Italy Part 3, Siena and Wine Tour

Sienna
We left our hostel in Florence at about 8 this morning and got to our bed and breakfast at about 12 today which was good! We got to the train station and thought it would only be a 10 minute walk because that's what our directions said, it ended up being a 30 minute or so walk all up steep hills! Once we got here we checked in and booked a wine tour of tuscany which included seeing small towns ( San  Gimignano) and medieval castles. We tried 80 year old balsamic vinegarette, dessert vinaigrette, olive oil, honey, cheese and of course wine. It was all so good! Never thought I would like balsamic on ice cream but it was amazing, I even bought some! 
After that which eneded at about 7 we came back and went all around the sites in Siena, even though they were closed, so we could see it.  The main piazo had a chocolate fair going on so we loved lookin at that! It was a great day to go!! 
Wasn't hungry for dinner so we just snacked some! But today we had ice cream at the world famous gelato place in one of the small cities!  
Siena was amazing! 

Trying to find our Bed and Breakfast

Tired of walking with our bags

on the drive to the chianti towns ( wine tour)

In the San  Gimignano

we obviously had to try world champions of gelato

the vineyard we went to. that is rosemary lining the road on the left

balsamic! these were aged 80+ years

our tastings

Olive Oil on both of the breads, Balsamic Vinaigrette on the chickpeas, honey on spoon, and cheese. oh and the wine 

chocolate fair in siena

Bailey's Hot Chocolate!  

Italy Part 2, Florence

Florence 
We got here Tuesday night and 2 guys from our program were also sayin at the same hostel and they had been here for a few day already so we went out to dinner with them and had some wine with dinner then they showed us around and we went to a nice wine bar at night. 

Wednesday, Candice and I woke up and got an amazing pastrie then went to the uffitiZi gallery. The line took about an hour but it was totally worth it. I was telling her about some pairings while we were in there and we listened to some tours. It was an amazing gallery. After that we stopped for lunch at A panini place. We needed a break from pizza. We then went to the tower next to the duomo and climbed that. It was 414 stairs to the top, the view was amazing!! We took a ton of pictures. After that we went to the markets. There were all stands full of leather products. I was so torn if I should get a jacket or not, but I ended up not getting one, unfortunately! The best thing about Florence is there is this bridge and it is the jewleery bridge. All up and down the bridge there are expensive jewelry stores. At night the bridge just sparkles!  For dinner that evening we wandered around and found this authentic cute family owned reatuarant. It was delicious food. I got this fancy pizza! And it was cheap too. Most places have a sitting fee in Florence so we have taken our lunches and sat outside but for dinner we look for places without the sitting fee. 

Thursday, it was national women's day, and in Siena that means women get into museams for free! This was so exciting! 
We went to the academia. After taking forever to find it because we walked past it 2 times and had no idea what it was because it is just a normal building from the outside. We got into that for free which is amazing because there is not much to see there but David! We saw David, and wow was that amazing. It is so impressive and we were blown away by how big it was. Something else interesting in there were the unfinished sculptures by michaelangelo! Those were cool to see the process of how he worked. In the academia, we ran into laken and her friends from Jmu she was in Florence with! It was great to see her and it was nice to get to talk to her!   After that we got lunch, we were not too hungry ao we found this amazing place that had huge slices of pizza! It was awesome! We then got gelato! (first time that day).   We then went to the palazzo piti, which is the Medici family's palace. This palace was right outside our hostel which was cool! Our hostel was in a great location! It was such a beautiful day, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and a blazer and I didn't wear my jacket all day. The sun was shining and it was perfect! This palace had alot in it, some museams and an amazing garden. We went around the garden first because it was so nice out! This garden must have been about a mile. It had stairs everywhere, different walkways, hills, foundations, sculptures! It had amazing views of the city too! We walked around there for about an hour then went to the costume museam which was in the palace. It showed costumes (clothes) through time and how trends Changed and how that was effected by the time period. Candice and I loved it! They then showed the medici families clothing, or what they still had of it. After that we went to the art museaum in the palace, we didn't know who most of the people were in the sculptures or pantings but it gave us a chance to see the palace!! It was an amazing building! 
After that we climbed up the piazzo michaelangelo where you can see the entire city. There we saw the 3rd David sculpture! There was a street performer up the hill so we sat on the stairs ate gelato and enjoyed the amazig city of Florence! It was a perfect setting! From there we walked around and saw the famous synagogue! It was really cool! After a nice dinner at a local pasta place we had an early night. 

We got up early Friday morning to take the train to Siena!! 

Florence!

amazing pastry  

David # 1

Duomo

climbing up the tower next to the dome, the view!

climbing

At the top of the tower!

this is the jewelry bridge

amazing pizza

gelato

David # 2

street artists, they were doing chalk of a famous painting

jewelry bridge!

In the Medici Garden looking over the city

candice and i!

at the top of the piazza michaelangelo 

David # 2, on top of Piazza Michaelangelo  

Candice!

Italy. Part 1, Venice

In Venice! 

We arrived and took a bus from the airport to the center of Venice. We had detailed directions from there so we thought we would be good finding the way. We were wrong, everyone said Venice is confusing and they are right, we got so lost and asked so many people for directions. We eventually got to our hostel after seeing a lot of Venice and taking a water bus and this place was nice. There were 4 of us in a room so we met the other 2 people because they happened to be there then went off on our way. The lady at the hostel was nice enough to show us everywhere on the map and places to eat,shop, sites etc. We were off, we first went past the Rialto bridge. We walked through markets on our wag to lunch. We ate near the most beautiful scenery! This was our first pizza in Italy, and it was Amazing!! We went to a few art museums, a churches, obviously having gelato in between all of them. The food was amaing! Pizza was to die for! 
The next day, Tuesday, we walked around and saw more of Venice and walked along the water to see a huge church! 
Venice doesn't have as many sites as it is just walking around experiencing it!! 

On the Plane to Venice

On a bus boat to find out hostel

Our view from our first lunch in Venice

gelato

Me with the Gondola men!

View from our window from our hostel

on a pretty bridge

gelato with a beautiful setting! perfect

Midterm Week

While I see all my friends status's on facebook about being in the library because it is halfway through the semester so it is midterm time, I have a do-able amount of work.  I had a paper due Tuesday for Culture by Design and a small art history midterm due yesterday, but not much.
I am feeling 100 percent back to myself.  Thank gosh I am because I have a busy weekend and then Italy on Monday!  THis weekend I am going to Lee's cousins Bar Mitzvah.  Just like we do in America it is a weekend ordeal!  I am starting to get all my stuff together for Italy because I know this weekend will go so quickly.
This week has been great!  Yesterday I had my internship where I worked on picking out fabrics and wall coverings for the studio here, it is challenging because the "client" is also my boss. I found a few she really likes so today I am ordering samples and finding more about them.  After my internship yesterday I went to Art History where we went to Tate Britain.  We saw some Turner work through time which was so nice to see in person.  And then....I went to the Picasso exhibit!  It was so amazing!  They had his work and then other artists who he influenced aswell and it was easy to see his influence on the world of art.  This was an amazing exhibit!
Last night we went to see a play called "In Basildon.  THis was the first round theatre I had been to..the stage was in the middle and you could see it from all sides. It was different but I did not like that sometimes peoples backs were to me.  I felt like their sound system needed to be a bit louder for us with backs to us to hear.  That being said, it was a funny play and I enjoyed it alot!

Today, Thursday, It is a beautiful Spring day!  I am at my internship ( where I am right now) all day.  I just wanted to put a quick post in because I know the day will be busy after this and then tomorrow even more so.
Plans for Spring Break so everyone knows.
I fly out Monday morning from Gatwick airport at 8 40 to Venice.  We are in Venice until Tuesday evening where we take the bus to Florence.  We will be in Florence for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.  Leaving Florence for Siena Thursday morning.  We are staying in Siena Thursday night and going to Rome midday Friday.  We are going to be in Rome Friday, Saturday and Sunday and flying out Sunday afternoon back to London!  It is going to be a busy few days but amazing!

I have it all pretty much planned and I am going with my friend Candice so we will figure it out together!  I have done as my mom would and printed out places to eat, see, maps and all my information for the places ( thanks mom!).  
Enjoy Spring weather!!