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| Sheep grazing on a hillside in Castelrotto |
So obviously I have not been keeping up properly with the whole 'blogging' thing here in Italy thus far! Just living la dolce vida! So I will try to fill you in quickly from where I left off on my last post! Me and a few friends went to Cinque Terre for a three-day weekend...and it was awesome!!! Such gorgeous cities, and the weather was nice and hot! I even was able to swim in the ocean and jump off some cliffs! I completely fell in love with the area and would love to come back someday with my family. I had delicious sea food, and even ate some questionable-looking crustaceans as well. I had an awesome time to say the least. Back in Florence I went to the eye doctor a few more times (still have a swollen cornea and am continuing to go to this eye doctor ...its been over a MONTH!). That aside, I love living in Florence and going to the Mercato Centrale for fresh foods to cook dinner with. Our next big adventure was our week trip to Venice. We left Florence early on a Saturday morning and headed out on the smallest most uncomfortable bus I have ever been on (including the bus trip I took to New York in 10th grade or whatever). Our first stop was actually outside of Venice in Vicenza to check out some awesome work by Palladio. Also to our delight there was a chocolate festival going on at that time...JACKPOT! I tried White Chocolate hot chocolate...basically like drinking white chocolate! So good! Vicenza was beautiful but I was definitely excited to finally arrive in Venice! We took a train from Vicenza to Venice and got there that afternoon. Venice is beautiful and it is really a different way of lifestyle there. There are no cars allowed on the island! Venice is basically an island that was man-made from tons of wood rods and platforms placed on top of these rods...weird! At first it was really hard to get around Venice, going over bridge after bridge and no shortcuts! Our hotel in Venice was awesome, however! I had two other people in my room and we had a two-story room! It was very cool, and come to find out very handy considering we were flooded in to our hotel two different days. And I won't even go into how awesome the continental breakfast was. All I will say is this: cake for breakfast. We also had a day trip to Verona during our time in Venice. We went to the museum Castel Vecchio. Such a cool adaptive reuse building. Verona is also the home to Romeo and Juliet, so of course I sought out Juliet's 'house.' I got to see her balcony and even see the statue they put up of her! I really enjoyed that part of Verona. Anyways, back to Venice. The flooding was actually pretty annoying even though the locals are completely used to it. There were makeshift bridges that looked like low tables placed up in the major areas so you don't have to walk in the water. And let me tell you, it was deep! I thought the flooding would be like small pools of water here and there, I was wrong. In some places, like in Piazza San Marco, it flooded a few feet! The water even went inside the vestibule area in San Marco church! Anyways, Venice is completely beautiful but would have been even more beautiful had we not been there in the fall/flood season. Our last day there I went to the island of Murano which is famous for its glass. It was so cool to see the different things people make out of glass! So interesting and fun to browse in the shops there. After Venice we started our independent travel week. A couple of friends and I went to Padua for a few days. I had a lot of fun in Padua. There were some awesome street markets in Padua which I ended up doing a bit of shopping at ;) I also watched a couple of older Italian men roast chestnuts over an open fire, I kid you not! After a few nights in Padua we went even farther north in Italy to Bolzano in the Dolomite mountains. So beautiful! Many people in this region speak German as their first language, so signs in this area had both the Italian and German name listed. I never would have thought that this area would be such a mix of German influence but apparently many people want to become part of Austria again! I really enjoyed this vacation in the mountains and it honestly felt like we were in Germany most of the time! I had delicious beer, delicious pretzels and even tried Pumpkin soup and Chestnut Soup. During our time in Bolzano we took a day trip to Castelrotto and had a scary bus ride there, but it was beautiful at the same time! We were winding around and going through mountains but finally getting there was worth it! Castelrotto is a small town of about 2,000 people and doesn't really have much to do at this time of year...except stare at the mountains! Which I definitely could have done all day! Another day during our vacation, we took a cable car up to a small town called Oberbozen. So worth it! The cable car ride was gorgeous and had the most spectacular views of Bolzano and the valley! After we got up to Oberbozen, we walked around a bit then took a train over to another town where we took a gorgeous hike to see these Earth Pyramids. It was a nice leisurely day of walking and exploring the small, sleepy towns around Bolzano. I would definitely come back to this part of Italy, but maybe a couple of weeks before. I loved the cooler weather because it made it feel like fall finally, but most of the cable cars and tourist-y things were closed at this time of year. After a nice week in Bolzano, we took a series of trains back to Florence. It seemed like fall finally hit the fair-weathered Florence while we were gone, which I am pumped about! The leaves are finally changing and starting to fall. I am very excited to be back for a few more weeks in Florence and get to be able to do the things I have been putting off! Exactly 3 weeks from today I will be flying back! So crazy to think about! Although between you and me, I am definitely ready to be back in the U.S! Peanut butter, regular deodorant, and normal hair products await me! Oh, and my family too :)) Ciao!
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