I had almost come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see Venice during this trip to Italy, because it's a very expensive trip from Siena, but this weekend I went with Jason, Sarah, and Ada and I was able to spend one night and two days in Venice for 100 euros! Our trip started out about 9:30 Thursday when we caught our first train from Siena to Florence. Once in Florence we had a two hour layover, but we met some really cool people and went out with them before our 1:45 a.m. train [View Full Entry]

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Sarah and I left Siena on the 7:30 a.m. bus Saturday morning and arrived in Rome at 10:30 a.m. First we headed straight to the Vatican Museum, because we were warned that the line can easily be two or three hours long. Luckily we only waited in line for 15 min! We spent about 5 hours at the Vatican; where we saw the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, three rooms by Raphael, and a million other artists! After the Vatican Museum we walked to St. Peter’s Square and then on into St. Peter’s Basillica; where we saw Peter, the Apostle’s, tomb and [View Full Entry]

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Last Friday our class traveled to Florence for the third time. This time we went with our Music History teacher, Mossimo, to the Academia. The Academia was a very small museum in comparison to museums we've been visiting. We spent most of our time studying Stradivari instruments (violas and violins) and we also got to see the first (and one and only) vertical piano. The Academia is also home to Michelangelo's David, technically no pictures were allowed, but I was able to sneak a few. After the Academia I traveled up to the highest point in Florence (the Michelangelo Piazza) to [View Full Entry]

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I just had to fill everyone in on my experience of Easter in Italy. The night before Easter I attended the midnight mass at Siena’s Duomo. The inside of the Duomo is probably the most outstanding building I’ve ever stepped foot in; the walls are constructed of solely black and white marble stacked one on top of the other and the floor is also covered in pink, black, and white marble depicting stories from the bible. There are 8 smaller chapels off of the main cathedral, each packed with art work by Duccio, Donatello, Michelangelo, Jacopo della Quercia, etc. Above the [View Full Entry]

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Saturday I took a 3 hour bus ride along the Amalfi Coast to Amalfi Town. The ride there was something else. The bus goes along very small roads attached to the sides of cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. I set upfront near the driver and beside a window on the right side, because I’d been told that was the best seat, and it was for two reasons: the view of the coast was best from the right side of the bus and the roads are so curvy that if you don’t sit up front you won’t be able to go the [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday morning March 12th I took a 6 hour train straight from Pisa to Naples. Once in Naples I transfered to the subway and took a one hour train to Sorrento. I spent Wednesday evening checking into my hostel and exploring Sorrento. I decided to use Sorrento as my base for day trips to Capri, Pompeii, and Amalfi. Sorrento is about the size of Siena and is located on the bay of Naples (no beach though, only harbors). The first thing I noticed was how much more outgoing and nicer the Italians were in Sorrento compared to Siena. They were [View Full Entry]

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I left Sorrento at 10 a.m. on Thursday and took a 30 min. ferry to the Island of Capri, as you'll see from the pictures the island is stunning. When I arrived at Capri's Marina Grande, my original plan was to immediately catch another boat to the Blue Grotto, but the Grotto was closed, so I took a 30 min. bus ride up through the town of Capri to Anacapri, which it the town that sits at the top of the Island. Anacapri is a very, very small town with mostly shops and restaurants. I wondered around for a bit and [View Full Entry]

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Friday morning I ate breakfast at my hostel and then headed towards the train station to catch the train to Pompei. At the station I ran into Shantal and Megan from KS and we talked all the way to Pompei and I ended up spending the entire day with them. Pompei was a lot larger than I expected. I was only planning on spending 3 hours in the town and then going on up to the volcano, but Pompei took 5 hours so I didn’t get to see Mt. Vesuvius. It took about 30 minutes to get oriented with the way [View Full Entry]

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Malta is a very, very interesting country. Our trip was in the middle of their election and there are two main political parties in Malta, the Labor Party and the Nationalists. On the second day that we were there, according to one of our hotel workers, Malta elected its first democratically elected president. So, needless to say there were parties everywhere. Our hotel, Hotel Alexandra, was located right in the middle of the largest tourist district so the scenery consisted mostly of restaurants and nightclubs. This part of the country, St. Julians, was very dirty and crowded, but once you leave [View Full Entry]

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Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back in Siena. I had an amazing spring break and I have over 800 pictures to sort through and stories to tell. So keep an eye out this week, as I'm hoping to begin posting entries about my trip to Malta and Southern Italy. [View Full Entry]

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