More on Italy

Hi everyone!


Monday was another busy day. Mom couldn't sleep past 3:30 so at 5:00am she decided that it was time for us to wake up and leave for the day! We were rolling by 6:00. We caught a boat to the train station and bought tickets to Verona. Mom told the man we needed tickets to Verona, he said when, and she said "non so" and he said ok, two minutes train 7!!! So we ran to the platform and just barely made the train. 
When we got to Verona we checked in to our hotel and found out that we ended up getting the room we requested which was the only room in the hotel with a cute little balcony looking over piazza erbe. After checking in, we went to the coolest little coffee bar and had an authentic Italian experience of "due cappuccino and croissants", at the bar (meaning standing at the bar) that's the way it's done. After our cappuccino we went to the arena, duomo, another church, and Juliet's house. Mom and I both touched juliets boob to keep our love! We had a nice lunch in the piazza erbe near our hotel. Afterwards we walked to a castle and it was amazing, spectacular views of the city that we hadn’t even seen yet, and lots of fun pictures on the castle wall. By then both of us were in so much back pain we struggled back for a short rest. Then back out for a little shopping and gelato :) We went out at about 9:00 for dinner at the best place. We had the best pizza and some yummy wine. Then we went to the piazza bra (outside the arena) and strolled, people watched, listened to Ricky Martin sing (he was at the arena) more gelato :) and then back to the room at 11/12 with another busy day ahead.

Tuesday morning we headed to Siena! When we got to the train station we found out that our trip was going to consist of getting on 3 different trains. We were a bit nervous because the train system was already confusing enough only having to worry about one train, let alone 3. Fortunately we made each of our trains and made it to Siena around noon. We met a girl a little younger than me at the train station that was heading in the direction of our hotel so she offered to walk with us and point it out. Our hotel was so quaint! It was a large home that the woman had inherited, which she turned into a bed and breakfast. Our room overlooked a little valley and made us feel like we were living the authentic Italian experience instead of the more touristy side. We went out to explore and find some food, by this time it was 2pm. We had three restaurants written down that had been recommended to us so we went in search of them. We soon found out that every single one closed down for a few hours between lunch and dinner, and we just so happened to go during that time. We found ourselves in Il Campo, which is a huge Piazza, and found a restaurant facing the open area so that we could enjoy our food and do some people watching. The food was pretty good there, but the best part of it was our location. It was such a beautiful day and it was so much fun sitting and visiting while watching all the different types of people around us. After lunch we went to see the Duomo which was so incredible and massive. All of the churches have so much detail to them! Siena is divided up into four or five major areas and we are in one, so that gives you an idea of how much there is to see and therefore how much we must have missed as well. The streets are just a little wider than Venice and not many cars. Lots of motor scooters you have to watch out for. The streets are also very steep, lots of up and down, and all cobblestone. It's wonderful. They are lined with private places and stores of all kinds. Beautiful hanging lanterns of assorted size, shape, and style and decorative doors all add to the charm. Swarms of people of all ages, babies to elderly, exude an energy that is both intoxicating and comforting. The campo is huge and surrounded by these amazing old buildings with so much detail and statues of all kinds. It makes you feel as though you are in an arena.  The campo is also a large sloping cobbled area surrounded by trattorias, pizzerias, and gelatorias filled with outside visitors. People play, sit, visit on the campo all day. That night, mom and I went back to one of the restaurants we had tried to go to earlier, and were so glad we did. It was this beautiful, almost cave like but in a good way, place and the owner was the host. He was very convincing when he told us, "madammosele, why do you not want to just relax?" we had pasta and wine and chatted from about 8:30 until 10:30 before heading out to stroll again. It was 11 when we returned to sit in the campo, with a gelato of course, and there were probably 500 people there, again all ages, sitting chatting, and enjoying the evening. At 12:30 we were finally heading to bed.

Wednesday morning mom and I were so excited to have our private tour of Tuscany! Our driver picked us up and we went driving through all sorts of back roads to see the more local side of Italy. We went to this little town that looked like a giant brick and stone wall from the outside. When we went inside we discovered that it was a little village that you wouldn’t even know existed if you just looked at the outside. We were amazed by how big the village was inside, with shops, restaurants, and homes. After that we went to Montachino for wine tasting at Brunello. We had some of the best wines we had yet there! The tasting room was located right inside a fortress that was beautiful. After the tasting we were able to go up on the walls and see the beautiful view of the country. I had the best pasta of my entire trip after that! Next we were off to another wine tasting and tour a winery. The most interesting part of this tasting is that we tasted olive oil, which our driver knew a lot about, so he told us how to do a proper olive oil tasting and spot a good olive oil from a bad one (who knew there was such a thing)!  Following this we drove to Orvietto, another quaint town, in which we went to see the Duomo, which our driver said was one of the most beautiful in the world, and it really was. It was so massive and there were mosaics all over the outside of the building. Mom then spotted someone who looked a lot like Sarah Jessica Parker, and it turns out, it WAS! I was so excited as she is one of my favorite actresses. I was able to snap a picture of her discretely, and mom was able to get one of me and her in the same frame. After seeing the town of Orvietto, we headed to the train station to go to Rome. The ride was only a little over an hour long so we got there by 8pm. We then walked to our hotel, unwilling to pay the 30 Euros that the cab drivers thought we would be naive enough to pay, which was only 10 blocks away. We were so exhausted that we just went to bed since we had another busy day planned for thursday with a private guide to show us all of Rome.

Will write about Rome later! Having a great time, miss you all!