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Friday, April 11, 2003
Just wanted to stop in and note that I've uploaded pictures from Sienna and San Gimigano from last weekend.
The weather here has continued to be quite bad, with either days of freezing cold or days of constant rain. Also, even worse, it is supposed to rain at the resort we're going to tomorrow, and I can't imagine how boring it might be if we get cooped up there all day, so I'm probably going to stop and buy a book today.
Aside from that, not too much has been going on. I've been missing the comforts of home recently, because after spring break everything really calmed down, I ran out of books, and being sick this week I had a lot of free time on my hands. Also, it seems like everything is rushing towards the end now, with planning the few last weekend trips and then our trip at the end. I miss being able to easily entertain myself with television or computer, and it seems like whenever I feel like going out and just people watching, it's either cold or raining.
Nevertheless, I'm still having a wonderful time here, and want to make the most of the month and two weeks I have left.
posted by Jon at 12:38 PM
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Monday, April 07, 2003
The first week back was pretty uneventful but flew by. One of the highlights was going out Tuesday night with friends and friends of friends who were visiting from abroad. We ate at the excellent Trattoria Anita, where I had a great spicy tomato and bacon pasta, and only for 4.50. I got back a few midterms, and got decent grades on them. Also got to view A Clockwork Orange in my Venice Film Festival class. I think it's about the seventh time I've seen it, but I keep picking up things I never noticed before. I really appreciate Kubrick's skill as a director.
This weekend I travelled to Sienna and San Gimigano with the API troupe. We left Saturday morning and got to Sienna after a hour and a half bus ride. It's a very beautiful town, made of sloping brick alleys and magnificent gothic churches. Pretty touristy, but that may have been because of the roads we were on. We spent most of the day there until the evening when we took the bus to a tiny village named Greve, where we spent the night in a nice little hotel wedged into the corner of the town square.
The next morning we headed over to San Gimigano, a small medieval town packed with dozens of towers and several cirlces of city walls. This place was incredible - it was probably partially due to the magnificent weather, but the views you got from atop the hills of the city were astounding. Not only was looking down at the city itself a beautiful view, but it really gave me a chance to appreciate true Tuscan hillsides.
After touring through there, we made a short hop over to a farmhouse where they made wine. We got a tour of the wine cellars and an explanation of how it's all done. Then we sat down and had a lunch with wine tasting, and that was just as good as it sounds. The wine was very, very good, and I picked up a bottle on our way out.
San Gimigano has been one of my absolute favorite towns in Italy so far, and if you visit Florence some day you definitely must leave a day free for a trip to Sienna and San Gimigano. I took loads of pictures, and will throw those up in the next few days.
I'm currently trying to find a way to get down to the Amalfi coast over labor day weekend (yes, they really do have a labor day in Italy). I also am pretty sure that I'll be changing my return flight date to about five days earlier, since I found out I'm leaving Florence five days earlier, and want to save a bit of money at the end. Me and Leanne have started looking into the Greek Islands, and after discussing a bit we're pretty sure that's where we'll be headed once the semester ends.
posted by Jon at 1:50 PM
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