While the bird cooks....

Well hello there, so why my bird cooks and I wait patiently for a hot meal, I will then inform you about my past excursions last weekend to the one and only Venice!

So much to tell and many pictures to include.  So first off, it was right out of a movie, we book tickets at 8:28 am, for a 8:35 am departing train.  We literally, "HOME ALONE" it and run through the airport (really train station in my world) and board the train fast fast.  Because we are taking the "slow" train option, which most students typically do because of saving money, we are not guaranteed seats.  So we meander a bit, the group of us, and find some seats where at least two of us can sit together. We find seats and try and get comfortable on slow, yet snug train that apparently stops everywhere because everyone in Firenze in on it.  First stop, Bologna, and of course the two seats me and another girl traveling alongside me are in, are the ones of the polish grandmothers that just boarded here in Bologna, we must move.  So we stand in the hall way of the train, where low and behold there are seats that fold out of the wall, no lie, like are like half a circle, if you have a butt small enough to get on them, you sit against the walls of the train, dirty, yes, tight quarters, yes, feel every move of the train, YES!  Then of course what's a train without snacks and cappuccino for our lovely Italians!  A woman with a cart the size of the aisle begins to come down the aisle.  Now at this point it's been like 45 minutes and i'm barely on the fold out moon seat, amongst the 800 people that are also standing in the hallway of the train because they too save money and have no seats, and this woman insists on serving drinks, mind you HOT coffee, to the passengers.  It was ridiculous, needless to say we opted for the nice, quick, cleaner, fast train for the ride home!

So Venice, what a lagoon.  Due to recent rains that weekend there was some flooding near Saint Mark's and there was water and ramps for people to walk on to avoid the knee deep water.  People were, no lie, frolicking in it.  You cannot imagine. First off know how dirty the streets here are in Firenze, never mind Italy in general, nevermind a touristy place like Venice, and with all the pigeons and the lagoon water, I think I will not be splashing and ballerina dancing in the water....uhh no.  So back to the pretty...

So the gondola's were amazing, huge, but amazing.  They were quite expensive and the Venitians caught on that if it's 100 euro for a half an hour and 2 want to ride, well let's get six to split it and then it wont be so much, no no no, the more passengers the double the price.  It was like tourist heaven.  So no ride for me.  Shopping on the other hand that I did plenty of.  Got some new jewels and even found me a bracelet that fits the ankle of an infant, finally something to fit my wrist, and it's cute.  Bought a t-shirt for the grandmother and a few trinkets to bring back with me.  It was a gorgeous day, it called for rain and clouds, but it was 75 and sunny!  Perfect.  Pomodoro and mozzarella calzone in hand and shopping bag of jewels in the other.  Doesn't get any better.

My new favorite past-time!!

Schiacciata con l'uva

This was the incredible, edible lunch I had

This of course is after I killed the panino.  It was Mortadella, not a fan but with the crusty bread and the atmosphere I didn't notice it until it was gone.

These are the cookies I got to go with my lunch. They were shortbread stuck together with marmelade and raisins.  They were delicious.  Wish I could bring you all some to share.

Italian lunches are so exciting even when it is just a sandwich and cookies.  Well balanced for a "foodie" nevermind dietitian, but you only live once right?

Ciao!

Saturday Morning Dailies...

So my usual Saturday mornings in Firenze consist of many things, so many things that some would think it to be not very relaxing; but surrounded by this atmosphere I try to make the most of my Saturdays here and set aside my Sundays for church and resting.  

So the day starts early, anytime from 6 o'clock until 7 o'clock rise from sleep to have breakfast and catch up on the news.  I prepare my list of necessary items from the market.  Shopping bags in hand I bike to Saint Lorenzo, just five minutes away, to shop and see my usual vendors on the early mornings.  I first found my favorite butcher, whom is always mobbed and doesn't speak an ounce of English.  I do my best to convey what I want and get the chicken pieces I want for the week.  

I then go around the corner to my bakery woman.  There are always tons of Americans swarming around the counter.  You can spot an Italian versus and American by what they order.  A typical Italian orders enough food for the day or for a meal, and American orders for the month.  It is either they eat all that in one sitting or they have the nature to hoard what ever they need for food, just in case.  It is too funny, I still stock up on milk and cereal, it's a habit I cannot break, I love it.  So I get my usual cornettos, one filled with cream and one with marmelade.

Before I exit the Central Market I find the dried fruit and nuts guy.  He is right near the exit next to where I park my bike.  Today and only for a short time does he have these treats I am fond of.  My obsession with figs has grown since my arrival of their season here in Italy.  He has dried figs and sage leaves on a skewer.  They are delicious.  They taste so good, something to definitely be jealous about.  

After my jaunt to the Central Market I must ride home and get ready for my yoga class.  Today we are working on our sun salutations.  After my week in the vineyard I am sure that I am sore and need the stretching to correct any poor postures from the week.  The class is invigorating as usual and I am able to be present and rest.  After class I make my way to "the oven" the one and only bakery I shop at outside of the central market.  There I get a panino and a few snacks, I will supply pictures in a moment.  I sit in the piazza and people watch while I eat my lunch.  Sunny day, a seat in the piazza and panino in hand, it doesn't get any better than this.  After a few moments of retail therapy, I return home to prep for my homework and dinner this evening.  Quite the eventful day.  I am glad that I am welcomed home to a hot cup of tea and a blog to fill you all in on.

It was a great day today, I cannot wait for my trip to Venice tomorrow.  Who would have thought after all the treats I got to share in today that tomorrow would bring sweeter treats, those of Venice.  So much for the usual church and resting.  It's a reward for my hard work on the vineyards and of course for you all too, I am sure you are dying to hear about what's in Venice.  So stay tuned and I will do my best to bring extra batteries for the camera!

Ciao regazzi!

Grape Harvest Week is here...and now it's over!

Last Day Video at Montepaldi 

Click on this link it'll take you to the movie I made of me in the vineyard!!!  

Hello boys and girls, yes this is two posts at once, I know I was behind but I am feeling ambitious and fighting the urge to go do some retail therapy for the family at home. But yes this week consisted of our Agriculture group of 12 students traveling to the Villa Montepaldi Vineyard outside of Firenze. It was an amazing experience and I hope to post as much as I can to make you just a tad jealous that my hard working hours on a vineyard in Italy were oh....how can I put this.....no less than perfect.

So I've been traveling....in Florence!

Yes my fellow followers, I know it has been quite some time but I assure you I am here with updates. So let me recap my weekend of last for you. Plans to Rome did not work out so I made do with the scenery and was able to make much headway on my Italian, travels through the city and much needed connecting with the things that I love so very much!

First my Friday, the day for Rome, was spent trying to decipher Italian/English conversation with University of Firenze students with my friend Michael. We tried to attend and kept getting sent in the wrong direction and in the end we just settled for a cornetto! Following my travels from the university I found me a hair salon and was able to make me an appointment for a haircut! I was so excited, you have no idea what hard water does to your hair and I was very impressed with the outcome. I just got a slight trim but was very impressed with the 30min shampoo and condition, 30 minute haircut followed by 30 min of blowdrying my head. It was like a spa, and best of al I did it all in Italian. Some of the people in the shop spoke English but I insisted that they speak only Italian to me.

After my fantastic blow dry I am heading to La Spada, my favorite restaurant in Firenze, I order all in Italian and get me a primi, secondo and enjoy every bit of my meal. I was so impressed with myself it was great. The wait Guisseppe, knows me by name in their and again insists on speaking english, but I am like "no no no, solomente parle italiano!"

Some retail therapy on the way home to end my day and life is good.

Saturday arrives and I am full of hope because I am on my way to my first Italian yoga class. I find it very easily, it is a short walk from my apartment. It is very calming and very quiet, I immediately feel at home. The studio reminded me of the many studios in Kripalu so I felt right at home, loved it. Upon meeting the instructor, she tells me she will speak in Italian and english, but half way through she stays only with Italian and I find it very easy to undertstand.

Boat pose, cat pose, a little mountain and I'm better. Posture and hips are aligned and I can walk down the streets much more comfortably now. I am looking forward to attending as much as possible. I love that I found yoga in Italy!

Sunday morning bright and early, skype session with the bff over breakfast and I am on my way to church! Again, loving that I have energy, time, desire to get in my sunday best and trot off to church before I stop at the market for produce and goodies.

Life is grand here in Firenze! I am glad that Rome didn't work out in the end because what an experience all of this was for me. I loved the challenge of it all but in the end it was easier to explore in Italy.

So hold on to your seats kids because this was the boring part of my weekend, there is much more to come!!!

This is it! I found it

This is it, hands down, the new love of my life....that is until my italian boyfriend comes into the picture! This is my new favorite past time. While passing Fendi, Gucci, Guess, Bulvagri and many others I am slowly approaching the heavenly bakery that is just behind my school "Forne" oven in English. They by far have thee best cornettos known to mankind. I have been on a search you see, ever since I saw "It's Complicated," where Ms. Meryl Streep had her tiny little bakery and her and Alec Baldwin made chocolate croissants from scratch, I have been determined to find just this place here in Italy, and what do you know, it's right next to where I park my "magic wheels." ( the new name of the bike ) It has not only got chocolate chips on the outside of the cornetto but it is also piped with chocolate filling. It is seriously to-die-for. I am in love, no doubt. To top it off, not only do they freshly bake these hand held miracles daily but they also have paninos and pizza and loaves, cookies, more and more, I can't even convey it. The lovely ladies that own the bakery happen to know me by name now, I have built a repoir. They really just see me coming, because when I enter they don't even need my order, they just bag up the cornetto and I am on my way. Who would of thought that 90 centesimi could be a splurge for the most amazing cornetto ever!

I know I know, I get carried away when it comes to deserts and I do not mess around with croissants at all. As you can see, this splendor is what entertains my tummy at least a few times a week!

Results of my weekend shopping at the Central Market

These are the results from my many purchases at the market. I think I may rather buy food than shoes. I often find myself going in more grocery stores and markets than I do clothing shops, is that bad???

Pisa and Luca......check

Hello my many followers, I am here to update you on my many world travels. Today we are adding two more to the list, Pisa and Lucca. These last two cities complete the "top 5" of Italy's most beautiful must see cities, now I guess all the rest are nothing in compare but I will be the judge of that.

So yesterday was my traveling day after a long week of classes. It is a nice reward at the end of a four day academic week to get to travel. All homework aside, Italian in tow, camera fully charged and my ambition to be the best damn tourist there is, switched on. Traveling to Pisa started off at 8am Friday morning. The sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. We arrive by bus only taking about an hour. Many many tourists and many many more vendors selling the typical leaning tower shot glass, the leaning tower t-shirt, key chains and all that you can imagine. Our guide "Marchello" warned us that Pisa is the home of the ugliest souvenirs in Italy. Luckily I did not get sucked into buying anything. We walked thru a square of vendors to get to the entrance of the area where the tower, church, cemetery reside, as we turn the corner, it looks very fake!

Lots and lots of guided tours thru the church, the baptism hall and the cemetery. Apparently there was a fire during WWII and alot of the fresco's that were painted there from eons ago were mostly lost. The buildings were all marble and magnificent.

Friends and myself traveled outside of square of the leaning tower attraction to have lunch somewhere where they didn't charge 20euro for a tourist menu. Successful lunch and then we returned to the square. Really all there is in Pisa is this leaning tower and this square. It was great to see, but now that i've seen it, I'm good. Below you will see the many photos of me holding up, pushing over, standing next to the leaning tower. I am glad my travels led me here.

Next on our stop was the town of Lucca. This town was a little more of a secret in terms of it's contents. The whole town/city whichever is enclosed by these huge walls. The walls surround the town all the way around it, of course they built on the outside after many years but on top of the walls are paths that circle around the town. The school rented bikes for us and we were able to ride all around the top of the town. The view was magnificent. It was so warm out, sunshiney, and carefree, I felt like we rode for hours circling the town. I was hanging with the boys this day so their competitive edge would kick in every now and then and try to race me around the town, believe you me, bike riding isn't as carefree as it looks, I'm lucky I have a bike back in Florence to have given me a little edge over them!

Overall I am glad to have visited these two cities/towns whichever. I will keep the pictures forever and the memories I have for you all. Next week we are trying to conquer rome in a day, hahaha isn't that a movie title or something! Anyways I hope to update you with more adventures from this weekend as it has only begun. I'm on the hunt for oatmeal, whole fresh chicken, hairdryer and ingredients for a soup that is to-die-for! Wish me Luck, i'll send pictures of the final product once it is finished.

Inspiration in my day

This is a writing workshop.  I found it on a blog I follow, that often provides me with inspiration to write and do my blog.  It looks like an amazing opportunity to get my writing back off the ground.  It has been nearly 5 years since I have been able to write and of course the moment i got off that plane I started to write it down.  I have been seeking out retreats and workshops so that I can hone in on what i really want to say, to help get the five years out on paper.  I love me when I am writing!
Integrate Retreat in the Rockies from Jen Lee on Vimeo.
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Integrate Retreat in the Rockies from Jen Lee on Vimeo.
  Please watch this video.  I turned it into Italy but I loved every second of it!  I'm inspired by anything these days!  Who knows maybe i'll travel to the Rockies too!

Oh yeah Siena & San Gimignano almost forgot, Ha!

This is me and a friend Rachel looking from the large, historic filled earth we live on down at you and asking, is there really people who have never seen these things?  

Get on a plane and get here, this is amazing!

A view from a back alley, when have you had a million dollar view like this down any alley we know?  

Have you ever seen strawberries look like this?  Yeah they smelled like they did when I was five years old and stole them from my mommies garden, they were bursting!  Never had better!  These definately top organic whole foods!

The most memorable travels so far, I mean besides Paris, all of Tuscany including Firenze, Chianti and the gorgeous mountain side hills outside my bedroom window, above all that I almost left out the two greatest!  

Sometimes there are no words to convey what it really looks like!  Just know I am having the time of my life!

I feel like the wicked witch of Italia!

These are my new wheels!  I traded in the prius temporarily for a great new bicicletta while I'm here in Firenze!  It even has a cute bell to warn pedestrians that I am coming!  Move out of the way!  

Chianti, Shmianti, love love love it!!!

Okay so I return to my faithful abode to recap the day from my wonderous adventures in Chianti!  I had a magnificent trek up the winding roads, and I mean car sick winding roads for about an hours time with all my fellow peers.  We took a bus and meandered our way through the narrow streets of the hills to Chianti, and so narrow that the bus had to stop for like ten minutes for a good half a dozen cars to back up a two-way street just so we could make the corner.  Of course there were 3 italian women giggling on the sidewalks because the bus made it by just about an inch.  Once we reversed and got lost a bit, we landed at our final destination, and the sight was breathtaking.  We arrived at a castle upon a hill, atop the great region of Chianti.  We got a tour of the castle that is still occupied and ventured into the wine cellar filled with ginormous barrels of wine and then into the dungeon where they stored their many bottles of wine and extra virgin olive oil.  

Quick lesson in extra virgin olive oil, pretty much don't drink, use, spread, go near anything else olive unless it says Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the label.  The process he explained to us pretty much frightened me into followt his 3 very strict rules about Olive Oil.  

1) Label must always read Extra Virgin Olive Oil, you want acidity to be at .1-.3, most labels don't state this but if it is a good reputable source you can ask or check label.

2) the thicker and the darker the bottle that contains the olive oil the better

3) the younger the better, if one label says november 2008 versus november 2009, take the 2009.  Olives are harvest in mid october to november so usually they are available by dec!

Follow these rules and you will achieve the healthiest results known to mankinds of the hills of Chianti!

Okay so did the dungeon and then we were all lead to the main dining hall, where they had prepared a typical Italian lunch for us.  They used the extra virgin olive oil and the wine we got to taste.  I of course shipped as much as I could afford home to mom and dad and drank what I could while on the hills.  After lunch we took a hike through the vineyards, apple and pear trees.  I couldn't convey the beauty in the photographs alone, I hope you enjoy them.  

Tomorrow is Sienna so hold tight to your seats that is going to be another notch to add to my beautiful vista lists!  There will be many photos to come!  I hope to update you soon after my travels.

Ciao!

Time for Travel!

Okay boys and girls the end of the academic week is upon us and the travel bug has hit me.  I will be hitting two if not three magnificent places here in Toscana this weekend!  I have been brushing up on my Italiano and studying my maps!  Quite the task let me tell you.  Tomorrow is a guided tour to a wine vineyard in Chianti.  I know it sounds very Italian but really that's my day tomorrow in a nutshell.  Saturday following Chianti I am visiting Siena for it's magnificent views and glorious history.  I will have many pictures to show you all and hope to post a few blogs about my experiences amongst the cities.  Hold tight to your bike handles and come along for the ride because I am sure there will many adventures!  Ciao!