Mar 16, 2006 - Sienna

All roads are supposed to lead to Rome... In Sienna, all roads lead back to the Duomo. An hour and a half train ride away from Firenze, a sprawling medievalish city with fortified walls and labyrithine streets, it's a gorgeous city to get lost in. Which is exactly what we did. I can hold my own with the best of them exploring a city usually, but here, each street led you in at least three of the cardinal directions. You couldn't see the horizon anywhere since the streets were all lined with four story buildings leaning in over you, and...

Feb 26, 2006 - Siena for a couple hours

I left Rome this morning and headed for Siena. It was about 3 hours of travel and when I got to Siena I had to be packed for Berlin and Prague and leaving the Green Door about two hours later. Suprisingly I was able to make it... even beat the roommates to the train station because I took a taxi there.

Feb 14, 2006 - No, non ho avuto un raggazzo piu ho bevuto troppo... and name mysedf Naomi while I slept on the streets of Seina.

So Kris and I stayed in while the rest of the group went to dinner for Tracy's birthday. We had some Spumante and were in prime form once Eddie, Cami, Gino and Jeremy came over to join us in our prefunk. We killed the fifth of Jack and drank and shit load of other stuff. All I know is we went to Barone Rosso I remember seeing Kris on the dance floor with Mike then walking outside and seeing her with a large black guy who she claimed was her homie and then on the phone with Laura and I became my new alter ego Naomi. I feel asleep in the...

Jan 30, 2006 - Saturday visit to Sienna and Sunday Florence tour

Buona Sera! (Mi dispiace(i'm sorry) I forgot my camera cord, so no pictures for this entry yet.) After a good friday night on the town, we all woke up early and dehydrated for an afternoon trip to Sienna. Sienna is South of Florence and located more in the hills of Italy so it was still quite cold. It is such a charming little city that holds so many of its traditions today. The city originates from 7 small communities which each have their own Flag/shield. Throughout the city you can still these flags represented on tiles and this tells...

Jan 30, 2006 - Midterm then Commence Drinking

So because it was our Italian midterm we only had and hour of Italian compared to the usual four hours. I made it home before my roommates and didn't really know what to do with myself so I had some vino as I wrote my paper that was due that day for my Cross Culture class. One thing lead to another and I basically finished 1.5 liters of red wine, was wasted in class then my teacher anounces that some local Italian studnets are going to spend some time with us. Needless to say the Spanish started flowing, the people in my group kept telling...

Jan 24, 2006 - Siena

We took a bus to Siena, a quiet little town south of Firenze. It was unusual because all of the buildings were made of a terracotta brick which made the whole town appear orangy/brown. The most prominent feature was the town's main square, which was based on a slope with lines running into a central point in front of the town hall. We found some chilli pepper chocolate in a little shop - and inspired by the movie "Chocolat" we had to try it (wasn't that great though - and rather spicy). The town was closed for the winter - so we brought...

Jan 6, 2006 - Made it to Siena!

I finally made it to Siena yesterday and I am loving it! Mom and Grandma dropped me off yesterday, it was sad but we have been so busy since we got here I have had barely anytime to think about it. We are set up in a hotel untill tomorrow when we get to move into our appartments. My roomates and I checked the place out last night (from the outside), It has he best location, it is right in the middle of the city in between the 2 bigges landmarks and a few minutes to school. The downside is that it is so small and has no washer, dryer or...

Nov 30, 2005 - Siena, Italy

November 30 - We awoke to a cloudy sky and are keeping our fingers crossed for no rain today as we are headed to Siena, one of the most famous Tuscan towns in Italy. We also hope to make it to San Gimignano, a town known for its rolling hills and vistas. Unfortunately, when we arrived to Siena, we found out that the buses to San Gimignano are not very frequent, so going there will not work with our schedule today. We began our city tour with Piazza del Campo, the main square where they have a world famous horse race twice a year. We quickly...

Oct 8, 2005 - Siena and San Gimignano

On Thursday, I had my very first Italian midterm in my art history class. We stayed up way too late studying for it, but I think it helped a lot. On Friday, CAPA took us on a group "field trip" to the towns of Siena and San Gimignano. The bus ride there was absolutely gorgeous. They took us through the Tuscan countryiside, and it was really early in the morning so there was still fog settled in many of the valleys alongside the road. We got to see vineyards and farms and rooling gren hills. Siena was pretty, but it was chilly and then...

Oct 7, 2005 - Italy - Part 3 - Tuscany

TUSCANY We awoke in Positano and dragged our luggage a mile or two down to the beach for the boat ride to Naples. Once again the views of the seaside towns were amazing, defying logic and gravity as the homes are built one on top of the other along the cliffs. We arrived in Naples, and after asking a few locals for directions we grabbed a local bus and headed to the train station. With minutes to spare we jumped on the train to Florence (4 hours) and then once in Florence grabbed another train (2 hours) for Siena. By the time we arrived in...

Sep 23, 2005 - Montalcino

Cycled from Firenze to Montalcino. Of course Montalcino is one of those picturesque hill towns, so the ride was uphill for most of the way. Visited the Enoteca in Montalcino and tasted a number of wonderful Brunello's and Grappa's. Loaded up and rode back to Buonconvento to catch a train back to Firenze. Total day was 75km. Had a great 'last supper' dinner at the apartment and compared our Amarone wines! This was the last night in Firenze before we split up from our group for the rest of our vacation. Unfortunately, the photos from this day...

Sep 22, 2005 - Siena

We hopped onto the train to Siena this morning. Originally hoped to cycle, but realized we wouldn't have enough time to see things. We seem to have deleted all photos from this day in error. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go back! Stayed overnight and found a wonderful restaurant and ate al fresco.