http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Italy , Tuscany en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:28:09 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:28:09 BST Hey allThis is basically a short blog just so my lil map says i've been to pisaThis was a stop over on the way to Florence. I literaly got to the train station saw that i had and hour and half to get to the tower before the next train and then made a mad dash to the tower....with my backpack still on....it was sooo heavy so heavy. About 5 mins into it i regretted being cheap and not renting th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-304502.html Hi everyone We are here in Florence but we have been in Cinque terre and RapalloPortofino Kyle and I took a few trains and finally made it to our little town in Cinque terre. It is soooooo pretty there. We were walking down the main street with out huge bags and then a man came up to us and said are you Kyle and Annie He took us to our hostel but aparently the place was fully bo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-304349.html As soon as we stepped out from our Florence hotel we were once more surrounded by tourists everywhere. Kev said the people all reminded him of the hundreds of rats which were walking along a dry river bed in Hanoi Vietnam when he was there a few years ago. ldquoThe only difference being that rats don't carry camerasrdquo he remarked Florence seemed to have market stalls everywhere and we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-304027.html With just a week left until I return to the states I took one last big trip to Florence. The first stop was to the Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella which was built between 12791360 pretty damn old Inside is Masaccio's Trinity which was the first paintintg to use geometric perspective sorry wasn't allowed to take pictures Next I went to see who else but David in all his marble glory. I wait http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-303994.html FlorenceSO apparently we are all about stairs here in Florence. There is about 8 flights of stairs to get up to my apartment plus 8 flights of stairs to get up to the school. Sooo thats a lot of stairs. And no one uses elevators here because they are small and sketchy. We had also been going to Forte Belvedere a lot at night because there is a bar up there. That involves lots of walking up h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-303542.html HulloThe train over from Cinque Terre to Florence stopped at Pisa so the guys decided to take an hour and a half detour and see the leaning tower. It was about 20 minutes from the train station so the three of us donned our backpacks and trekked over. Lots of tourists were in the area but we got a couple good pictures in and marvelled at the fact that yes it's still leaning. Weird.We walked http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-303348.html This past Sunday we got up early to catch a train to the Cinque Terre the Five Villages. The day started off cloudy but that turned out to be a good thing because then we didnrsquot have to battle the heat. We began our journey in the first village Riomaggiore. The hike to the second village is more like a leisurely stroll along the coastline. The trail is fairly high up but it hugs the c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-303141.html FlorenceWoooow so I am really behind on this I've only been in Florence for two weeks but I have done so much already and been so many places And of course seen lots of art After finally arriving here we had two days of orientation. Extremely boring Luckily I got to get out of some of the most boring parts because I had already done the orientation in Rome. But so many of the people her http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-302712.html It turned out that EJ was not able to go sky diving on our last day in Switzerland due to the fact that the trips were completely booked. It was without a doubt the nicest day that we had there weather wise and there were parachutes opening above us all day. After leaving Gimmelwald we headed back to our previous hostel Balmers in Interlaken and used all of their facilities free of charge http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-302423.html We woke up really early today so we could have breakfast and get out of the hotel by 800. We went to the Uffici gallery which has many famous artists and we waited in line for about an hour but it was worth it for sure Even the building itself was spectacular but also the many different portraits of some famous artists what history After that we walked through the indoor market which s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-301966.html Lauren Jesse and I woke up around 800 to have breakfast at the hotel which is free They served us fresh croissants and made any kind of drink that we wanted I had cappuchino After we had all gotten our fill we decided to go out and explore the city for a bit. We walked through the street markets again and then we waited in line to see the famous Duomo Lauren and I had to wear some kind o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-301538.html Today we spent most of the day in Florence. We got there in the morning and Luigi took us to a spot that had great views of the city. We got our group photo taken there. We were then driven down to Santa Croce Piazza and given time to shop at a leather shop there called Peruzzi. We met up with the tour group after having a bit of a look around and went into the Cathedral which houses the tombs of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-301131.html Today we started the Italian part of the tour It was a beautiful hot day again.We left Nice and dropped in at Monaco for a short while. We went inside the cathedral where Princess Grace is buried. We also saw the palace of the Grimaldis the flag was flying which meant that Prince Albert was in town. We then drove on to Pisa Coaches aren't allowed to get too close to the tower anymore because t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-301122.html We woke up this morning around 900 to make breakfast and get ready to check out of our hostel in Cinque Terre. We then hung around the train station in Cinque Terre for a while and just played cards to pass the time. Around 1230 we left for La Spezia where we enjoyed some more Nutella sandwiches while we waited for our train to Florence. The train ride was only a bit over 3 hours and most o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-301111.html I can't believe week two is almost over. This week went by a whole lot faster than the first week. The museums and Palazzos are starting to blur together and I'm doing the best I can to differentiate them in my head Plus it's hard when almost every church has the same paintings and same frescoes showing the same Biblical scenes. I can't tell you how many times I've seen The Annunciation of M http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-300994.html Ok lets face it...Pisa is a boring place Once you've seen the tower you've seen everything Surrounded by LOTS of tourists and of course tourist stalls that only sell stuff you definitely WON'T need I am not even sure you want to see that. Ok... a walk along the river ain't that bad but if you have to decide how much time to spend in Pisa and at other places as f.e. Verona there is no way you http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-300934.html Well Im about to go to dinner and I have a few minutes so I figured I would update So the past few days Ive been kinda homesick but I think Ive gotten through it and everything is all good now I still miss everyone but Im definitely feeling a lot better and no longer have thoughts of sneaking out of Montepulciano and finding my way to Rome to catch a plane back home haha Tomorrow we are go http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Montepulciano/blog-300592.html The scenery on the drive out of France and into Italy was so dramatic you could almost ignore feeling that yoursquod been dropped into the middle of the Wacky Races. Italian Dick Dastardlies whether actually or imagined seemed determined to run us off the road but even this couldnrsquot detract from the breathtaking views. The only viable route was to take the toll road and skirt close by th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-300380.html here we are in Rome lauren and i are having a great time here in europe. i love all of it but especially switzerland probably because it rained so much i dont have much time but i wanted to let you know we are just fine and loving it here. we even found some houses on our house hunt in tuscany. more soon and much lovemindy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-300146.html In 1975 I was able to live in Florence for five months. I had a semester off of school and I sold my car to finance a semester in Florence. I arrived in Florence six weeks before my semester began and I rented the room where I would live during the school sessions and left my luggage behind and took off with a small book bag with enough clothes for an overnight trip but I was on the road for the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-300070.html After a week of perfect weather the rain came today. But lazy rainy Sundays are just as good in Italy as they are in the States. I didn't do much today I mainly worked on homework. I did venture out and get some groceries with a couple other girls. I guess this would be a good time to talk about what I'm actually studying here in Florence. My 5 weeks here consists of two parts. The first http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-299255.html We were a little late arriving in Cinque Terre because of a train strike so we only got to stay one night. It is a collection of five small towns along the coast of the Mediterranean. Both afternoons we spent at the beach and our only morning we hiked a 6 mile trail along the coast. The scenery was stunning Yesterday we spent all day in Florence. We went to the Galleria dell'Accademia to se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-298272.html Wow. Irsquove only been here 4 whole days but it feels like a lot longer. So far in my classes wersquove been to the Ponte Vecchio the San Miniato Church the PiazzaChurch of the Santissima Annunziata the Hospital of the Innocents the Baptistry by the Duomo the Duomo Museum the Medici Chapels Lauretian Library and San Lorenzo Church and then finally Casa Siviero. Like I said before http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-298076.html Pisa ItalyPisa located in western Tuscany is known throughout the world for its famous Leaning Tower but there is so much more to Pisa than just this striking landmark. The ecclesiastical city of Pisa began life as a seaside settlement around 3000 years ago and was first laid out in the mideleventh century. Pisa is crammed full of wonderful historical monuments and buildings dating back ma http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-298007.html It was on april. My italian friend proposed to a friend and me to come to her home at the same time she was our guide all along the Tuscany cities we visited in a hurry. First of all we arrived at Marco Polo's airtport near Venezia. Her aunt picked up us and lead us to her town Castelfranco quite near. We visited a near famous city called Padova. They selled really good tasting cakes with manda http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-297639.html 10 Oct 2007Got up early this morning to hike up to a viewpoint called Piazza De Michael Angelo. We crossed the river when the morning fog was just lifting and took some pictures of the calm water simply breathtaking. As we hiked up the hill we saw the beautiful city unfold before ushellipthis is the way to see Florence After we came back down we had some time for shopping we found this cute l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-297599.html 9 Oct 2007This morning we traveled to Florence and arrived midday with enough time to shop and have lunch. We saw this fabulous openair market and decided to take a look around. And we were glad we did This market has the best deals on Pashmina scarves that we could find in Italy We talked the venders down and purchased multiple which also helped us to get a good deal. After shopping we work http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-297596.html Hey thereSorry its been a day or two. Things have been pretty packed there's alot going on in Florence and this hostel only has one computer so we all have to fight over it. And I'm a lover not a fighter.The hostel we're staying at The Emerald Palace is pretty nice. One computer but its less hot and there's a balcony and fridge. However the room we're in also sits right next to a very busy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-297504.html Just after we blogged you the other day Bob and I arrived back to our hotel to find out that Bertha fell in the bathtub. She fell against a fixture in the tub shower. Her ribs hurt and she has a bad bruise on her back about the size of a fist. Her neck hurt her a lot the next day but all in all she is ok. It could have been worse and we are thankful that it wasnt.Ice was sent up from the fron http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-297103.html