This blog might be a novel.. so enjoy!
We had a long weekend (thursday - sunday off). Everyone split up into small groups to travel. Brittany and I decided to take on 3 cities in Tuscany in 4 days: Cortona, Siena, and Florence. We woke up at 5:30 am to catch a train on Thursday morning. Confused and searching around the station, realized it had left early.. missed it. We had to wait 2 more hours for the next one to leave. Miserably sitting at the station, grabbed comfort food in McDonalds hashbrowns to drown our sorrows. Oh, and then had to pay to use the bathroom. Yeah. Stazione Termini is NOT our favorite. Anway, we got the next train, rode it to Camucia, a smal town outside and down the mountain from Cortona. We wandered around with our 40 lb backpacks andpurses filled to the max. (yes, everyone- i lived out of a backpack for 4 days.) We aimlessly toured the small town, looking obviously like students from america. We found a little bakery, and an older woman who owned it took an interest in us.. she didn't speak much english, so we tried to communicate through the little common language we knew. "Studio architectura en Roma" seems to work well. She was sweet. Mom- this was the first place I noticed CHUPA CHUPS! my long lost candy dream! Tuscany loooved those things.
We backpacked to our hotel.. side of the road style. I had always wanted to do that, so I felt adventurous and hippie-ish. We walked for about 45 minutes, found the hotel- it was beautiful! Called Borgo Il Melone, it was nestled away from the road at the base of the mountain with gorgeous trees and neatly trimmed flowerbeds. Not all things were in bloom- I can only imagine how amazing it looks then. It was very nice, spacious, friendly workers, huge bathroom, excessive toiletries - we loved it. We caught a bus up the mountain to Cortona. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and my favorite town we visited this weekend. It was old yet modern, clean, steep .. everywhere you looked it was a postcard picture. We explored up the mountain for 3 hours, taking pics and discovering little hidden architectural treasures. Come to find out, UGA has an abroad campus there. Also, Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed there. It was quaint and precious. It rained some. We saw lightning from miles away over the mountains and the rain on other towns. The trip had been great up to this next situation: We went to dinner at a family owned ristuarante, and we were eating our porkchops when a piece of mine got caught in my throat. I tried to wash it down with a big gulp of water, but the water just came right back up and all over the place. It was one of the scariest things that's happened to me. Brit attempted to help me some.. and no one else in the room seemed to know what was happening or how to do the heimlich. I leaned over myself and eventually I was ok. Choking is awful. But I'm OK and alive! so yay!! We rode back down the mountain and settled back in the hotel.
Next day was COLD! It had snowed that night in Cortona. We tried to take pictures before our next train left, but it was bitter! Train to Siena involved a transfer. We got there, ran up the stairs, and watched it ride away into the abyss. Annoyed- freezing- confused. We waited for another hour and a half, and finally made it to Siena. BUT it was dark, we didn't know well where to go, and yes- still cold! We were staying at "B and B Hospitality" .. supposedly a nice hostel. Hmmmmm. We walked up 4 awful flights of stairs with our enormous backpacks, opened the door to a 2 bedroom unit with 2 bathrooms. Another italian lady was there. Awk. Good thing our toilet didn't really work, our tv didn't work, our keys were hard to use, and the other toilet was in the shower. YIKES! Bad luck.. I think so. We wandered around trying to find food.. both of us in annoyed moods because of the whole day. We ate. It wasn't that good. So we just decided to go to sleep. OH- and the B and B part (bed and breakfast) .. there was literally a bed.. and literally "breakfast" in the room (if you count individually wrapped croissants and toast and lukewarm milk in a box, breakfast). We got out of there the next morning pretty fast, explored Siena: went inside the Duormo and visted the main piazzas and bigger churches.
Next phase: on to Florence. We caught the trainnn!!! Made sure not to get tricked this time! After the ride through the hills, we made it to Florence. I was smart this time, and bought a pop out map that worked wonders. We figured out the city very well. Our hotel this time was a medium between the other 2. From luxury to poverty to comfortable. bizarre. Hotel Bavaria was quaint and simple. We shared a bathroom but had a sink in the room. We walked the city 3 times it felt like, touring some churches and taking pictures with the time we had. We went to the market and bargained a little. By 3 o'clock we were ready to go home, though.
We made the train, and rode back to Rome (about a 3.5 hour trip). It was a whirlwind weekend.. one to never be forgotten. I learned alot about public transportation, maps, to chew my food up better, reliance upon people, and probably to avoid sketchy hostels when possible.
This week we're having a workshop with students from Arkansas and Philadelphia U. I'm looking forward to it. It's nice to meet new people and hear their stories too. I know that was long blog- and still, it was the basics. Can't wait to show everyone pictures! Miss you all!
Ciao!