Monday, June 21, 2010
Italian Rivera/ Cinque Terre/ Pisa!
So this weekend was quite an adventure. We went with the whole USAC group to the Italian Rivera. We arrived Thursday afternoon in Santa Margarita and spent the day there walking around and checking out the nice ocean setting. We stayed in a very nice hotel with the group that was right near the beach. We were free for the afternoon and spent our time at the beach. The next day, we took a boat to Portofino and toured an old castle and looked around the cute ocean town. When we were done with the group, six of us, Brittagna, Susan, Erica, Shelby, Julie and I, took a train to Monterosso, the first of the five cities in the cinque terre. We stayed in a cute little apartment that was right next to all the night life. We had a wonderful sea food dinner on the beach and then had a fun night out in Monterosso. The next day we got up early to start our hike of the cinque terre. Unfortunately, when we got to the ticket booth, they informed us that the trail was closed because it was raining. So we got a train ticket to go to all of the towns for 1 euro. Well little did we know at the time, we got on the wrong train and ended up in Pisa! When we got there, it was a crazy down poor and we just had to make our way to the leaning tower of Pisa. So we got some umbrellas and headed out to the tower. It was awesome! Even though it was raining like crazy, we made the best of it and took the famous pictures of us holding up the leaning tower. After we had our fun, we took the train back to Monterosso and were able to hike the first trail until it ended. We had a very successful weekend and it will be a trip that I will never forget!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Venice and Verona
On Friday morning, Erica, Shelby and I headed over to Venice for the weekend. We arrived around 12 and had the whole day to wander around and explore the watery city. I had never seen any place like it. There were no cars and everywhere throughout the town had little cannels running through it. The residents of Verona who had their own transportation all had boats. That was the only way around. It was so unreal going to such an old and magnificent place. Our second day there we did a little shopping and some more exploring. We took the water bus to the other island and watched a free demonstration on how they make glass. It was unbelievable! The guy made a horse glass sculpture in about 3 minutes and it came out perfect. Talk about some talent! In the evening we decided to take our first gondola ride. It was so cool. Definitely a romantic thing to do when in Venice. But our guide was a very nice guy who told us a lot of the history behind Venice and pointed out and explained all the important things we went by. Sunday morning we left Venice pretty early and took the train to Verona. We were only there for a few hours but we got to go to the Casa di Guilietta (house of Juliet). It was awesome! As soon as you walk under the little tunnel both side are covered in letters written to Juliet. As soon as you walk in, you see on your right the balcony that Romeo called to Juliet from. Then you see the famous statue of Juliet that everyone takes a picture with holding her breast. We took the tour of Juliet's house and got to stand out on the famous balcony. After we saw everything, we wrote Juliet a letter and posted it on the wall. I had such a great time and really enjoyed the history and architecture I got to see first hand. Here are the pictures of my journey.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
This weekend
This weekend I will be traveling to Verona and Venice. I am going with my friends Erica and Shelby. We are leaving early Friday morning and taking the train to Verona. In case you didn’t already know this, Verona is the home of Romeo and Juliet. If any of you have seen Letters to Juliet, that is where it takes place. We are going to spend the afternoon exploring the historic town of Verona, then taking a 2 hour train ride to Venice. We are staying 2 nights in Venice in a little hotel room right on the water. I am very excited for our excursion and can’t wait to see what Verona and Venice are like! I will post about my trip and pictures when I get back on Sunday!
Exploring Torino
Today, Sunday, Erica, Bryan and I decided to go check out the world famous Egyptian Museum of Turin. We went downtown and had a look around. It was very big and had a lot of cool artifacts and mummies! After that we decided to talk a walk around downtown Torino and look at the architecture. On Sundays, most everything is closed, so downtown there are a lot of tent venders set up and people playing music on the street. When we were on our way back to the bus, we stopped and watched a man putting on a show in the middle of the street. He was juggling and putting on a fun show. Then right in the middle of it, a crowd of thousands of people came riding by on bikes for a bike pride day! It was a fun afternoon and perfect timing because now it is raining! Here are some pictures of my day.
