Florence and Pompeii - last weekends in Italy!

As I write this post, I am sitting in the Athens International airport! It is 2 am and I am wide awake, so excited to be heading home SOON! But before I leave, I must finish my posts!

Blog: Florence and Pompeii

Britt and I chose to go to Florence on our last weekend before leaving the clinic because it was so close and we knew we could always get there in plenty of time. We'd been to Florence many times over the past 2 months, but never really made it past the train station, so it was nice to actually see the city. We slept in on Saturday and took the bus and train into Firenze. We got there around 2 pm. At this point, we were getting pretty burnt out and really homesick, so poor Florence wasn't really getting the full attention she deserved, but we still made a point to explore. We checked in to our B and B, the Katti House (I know, right!) and met the sweet proprietor who was very kind and helpful. After we put our bags down and made a game plan, we headed off first to see the famous Duomo. We were actually pretty close and got there in about 5-7 minutes walking. The whole town of Florence is nice because it is very easy to walk everywhere and it doesn't take long. We rounded a corner and , BAM!, there it was! Big and colorful, just like everyone says. It really was a sight to behold. We walked all around it and got views from all sides. Then we headed to the nearby Galleria dell'accademia, where Michelangelo's famous "David" sculpture is. The gallery itself is pretty small compared to the many other museums we've seen, but this one was our favorite. At the end of the second hall was David, standing quite tall! Everyone has seen pictures of this sculpture, but it is so much more magnificent in person. The detail is incredible, you can see the veins in his arms. When you view the statue from the front, he looks kind of nervous and uneasy; but when you look at him from the left side, the way his head is turned, you can actually see a change in his expression, one of determination and confidence. Some scholars say that the statue was created to show David right before he defeated Goliath. You can see the stone in his right hand and his sling in his left. Going to this museum just to see David would have been worth the €6 on its own, but there was still more to see and it was all incredible. There was one room dedicated to the "final exam" of Michelangeo's students that had all kinds of sculptures, children playing, busts of classmates, dogs wrestling. These pieces were probably the least famous of all the ones we saw, but in my opinion, they had the most character. In the hall leading up to "David", there were several pieces of unfinished sculptures. The figures appear to be trapped by the remaining block of marble. This really helps you see how the sculptors carve out their images from one huge piece of stone. Crazy. Another wing had a different kind of "art". More modern art, if you will. There were small TV screens on the walls, and each one had a short film showing one or two people in random acts of daily living. It was actually pretty cool. So, from here we shopped around for a little bit, Florence is known for their leather goods, and then we headed for food. Feeling a bit burnt out from typical Italian food, we decided to get something different. This came in the form of edamame, a California roll and teriyaki chicken from a small Japanese restaurant right across the street from our B and B. And so ended day one in Florence!

The next day, we checked out of our place, but they allowed us to keep our bags there until we were ready to leave. First, we did some more shopping. Then, after dropping off our new purchases at the B and B with our other stuff, we headed off towards the Ponte Vecchio on another Rick Steves walking tour. We started at the Duomo and headed down towards Piazza Della Signoria. We stopped at a market that was going on, sampled some cheese and olive oil and bought a few small bottles of black and white truffle oil! We continued our walk and made it to the piazza where David was originally located. A fake one is there now. It was a fun little square with lots of people and sculpture around. The famous Uffizi gallery is located in the corner here. It is said to house the greatest collection of Renaissance art in Europe, but we were done with museums at that point. We headed towards the Arno river and walked along it before hitting the Ponte Vecchio, or "old bridge". There are many shops along this bridge and apparently this is where you can get the best deal on gold jewelry. Next, we went to a museum that I was particularly interested in. Britt agreed to go to humor me, but I think she enjoyed it almost as  I did :) This would be the Museo di Ferragamo! As in Salvador Ferragamo of the luxury shoe brand. Exhibits rotate every 2 years, a new installation in 2010 focused on footwear in the second half of the 20th century. When we went they were also having a special on Marilyn Monroe! There was a separate room that had a movie going with clips from her movies and all around were the actual costumes and shoes she wore in the movies. There was another section that had dresses and shoes she wore to movie premieres etc. that had a recording of her infamous "Happy Birthday" song to JFK at his birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. There were so many shoes! Beautiful ones, classic ones. All designed by Ferragamo. I was in heaven. After I pulled myself away, we continued back to finish shopping and to find a place to eat. Recommended in my "Let's Go Italy" book was Trattoria Zaza. We ate on the outside patio and had the most delicious ravioli in truffle sauce. Mmm mmmm. Then we headed back to retrieve our bags and catch the train home. Easily the most stress-free and relaxing weekend yet. Can't say the same about our last weekend in Italy that we spend in Pompeii.....

So with Friday being our last day, we said our goodbyes and took lots of pictures and left thank you notes to those who had been so gracious and kind to us during our time at the clinic. We took Friday night to finalize packing and get everything under weight. We were holding our breath until we got to the check-in counter on Sunday. Saturday morning, bright and early, we are set to catch the 6:47 bus to Pistoia. It had been raining the day before and we were praying it wouldn't be when we had to trudge up the steep hill to the bus stop with 80lbs of luggage...well it wasn't pouring, but it was raining. So we covered the cloth bags with trash bags and headed up. A normal walk of about 10 minutes, took us closer to 30 minutes with us stopping for breaks and going half as fast as normally. When the bus comes, which is also the "school bus" for local kids, we haul our bags on and get ready for the ride. We tell the driver we are headed for Campo Tizzoro so he knows, since everyone else is going to school. Normally, we change buses here for one headed further down the mountain to Pistoia. We get to Campo Tizzoro, dreading having to lug our bags back off and then back on another bus, but at the normal stop, he turns on the lights and says, "Campo Tizzoro a Pistoia?" " Si!" we reply. To which he responds telling us this bus is going all the way to Pistoia. Yes! We dont have to haul our bags off! So we settle in for the nice ride down the mountain. When we finally get to the station, the rain has stopped. Hallelujah! Right as we get to the station, it beings to downpour...wow, talk about good timing! We find out that it is also supposed to be raining in Pomepii all day as well. Not so fun to explore ruins in the rain. So, we decided to start to see if we could change our train tickets and just head straight to Rome and skip Pompeii since it was raining anyway, and there would be less stress to get to the airport the next day since we would already be in Rome, which is where we were flying out of. But long story short, we couldn't change our tickets because we had bought discounted tickets that could not be changed or refunded. So we headed off to Pompeii as planned, determined to make the best of it.

We arrive in Napoli, we're we are to change trains to Pompeii. I noticed on one our directions to the hostel in Pompeii that it tells us to take the local train from Napoli Centrale to our destination and that the hostel is only a 5 minute walk from there. Our other option, with the TrenItalia connection to Pompeii station would take us to a station where we weren't exactly sure where it was, but could take us 30 minutes to walk to our hostel. We decide to forgo our previously planned tickets, and buy the ones for the local train. We have to go below the station to the underground to find the terminal for this train. But we get to our hostel's station, and it ends up being right across the street front he Pompeii ruins! Talk about good location. AND it wasn't raining. We head to our hostel and meet a very nice man who gives us a book of Pompeii to use as we explore the ruins. We have about 2 hours before they close so we rush out to get started and to beat the rain if it comes back. The ruins were so cool. This ancient city was very much a metropolis of its day. And a crazy party one at that! It's getting darker and we have just seen the coliseum and are headed to find one last site when the clouds open and the rain starts pouring. At this point, we are at the opposite side of the ruins from our entrance and it is dark. The rain is coming down in sheets as we are racing back across. By the time we get to the entrance, the rain has stopped, but the damage has been done...we are soaked, through and through! Ah well, makes for a good story :) We go back to our hostel, where they have prepared dinner out back under a tent. It turned out to be a nice, balmy evening. We had dinner with 3 other families/couples. Started with a typical Italian antipasti and ended with spaghetti Bolognese! Delish! As we head to bed, we tell the manager that we are leaving at 6am to catch our train. Fortunately, he informs us that it is Daylight Savings that night! We gained an hour! We get up the next morning and find the manger's father who was to open the gate for us, and he made us coffee before we left! Such a sweet man. We'd been saying our prayers all night and morning that the rain would hold off while we walked down to the station, and it did! We arrived early, and waited for the train. It finally came, 5 minutes late, just enough to almost give me a heart attack that it wasn't coming, and we go to catch it. The train pulls past us so we have to walk a little bit to get to the doors. Right as I get to the door, the bell rings, signaling the closing of the doors. I run and jump on and turn to tell Britt to hurry. She gets halfway on and the doors begin to close! I yell, "Wait!" but she is stuck in the door, with one of our bags still out on the platform. Four men in the train car rush over and they all help to pull the doors open and drag Britt and the suitcase inside. Oh my goodness I had never been so scared in my life! We collapse in the seats and will our hearts to stop racing. Little did we know that this was only the beginning. 

We had a train to catch that was earlier than one we had originally scheduled, which would get us to the Rome airport sooner and allow more time for check-in. Well, long story short, our first train arrives to Napoli Centrale forty minutes late!! We missed the first train, and now were dangerously close to missing the second! If we missed this second train, we would get to Rome too late and miss our flight to Athens. Our train arrives and we tear out of there with 10 minutes to spare. The problem is that we still had to buy our tickets! All the self-service ticket booths weren't working and we rush to a woman to help and of course she is just taking her sweet time. I rush to the train to start getting bags on and make sure it doesn't leave, while Britt gets the tickets. finally she rushes over and we hop on with literally minutes to spare. Ridiculous. We are dripping with sweat and full of adrenaline. I start looking at the sign that says where this train is going and the stops along the way and my stomach drops. We had purchased a ticket weeks in advance to get us from Pompeii to Rome, these tickets went Pompeii to Salerno, and Salerno to Rome. Well, with this itinerary we would get to Rome with 30 minutes to check-in so we tried to get an earlier one and take the local train to Napoli Centrale to catch a train to Rome. This was the ticket we bought in a rush and ended up costing €68 when the first one was only € 38. Upon further examination, I realized that this is the same train that we originally had tickets for. The Salerno to Rome train stopped in Napoli, and this is where we were picking it up. So we just paid an extra €68 for a ticket WE ALREADY HAD! When the guy came around to punch our tickets, I pulled them both out and explained our situation. "Why did you buy two tickets for the same train?" he wants to know....well we'd like to know the same thing! We ask if we can get reimbursed for the second ticket, and he replies that it's not possible because of the type of ticket....Oh My Gosh!! My nerves are gone at this point and all the stress that has been built up in me lets loose. I had a good sobfest and then our train arrives in Rome and its time for the next crunch time to take place. We have 30 minutes to get from the train station to the terminal to check-in before it closes. We race through the airport and make it to the desk with 20 minutes to spare. Now, we are holding our breath that both our checked bags are under weight and that our carry-on suitcase will fit in the overhead compartment. Check and check! This part was the easiest of them all, but was the one we were the most worried about from the beginning. Praise Jesus! We board the plane and find our seats and breath a huge sigh of relief. We are going to Greece!! It felt so good to have all of that behind us and to have a solid week ahead of us of vacation. Instead of our 2 day weekend trips, we now had a whole week! And we were finished with our clinical. One step closer to graduation!

Roma!

*****So sorry for such a delayed post, but since we are nearing the end (2 days!) of our clinical, a lot of ends need to be tied and assignments need to be completed and final travel arrangements need to be made! I hope to have my post from this past weekend when we went to Florence up soon! 


When Italy gives you lemons, make limoncello! If there is anything I have learned since living in Italy for the past (almost) two months, it's that when things go wrong or not how you planned, you just roll with it and make a new plan! Our trip to Rome last weekend was probably one of our most highly anticipated trips, and turned out to be one of the most stressful as well.

We left Friday afternoon from Gavinana, took the bus to Pistoia, train to Florence and then connected to another train which took us to Rome. No problems here! It's all become second nature by now. We arrive in Rome, and it's raining. We were expecting this, so we pulled out our rain jackets and headed for the exit. Being the organized and well-seasoned travelers that we are, we had printed out step-by-step directions to our B&B so we knew exactly where to go and how long it would take. According to  Google maps, we take a right out of the station and our destination is about 5 minutes away. We start walking past the side of the train station where all of the homeless have taken cover, and we also discover, from the evidence of the human feces, that they use the rain gutters as their toilet...we keep plugging on. And the rain gets harder. And there is no sign of our building. We take cover to try and regain our bearings, all the while fending off the men trying to sell us umbrellas and ponchos. I plug the name of the B&Bin my iPad (this has seriously been a life-saver this trip!) and the blue dot (our current location) is right next to the green dot (our end destination). Hmmm, something is not adding up right, so I put in the actual address of the place and what do you know, the directions are for the other side of the train station! Well, let's try that then. We head the complete opposite direction (our 5 minute commute is turning into a 30 minute commute) and find the street. Near the end, a man is standing on the corner and says to Britt, "Hine?" Yes! It's the proprietor, we are now an hour past the time we said we would arrive so he came to find us. Only moments before, I had prayed, "God, please help us find this place!" And here comes our angel! And we definitely wouldn't have found it without him. The place was on the second floor of a nondescript building on a small street off of the
street the address said it was on. Phew! It was a small 3 bedroom apartment, but the rooms were clean
 and we had our own bathroom and it was close to the train station. After checking in and getting our
handful of keys (our room, apartment door, street door), we take about 30 minutes to relax and
organize a plan of attack. We are in Rome!! (and it had finally stopped raining!)

In Britt's Rick Steve's book, there was a self-guided evening walk through some of the most famous parts of Rome. What a great way to be introduced to the city! It began in the Campo de Fiori, so we headed that way, stopping for a bite to eat at "Dar Filettaro a Santa Barbara". The restaurant was located in a small piazza with lots of tables arranged 'family style'. Their claim to fame was fried cod fillet. Excited for a change from the rich Italian food, we couldn't wait. We also ordered fried zucchini and pickled mixed vegetables. Yum! The guys who ran the place were running all over cleaning tables, serving steaming plates of fish and taking orders.

From here we found our way to the start of the tour. Britt read aloud from her book the sights that we're highlighted along the way and we both worked to figure out the streets and directions from place-to-place. Starting at Campo de' Fiori, it was full of people just hanging out. On this particular night there was sports sections set up for people to join in and play. There was badminton, ping pong, and even a self-defense class!We continued to Piazza Navona, which is considered one of Rome's most picturesque piazze. It's an oval shape and was originally built as a stadium. Restaurants and vendors line the sides.  There are also two beautiful fountains, the larger more magnificent one was built by Bernini, Fontana del Quattro Fiumi. It was gorgeous. We stopped for gelato at Tre Scalini, which is famous for its rich chocolate ice cream, and then continued on. At the edge of the piazza we saw possibly the world's earliest race track! Then we went to see the Pantheon! It loomed in front of us, all lit up, looking slightly out of place with the more modern-day restaurants, shops, and hotels right next to it. We walked into the portico and just stared up, in awe. The huge bronze doors weigh 20 tons each!

Continuing on, we pass through the Piazza Colonna, which looked magical at night, and then headed for my favorite place, the Trevi Fountain!!! Just like the book said, we could hear the roar of the water before we ever saw it. We came around the corner so our first view was of all the people sitting/standing across from it, admiring. As we turned around, the sight just took my breath away. First of all, it's a lot bigger in person. Second, the water and the amazing stonework was just gorgeous. I much prefer it at night, and there were less people, too. We took lots of pictures, and I tossed in a coin wishing for a return trip to Rome someday. (In case you didn't know, the city collects all of the coins tossed into the fountain and uses the money to feed the homeless!) I finally allowed myself to be pulled away, and we completed our evening walk at the Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps. While it's nothing more than an impressive staircase, the history behind it is pretty interesting, and very diverse, involving the Italians who designed it, the British who occupied it, the French who financed it, and finally the Spaniards, for whom the steps were built to honor. The
coolest view is from the top, where you have a view of the city and streets below. This marked the end of our tour, so we headed back to get a good night's sleep to rest up for the long day ahead!

We begin the next day by walking to the Piazza della Repubblica to buy our Roma Passes. This guaranteed us free admission into our first 2 museums and discounts on the others, allowed us to skip long lines, and included unlimited travel on the metro and buses (worth the €30 ten times over). We take the metro to Britt's highly anticipated site, the Colosseum! Coming out of the metro stop, we had an amazing first view. I'm telling you, all of these sighs are incredible and totally live up to the hype! We go through security, skip the long line with our passes, and plug in our ear buds to listen to a Rick Steves podcast. It was very informative and helped to give us guidance around the enormous place! From here we walked to the Arco di Constantine. This arch was erected in commemoration of Constantine's victory over Maxentius, which ultimately helped to make Christianity legal. Next, we toured the Roman forum, which was full of history and old, old, old stone structures that used to be the marketplace used by the Greeks and Etruscans of the 7th and 8th centuries. The oldest street in Rome, Via Sacra, runs through the center. It began to rain again, and we high-tailed it back to the metro to visit one of the only indoor sights of Rome, the Vatican museum. Of course, once we got the the rain had stopped. The museum was fascinating! And so huge we had no idea where to begin! But thanks again to Rick Steves, we had a self- guided tour which led us to the more popular areas, starting with.the Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts. And a real Mummy!! Then we continued through the various halls and rooms filled with amazing art and talent like I've never seen before. Then finally, saving the best for last, we arrive at the Sistine chapel to view Michelangelo's impressive work. It is smaller than I imagined, but much more impressive. 

From the museum, we head directly to St. Peter's Basilica. By now, I've seen my fair share of churches, duomos, and cathedrals. But this one, by far, took the cake. (Did I say that right, Dad?) We listened to yet another Rick Steves podcast and walked around the church with our jaws dragging the shiny marble floor. Directly to the right inside is Michelangelo's Pieta which is said to be one of the most moving renderings of Mary and Jesus ever created. It sits behind bulletproof glass because in 1972, a crazy person went at it and hacked off Jesus' nose and Mary's hand. Upon leaving the Basilica, we found a spot along the Piazza di San Pietro to rest our weary feet and just take it all in.  

We make our way back to Rome, and find my favorite restaurant yet, "Fraschetteria Brunetti". The place was empty when we arrived, but the (presumably) owner was very welcoming. In my book, the restaurant was said to have 11 different types of lasagna. The guy brought the menu and went through each one describing it to us. We ended up telling him to pick his favorites, one red sauce, one white sauce, and we would split both. I still have no idea which ones he ended up choosing for us, but they were equally SO GOOD! With every bite I was in awe of how delicious they both were. More people started to come in, and the music got turned up. It was a fun little place that had pieces of paper all over the walls where other fans had written accolades and praise. 

We begin to walk back to our B&B, doing some shopping along the way. I have to say, Rome is amazing, but you've never seen it until you experience it at night. Everything is lit up and the huge tour groups are gone. Definitely the way to go. We even walked back by the Colosseum to get a view of it at night. We got another good night's sleep, and headed out the next morning to finish our exploration of Rome. We had to check out by 10:30am, but were allowed to leave our bags until we were ready to actually leave Rome. So nice! We started at the National Museum, which was pretty close by, and saw some amazing Roman sculpture, frescos, and mosaics. From here we went back to the Pantheon, to view it from the inside. It has simple decor, but still breathtaking. It is an oval structure, and the very top has an "eye" that is open to the outside. This is the only light source of the building. Next, we had coffee at Tazza d' Oro Casa del Caffe, which is one of Rome's top coffee shops and dates back to the days when they were licensed  to roast coffee beans. We ordered granita di caffe con panna, or coffee slush with cream, a local treat. Then we walked back by the Trevi fountain to view it during the day. It was much, much busier and vendors were in full swing. I definitely prefer it at night. 

Our last goal of the day before heading back to get our stuff and leave, was to grab an early dinner at an Irish pub. We attempted to find our way back here by bus. We saw on the bus line a route to P. Cavour. Perfect! We were looking for Via Cavour. So we get on the bus and hop off at the stop. We are in a pretty little area, with a gorgeous, huge building in front of us. One problem, we have no idea where we are. We could not locate this building, nor any streets nearby on our maps near or around Via Cavour. Finally, Britt discovers that Piazza Cavour is different than Via Cavour and is located on the complete opposite side of Rome, across the Tiber river...oh joy...so now we have to find a bus going in the other direction to take us to Via Nazionale, where our restaurant is. Once we figured out which bus was headed that way, we counted how many stops it would be so we knew exactly when to get off. We found the restaurant, and had a delicious final meal in Rome. 

We make our way back to the hostel, grab our loot, and head to the train station. We hop on and settle in to a nice, relaxing 2 hour ride to Florence, where we will catch the next train to Pistoia to catch our bus back to Gavinana (it's the same thing every week...half of our day is spent just traveling!) We get to Florence only to find that our train to Pistoia has been CANCELED! But no worries, we planned for these things and had a buffer of one earlier train and one later train. There was an even earlier train that we could catch that was 30 minutes late so we waited for that one. Well as 30 minutes turned in to 40 minutes, the board suddenly flashed that this train was canceled too! It's ok, it's ok, we still have two possibilies to get us back to Pistoia in time to catch our bus. To make a long story short, both of these trains got canceled as well. That's FOUR trains canceled! Along with several others going to various destinations. I think there ended up being a bad storm in the area. So we find yet another train going to Pistoia, however, this train gets in too late and will cause us to miss our bus, the last bus, to Gavinana. Well we start calling and texting our friends in Gavinana and Pistoia. Another problem, Britt's phone is out of minutes. Well that's fine, I have plenty of minutes. But wait! My phone is about to die!! (Seriously, everything that could go wrong, was going wrong) So Britt says well she'll just go buy more at the Tabacchi in the train station. They don't sell the minutes for our type of phones. So now we search all over the station looking for an outlet to plug in my phone. There is none, so we walk across the street to a cafe and I charge it there for 5 minutes because we have to rush back and catch our train. Fortunately, this train arrives and we get on no problem and I can charge my phone on the train. All of our connections in Pistoia and Gavinana fall through. EVERYONE is out of town! So we either go back to Florence and find a place to stay or get a taxi. We find a nice man who agrees to drive us up the mountian for €60. (We don't care, just get us home!) And finally, we arrive in Gavinana, ironically around the same time our bus would have usually gotten there. WHAT a weekend....we will be so glad to have our own cars! Anyway, we loved Rome and had a great time. Like I said at the beginning of this LOOONG post, you just have to take what you get and roll with it. 

Ciao tutti!



PS - here is what will be happening in the next few days. We finish our clinical on Friday. Saturday bright and early we head to Pompei (please pray for good weather as it is supposed to rain all day!). Sunday we take a train to Rome and fly to Athens, Greece! (again, please pray for safe travels and that we make all of our necessary connections with trains and planes!). We will spend next week in Greece, going to Mykonos on Monday and Tuesday (please pray that the ferry runs, they are known to be unreliable), taking a 2-day tour to Delphi and Meteora over Wednesday and Thursday, Friday we will explore Athens, and Saturday morning we fly HOME!!!!!!!!!! Please keep us in your prayers for all aspects of the next few days!!! We love you all and can't wait to see you!

Lucca and the Leaning Tower

This past weekend Britt and I took advantage of our little car one last time. We visited two towns close by that we have been very excited about seeing! The first being Lucca. This town has been highly recommened by everyone we have talked to about traveling in Italy. Saturday morning we headed for the town on the beautiful back mountain roads of northern Tuscany. The beauty of road trips is that you can make as many stops along the way as you like! We came upon this amazing stone bridge that went over a river within the province of Lucca. It was called the Ponte della Maddelena, or "Bridge of Mary Magdalene". It is one of several medival bridges know as Ponte del Diavolo, "Bridge of the Devil". This particular bridge is considered a remarkable example of medival engineering, circa 1080 -1100. Crazy!

We arrive in Lucca and we begin to long for the hassles of buses and trains! Our B&B for the night is located within the city walls. Oh yeah, the cool thing about Lucca is that it is completely enclosed within walls constructed in the 16th century! The walls are wide enough for bicyclists and people strolling along treelined pathways, and you have an amazing view of the city the whole way. So, as I was saying, our B&B is within the city walls, we were told parking was available behind it the B&B. My handy-dandy Let's Go Italy book gives specific directions, but the problem is that these directions have us going through a ZTL, Zona Traffica Limitato, aka, DO NOT ENTER! Or you will receive a hefty fine in the mail without every seeing a police officer. But, we saw lots of people driving through and our directions clearly stated to go that way, so...we did. We were half expecting a loud alarm to go off and bright lights to start flashing, but nothing happened. So we continued, we followed the directions, saw a sign for our place, "La Gemma Di Elena", but no sign on a building...well since the streets are so narrow and the drivers are unforgiving, we drove back to where we first were and went around again. Returning to the same spot, Britt pulls over and I hop out to try and figure out what's going on. I find the front door, it's locked. I call the first number listed on the sign, it's out of service. I call the second number and the lady only speaks Italian....running out of options here!! Finally, a guy pokes his head out of a third story window and asks if he can help me, in English! Turns out he's the proprietor, and he buzzes me in. I head up and he explains that they indeed have parking, but they are sharing it with a private institution. Hence the lack of signs! He says that yes we could get a fine for going through the ZTLs, but if we pay the €6 to park in the lot, he will create a pass for us so we don't have to pay. Phew! I go back to the car, tell Britt, and we pull in the gated lot. We go upstairs to the floor that the B&B is on. It is so brightly decorated with all sorts of memorabilia from all the time he has spend in Southeast Asia, a bright orange sarong was hanging over our bed! It felt like we were staying in someone's home, it was very cozy. And the guy was so nice! He's from Amsterdam, spends about 3 months of the year in Southeast Asia with his Filipino boyfriend, and is in Italy the rest of the time running this cute B&B. Talk about well-traveled!

After getting settled in, we go out to explore the city! Every travel book we read through (between the 2 of us we have 4!) encouraged us to just get lost within the walls. Well we sure didn't have to try! We began by finding the iconic Piazza dell'Anfiteatro which is in the shape of a perfect oval, with shops and restuarants enclosing it. Then we walk along the Via Fillungo, which is where the major shopping happens. We were on the hunt for a cute, inexpensive place to grap a quick bite. We happen upon a small sandwich shop down a side alley, La Tana del Boia, (means The Lair of the Executioner). The owner was the one who made each sandwich with fresh regional meat and cheese he cut straight from the slab. Talk about fresh! He toasted the bread, then added cheese, then toasted again and added meat, wrapped the whole thing in butcher paper and voila! We indulged on a bench right outside the shop. From here we wandered to Piazza San Michele. We stopped in at a dessert shop that has been visited by Prince Edward himself! We got two delicious pastries and chowed down on the steps of the church in the piazza. Funny story about this church, we were following the Rick Steves guide where he points out fun details. We find the many different styled columns, but everything else in the description doesn't add up...are we even at the right church? We had to be, he described the same statue and the same bank that the church was in front of. But this church was locked up and some of the windows were boarded up. Something wasn't right.  We headed for the edge of the city to walk along the wall to find another church. On our way to the wall, we stop in at a chocolateria (how could we not??) They don't even make chocolate during the months of June through August due to the heat. We were in luck! We got a handful of truffles and 2 small decadent chocolate cakes. We had one truffle each on a bench along the wall. Now we continue our church search. (Haha, that rhymed!) Once we find it, the Duomo di San Martino, we see... different styled columns, the same bank in front of the church...THIS is the church we were looking for! Weird that the two had so much of the description! We walked in and the first thing I noticed was the reflection of the stained glass windows on the opposite wall. Gorgeous. The we walk out and just in front and to the right is, yet again, another church. This church houses nightly opera performances to commemorate Puccini, who was from Lucca. They have "festivals" every single night of the year.  It cost 12 euro for tickets, so being the poor grad students that we are, we headed back to the church around the time of the concert and sat on the steps of a side door of the church and had our own private seat to the concert. Lovely. Anyway, from the church, we walk to the Torre Dell'Ore, the clock tower of Lucca! It dates back to 1390! We walked up the 207 wooden steps to the top and saw the workings of the clock on the way up. So cool. At the top we had a gorgeous view of the area, and we ate another truffle. I mean, we earned it after climbing to the top! We saw another tower nearby with a garden on top. The Torre Guinigi, we bought a combo ticket for €3 and climbed the 230 wider stone steps to the rooftop garden for another gorgeous view (and another truffle!).  Next we search for Puccini's home, neat, but didn't want to pay to go in, so we sat at a cafe outside and listened/watched a local band play some songs. They looked like they were about to head to a football game with their fancy outfits and the baton twirlers. It was fun to listen and then they started playing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". So. Good. Britt and I of course ended it on our own with the Lion King version :)

We continue on our way, strolling through the streets, and find our pizzeria for dinner. Go-od. Then we head to the church for our 'free' concert. Next, we find another cool spot, Ente Ento and finish the night with a bellini and cappucino. It was very modernly decorated entirely in black and white with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean on the walls. This place was obviously created for the 'hip', local crowd. We walk along the wall around the city back to our B&B and crawl in bed. Exhausted.

The next morning, we have breakfast in the 'living room' and pack up and head out for Pisa. We had heard there is not much to Pisa other than the Piazza Dei Miracoli, or Piazza of Miracles, which is the square that houses the leaning tower, the duomo and Battistero. Well, "they" were correct. We park in a free lot alongside tour buses and take a shuttle to the Piazza of Miracles. We are immediately hit from all sides by vendors and street sellers invading your personal space wanting you to buy 'designer' sunglasses for "good price, good price!" We kindly decline, and decline, and decline again. Once we pass the line of vendors, we walk into the piazza and first see the gigantic Battistero looming in front. At the other end of the piazza stands, or well, leans, the Leaning Tower. It has a whole lot more tilt to it than you would expect! Britt and I just stopped in our tracks and burst out laughing. No wonder it's such a talked about tower! But before we make our way over, we stop to admire the Battistero (which wierdly enough, also has a lean to it!). Then we take in the Duomo. As we round the Duomo, we take our requisite pictures with the Leaning Tower. You know, pushing it down. Some people were getting really creative! One girl saw us taking our pictures and asked us to get one of her doing the same thing. All they cool kids are doing it! We decide not to shell out the €15 to climb to the top. But we were fortunate enough traveling in 2012 to have a great view of it without scaffolding! The tower has had 800 years of construction, reconstruction and restoration and was finally finished in 2010. We watched a video on all of the different ways the committee tried to stop and alter the lean. Talk about intense! You can see a slight change in the continuity of the tower's levels on the third floor and the top from where architects attempted to direct the lean the other way. These attempts were made in vain, unfortunately. Today the tower leans 3.99° away from where it should be, but it is secure! We walk around the area a little more, grab a cheeseburger and fries at McDonalds (yup, you read that right!) and head back to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot.

From here we go to return our car at the airport. We have to return it with a full tank, so once again we attempt the gas station and, once again, a helpful (English-speaking!) Italian assists us with filling the car up. They only take cash (or Italian credit cards) so we had to walk down the block to an ATM to get enough cash to fill up the tank. In the end it was just under €50, and seeing that we have a car that's half the size of a normal sedan and probably has a gas tank the size of a milk jug, that's a lot! BUT, it was only the second time we had to fill the car with gas, so we can't complain too much. At the airport car rental, we are bracing ourselves for a long ordeal with returning the car, but the woman just takes our keys, rips of the top page of our agreement and we are on our way to the train station! Having the car was nice to explore the smaller Tuscan towns, but definitately not for anything else! Two weeks was plenty! We welcomed our train and bus rides back to Gavinana.

Another successful weekend trip accomplished!

A weekend exploring small Tuscan towns

This past weekend, Britt and I took advantage of our little car and took off to explore the surrounding areas! It was very nice to not to have to deal with bus and train schedules for a change. We just put our destination in the Garmin and go! We left Saturday morning and drove south towards Siena to a church called San Galgano that several of the therapists recommended to us. First, we stopped at a cute roadside trattoria (A trattoria is different from a ristorante in that they have a menu that is more specific to the area and has a less formal feel). We sat by an open window and had a great view of the countryside. The homemade pasta was just delicious!! After we filled our tummies, we went on down the road to San Galgano. It was a beautiful church with gorgeous stonework. It did not have a roof because it got hit by lightning and the roof caved in, which actually made it even cooler. But this is the awesome part, we saw the actual "sword in the stone" just like the Disney movie! Except this sword in a stone was created in 1180 when Galgano Guidotti, a Tuscan nobleman for whom the church was built to honor, plunged a sword into stone (which supposedly "parted like butter") to symbolize his rejection of war. After a vision of Archangel Michael, he renounced a life of "arrogance, lust, and violence" to become a hermit. The sword in the stone is preserved in a chapel which was built around it called Montesiepi. People were even setting up a screen inside the roofless church of San Galgano for a special screening of "The Sword in the Stone" the night we were there! We didn't stay to watch it though. The area the church was in was just beautiful. Vineyards and cyprus-lined roads. So. Gorgeous.

Our next stop along our Tuscan tour was the small walled town of Monteriggoni. It is considered one of the most classical and best known Italian walled towns. Since the Middle Age its fame was so big that the great poet Dante Alighieri makes sign to his 'round enclosure' (Monteriggioni) in the Divine Comedy. The whole town (built in 1213-1219), which isn't very big, sits high on a high and had a wall built around it to protect itself from the Florentines, Siena's historic enemy. We were only here for about an hour, but it was on our way to our final destination of San Gimignano so we had to stop and see it. We had so many amazing views of the Tuscan countryside with vineyards and olive trees and rolling hills. Everything I imagined Tuscany to be like.

We stopped for gas along the way, dreading it because we had no idea how it would be different over here and even what kind of fuel our car takes! But as we pulled up to the pump, a man walked over and started to help us! We had no idea if he worked at the gas station or was just a helpful person (we assumed we looked very desperate, and very American). First he pointed out that the gas tank was on the other side of the car...we turned around and then tried to figure out who he was. We were concerned about putting the right type of gas in the car and got the car manual out to try and figure it out, but of course it was all in Italian. I tried to ask the guy and he kept assuring me it was this one type of fuel, and I asked if he was sure and he smells the gas cap and replies "Si, si"! Well anyone who sniffs the gas cap must know what they are doing! So he fills us up and shows me the cost and I pay him and he pulls out his own wallet to give me change. Gotta love these small town, family-owned businesses.

We finally get to San Gimignano at sunset. This is another small walled town and is famous for its medival architecture. It was founded in the 3rd century BC! It is also known for the dozens of tower houses that jut up into the sky. We walked around the town and stopped at various shops and had gelato in the town piazza. These towns are so gorgeous at night. There is a glow that seems to just hover over the town. From here we drove about 30 minutes to our hostel for the night. Nothing fancy, just a bed to sleep in for the night. A storm came up with crazy wind and lots of thunder and lightning. Our power went out for about an hour. Lovely.

The next day, we headed to Volterra, another walled medieval town, but this town was my favorite. It is known for its alabaster. There were lots of shops with gorgeous alabaster objects and handicraft. Britt and I both bought a clock made from alabaster for only 5 Euros! The extensive history of all of these towns is just amazing. Volterra has an arch called Porta All' Arco that dates back to 2nd century BC. We met a couple from Texas who took our picture for us in front of the arch and then we repayed the favor. We talked to them for a good 20 minutes. He had been a high school football coach for 44 years in Pasadena. They had been in Italy for 3 weeks. He said his grandparents were both from Italy so he and his wife came to check it out. We all had a good laugh at the Italian hand motions while talking. Italians are very animated! So fun to meet people every where we go. They all have facsinating stories! So, back to Volterra: There is also a Roman theater where construction began in the 1st century BC, that is just too crazy to even comprehend! Behind the theater are Roman baths dating back to the 4th century BC. Even saw the first "hot tub" :) And just like every town there was a gorgeous duomo (cathedral) with construction in 1120. Every town, no matter how big or small, has a duomo with amazing detail in the architecture and art inside the cathedral.

And now to get the attention of all you "Twi-hards" out there...the Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn, was filmed here! The part where Bella runs into the square through the fountain in the middle of all those people in red cloaks to reach Edward before he exposes his sparkling Vampire skin was filmed in the Piazza dei Priori! With the big clock tower and everything! There were posters and maps all over the town about it. Even Rick Steves mentions it in his travel book saying that the people are very proud of their part in Hollywood. There was a farmer's market going on in this Piazza and we bought some cheese, crackers, and salami for our drive home. So cool to see these vendors selling typical Tuscan products. Finally, we toured the home of a very wealthy family in Volterra who made their fortune from the alabaster trade. (Part of New Moon was also filmed in the ballroom of this house!) As we left the house to head to our car, it starts to pour...we duck into a neat wine shop (they had dusty bottles on top shelves dating back to the 1960s!) to escape the rain, but when it shows no signs of stopping, we decide to cut our losses and run for the car. We begin our 2 hour drive back home, which eventually turned into a 3 hour drive due to the torrential downpour that was present almost the entire drive. Water was even flooding parts of the street. We said our prayers and hoped that our little Smart car could make it through. Well we made it back! But not for lack of trying...we turn our car in at the end of the week and I will be happy to let the bus drivers do the driving! Britt has been doing an amazing job (I can't drive the rental car because I'm not 25), but the poor thing has to deal with so much stress during these drives! Don't get me wrong, I get stressed too, but she's the one at the wheel. You're doing great, Britt! Growing up in Seattle prepared her for the heavy rain we experienced on Sunday :) But nothing could have prepares her for the crazy Italian drivers...

We are officially over half way through our clinical! Can't believe we have come this far...we have been having so much fun and learning lots, but we are both going to be ready to get home when the time comes!

Ciao!

The Adventures of Patient Care

Britt and I are currently in our midterm week! We sure have come a long way. I have gotten so excited about writing up summaries from our amazing weekend trips that I haven't made time to share our plethora of patient stories! So, that is what I will attempt to do today.

Right now, Britt and I are at a coffee shop/bar in the neighboring town of Campo Tizzoro. They have Internet here so we have been able to work on some of our assignments for school. (See, I told you we were working and not just having fun!) We drove our Smart car down here to take advantage of the free Wifi for a few hours while enjoying a few cappuccinos :) We rented the car on Sunday from the Pisa airport when I got back from Paris (post about that exciting weekend next!). While we have really been enjoying navigating the bus and train schedules *cough*, we wanted to take advantage of visiting some of the smaller Tuscan towns that are close by and going by car is the best option.

Anyway, yay for exciting patient stories! Ah, where to begin. I guess I can start with today! Britt has been working with a particularly difficult man who seems to have an unending supply of comments, good and bad. If you will recall a previous post, this is the same man who said "Mi Questa bamba", which means "This is my baby" after Britt had worked hard with him. In the days to follow, he has called me the black devil ???, said the exercises were stupid, and tried to kiss me on the head. Today he said a phrase in Italian to Britt, and when we asked another therapist what he was saying, he said it meant "I kill you". This guy!! He will be hitting on Britt and me one minute and then saying stuff like that the next. Several times he will say a lot to us and when we ask someone to interpret they say "No sense, no sense and no sense"! So we don't really pay attention to what he says unless when know it has to do specifically with PT. Also today, we were in the assisted living facility taking patients for quick strolls around the halls to get them up and moving. One woman we were walking with kept going on and on about something in Italian and looking to us for a response. (If they don't look at us, most of the time we just let them talk). Since she was looking at me so eagerly, I had to respond, "Non capisco Italiano. Americano, solo Inglese. Mi dispiace." Well, for whatever reason she did not like my response and got really upset and started talking furiously at us. We asked a therapist to translate and he said she was telling us that if we are in Italy we should speak Italian and if we only speak English, we need to go back to America. Woah! That's the first time we have gotten a response like that from anyone! In my defense, I was speaking Italian to her, I just didn't understand what she was saying to me.

We had to say goodbye to two of our favorite patients today. Our little English lady who has helped us get through the difficult days, and we have helped her get through her rough days, and the man who bought us coffee and told us he would be our Dad while he was here.  We searched for them both today after worked and said goodbye :( There may have been tears in all of our eyes. But we are very happy for them to be able to return home with their families.

Since we are living one floor above the therapy room, we are constantly seeing our patients and others with whom we haven't worked with, but have come to know just through proximity. One night we went downstairs to the main room and had ice cream with two of our patients, another night we watched a soccer game with two other patients and then one of them, who is younger and speaks some English, bought a pizza and we shared it a 10pm that night when all of the older patients had 
gone to bed. 

Never a dull moment! By the way, this area is definitely living up to the name of my blog. The sunsets have been gorgeous almost every night. I've been taking lots of pictures! One day I promise you will see them, too.
We have made several friends from our meal crew, whom we see around the facility as we are walking around. One day we were walking outside past a corridor that connects two buildings where a lot of the residents hang out and have coffee. One man, who is probably our favorite from the dining hall, opened a window and shouted out "Buongiorno!" at us as we walked by. He had the biggest toothless smile on his face.  Haha, we had a hearty laugh about that encounter.

Ah Venice....

This weekend Britt and I made it to Venice!! We have been so excited for this trip. Friday after work, we grabbed our bags and high-tailed it up the road to Gavinana's center and the bus station. We caught our bus and made it to Pistoia, where we then got on a train for Florence. In Florence, we changed trains for one to Venezia! While in the Firenze train station waiting for our train, we pulled out some cookies to munch on. A girl came by and pointed to our cookies and then her mouth all the while speaking another language. It took me a minute to realize what she wanted, and then I realized she wanted a cookie. So I gave her the one in my hand and she took it and walked away. Very random.. The train ride to Venezia was about 2 1/2 hours and was on a faster train that felt like an airplane on tracks. Now our hotel was not in Venice, but in Mestre which is right outside of Venice and therefore cheaper. We got off at the train station and realized we had no idea where our hotel was. Thankfully, my iPad came through! I was able to map our way to the hotel from the station, which was about a 20-30 minute walk. When we got to our hotel, The Venezia, we were very surprised. It was a nice-ish place, but very gaudily decorated. The front desk people were very helpful. While we were standing up there, a man came up and asked for another room because he said it was the smallest room he'd ever seen in his life. Uh oh...not a good sign. We head up to our room and when I open the door...I see the smallest room I've ever seen in my life. The bathroom was almost just as big as the bedroom part! Fortunately, we were only sleeping here and only for one night. We had a good laugh about it.

After we got settled into our closet, we go out to catch the bus the front desk told us about and experience Venice at night! All these buses and trams and trains are crazy, but we are learning a lot everyday! The bus takes us across the water to the island to Piazza Roma, which is where all of the buses pick-up and drop off. From here we go to an information desk and buy our "Rolling Venice" cards, which are for people 15-29 and we get discounts on admission to various places of interest as well as a discount on a 72 hour pass for the vaporetti, the water bus that takes you around the major canals of Venice. We hopped on the vaporetti that went down the Grand Canal all the way to San Marco. The way down was about 20 minutes and it was so cool. Then we got back on and went to he Accademia stop which is known for having cheaper prices and a younger nightlife. We walked around for a bit, had dinner and then traversed our way on foot back to the Piazza Roma to catch our bus back to the hotel. All of our guide books encouraged us to "get lost" in the back streets of Venice. It's the best way to experience the city and since we are on an island, it's impossible to get really lost. We got back to our hotel and passed out. It was a long day!

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then checked out to head to our second hotel for Saturday night. Why didn't we just stay at this hotel both nights you ask? Well, that was the plan, but when we booked it, we didn't realize we had messed up the check-in and check-out dates and when we went back minutes later to book Saturday night, it was sold out! So, an hour later we finally found a second hotel, which was in another town, Marghera, on the opposite side of the train station. So per the hotel's suggestion, we took the tram to the train station and walked from there to our hotel. I busted out my iPad and mapped our way out. This side of the tracks was much calmer and was such a nice area than the other side, Mestre. We joked that Mestre, the town of our first hotel, was the New Jersey to Venice's New York City.  Once we found our second hotel, Albergo Serena Villa, it was such a breath of fresh air. Cute, quaint, B&B style. The room was twice as big as the previous, which albeit, wasn't saying much. But we had 2 twin beds instead of one double which was nice.

After settling in here, we figured out this second bus schedule and got on for what we thought was heading to Venice, well we realized too late that, yes, it was going to Venice, but only after it went the complete opposite direction and then came all the way back again. Oy oy...but we finally made it back to Venice! It was a beautiful clear day with the temperature in the mid 70s. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We get on the vaporetti for Piazza San Marco and realize that this, too, is going the opposite direction from where we want to go...so we hop off on the next stop and wait for a vaporetti going back the other way. We did find, though, that this way we can get prime seating at the front before the crowds load up! We used this to our advantage on our last day when we took a final trip down the entire Grand Canal while listening to a podcast from Rick Steves describing the sights along the way.

The Piazza San Marco was the busiest part of Venice, but also the most beautiful. I might have done a little twirl in the middle of the piazza because it felt so surreal :) We're in Venice! We saw the Museo Correr and National Archaeology Museum, both of which house ancient artifacts. We stopped for gelato, then went into St. Mark's Basilica, another gorgeous church in Italy. The line to get in was very long, but, thanks to a tip from Britt's family, we took a backpack and checked it (because they don't allow extra bags) and with the ticket they gave us we were able to skip the entire line! We were able to go to the top of the church and go out on a balcony for a view of the entire piazza.  There were two orchestras which had about 4 musicians each that played in the piazza; gorgeous music that was the epitome of my idea of Italy. And one orchestra played one of my favorite songs, "Time To Say Goodbye"! 

For dinner, we found a recommendation in my book, "Let's Go Italy!" which is made for students. It took forever to find the restaurant, "Ristorante Anima Bella" which my book describes as having the best ravioli in Venice. Once we finally found the place on a back street behind the piazza, we saw that it was no bigger than our room at the first hotel! There were five tables and they were all squeezed in together. There was only one table available left, for two! So we sat and the waitress came by, who I presume was the owner, and told us our three options. We heard ravioli and said that's it! And boy were they right. It was the absolute best dish I've had since being in Italy! It was a great way to end the day.

The following day, our last in Venice, we go back to San Marco for one last look and gelato and then get a vaporetti for the island of Murano, the "glass island" that produces the famous Venetian glass We did not have as much time to explore there as we would have liked, but we visited a museum that had on display pieces that trace the development of Murano's glass industry from its earliest stages (1st century!) to the present day.  Then it was time to head to the train station for our long trip back "home". We sure were sad to leave Venice.

On the bus ride back up the mountain to Gavinana, we met a lady who discovered we were Americano when she tried to strike up a conversation with Britt. We told her we were students at Turati and she immediately recognized the place. She made sure we knew when to change buses and when to get off for our final stop after she told the bus driver where to take us. (We didn't have the heart to tell her we'd done this before.) But we were very grateful that she cared enough to look out
for us! We continue to meet such nice people here in Italy!

It tastes like trash...

As I have mentioned before, Britt and I have meals included in the cost of us renting our rooms on the top of the rehab facility (I go to sleep and wake up hearing patients groaning and yelling). We eat in a lower part of the facility with the long-term residents. The food is questionable at best...we are pleasantly surprised when we get something we actually like! Our breakfast every morning consists of a cappuccino, a croissant, and mini toast-like crackers. We usually don't eat those unless the croissants aren't finished baking. We start work at 8 am and we get to breakfast at 7:30. Several residents are always waiting outside the doors. Every morning we say our usual greetings, "Buongiorno! Ciao!" The menu for lunch and dinner is always posted at the entrance of the dinning room, but we can't understand 3/4 of the words! The staff will attempt to ask us what we want, and if we can't give them a straight answer they just take our plates and surprise us. One day we had soup that was basically scrambled eggs in broth. Not too bad actually. Dinner one night was cooked spinach, ricotta cheese, and tomato slices. It was the most random plate of food. Last night we were served zucchini that was drenched in oil, salad with tomatoes, olives and tuna, and some kind of quiche. I have no idea what was in the quiche, but I took one bite and that was it. All Britt had to do was look at my face to decide she wasn't eating it. Today, we had a bread and tomato soup...topped with some parmesan cheese it wasn't that bad! We rely on the bread basket and our fruit they always serve for dessert. And what's interesting about the Italian lunch and dinner is that they always have 2 or 3 courses. So we always are given a soup or pasta before the main meal. This is usually the best part of the meal. It is the second part that we never know about. Last night we had pizza! Not as good as our Siena pizzeria pizza, but it was welcomed after the mystery meat we were served the night before! 

We walk into lunch and dinner when they've already started. We wave and say our "Ciao" to our friends :) and the staff. We know where to get the water and napkins and extra silverware to help out the staff, and when we are finished, we take our plates into the back. We've gotten a nice routine going! When we were gone this past weekend and came back for our meals Monday, one man came over and asked where we were and then proceeded to ask us how long we are staying and do we have boyfriends? Haha, when I said no, he grabbed my hand and started saying, "Bella, Bella!" and asked why couldn't we stay 4 or 5 or 6 months instead of just 2? (This whole conversation, by the way, was completed with assistance from one of the few staff who can speak a little English and our growing ability to recognize the few key words we know.) The funny thing about this whole interaction is that this man always had a scowl on his face when he looked at us, but we always smiled back at him and I guess we finally broke him! And now he's in love with us. I really feel like a celebrity around here. As we walk around the facility, the patients and residents call out to us and we wave and speak to some here and there. One man knows exactly 5 words in English and uses a different one every time he sees us. 

Britt and I are developing great relationships with our patients. One man who Britt has specifically been working with told us he would be our "dad" at the facility. Awwww!!! Today after Britt finished working her manual magic on him, he told us he wanted to buy us a caffe downstairs! He showed us where his room was so he could get his money and then we had a little coffee break and chatted with him for a bit. Such a sweet man, he always has a smile on his face. Another man we worked with today, well Britt did all the work (a lot of work, let's just say she was "glistening" after finishing his treatment). I assisted. When we got him up to walk, he immediately grabbed my hand in a death grip and as we all walked across the hall to the other gym, he and I walked in first and then he started to close the door behind us! I said, "Oh, no, no, no!" (This statement is universal.) and he laughed and I led him back out of the room and he said "Questa mi bamba", which means "This is my baby!" Britt did all the work and then he hits on me. Oh these old Italian men...Anyway, our days are never dull at the facility! I am sure there will be many more stories to come.

Siena!

So sorry for not updating on our trip to Siena! We have jumped right into planning our next trip this weekend to....Venice! We are super excited about, but allora...This post is about Siena (allora is the equivalent to "anyway").
 So, I explained in th last post about how we ended up in Siena. Not an easy feat. This is why it takes several hours to plan trips! And the stress that goes into it...but the result is worth it! Britt and I loved Siena. We used my iPad to find where our hostel was, " Casa di Antonella". The hostel keeper, Fabrizio, asked me to text him when we would be getting in, something I never thought I'd do! Made it feel very homey, which it basically was! It was a nondescript door with 4 names on it, the top one being Casa di Antonella. We rang the buzzer and the door unlocked! Then we climbed 4 flights of stairs to the very top. We met Fabrizio and he showed us our room, the two common bathrooms, and the kitchen. We set our stuff down and were on our way to explore!

First, we went to a small grocery store "La Fontana Della Frutta" and bought two containers of food, one was a pesto lasagna, the other couscous. She gave us two forks and we walked to the steps of the Baptistery and ate. Then we walked around the other side of the Baptistery to the Duomo. It is one of the most breathtaking buildings I have ever seen. Inside and out. We bought a combined ticket for 12 euro to enter the Duomo, Museo Dell'opera, Baptistery, and Crypt. The Duomo was just magnificent. We brought our cardigans along because inside, we have to keep our shoulders covered inside the cathedral and we are expected to be very quiet out of extreme respect. The Museo Dell'opera houses Sienese masterpieces that were once displayed in the cathedral (Duomo). There was a staircase inside a wall that lead to what would have been the top of the facade of the New Cathedral construction if not for the Black Plague (bubonic) in 1348. These stairs, which were spiral inside a very tight squeeze, lead to a gorgeous view of the entire city and surrounding areas in Tuscany. The Crypt was next and is not really a crypt, but that is what was thought when an excavation in 1999 led to the discovery of an underground cavern lined with 13th century frescoes. They were still very brightly covered since they had been sealed off for many centuries. Then we saw the Baptistery which was made to hold up the end of the Duomo since it was build on a hill. It was a smaller, less extravagant place, but still very beautiful. Next we saw the Fontebranda that was an ancient fountain in medieval Siena. It was constructed in 1081 and rebuilt in 1246. It's a covered fountain that originally was divided into 3 basins. The spillover from each filled the next. The first basin was for drinking, second for animals, the third for mills and other industrial uses. Today it is just one big basin, but is still filled with water. Inside the covered fountain it is very cool and quaint. Our last historical stop was the home of Santa Caterina who was highly respected by the people of Siena. At one point during her meditation, she had a vision of herself marrying Christ. There is a fresco on the wall in her room where Jesus is placing a gold ring on her outstretched hand and ring finger. She was so highly revered that when she died, her body was distributed all our Italy to be put on display.

Then we grabbed some gelato and hung out in the Piazza del Campo, or il Campo. It is known as one of the finest squares in Italy. People just sit on the ground and hang out. There are all kinds of restaurants and hotels surrounding the square. At one point we heard some loud drumming and eventually saw a group of people, boys to old men, with their drums coming in and around the piazza. They were all wearing the flag of their neighborhood around their shoulders and followed by the women and young children in a parade around the streets of town. We saw at least 3 more instances like this from different neighborhoods going around down with their drums. The Palio, a horse race that takes place in il Campo occurs every July and August and is a contest between the 17 neighborhoods that divide Siena. We saw pictures around town from the last one that just took place and it looks pretty crazy.

For dinner, we went to a wonderful pizzeria, La Pizzeria Di Nonno Mede. It was tucked away on a back street and had a gorgeous view of the city. As night fell and the lights came on it turned into a magical evening.

The next day we visited San Domenico, another huge amazing church, albeit nowhere near the grandeur of the Duomo. Within this church, they had on display as I mentioned just earlier, Santa Caterina's thumb and, get this, head! They are each kept in a reliquary on an alter. This woman died in the 14th or 15th century! They both looked like mummy parts.

After this, we went back to our lovely pizzeria for lunch and then caught the bus back into Florence. Once we were on the final bus to Gavinana we thought we were home free, but as the bus went through the town and started to head out I piped up, "Can you stop here"? Apparently, we have to ring a bell so the driver knows when we want him to stop. Anyway, we made it back safe and sound Sunday night ready to start a new week!

Our plans go up in flames...

Well, Britt and I had a fool-proof plan, but even the best plans go awry...

After work at 7, we grabbed our already packed bags and headed to the bus stop in Gavinana to catch the 19:17 to Pistoia to catch a train to Florence for the night. We get to the stop with 20 minutes to kill, so we have a caffe and focaccia pizza from the Bar Francesci right by the stop. As our time gets closer, we head over and stand by the bus stop. At 19:17, we see a bus come up the street. And it goes right by us...we stood there just flabbergasted for about a minute and then jumped into gear with plan 2, the 20:30 bus. This time, however, on the schedule did not have a notation like the last one for Pistoia. So we were confused. A random man walks up to us looking at the schedule, points to the 20:30, shakes his head and says "no Pistoia, domani" which we took to mean that bus did not go to Pistoia and we would have to wait until tomorrow (domani). Well we decided to wait for the bus anyway and ask the driver himself. He arrives at 20:30, and actually stops. He opens the door and we say "Andiamo Pistoia" (We are going to Pistoia), to which he immediately responds "No, no Pistoia". Welp, there goes that. No more buses to Pistoia, no way to get to Florence that night. We call the hotel we were supposed to stay at and explain that we can not get down there tonight. Well, he is still charging us for our room. But oh well, nothing more we can do at this point. We kept telling ourselves (and still are) that GOD is in control! He has a plan and a reason for why we couldn't get out last night. But we are praying that nothing like that happens again! That was too much stress after an already long week!

So we decide to drown our sorrows in dolce (dessert) and caffe at the local restaurant. We end up having a lovely time and met some English people who were on a group tour. One woman stopped at our table and said, "Have we met before"? To which Britt responds, "No, but you speak English"! She laughed and then told us she was 96 years old and was traveling by herself! Talk about an independent woman!

Then we sulk back to our rooms and immediately begin planning the bus and train schedule for leaving on Saturday. The next day (today) we make our bus, make the train, and after asking several people where the "autostazione" is we are on the final leg of our trip to Siena! I am writing this on the bus, and we should arrive in about 20 minutes! We are going to be able to rule the world after these two months! And the funny thing is we are only arriving in Siena 2 hours later than we would have if we left last night. My go to comment with all of this has been "Sto bene" which means "It's OK"!

Now we are ready for an adventure in lovely Siena, and some lunch and gelato!

Ciao!

We planned our first weekend trip!

One thing that Britt and I are very excited to do is take advantage of being so close to some many wonderful cities for two whole months. Our plan is to visit somewhere new every weekend, starting this weekend with Siena! It has taken us close to 10 hours in the last 4 days to plan it, book last minute hostels and figure out bus and train schedules. Our big limiting factor is that we live in a mountain town and it will take about an hour by bus to get to a larger city where we can then get on a train to an even larger city. A lot of logistics planning has to go on to our trips. The bus up to Gavinana doesn't run constantly, so we have to very carefully take note of our work hours, bus schedules, and train schedules. It is stressful and time consuming, but we figure the more we do it the better we will get. Interpreting the bus and train schedules is like learning a new language! Haha...

Tomorrow we head to Florence ("Firenze") to stay the night since we won't get out of work in time to make it all the way to Siena by Friday night. We'll get to Florence about 10pm and then take a bus to Siena Saturday morning. I will give more details of our trip as we go along. 

Today at work, Britt and I were able to work with our own patients, by ourselves. So far, we had been working with one patient at a time together. (I realize my grammar is not very good, and it does not help being around Italians who know enough English to communicate with us, but they still do not understand correct word forms or proper sentence organization. Which I am finding very difficult as well!) 

One interesting thing that has occurred is one therapist's interested in our political views. I told him I was a Republican (Repooblican is how he pronounces it) and he was just beside himself. He has never met a Republican before he says. So he laughs and asks how I feel about the war and Obama. Oh man, talk about deep stuff. So now he and one of his patients joke with me about Obama. And the therapist, Claudio, said that he himself is communist. Who knew we would be getting into all of this political talk in Italy! It is true what they say, other countries know more about our politics and economy than Americans as a whole do. 

After work, Britt and I ran up to the main town square or piazza of Gavinana, straight uphill. We were sucking wind by the time we got to the top and felt like our lungs were going to collapse. But we bought our bus tickets for tomorrow (domani) at the Tobacci (where people can buy cigarettes) and then bought some things at the small local store. It was about as big as a living room, but they sold food and cleaning products and personal care products. Then we ran back down, which was much easier, just in time for supper (cena). 

Tomorrow ends our first week here at Fondazione F. Turati! Cannot believe how fast time seems to be going by already. 

Ciao!

Making new friends

After completing Day 3, Britt and I feel like we are really settling in well here at Fondazione and in Gavinana. We went to the village center, which was about a 10 minute walk straight uphill, and bought more minutes for our international phones and then hung out at the local bar. We bought some cappuccinos and pastries and people-watched.

During our third day of work, we got to work more closely with patients, learning more Italian words specific to PT. It has been very challenging trying to communicate with patients and explain exercises to them, but we are learning so much every day! Our patients are great; they have all been so sweet. They stroke our faces and kiss us on the cheek. And as we walk through their common room at night they all wave at us.

At dinner tonight, we made some new friends. We found another woman who speaks English and I believe she is American, but I'm not sure of her history. She lives at the facility now. Aurora was her name. So now we have made three friends in our dining group. The woman from the first night, Marcela who speaks English, the man who caught our attention for her (he waved at us from across the room tonight) and now Aurora. Our goal is to befriend all of the elderly with whom we eat with every day in these next two months. We are also doing we to make friends with the staff. We are trying to learn names, (Come si chiama? "what is your name?"). Mi chiamo Kate! Kate seems to be easier than Katy or Katerina.

I plan on writing about my adventure getting to Italy and Cinque Terre, but that will have to be another post, hopefully tomorrow!

Oh and the explanation for my post title from yesterday, Batti Cinque: Cinque (pronounced cheen-qwe) is 5 and batti means "high" so this is the Italian equivalent to "high five"! Britt and I learned this while in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre. We said "high cinque!" and a guy heard us who was from South America. He spoke English and helped us out with the word "high" in Italian. Batti cinque!

Batti cinque!

Well, this is the first time I've had Internet since Saturday!  I bought a "Tim" card so I can get Internet from the Italian providers which is similar to the 3G in the US. It is slow but gets the job done! And we are in a small hill town. Gavinana is the name of our village, which is associated with San Marcelo Pistoese, within Pistoia, which is in the state or region of Tuscany within Italy. That is the general hierarchy of the towns and areas.

As of today, Britt and I have completed two days of our clinical, and we have learned so much in these two days whether it was language, Italian differences in physical therapy or the culture. We have mastered "buongiorno" and "non capisco" which means "I don't understand". We have used that phrase quite a bit. Part of the experience here is for us to get a sense of what it's like when people who don't speak English come to the US. We now know exactly how they feel! Our clinical instructors or CIs, Linda and Elisa, at the clinic speak English as well as some other therapists, but it's not near perfect. Total immersion at its best.

We live in the facility on the top floor, literally in the same building as our patients and where we work. Last night as we were trying to find a computer and some supper, we walked through the main common room where everyone hangs out and one of our patients from the morning saw us and yelled "Americano, Americano!" He wanted us to push him closer to the television. We are living with our patients, assisting them whenever they need us! Another guy invited us to go watch tv with him that same night.

On the first day, we were officially introduced as Brittany and Katerina but since then our names have been shorted to Britt and Kate because it is easier for everyone to say. When Brittany was introduced they went "Oh, like Britney Spears!"

Today we walked down to the neighboring town of San Marcelo where I got the sim card and is where we can go to the Coop for our groceries. Gavinana has a few grocery stores, but San Marcelo has many more options. It is about a 40 minute walk down the mountain along a footpath to get to the centre, or city center.

We have learned how to us body language and a lot of gestures to get our point across, it has been very difficult and I know very frustrating for the people we talk to but everyone has been very patient with us. We do not know what they say about us behind our backs, however. We did meet one resident of Fondazione F. Turati who spoke English very well, she didn't even have an accent. We had dinner in the cafeteria on site with all of the residents in the assisted living section of the complex. We got a lot of stares as we walked in. The kitchen staff knows who we are, and we have our own table for every meal. Meals are included in the cost of rent, which is $300 euros a month.  As we were leaving dinner tonight, a man signaled Britt saying "Inglese, Inglese!" He was signaling for one of his table mates, Marcela, who was the one that spoke English very well. She was very happy to meet us Americanos! She even invited us to her village for a celebration they are having this weekend, but unfortunately we are traveling to Siena this weekend. We are very excited about that!

Fondazione F. Turati is a private institution that houses many different services. Physical therapy is obviously one of them. People from all over Italy and Europe come to stay here for inpatient rehab services. There is also skilled nursing and assisted living areas, an alzheimer's unit, end-stage coma care, "pediatrics" but this is really more adults with mental disabilities whose parents never came back to get them or they died. Elisa called them "nobody's kids". They live at the facility permanently. They are such happy people and when we went to visit on our first day we got hugs and crafts they made! So fun.

We have been spoiled with caffe since we have been here. A cappuccino with breakfast, a caffe (espresso) mid morning, macchiato (espresso with milk) after lunch, and another caffe or two in the evening.  And it is good too! The offer Americano which is basically the espresso with more water to make it bigger like the American cup of coffee.

Well, it is the evening here and we are unwinding after a long, but exciting day. There is never a dull moment here! The posts should be more frequent now that I have continuous Internet and hopefully I can get some pictures up because I know everyone is dying to see some and I can't wait to show them!

Buonasera!

The Cinque Terre!

Here we go! Post número due! This is a little more challenging when everything on the website is in italiano....guess there's no better way to learn!

So I apologize for not having pictures yet, I am still learning this whole blogging thing!

This morning we went down to the hotel dining room for breakfast. Yummy! Cappuccino, croissants, prosciutto, Brie, fruit. Soo good. We explored Manarola yesterday and today we will check out more towns on the Cinque Terre. This area is made up of five tiny villages (Cinque Terre literally means "Five Lands") clinging to the cliffs. These towns are, in order from north to south, Monteresso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Yesterday after exploring Manarola, we walked along the "Via dell'Amore" or "Pathway of Love" that connects Manarola to Riomaggiore.  All along this path there are locks that couples have attached to fences and graffiti. After WWII, this pathway served as a place for young lovers to meet between the two towns. We then took a train back to Monteresso where we had dinner at a pizzeria. We had some gelato after dinner as we explored the town at night. I got ciocollate and caffe. Yum!

Ok we are headed now to Riomaggiore and then Corniglia! More info on my adventure getting from the aeroporto to this beautiful area to come!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane!

Well, here I am! After over a year of planning and anticipation, I am finally sitting in the airport in Charlotte waiting to go to Italy! I wanted to start a blog for two reasons: to keep everyone informed and up-to-date on all of my adventures in Italy and various parts of Europe and also as a way to document all the many memories I know I will make along the way!

So, here is the train of events that will occur over the next 36 hours: First, I will fly from Charlotte to JFK in New York where I will switch planes for one headed to Pisa, Italy! I will land in Pisa at 10:55 am on August 31. And that's Italian time. I believe there is a 6 hour time difference, with Italy being ahead. From Pisa, I will board a train for Manarola which is in Cinque Terre, an area of five fishing villages along the Mediterranean coast. Here I will meet up with my partner in crime, Brittany Vanhal. She is not only a fellow student in my PT class at Elon, but one of my best friends in the class! We are very excited to be experiencing this together. She and her family have been in Europe for several days now. I believe they were just in Switzerland! We will be in Manarola until Sunday September 2, when we will take a train back to Pisa, and meet our clinical director from EduGlobal at a piazza across from the train station. How cute is that! He will then drive us up to our clinic site in Gavinana, which is located on a mountain. I can give more updates about the area once I arrive. And for those interested, we will be driving a Puegeot from Pisa :)

I will upload tons of pictures as often as I can. I don't know the Internet situation yet, so that will determine how often I post and give y'all updates.

Thank you so much to everyone who is praying for me during this next chapter in my life. I have never done anything like this before and I am so excited for this opportunity that God has blessed me with. If anyone has a request for a souvenir, let me know! I already have 2 bids for fancy Italian cars :) I love all of y'all so much and thank you for being a part of my life. I'm so glad I get to share this experience with everyone.

1 hour til departure! I think it's time for Starbucks :) Ciao!