Okay so here's the deal... My internet has been down for about two weeks, and by down I mean my roommates computer has commandeered my username and password and will not give it back, it's a long story but to make it short, my computer no longer has internet capabilities and I haven't been able to figure out how to get them back. But because I have the coolest roommate known to man, she lets me use her internet on her computer, and so I am finally getting around to stealing her computer long enough to post a blog.
This also means I have 2 weeks worth of update to post in one blog, well it might be two, for sanity's sake. and because it is really difficult for our internet to upload lots of photos all at once. Lets start where we left off shall we? Here are some photos of the day to start things of right:
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| sandals and white wine foot shot for photo class 21.9.2011 |
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| beating eggs for pine nut breakfast cake 22.9.2011 |
I left you with a photo update about Elba Island, Florence and Cinque Terre. Since then I have been on some amazing adventures. A few of us took a day trip to San Gimignano, a super cool old small town in the tuscan countryside. It still has all of its old towers and its really quiet and the views are phenomenal! We happened to show up there on the day they were doing a firefighters demonstration. Some firefighters were jumping out of windows on to the air-puff thing, they demonstrated the ladder system that they used to touch up frescoes on the ceilings of the Vatican so they didn't have to lean a ladder up against the frescoed walls, it took six guys to set it up and one very spry man to climb all the way to the top. The music was epic and fitting there was fake smoke and everything. After the demonstration we bought a bottle of San Gimignano wine and went to to top of the hill and the four of us sipped our wine and drank in the Tuscan hillside.
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| Tuscany from San Gimignano 23.9.2011 |
The next day we went on a trip to Bologna with my program, we went on a walking tour and saw some beautiful history of Bologna. Then after a quick meal of ragu alla bolognese, a few of us went to climb the tallest tower in Bologna, 97 meters, about 300 ft. the stairs up spiral around the inside walls of the tower and are all made of wood, it was beautiful, and once we reached the top the view was incredible we could see all of Bologna, and even though we were in the historical old part of town from there we could see the modern parts of the city. Which was a pretty cool reminder that not all of Italy is so old and made of stone, there are really modern parts too.
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| view from the Bologna tower 24.9.2011 |
After our half day in Bologna we got back on the bus to Modena for a balsamic vinegar tasting at a balsamic vinegar farm, also knows as an Acetaia. We were given a tour of the whole operation, and an explanation of how they make the vinegar in the traditional way. Then we all tasted 4 ages of vinegar, 7yrs, 10yrs, 25yrs, and 30yrs old. This was real vinegar not the fake stuff we eat at home, every drop of it was phenomenally delicious. The grandmother of the whole family made us a feast and we put their amazing balsamic on everything on the plate, we pigged out and enjoyed the sun and the grass and the fresh grapes!
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| inside the attic at the acetaia, where all the vinegar ages 25.9.2011 |
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| hands shot for photo class 26.9.2011 |
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| arches across the river 27.10.2011 |
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| self portrait of feet for photo class 28.9.2011 |
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| the first of many landscapes, some park somewhere 29.9.2011 |
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| l'arno at sunset 30.9.2011 |
The next weekend, my roommate and I went on an impromptu trip to Oktoberfest. We found out the night before the group left that there were still 4 spots left on the bus to Munich with this student travel company. So we snagged two of them! and the next day we were on an overnight bus to Germany. We didn't get our passports checked at all on the way over, I fell asleep in Italy and woke up in Germany, time travel is weird. So long story short we went to the Fest on Friday, had tons of fun. Then went back to the Fest on Saturday, and didn't do much beer drinking, but more carnival stuff. On Sunday we went into Munich and hopped a sightseeing bus and kicked around Munich for a while, purchased traditional German Dirndls, got mistaken for german girls, ate bratwurst, it was amazing. I didn't want to bring my camera to Oktoberfest so I sadly have no photos from this weekend but I'll put some photos up from other days to make up for the days.
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| spry firefighter in San Gimignano taken on 23.9.2011 make up for 1.10.2011 |
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| looking down the tower in bologna taken on 24.9.2011make up for 2.10.2011 |
I'll post about what has happened since Oktoberfest tomorrow - if you're lucky, fingers are crossed!
Caio
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