enough, I wil be able to see evrything I am wanting to see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I got homesick for the first time yesterday, for some odd reason, so rest assured that all of you are in my thoughts. I wish you all could be here to experience this with me, but this blog helps with that as it's almost like you are. Love and hugs to all of you...