July 12: Traveling

Today was a very long day! After driving the rental car all weekend, last night we ended up back in Florence. We had to turn the rental car in this morning, so we got up and started the drive back to Siena. We got lost! We turned the car back in (30 minutes late) and jumped on the train heading to Cinque Terre Italy. The train took us BACK into Florence. We left Florence for the second time that day around 2 pm. We got off the train in in an obscure village to catch our connecting train. This train ride was suppossed to last 8 minutes and take us to the village of Riomaggiore. After about 35 minutes on the train, we realized we must have gotten on the wrong train! We jumped off at the next stop. By this time it was getting pretty late, so we decided to stop to try to figure out where we were and make hotel reservations for that evening, so we wouldn´t have to hunt for a room when we got in. I couldn´t for the life of me find a room in Riomaggiore, so we decided to stay put for the night and try again in the morning. We fell into bed absolutely exhausteed!

July 9-11 Tuscany Italy

The morning of the 9th we were able to rent a car in Siena. Yay! The car we rented was TINY! It barely was able to fit Joe and I and our backpacks. It looked like a clown car. We had no idea where we were headed to, so we just decided to drive through Tuscany. We spent three days driving through the countryside and stopping in little towns along the way. It was so much fun. Tuscany is covered with vineyards, especially in the Chianti region. Many owners open their doors to tourists and we enjoyed trying the different wines of the region. In addition to vineyards, many people grow olive trees, lavender, and sunflowers. There are also many castles throughout the region.

One of the highlites of the weekend was getting to stay at a farm in the Chianti region. There are many signs featuring agrotourism. These are places where farmers that let tourists sample their products and many even rent rooms. We were fortunate to stay in a farm overlooking beautiful vineyards and San Gimignano. Joe played the guitar while we watched the sun set. The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast made with the products picked from the farm. The peaches were especially delightful as well as a cake made from some kind of mint herb.

Another memorable occasion was when we went to Monteriggioni to a Rennasaince Festival. I have been to these before, but this one was a little different. Monteriggioni was built in the 12th to 14th century and it has changed little since the Rennasaince days. The streets are so narrow no cars can get into it and the buildings and wall surrounding the city are little changed. It really felt like we walked onto a movie set. It is definately one of the most authentic Rennaisance Festivals in the world. Joe was happy because he met two professional street clowns. He was able to get some ideas from them and get their email addresses. He was like a little boy meeting his superhero.

Pictures to come...

July 7th and 8th: Siena

I have been without internet for a while, so I have some catching up to do.

After breakfast on the 7th we checked out of our hotel and headed straight for the car rental company. Unfortunately, they didn´t have any cars available at the moment so we jumped on the bus to Siena. Once we got to Siena, we had to get a map to find the way to our hotel. We found the checkin desk and soon realized that our room was still a solid 10 minute walk away. We hoofed it to the building and up the 4 floors (there was no elevator in the building) to our room. Did I mention the building had no air-conditioning? In the middle of July in Italy. Whew! It was so nice to relax for a bit before going back out!

Siena is a cute little town. It´s not as big as Rome, but it´s certainly bigger than some of the smaller villages we´ve been to. Siena is famous for it´s Palio horserace held every summer in which 10 horses and riders run circles in the town square. A total of 17 horses and riders, each representing a contrade (or district in Siena) participate in the race. The race originated in the middle ages and its a REALLY big deal here. The square it´s held in, Piazza del Campo is a neat area to visit. There are several good outdoor restraunts and museums in the area.

Another part of town to check out is the the Duomo, or main cathedral, area. Visiting the cathedral is a must do in Siena. I have never seen a cathedral quite like it. The interior and outside is covered in white and greenish-black striped marble. The inside is completely covered with inlaid mosaics covering the floor. It is really beautiful.

I will soon post pictures, so check back in a few days,

July 6: San Gimignano

We are now in San Gimignano in Tuscany Italy. It is a tiny medieval town surrounded by vineyards. What is interesting about this place is that it has changed very little since the 13th century. It is set among high walls and no cars are allowed in. It also has 14 medieval skyscrapers. In those days, all the rich families all tried to outdo each other and build taller and taller. Only 14 towers survive today, but there used to be 70. This is a small town, so it´s very easy to cover in a day. Joe and I spent our time here walking around the fortifications, visiting the shops, and I went to the top of one tower while Joe practiced his music and juggling.

July 3 and 4: Florence

July 3rd was a busy, busy day. After a good breakfast (many of the hostels and hotels come with breakfast, yay), we decided to tackle the 1 1/2 hour line to the Galleria Dell Accademia. It is most famous for it´s famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo. It also houses other wonderful pieces such as his unfinished "Slave" series, as well as paintings from Florentine artists, a small music museum, and some really interesting plaster models used in the production of sculptures.

After this, I really wanted to see the Medici chapel and their tombs. I studied the sculptures of the tombs in my art history classes and really wanted to see them in person. They were done by Michelangelo as well. The Medicis were the ruling family of Florence during the Rennasianceand did alot to promote the arts, especially Lorenzo "The Magnificient".

After this, we grabbed a bite to eat and then went straight to the Museo Gallileo. This museum was a bit different. This was dedicated to the sciences during the Rennasiance time. It was fun looking at all the tools used by scientists, mathmaticians, and astonomers hundreds of years ago. Many things I didn´t recognize, but there were videos explaining how they worked. The museum had an excellent selection of maps and globes. They were very beautiful.

The next day Joe´s left leg was hurting him pretty bad. He was in a motorcyle wreck almost a year ago and fractured his leg. It´s been holding up really well on this trip but has been bothering him lately, so we decided to relax today. I worked on knitting a lot and Joe practiced his guitar. He also bought some juggling pins and has been practicing them. He used to be a professional clown. No Joke! He wants to get an act together so he can do some street performance on this trip.

July 1 and 2 Naples and Florence

We checked out of our hotel in Positano on July 1. I was really sad to leave, but the adventure must continue. The Almalfi Coast is made up of alot of mountains and the drive along is very beautiful and scary. Instead of carving the roads through the mountains they made the roads to go along the side of the clifts. On one side of the vehicle there´s the water about 100 feet down and on the other side is mountains rising up above. There´s also ALOT of hairpin turns. In our 40 minute drive I counted 132 before I got bored and stopped counting.

We got into Naples midafternoon and walked around the town for a bit before setting down for the night. What a cultureshock! Naples is pretty much opposite of Positano. It´s very gritty and we soon learned crossing the road was an adventure. Apparently, you are suppossed to walk out in the middle of traffic and the cars stop for you, but I saw a couple pedestrians almost got hit by cars so I wouldn´t reccomend it. We never knew if we were suppossed to cross or not so we tried to wait until a local came along and then do what they did.

Fortunately, we were there for only one night before we packed up and went to Florence. We got there on the afternoon of the 2nd. We walked by the river for a while. Then, as we were walking through the town we heard organ music playing. We found the church where it was coming from and sat down and listened to it. It was a free classical music concert and boy it was good!! The sound filled the space and was very beautiful. It reminded me of my mom. She used to play the organ at church and teach piano lessons. There was always music in the house when I was growing up. I really miss hearing her play the piano. I tried to record some of the concert for her because I know she would love it, but we later had technical difficulties with the camera and lost what I recorded. What a bummer, but I tried.

June 29 and 30 Positano continued

Positano is so beautiful!

Today June 29th we had to check out of our hostel because we only booked it for 2 days and we decided we wanted to stay another 2 days, but unfortunately the hostel was full, full, full. Not surprising because it is the only hostel in town and the hotels are pretty expensive. We reserved a room at a hotel a little closer to the beach. This ended up being a good thing since our hostel was situated at the top of Positano and we had to climb down 674 steps to get to the beach and 674 to get back. So much for resting.

We checked out of the hostel and decided to take a boat to the Island of Capri. It was a beautiful ride. Once we got to Capri we found a sign that pointed to the city center and followed it. Big mistake! The city center was alot further than we thought and situated on top of a mountain. It took us almost an hour to get there. Once we got there we found out that we could´ve taken a tram for 1 Euro each. I went to the information center and was informed that pretty much everything we wanted to do was at the port where we had just come from, so we grabbed a piece of pizza and jumped on the tram to go back down. Once we got there we booked a boat tour that took us all around the island and included a couple grottoes. The scenery was amazing!

When we got back to Positano, we went to check into our hotel but the hotel didn´t have our reservation (even though we had a confirmation number) and they were full so we had to scramble to find another one at the last minute. The hotel we ended up at was a lot pricier than we wanted but it was much nicer as well.

The next day we were tired so just stayed pretty close to the hotel.