Italia: Siena & San Gimignano

via Google Images

Yesterday we took a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano.  Only half of the group went while the other half went on a Chianti wine tour.

Siena is a Tuscan town on a hill.  While there we took a walking tour of the city and went to the church of St. Catherine of Siena.  In the church we saw St. Catherine's head and thumb (which is a little weird/creepy).

Check out some photos I took on our day trip!

Inside the Cathedral we were not allowed to use flash... so this one is kinda dark, but you can still see the background! 

In San Gimignano, we ate lots of gelato and walked around the city... which, has a wall built around it!  The view of the Tuscan countryside was to die for.

I love this view of the rolling hills of Tuscany from San Gimignano!

San Gimignano has the Worlds Best Gelato... which, of course, was what everyone cared the most about!  I had six different flavors of gelato and it was delicious!

Doesn't that gelato look delicious?

I love this picture of me with my Freshman roommate Morgan.  The background is so gorgeous!

 

 Ciao!

orange accessories

I love the color orange... in fact this is not my first blog post on the color orange.  But, I felt the desire to write another one because Kate Spade's color of the month this month is orange and I love everything about it!

Giraffes hard shell iPhone case

 

Wicker Elephant Basket Tote

Year of Color May Ring

Cobble Hill - Ellen Crossbody bag in Orange

I love crossbody bags!  This bag is perfect for a Florida football game, easy to carry and you don't have to put it on the icky ground!  How perfect is that?

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Italia: Day at Capri

This morning we woke up early and took a boat ride to Capri.

Capri is a beautiful island off the coast of Sorrento, Italy.
Capri is beautiful, so far I think it's my favorite place that we have visited.  The water is so blue and clear.  We took a group boat tour around the island.  During the tour we saw the entrance to the blue grotto or La Grotta Azzurra in Italian.  It is 25 euro to take a boat ride into the grotto and tourists sometimes wait up to three hours to get inside.  The entrance is very small so visitors must lay down on the bottom of a canoe to fit through the entrance.  A few people went into the grotto while we were visiting the island, but the majority of the group stayed on Capri and toured the city.  After our boat tour around the island we took mini buses up to Anacapri, the top area of the island.  The roads are very narrow so only one vehicle can drive at a time.  Our bus driver drove extremely fast and the roads were very windy.  A few times we had to come to a sudden stop to allow another vehicle to pass us...the roads were not big enough for two cars and the side of the cliff was right next to us...it was extremely nerve racking!  Sixteen people fit in each bus, I rode in the same bus as all of the professors and boy did we bond during that ride!  It was like a roller-coaster, but without the peace of mind that this ride has been through multiple safety tests and regulated by the government.  Anything could happen...our tour guide declined to comment when she was asked if everyone made it to the top.  Luckily, we all survived...barely! Kissing the ground (literally) when we got to the top.

When we got to Anacapri most people payed 10 euro to take a chairlift to the top of the mountain.  I declined to participate because the crazy ride had given me quite a headache.  Instead Kim (my roomie) and I walked around and got a plate of Penni Pomodoro.  When everyone had taken their turn up to the top of the mountain to experience the fabulous view we all took the buses back down the mountain to hangout in Capri for the afternoon.

I spent the afternoon walking around with Tiffany Oscher, Emily Burris, Dani Palmer, Morgan Walsh, and Tricia Johns.

Can you tell I loved Capri? haha!

Group on boat tour of Capri.

Morgan, Dani & I on the boat during our tour of Capri, Italy.

One of my favorite pictures from my day at Capri.

Emily & I on the boat tour of Capri.

Italia: Chianti Wine Tour

Today we took a bus to the Chianti wine country to two vineyards.

It was so beautiful and I had a lot of fun!

Learning more about how wine is made and having the opportunity to taste different Italian wines was a great experience.  I would love to do it again and learn more about different types of wine. 

 

 

Group in Chianti

At the Vineyard in Chianti.

Me & Bailey at the wine tasting.

Me & Caitlyn at the wine tasting.

Italia: Verona

Over the first weekend we were in Italy we traveled to Venice. We all met at the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence to get on the bus. On the way to Venice we stopped for the afternoon in Verona.

Verona is the home of Romeo and Juliet. The town is so pretty! We didn't have a lot of time there so we had to spend it wisely. For lunch I had a fruit cup...all the fruit in Italy is so fresh and yummy!








After lunch we walked around by the river. It was beautiful! I ate some gelato, so far my favorite flavor is cream caramel.












After exploring the city for a little while we went to Juliet's House...which looks nothing like it does in the movie Letters to Juliet. The walls of Juliet's house were filled with love letters and people were lined up to get there picture taken with the statue of Juliet...and rub it for good luck.












Below leaving Verona, we visited the arena. It was so cool and all the girls enjoyed the workers that were painting inside the arena....haha! :)

Location:Verona, Italy

Italia: Venice Weekend

Over the first weekend we went to Venice. So far I think it is my favorite place. The city does not have any cars. The streets are really narrow and the main mode of transportation is by boat. The city was super crowded and full of excitement because Pope Benedict was in town for the first time in many years. The city was buzzing!

The first night we walked around and ate dinner. The city is so pretty but does not have a lot of nightlife, so we took a boat over to the top of the Hilton to get a birds-eye view of the city. It was so much fun! After that we came back to the hotel to use the free wifi in the lobby.




The next day we slept in a little later than normal and then walked around and explored. In the afternoon we took a gondola ride, which is 20€ a person, but totally worth it! Our gondolier was Mario and he was really nice and informative. He told us a lot about the city and took us by where Marco Polo lived.




After our gondola ride we camped out for four hours to see the Pope who was visiting Venice for the weekend. It was freezing because we were in the shade and there was a lot of wind. But, in the end I was glad I waited and saw the Pope.

While everyone was waiting some people sang and danced in a circle...Steven, Tori, and I joined in!




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Location:Venice, Italy

Italia: Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore located in Piazza del Duomo.

Pictures of The Duomo from Day 1 in Florence, Italy.

My wonderful friend Tiffany (we did a group project together in the Spring), I'm so glad she's also on this trip!

Ciao!