Watch Your Feet

Last night we came home from an AMAZING weekend in Tuscany. I am going to tell you all about it.

Friday morning we got up early and made our way to the meeting point of Piazza Barberini via metro system. Once we were with the rest of the group, our yellow charter bus came and picked up. We were on our way!

Our first stop was at a gas station that was really more like a restaurant/grocery store/gas station. It had a huge area for sitting for a meal, a ton of junk food/random things like at a gas station, but it also had actual groceries, dvds, cds, barbies, etc. It was crazy. They had an incredible amount of candy that I got really excited about, but I neglected to buy anything.

Before we reached our first destination, we stopped by a ceramics shop where we were able to get a tour of the "backstage" area of the ceramic world. I felt at home for two reasons: my step-mom would love everything in the store (we have some vases like that in our house) and when I smelled the paint in the back I felt like I was back in the scene shop, which was of course a familiar smell. I thought it was so interesting to hear all about the process. They have to fire different colors on the pots at different temperatures and he told us why certain pieces cost more than others. It was really cool.

Our first town stop was in Pienza. This town was dubbed the "perfect town" and it was, in fact, pretty cool. Cobble stone streets like in Rome and cute shudders everywhere. We walked along the outside wall to see a breathtaking view of the countryside and window shopped some cute stores around town. We got little sandwiches from this little shop.

Afterwards, Krista and I gave into the gelato temptation. But it was way worth it. It was here that I started realizing that I am obsessed with the artwork in Italy. It only got worse throughout the weekend.

After Pienza, we left to go to the thermal baths. We went to a spa/hotel place that provided us with hooded (yes!) robes, slippers, and a towel. I wish we were able to keep them. There, we swam/bathed in the thermal bath, which was a pool with water that was naturally warm from a hot spring and was rich with minerals that help your skin. It's so intense, though, that they say it's only good to stay in for 20 mins. at a time, followed by a 20 mins. resting period. During the "rest" we layed out in beach chairs to catch some rays (or z's) and went back in a little later. During one of our breaks we went inside and had some water and ice cream bars. The water also had jets that felt like a massage and a fountain that you could sit under and later have it hit different parts of your body to soothe your muscles. So good. We had a blast and it really was very relaxing. We were at the spa for a few hours and then went to Chianciano Terme to check into our hotel. We had about a half hour before dinner in the hotel and so we just got settled and went back downstairs.

For dinner, they had two options: pasta or soup. They both looked incredible and they let us have both, which was very exciting. We were getting kind of full, but I made some comment about really wanting more food and a dessert, but it was good enough. Then, an API director came over and said "Yeah, so now we'll have you guys go through the salad bar, then get your mean, and we'll finish with a dessert." Yep, we had a four course meal, and we had eaten BOTH options of the first one already. Great. Haha. Whoops. It was all really good, definitely worth it, but we completely passed out by the time we made it to bed.

The next morning we left at 8AM for Siena, which was a really sweet town with an interesting history. In the main Piazza there is a horse race two times a summer and it's a competition between the neighborhoods within Siena. There are 17 neighborhoods, but 10 are selected in a lotto to see who can race. Basically, every neighborhood is die hard. They have their own mascot (ranging from porcupine, dragon, eagle, or an owl), colors, and a flag they use during the race and to celebrate afterwards. On July 2nd the porcupine neighborhood (the "rich" neighborhood, according to our tour guide) won. Every day after they have a parade and we saw it for a little bit. By parade, it really means that a few guys walk together and bang a drum while a few others carry the flag. We walked around the town and shopped around, finding cute little stores and we also had a walking tour of the town. There was a really cool church that's in the picture below!

We left Siena to go to San Gimignano where we had a few hours to look at the local shops, painting places, and take pictures of the beautiful scenery. It was absolutely gorgeous because it was green, lush, and looked idealistic. Just like we had imagined Italy being. The best part was that the gelato place we ate at was the World Champion Gelato for 06-07 and 08-09. So fantastic. I tried the limoncello, amaredo chocolate (a chocolate specific to Tuscany), and sour cherry. Shannon got one that was wine...and it really did taste like wine in ice cream form, which was VERY strange. I was happy with my choices.

After running around the town we sat in a shaded area and watched people arriving for a wedding. We tried to see the bride, but she came after we had to leave. We got back to the hotel for another four course meal (but we were prepped for it this time). The first dish was my favorite. It was a pasta cheese dish that was the most amazing food my mouth has ever tasting (and I really don't think I'm being dramatic). It had cheese baked on the top of all the pasta like a lasagna and mixed with the pasta was cheese and meat and...man, it was delicious. The rest of the meal was a disappointment for me, but I was happy with the pasta. Our dessert was disgusting. I don't think anyone ate it. It was flan and it tasted like alcohol...we weren't happy with it. We slept really well that night as well.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel and had guided tours for a few smaller towns before arriving in Tenuta Caparzo for our wine and food tasting. The food we tasted were bruschetta, fruits, different spreads on bread, cheese (the best cheese EVER), and other small things. We tried three red wines and a dessert wine. I really liked all but the dessert wine, but so far I've only had two dessert wines and can barely take a second tiny sip. Yikes. Overall, I liked this wine tasting better than the one at school, but we had food at this one...maybe that's why. After the tasting, we got a tour of the wine cellar, then headed back to Rome. After getting back we made dinner and attempted to watch a movie, but we were all too tired.

Mom, this picture of sunflowers is for you. If I were a millionaire, you would have this sent to you. Or the poppies ones. I took illegal pictures of both, though. So that is my love for you...in illegal activities? Just don't think about it that way I guess.

Today we went to class at the University for once, since it was our make up for missing the class trip to Pompeii (it was Friday when we were in Tuscany), so class was only an hour and a half. After that, we checked our mail and Janet (Jenna's mom) had sent all of us cards! It was very exciting to see something in the mail boxes (all of them are always empty!). We got back to our neighborhood, went to the grocery store, and had lunch. Our afternoon wasn't very productive, but we uploaded pictures and I talked to my best friend (Katy, she lives in MI) for almost two hours...yikes! But totally worth it.

Tonight we made a roomie dinner of lemon chicken and rice, which was great. Shannon and Priya made it for us and it was quite delightful. We plan on playing games and having Nutella tonight and tomorrow is Tuesday...which means...BEACH TUESDAY! So good.

I hope that these pictures have made up for the other few posts that were just boring text.

Hope your weekend was as fun as ours was!

**EDIT**

I forgot to mention why the title is "Watch Your Feet" so, get ready.

We were in Siena, on our walking tour, when all of the sudden we hear this thud noise followed by a loud yell and the f word. We turn around just in time to see Matt (Michigan Matt...there are two) with this horrid angry/pain look on his face and then he sits down in the street. A car just ran over his foot. I thought the thud was his foot breaking, but it turns out that the side mirror hit him, so it folded into the car. But his foot still had been run over. Luckily, the Italian people were nice, the tour guide and the API lady were very helpful by translating and getting ice and he basically just sat on the side of the street for a while for the shock to wear off. His food ended up being fine, but it was crazy. He wasn't even out in the middle of the street, either. So...when you're in Italy you have to watch your feet. We definitely learned that our first week because of crazy vespas and cars and buses that really don't care if you have the right of way in a pedestrian crosswalk. I guess that is even more true when you are in a tiny cobble stone street, too.

Yikes.