Adio's

Adio's for now! I am heading to Sorrento for a 4 day weekend and will be MIA. Hopefully I can post about my trip late Sunday or Monday, so keep an eye out :)

Never Leaving Florence

Florence Day 1: "Taste of Tuscany Tour"

During our tour of Tuscany we visited four locations! The first, pictured above, is a small town holding only 42 people. There were actually 2 weddings going on when we arrived! I loved that the town was almost blocked in by the out-skirting castle walls. The first picture to the far left shows the walls and my roommate, Melissa, taking a picture of the beautiful country side.

 

Stop two was Siena! Here we visited the beautiful Siena Cathedral, to the left. The Piazza del Campo, famous for the Pialo horse races -- held twice each year, in the middle. And to the right, the curved streets, filled with shops and restaurants. Here we also visited the Basilica of San Domenico where I saw the finger and head of St. Catherine on display.

These next two pictures are taken of my FAVORITE part of the tour! Here we visited a small local Vineyard in Tuscany! This Vineyard does not sell to grocery stores, only neighbors and people attending tours, like myself. Lucky me!!! The image to the left is of the downstairs cellar. The barrels store his aging wine, and balsamic. The white wine bottle sitting on the large barrel called "Easy to Fall in Love" was part of our tasting. Just for us girls ;)  The image to the right is of my tasting dish. The bread was drizzled with homemade extra virgin olive oil. A piece of cheese with homemade honey. Chickpeas served with 4 decade aged classic balsamic, a garlic to cleanse the pallet, and my favorite part of the tasting, a cracker containing a drop of is truffle oil. 90% white truffle 10% black. We also tasted three different wines and an apple honey balsamic on ice cream. I really couldn't image anything better!

 Finally, stop number four! Here we ventured further into the Tuscany region for dinner at a traditional Italian home. To the left is a picture of the group, ready to eat our first course of bruschetta, Italian meat, sheep cheese, salad, and more toasted bread. As if I didn't eat enough at the last stop! Then came the main course of pasta, and yes, more wine. All of which were delicious!

Here is one last image: my touring group. The 6 of us are all on the UD Study Abroad in Rome together and we all agree that this is the highlight to our trip.

Oh, and how could I forget....

This one is for you Mom and Dad.

Here is a picture of me with our tour guide! His name is Dario. Pretty darn cute and perhaps my future husband ;) Can hardly wait for you to meet him <3

Love You All,

Ali

The Colosseum Tour

                                   Friday May 24th

        Today is one of my very favorite days spent in Italy yet!

After 3 years of High School Latin and learning about the Colosseum, I have finally seen it in person! The image in the top middle is really great because it shows how the arena was once more enclosed than it appears today. It is remarkable that such a massive structure remains in such good condition after all these years.                                                                              Some fun Facts:                                            Steps into the Colosseum were built steep for safety purposes. In entering the Colosseum the stairs would slow the crowd, while in exiting, speed them up.                                                                                         Women had their own section of seats, separate from the men. There were often physical fights over lost bets.                                                                                        Seating was done by rank. Those of higher importance sitting nearest the stage and those of lesser importance, sitting farthest. 

                                      

Vatican Tour

                                     Tuesday the 21st

       Here are some pictures I took during our tour of the Vatican.

Below is one of my favorite pictures! This jaw dropping art stretches the length of the Vatican museum ceiling. Even in this picture you can appreciate its detail. Definitely a sight to see.

Funneling out of the hallway depicted above, we entered into a room with a beautiful dome ceiling. That is the image you see to the right.                                                                                     Shortly after, we entered the Sistine Chapel! Photography is not allowed so I do not have pictures to post, but take my word, it was magnificent. The back wall displaying the famous "Last Judgement" was so much larger than I had expected!  

Being such a holy place, we were not allowed to speak once we had entered...and the guards stationed inside were strict on enforcing the rules. I even saw one woman get yelled at for taking a picture and her camera chip taken away! 

Before entering, our tour guide told us a little bit about Michelangelo. His competitors at the time (Bramante & Raphael) conspired against him, telling the Pope he would be the best person for the job... therefore placing themselves in position to design St. Peter's Basilica. For 4 years he laid on his back painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, impairing his far sighted vision due to the paint dripping into his eyes. However, in completing this task, Michelangelo created perhaps the most famous pieces of art known today.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

This picture is taken after leaving the Vatican museum, before heading into St. Peter's Basilica. This is the Holy Door, opened the first day of the Holy Year (every 25 years).

A Bright Future

Hello All!

I have been without WiFi for 4 days now so I apologize for again getting so behind with my blog! I hear you are all getting anxious to see some new pictures and be updated on my experience so here goes nothing:

Sunday the 19th

I visited the must see Trevi Fountain! Here is a picture of me, ready to toss a coin into the fountain and make a wish. Tossing a coin into the fountain means that someday I will return to Rome.

& jumping forward...

Sunday the 26th

Florence has a fountain as well.... quite different than Romes haha! This fountain is called the Piglet. You rub its nose, make a wish, and drop a coin from it's mouth. If the coin drops into the grate below, you will return to Florence! Luckily my coin made the gate first try.

Looks like there will be a Rome & Florence round 2 in my future!

Spotting the Pope

My very first day in Rome we went to get some Gelato and when we arrived in St. Peter's Basilica we walked right into a celebration of Pope Francis! I viewed it as good luck ;)

The next morning I woke up to attend church with a small group of classmates and to our surprise there was a giant mass held by Pope Francis himself in the Basilica. Out of thousands of people in attendance, I even managed to receive communion!! 

 
     *Captured in the top right photo is the Basilica with it's beautiful pillars and decorative statues lining the top. Screens were pulled down helping us get a closer look at the Pope and what was happening

    

     *The right middle is a picture of Pope Francis waving to the crowd. I also watched him touch the foreheads of several young children whose parents held them towards the car

     *The bottom right photo is of the Basilica at night... after Gelato of course! It was too pretty not to post a picture

Flight

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the delay on posting to my blog! It is only day 3 and I feel like I have been here for at least double! Here is a shot my mom took of me ready to catch my flight at the Cleveland airport. When the plane landed in Philadelphia we booked it to catch our next flight into Rome. And of course with the 6 hour time difference we arrived at 8:00am (Rome time) and began our day.