Siena

This weekend, Daveen, Sal, Alex, Nick, and Adam made the hour and a half train ride to Siena, it was great! The town was a nice place just to walk around, the sites were amazing. The weather was great on top of that.
Enjoy the pictures, if you want bigger or more pictures I have some, just email me. Most of the others are on the ride back.
Ciao,
love you all.




Daveen walking through the Duomo



The front of the Duomo.



I got yelled at for lying on the floor for this photo. But it was worth it!










The outside of the Duomo.




Cathrine's head lies here.... It was a little disappointing, but how often do you get to see a head in a case, a head that's about 300 years old.







The Fresco on the ceiling of the library in the Duomo.




Yes that was hand cut marble on the floor of the Duomo. Each circle represents a city that makes up part of the roman empire I believe. And I'm also guessing the animals on the outside of the circle are John, Mathew, Mark, and Luke. The whole floor was covered in marble this or even more intricate. The whole thing was made of marble, except the ceiling that was entirely frescoed.





Daveen being the hot chick she is!








The boys scoping out the doors of the Duomo.


View of the city.



The bell tower.
















Daveen and Sal taking in the sites.

What I Forgot

I forgot to tell everyone that I went to Fisole too see the view. It's a small town right outside of Florence. I want to go up there for a picnic and sunset.




Here's the white wine at the tasting at the winery. I was a vernaccia. The only white DOCG in Tuscany!



Random Yummy cookies.



looking from the Vasarrian Corridor.



my new hair cut.



The Vernaccia grapes. These are from a 32 year old plant, after this harvest they will be replanted.




My in front of the vinegary. These are the Vernaccia but they also grow San Giovese, the grape that makes Chianti.

This weekend I also saw David. The real, the one, the only David. It was amazing! He really does look like he's breathing. You think you've been jaded by seeing him all over, but I promise you haven't. He's 17 feet 1.5 inches tall!!!!

WOW

The Awesomeness of Here

So a few really great things have been a foot.

The end of last week was pretty great.
I went out to get myself some lunch on Thursday afternoon before class and went to a place that was recommended by the school. It's near the central market, it's supposedly cheap and always crowded.
It's the kind of place that everyone goes to, locals and tourist, young and old. And yes it is always crowded. They are only open for lunch I believe.
They sit you down where ever there is room, even at a table that has three out of 4 chairs filled by a different party.
I sat down and met these two guys from the east coast, New York/Jersey area, and started to talk to them. Good guys, and one asks to buy me lunch. At first I told him that he didn't have to but he insisted so I ordered their ravioli that they are famous for, and they poured me a glass of wine. Now I was fine with that, oh no they said here have some of our bisttecha florintina, oh and we're ordering a cheese plate, have some more wine. It was a great afternoon, besides all the AMAZINGLY GREAT food, they were good guys and great conversation.

There was a European fest in town this weekend and so Stacey and I bought 3 large pretzels and 2 beers. They were super yummy, one had chocolate on the outside, and apricot on the inside.

The next morning I got up early to grab breakfast and catch the field trip to a winery.
I went to my usual caffe and Enrico, Andrea's friend and I talk and he buys my breakfast, he did it again today! Super nice of him. Then I went to the winery, which was amazing! The land was great and beautiful. We got to watch as they were picking the last of the grapes. Sadly because it is the end of the harvest they have started the fermentation and need to watch the grapes almost every minuet so we didn't get to see the cellar.

Saturday I got my hair cut, thank god, it needed to be done so badly. my hair is now soft and fun!


That was my weekend, hope you all had a great weekend too!

Buona giornata, and happy monday!


Erin

P.S. miss you love you all!

More pictures

I’ve done and seen so much already, and have been super lucky. I went to the Uffizi yesterday. It was amazing! I came out exhausted but smiling. I was so amazed by how big some of the painting where and how different the colors so many other things. I sat in front of Primavera by Botticelli for more then 10 minuets. I can’t wait to do it again. I cried when I saw that and The Birth of Venus in that big room, taking up to majority of their walls. I can’t wait to go back. I think first though I’m going to go to The Academy first, see The David, now that I’ve seen the two brothers. I bet you didn’t know he was a triplet. Lol

*One in Palazza Michelangelo over looking the city -

(yeah it’s crooked)

*And one in Piazza Signoria (where THE David originally was).-

I’ve seen Ponte Vecchio at night, these pictures is actually from Ponte Vecchio.

I have cool roommates:

Hello Daveen!

I get Great coffee and Pastries from a great place called Kocco Kaffe. It’s literally across the street from my front door.

And here’s the wonderful man who serves me that wonderful stuff: Andrea

.

School’s been going well, my first project for fashion photo is coming up, I’ll soon put those pictures up too. I have my first quiz in Italian next week as well. I feel like I’m not learning as much Italian as I should be, and I get super, super nervous and just nothing comes out. I’ll soon be starting this language exchange thing so hopefully I’ll learn more and become more confident. I’ve been trying to practice with Andrea up there, but every time I see him it’s pretty early in the morning.

I might go to the Academy this weekend if I have time around homework and studying, my little Uffizi Card gets me into there as well, all state museums actually. Though, I know Saturday if a free day for all state museums so, I might now go that day.

Other Great Things

Here's one of many to come I have to get out of here, they're kicking me out.. Ciao all.

Bar Hopping

Here is my first beer, and french frys at my first bar. And the two nice men that gave Maria and I free shots of something fuity and yummy. This bar was pretty American (it is called the Williams) but it was still a lot of fun and there were quite a few locals.
Though there were these two guys from Rome who for some reason I think they believed they were coming home with us so we slipped out the other door when we said we'd meet them out side while we paid our bill. I woke up the next morning still laughing, how often do you think Italian boys get completely ditched by American women?






Hello provocative graffiti teddy bear.




These are some of the girls from Belgium we met at our second weekend.








Maria and I looking more sober then we were.







Maria doing drunken cartwheels in the street.

Il Mercato!

This is on the second floor, fruits and veggies so fresh you can smell them!
They're strawberries are smaller then ours but their raspberries are bigger and sweeter!



Hello Mr. Ducky do you want to be dinner tonight? This is on the first floor, dried goods, wine, pasta, meats and cheeses.