Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ok last batch...before the firenze ones.

confetti shot!!

elton john was in venezia too!

a joker.


San Marco at sunset

one of my favorites :-)

Another of my favorites



Want some more??

a mob!
unlike any church i've seen.

san marco...there were a lot of people.

amazing.

the best breakfast i've ever had, a little ways from our apartment, on the water. absolute bliss.

Venezia again...

and the costumes begin..

no words.

Ponte Rialto




More Venezia

so beautiful :-)

gondolas!!

i love the front doors that are right on the water.

a beautiful canal.

the night we arrived! this is across the train station.

Pictures!!!!!

one of the tons of mask displays

our open front door. that is literally why i couldn't describe how amazing the apartment was.

Caitlin and her amazing photo editing ways.

The roomies again! Me, Sara, Caitlin and Gabby in our fabulous masks.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Tale of Two Cities

So it has been a long long while since I have last updated.
I will try to address everything in order (because i get ocd about these things) and then tomorrow will come the massive pictures.
First: last update was coming back from Florence. I left on saturday morning with roomate gabby, and friend monica and our other two friends justina and roberto and justina's boyfriend. we arrived 11 ish or so, and got breakfast and put our stuff in the hostel (which was AMAZING). we were 6, so we shared two big 3 bed-rooms and had a shared bathroom. it was extremely clean and basically hotel like. we walked around ALL day, hit up the leather and open air market. i wasn't planning on buying anything, but you know how those italian vendors are..i got a jacket and a bag and a scarf. the jacket was thanks to friends who came in the store with me and basically bartered for me and got the price way way down. from there we made our way to the duomo, which was spectacular as usual. we climbed all the way up the campanile, where we got magnificent panoramas and views on the entire city. the weather was crystal clear and warm, honestly could not have asked for a better day. we walked all the way across the city to the ponte vecchio, which was beautiful. on the monument on the ponte, there is a gate where people attach locks as a symbol of love, and since it was valentines day...there were a lot. we saw a couple attach one, say something, and then close their eyes and throw the key backwards into the Arno (i think its that river).
At night we went to have dinner at a restaurant by the ponte, which wasn't super good but we had a really good time chatting and laughing and reliving the day. saturday night we got wine and had a quiet night at the hotel chitchatting some more, learning some polish (justina and areg). we were very tired from walking around all day, but sunday morning we did it all over again, this time carrying our bags with us (check out was at 10:30). we walked the market again (open 7 days!!) and this time went past the Uffizi where the Davide by Michelangelo, we didn't go in because the line was an hour and a half long of wait. we walked up the side of the river, and up to another beautiful church and piazza (where those four boys were, busy being italian). more walking around, and then we headed home around 6 or so, got into perugia around 8 and immediately went to a pizza place to buy ourselves our own personal pizzas. it was an absolutely amazing and fun weekend, Firenze is really a unique city.

the following week (last week) was nice, it was quiet, on wednesday we had Tandem again, and went to aperitivo for it which was nice as always. talked a lot with an italian girl named Marisa who Gabby had previously met, we are planning a dinner soon because we both love to cook. Much of the week was spent in anticipation for Venezia.
It finally happened, thursday at 11 we all ran from school to catch our 12:17 train headed to Firenze and then Venezia.

So Venezia...gosh there are no words to describe Venezia, and even less to describe Venezia during Carnevale. I had been once before during a senior year exchange, but this time was just a thousand times different/better/intense. It was completely indescribable. Let's start with the arrival: we get to the train station, and we just see hordes of people outside. I see water, and my first thought is aw cute there's a fountain in the piazza by the train station! but no...its the canal (obviously). we find our vaporetto station, get a ticket, and take it down to Zattere, our 'neighborhood' if you will. we get off, walk right along the canal and get to our apartment. this apartment was ridiculous. it was RIGHT on the water, you open the front door, and a yard and half from it is the water. it was like having your own boardwalk and view of the ocean. the apartment had a huge kitchen/living area/dining room area, with couches, tables and a tv. there were two rooms for two people in each, and TWO FULL BATHROOMS!! the couches in the living room were beds, so me and gabby slept there and the other girls got the rooms. it was so nice having an apartment to come home to, you can't even realize.
immediately upon arrival, Monica, Gabby, Sara and I went out to walk around. our neighborhood was quiet, but as we got towards the center we found that every little piazza was filled with these mini 'raves', people in costume having a good time and dancing to people who brought huge stereos or had brought instruments and were banging away at them. it was phenomenal, and only got us more excited for the next few days. we headed home not too late because we wanted to have a full day on friday.
Friday morning we got up early and were out the door by 8:30. We just explored and explored and explored, walked absolutely everywhere. we wandered the streets near us, crossed to the main island, and got to st marks which was full but not too full. we walked down the walkway by San Marco's, where we stopped and got a cafe and enjoyed the view and the SUNSHINE. we had bought masks, and decided to put them on. they were barely on our faces when this barcelonian girl asks for a picture with us! needless to say it made us feel very happy/authentic. after cafe we took a vaporetto to Murano, where the blown glass is made. we got a free demonstration of glass blowing (very impressive) and then walked around Murano, which is a very cute residential island. it is different from Venezia proper, but has a lot of the same feel. the architecture on all parts of the island is clearly influenced by the middle east (Venezia having been a stop on the silk road). the houses have middle eastern windows with cool curves and really nice shapes and colors. in addition, everywhere you looked there were people dressed up in elaborate costumes, usually in pairs, with magnificent colors and ribbons and lace and masks. that took up so much time, seeing a splash of color in the corner of your eye and running towards it before it disappeared into the crowds. after murano we took the vaporetto home, which itself is like a mini tour. Friday night we all had dinner at home, and headed out all masked up to experience the streets of Venezia during Carnevale. we found a piazza full of people that had a band playing what I felt was authentic Brasilian style carnevale music. there were saxophones, drum set, a bell, whistles and big drums (the kind slung around your back). the music was great, and we danced for a long time.
After crashing at home, we woke up saturday morning ready to go again. This time when we got to San Marco...the hordes of people we hadn't seen on friday had all of a sudden landed. there were so many people i can't even convey the sheer masses in any way. the pictures tomorrow will explain it all :-) me and Sara walked down the San Marco walkway again, and got panini and sat in a sun filled piazza. the weather was gorgeous, and everybody was sitting and soaking up the sun and just enjoying life. Something I love about Venezia is the feeling of absolute joy and happiness in the air. it seemed like the air was saturated with a joie de vivre which is missing from a lot of places in the world. We then walked all the way to the other side of the Venezia island, from which we could see Murano and the Cimetero, the island which is entirely a cemetery (brings to mind Pere LaChaise). We were exhausted, and after a while headed home. We had dinner at a restaurant just a little ways from our apartment, and then Monica, Gabby, Caitlin and I headed to Piazza Margherita just around the corner, where it seems the Venetian italians go. mostly a bunch of crazy kids running around and having fun, we got accosted by so many who saw we were obviously tourists, but for the most part they were all really nice. We learned some Veneto! (dialect). here goes: 'sta festa ze bea (questa festa e bella) and mi stago ai zattere (i'm from zattere or i live in zattere). it was loads of fun, confetti was EVERYWHERE (it's still in my pant pockets, bags and boots). Sunday morning we got up a little big later, and headed back to Margherita to see how the damage of the night before had been cleaned (they have cleaning crews on standby, literally, who work all night to make the piazza clean again). we got pastries at a really cute pasticceria (where we all found our dream man, a very cute pastry chef/apprentice. i mean really: cute, venetian AND a pastry chef?!?!?! could it be real?!?!). by then it was time to go home, we packed the bags and headed off to the train station, leaving beautiful Venezia behind...
of course me blabbing about Venezia doesn't really represent how beautiful it was, so tomorrow definitely will come all the pictures.

I miss Venezia :-(
But next stop: Roma questo weekend!!!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Velocissimo update-o

This is a velocissimo update only because there are a couple pictures i need to put up from the weekend. I went to Firenze with Gabby, Monica and three friends Roberto, Giustina and her boyfriend Areg -sorry if i spelled it wrong :-(.
Being in Firenze for Valentines Day was awesome, and everything went really well, and the market...well. I will post up pictures very soon. However, there are two pictures that must be put up. One is of a panorama taken from the top of the campanile of the huge Duomo, and the second is a picture of a group of four italians, who were just standing in a piazza looking at a puppet show. but they sum up the entirety of why this country is awesome.
Enjoy :-)


First panorma.

this is why i love this country. the style, the look, the casual stance, the ridiculous fashion forwardness..how do they do it?! it's so overwhelming.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ridiculous weather

So. Yesterday morning we woke to fog. complete fog, it was like being in the clouds. then, while leaving class at 5, it was beautiful and sunny, with the beginnings of a really pretty sunset. i walk into the internet point, and an hour and a half later, emerge to go home.
it was hailing. and not kinda hailing, COMPLETELY hailing. the balls of ice are as big as m&ms, and while me and gabby run for cover, i start getting concerned my umbrella will get holes blown straight through it. we hide under an arch for a bit, and during a lull in the hail intensity, we venture out a couple feet, only to be pelted once again by a torrential downpour of hail. now, it takes all our strength and tact to get back up the two steps, because the hail has now made a layer of ice balls that threaten to make both of us fall down the street steps and crumple at the bottom into the middle of a busy intersection.
but, we make it back to the arch, and after a couple minutes, we leave again. we walk down a street which happens to be one way and very very narrow. a bus comes by, and we start to think oh no. its over. we escaped the hail, the thunder storm, and now we are going to get squashed against a wall. we squish ourselves against the wall as much as possible, when the bus reaches us, stops, and the (very cute) driver says something to us. we dont really understand, but wander over to the opposite side of the street, where the bus stops and opens the doors. YAY!
so we hop on. the driver and his (very cute) friend make small talk, where are you from, etc etc. but me and gabby are so frazzled we dont even comprehend whats going on, we just say oh we need to get off at this street here please! and the bus stops, and we hop off into the hail and rain (that had in the meantime decided to start again). then me and gabby look at eachother and realized how we majorly failed the last 15 minutes of our lives. not only two ragazzi talk to us, but the driver stopped the bus in the street solely to pick us up. needless to say, we were very upset by our failure.
and today, we wake up to a gorgeous day. me and caitlin ate lunch on the steps, and while getting ready to pack up, the sky gets pitch black, and we hear rumblings. and then it started to snow and sleet. and here we are now, getting sleeted/snowed on.

all it made me feel really, was miss new england. i miss the snow! i miss leaving the house in the morning with boots and a t-shirt and getting snowed on in the afternoon.
anyways. hopefully the next bus experience will be better (and hopefully no more hail. it hurts)

bacci!
-chloe

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

continuation...

SO.Major updates to be done.Chronologically, here it goes: Wednesday we had another Tandem meeting, where I met a really nice guy named Simone, who taught me basically every historical anything about Italy. We discussed the Mafia, how the French have way more in common with Italy (then both would like to admit. For example- the Italians must give the French props for their flag. HA.) and other interesting things, such as dialects. He is from Pulia, and to say 'Andiamo' its something like...um. 'something something amazone'. I'll ask him again so that my story is a little better than that.Then Gabby the roomie met a really nice girl who invited us to aperitivo at her house that evening, and we met her roomates and a couple friends. We talked for hours, they were extremely nice, and I'm sure they are people we will see again. All in all, a very very good day.Thursday class, which was magical (as always), and then that evening Chiara (italian roomie) invited us to go to dinner with her and her friend at this nightclub/cafe place called Velvet. We dressed up really nice, because at this place, you will get stared down if you dress even slightly casual. We got there, and eventually (around 11) the place got full and busy and turned into a night club. it was ALOT of fun, they played lots of good songs and it was really nice to spend time with Chiara. She had just finished some exams and gotten 25 and 27 (both out of 30) on them, so it was time to celebrate.Friday...we went to the Baci factory! Yes, I imagine most of you are mad because you think that the experience was lost on me (being a chocolate factory and all) but it wasn't. It was very cool to see, and I took extra care in enjoying the moment just for all of your sakes. We got TONS, and i literally mean it, TONS of free chocolate. You could just grab handfuls. We watched a documentary on the Bacione, which is in the Guiness book of world records for largest chocolate (weighing in at 6000 kilos). Ew. I mean...delicious! Friday night was a quiet one.Saturday I went to Gubbio, a little medieval town an hour from Perugia with Gabby, Sara and two friends Giustina (polish) and Roberto (chilean). It was a lot of fun, and many pictures will ensue.My ramblings about everything in italy looking like something out of LOTR is officially justified: not only did Gubbio look like Minas Tirith (as did Assisi) but there was also Rivendell, Bilbo's house in Hobbiton, the tree from Minas Tirith AND....a license plate that said 'Orc'. My life is complete.

plans for the future: Firenze saturday to sunday, and next week....VENEZIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bisous!

-chloe

Monday, February 9, 2009

Gubber-town, Rivendell and a really, really fat cat

ok so my extremely long and detailed post of my excursions of the past week was deleted because the internet stinks. but here are some pictures! the long ramble will be added tomorrow.

Orc. enough said.

Bilbo's house.

RIVENDELL!!

The tree from Minas Tirith.

The largest cat on the face of the earth.

My happy latte macchiato.

MINAS TIRITH.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Veni, Vidi, Vici

I've survived a month so far while acknowledging that the french and italians have a mutual dislike for eachother. The italians always make a snobby face when the french are mentioned, and then when I say that I'm in fact french, they pretend they have no problem with it. However my mad italian skills paired with my italian heritage paired that I have the last name to prove it makes them calm down.
This mutual co-existence came crashing down last night. The roomates and friends from class and I went to a pub called 'Downtown' (I thought, when I was told we were going downtown, that were going into downtown Perugia-wherever that was). Out of curiosity, I asked the bartender if he knew what pastis was. He said no, and I described that it was kind of like sambuca, but not as sweet. He started listing sambuca like brands, some were Greek, others Turk etc. But then he asks me where pastis hails from...and I inform him. France.
An eye roll. A slight head shake. A shrug. This meant war. I wasn't letting this one go. I'd put up with that one too many times.
"So what about the french? What's wrong with that?"
"All they have is good wine" (which, I will point out, is INSANE that an Italian would concede that the French had good wine)
"Oh, just wine? We have excellent wine, champagne, cheese and pastries and PASTIS."
"We have cheese too. Do you guys have Parmeggiano?"
"No. But you don't have brie or camembert or good swiss. So...what now?"

More head shaking, and yes I was getting pretty worked up. I love both the Italians and the French, why can't people just humor me and pretend they love my other country? Honestly. The bartender himself said that sambuca was too sweet and syrupy, so now that I've talked the talk..I have to walk the walk and somehow get him to try pastis and award me the official victory of Pastis v. Sambuca in which the home team wins.

HO VINTO. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Monday, February 2, 2009

More Assisi

Here is more Assisi, as promised:

I liked this because it looked like those two people were perched on the edge of an abyss (or a huge cliff, whichever).

Totally not an accidental choice of colors.

3/4 of the roomies!


This panorama is thanks to Caitlin and her wonderful photo stitching skills (Stephan-read my camera manual and tell me how to do that!!)
In other equally exciting news...we have booked an apartment for Venezia for the carnevale. The apartment is for 6 people, and it has a kitchen and it is right on the water. At first we all thought we'd stay in Perugia for the carnevale festivities, but when we started looking up Venezia...it didn't help that I had gone previously for carnevale, and some of my best memories of Italy are from the carneval. So it's official: we are all going!! Next up: finding a memory stick with enough space to hold the enormous amount of pictures I will take.
This week looks to be a rainy one, hopefully we can make Deruta or another little town on Saturday, and on Thursday we are planning to go to an authentic Perugian restaurant. We went to a restaurant called da Caeserino on Friday and it was absolutely delicious (and cheap!).
A presto tutti!!






Sunday, February 1, 2009

Technology...

The internet is sadly not cooperating right now so I will have to continue picture posting tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed Assisi so far!!

Assisi pictures!

Chiesa St. Anna sopra Minerva. Originally a church for Minerva, a Catholic one was built over it (notice the greek-ish columns). Check that story though...my world history is rusty.

The backyard of one of the (many) churches.

Beautiful :-)
Notice the random four cars parked perpendicular to every. other. car.