my thoughts as i travel through this thing called life...: This past week....

On Thursday we didn’t have class, this is because it was Florence’s independence holiday. We didn’t do much because it was finally a day off from everything, but later in the day we wondered around town, making a stop at H&M clothing store and then headed off across the Pointe’ Vecchio, (the gold bridge) were all the tourists go. It was fun to enjoy it for once, instead of just walking over it go somewhere else. We even got some good pictures. We then strolled home, had a great home cooked dinner of baked ziti and green salad and then headed just around the corner from our apartment to watch the fireworks which were displayed over the river, a great show, but as someone in our group said “Disneyland’s are still the best I have ever seen” and being that I got to watch then quite often when I worked there, I would have to agree with them.

Roommates minus 3 others.

Chris, Kenny, Me, Dex, Tim and Roger.

View from the Gold Bridge

Street Performer in front of the Uffizi Museum

People along the river waiting for fireworks

crazy lady watching the fireworks from the light post

This weekend was filled with great experiences. Starting bright and early Saturday morning we traveled to the Tuscan countryside. Our first stop was at a small hillside community. Have you ever seen the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond when they visited Italy? This is what that city reminded me of! Great views, great architecture and from what I hear they produce great cheese. From the smell of it, Im sure glad I didn’t try it, talk about STRONG! Following that we traveled to the Winery. We toured the vineyards of three of the varieties they produce, we also took a look at the cellars where the aging takes place in wood barrels and after that we visited there tasting room where we tried three wines with a selection of fresh deli meats and cheeses. Although I had never heard of any of the wines they produced, two out of the three were very tasty. Along with the grape vineyards they are also producing crops of olives for olive oil. It was some of the best olive oil that I have ever tasted. After that we traveled to the city of Montipulchiano, this apparently is where they filmed the movie twilight. Not being a fan, I had no idea of what most of the people were talking about when we saw different building in the town. Surprise right? But all in all it was still a great visit. After visiting I settled back in to my seat on the Mercedes tour bus for the two hour ride back to Florence. What a great Saturday, with one great lesson learned…..remember to charge your camera Jason!! Who would of thought, that with bringing 3 batteries with me that I would ever run out of power for the camera…..good thing everyone one of my other friends brought there cameras.

On Sunday we traveled to Verriago Beach about two hours by train out of Florence. Beaches here are not like those in the United States. These public beaches are regulated by local companies. For a nominal fee they provide you with the use of both a beach chair and an umbrella, it was almost strait out of the movies. Quite different from Huntington and Long Beach. The most surprising factor for me was to see how many people were at the beach, I would say a round about number of a couple thousand. It truly is a “were going to the beach day” for the Italians, especially for those who don’t live in the city. What a great day and surprisingly enough I didn’t get brunt, maybe it’s because when I wasn’t in the water I was hiding under my towel and umbrella!

First ride on the top of a double decker train!

Now thats a busy beach!

Now after all that fun, I must get back to my studies…to the kitchen and the computer lab I go…I have three 2000 word essays due in the next 2 weeks…………….Wish me luck!

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