Fall Break!

So after all the stress of my cooking midterms (small joke!), we had a week long break which is part of the reason I've been M.I.A. Here's a quick overview about what I've been up to the last week! I spend a few days in Spain visiting friends, a day in Dublin, and two days in London! It was the most amazing experience of my life! 4 flights, 7 bus rides, and countless metro/tram/tube rides, but everything went surprisingly smoothly! I promise a post for each of my stops! Until then here's a quick preview!

City Hall in Madrid!

Guinness Brewery in Dublin!

Buckingham Palace in London!

Balsamic and Bologna!

This Saturday we took a day trip to Bologna the gastronomic capital of Italy. Bologna is famous for tortellini, tortelloni, and of course bolognese sauce. It is also home to Europe's oldest University. We started the day with a tour of the city and seeing some of the major sites! We started by seeing the Fountain of Neptune!

We got to visit the library of the University of Bologna, which was amazing! Here are some pictures from the library as well as an Anatomy classroom! When they used this classroom they only held classes in the winter and put cadavers on the marble slab pictured below, kind of gross, but no worries the table there is a replica!

And we ended the tour in the San Petronio Basilica which of course we weren't allowed to take pictures of, but I snuck this one anyways!

Another fun thing about Bologna is the two towers of the city, one of which is leaning, a lot! Apparently the leaning tower of Pisa isn't the only thing leaning in Italy!

After the tour we enjoyed an incredible lunch at a local cafe and headed to our second stop of the day, a local farm that produces balsamic vinegar, another claim to fame of the region. We then took a quick bus ride to Acetaia San Matteo, a family run producer filled with family tradition and charm.

We learned all about the aging process of vinegar and did a taste test of different balsamics. We tried one aged 7 years to one aged 50 years, that was given as a wedding present to the couple that owned the farm. 

We spent the rest of the day touring the farm and spending time enjoying the fresh air and open space!

The farm house was filled with barrels of vinegar, some as old as 100 years! It was also filled with family pictures and keepsakes!

Another perfect Tuscan weekend!

Field Trip Friday!

What better way to kick off your weekend then a trip to a local vineyard! My Italian Style Cooking course took a field trip this Friday to a local vineyard called Fattoria San Donato in San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a Tuscan town famous for wine and only an hour or so from Florence. 

This vineyard is a small village from the 1100s. Not only do they produce their own wine and olive oil, but visitors can even stay in gorgeous apartments on the premises.

Here's a picture of one of the apartments visitors have the options of staying in. The place itself was stunning, it was honestly from a movie. Everywhere you looked you could see over the rolling hills of Tuscany and endless rows of purple grapes. 

I was expecting a long tour of the vineyard and the wine making process similar to the one I had last weekend in Verona, but this was a much different kind of field trip. On this field trip we were greeted by a member of the Fenzi family who owns the vineyard. He explained that all of the wines they produced are named after his family members including his wife, three daughters and parents. Adorable right? If there's one thing I've really learned about the Italian culture is their love for family and tradition. 

He took us into one of the buildings where we drank the vineyards white wine and Chianti and ate everything. Our teacher told us we'd be having a small bite to eat. If you can't tell by the amount of the food on the table, the Italian idea of a small bite to eat is much different then our own. 

And those stunning view of the rolling hills of Tuscany I was talking about?

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the grounds of the vineyard and welcoming Fall the Italian way. Few pumpkins and no scarecrows, but the views totally make up for it!

Nothing quite like spending Friday under the Tuscan sun!

Vino e Verona!

So after touring the city of Verona on Sunday we took a guided tour of a wine cellar complete with a wine tasting. We took a bus through Verona to Azienda Agricola Gamba a local vineyard and producer of red wine.

We started with a wine tasting. We tried two red table wines and a sweet dessert wine. The two table wines were paired with cheese and the dessert wine was paired with a biscuit that the old man serving it kept insisting I eat more of it. No complaints though because it was delicious!

This is where we had our wine tasting! After our tasting and short lesson on pairing food and wine. We took a tour of the vineyard and wine cellar. He's some pictures of us enjoying the vineyard and sneaking some grapes we definitely shouldn't have been eating!

After checking out all the grapes and learning about the wine making process we headed down to the wine cellar!

We ended the day with a picture of all the URI kids by the grape vines before we boarded the bus and headed back to Florence!

The perfect end to the perfect weekend of Venice, Verona, and vino!

Giulietta e Romeo!

So I'm sure you've all seen Letters to Juliet the movie with Amanda Seyfried where she goes to Italy and visits the famous city of Romeo and Juliet, goes on an incredible adventure, and falls in love? Well that's where I spent my Sunday afternoon! Despite the rain Verona, home to Romeo and Juliet, was one of the most magical places I have ever seen, and mark my words I will be back! We started by seeing the Verona arena where performers like Paul McCartney, Michael Buble, and even One Direction have sang. Its home to many operas and has perfect acoustics.

There was also a marathon going on Sunday so runners were everywhere! After hearing about some of the history of the city we continued on our tour. We saw the fountain of Our Lady Verona in Piazza delle Erbe.

We then moved onto Verona's most famous sites!

We visited both the homes of Romeo and Juliette, while Romeo's house is now a private residence it didn't stop us from taking a ton of pictures. The doors to his house are filled with names and tons of love notes!

After seeing Romeo's house we headed to see Juliette's. The courtyard was incredible! Filled with letters, gum, and a statue of Juliet herself. Legend says if you touch her right breast you'll be lucky in love! What better photo opportunity that that?

You can see her balcony on the right and the locks and letters in the back of the courtyard. This is also right before it started down pouring! Verona even in the pouring rain is by far the most beautiful place yet. And speaking of lucky in love here I am!

Leaving Verona was a tough one, but heading straight to a wine tasting after made things a little easier!

The Sinking City

We spent this past weekend visiting Venice and Verona and since I've been awful about keeping up with my blog I've decided to spit these two cities up into two posts. Partly because I'll feel like less of a slacker, but mostly because the two are too incredible to be lumped together as one! So I'll start with our Saturday in Venice, home to gondolas, endless canals, and rain. Despite the last part Venice was everything I hoped it would be and more!

We started the day with a private boat to Piazza S. Marco and a guided tour of the city! The symbol of the city is a winged lion and can be seen throughout the city.  We grabbed lunch at a cafe on the water to escape the rain for a little. We all had a spritz, the famous drink of Venice that tastes a little like soap, ok a lot like soap I don't recommend it! The drink is made up of prosecco, some bitter liquer, topped off with some sparkling mineral water.

After the tour we did what anyone in Venice does and took a tour of the city via Gondola! I have to say I was a little disappointed our guide was not wearing a stripped sweater, or a hat, and refused to sing "That's Amore" even after numerous requests.

 Despite our Debbie Downer of a gondola guide the ride was incredible! We even got to check out Marco Polo's house!

Here's some pictures of us on the boat with the cranky gondola man!

After the gondola ride we had some free time to explore the city. Plenty of time to stock up on Murano glass and Venetian masks. We also ran into a interesting group of people dressed in Renaissance attire holding purple balloons. If there's one thing about Italy I've learned it you will always see something completely unexpected.

Turns out all these people were on a company retreat. They were told to dress in formal Renaissance attire and to meet at a certain time. The company took them to Venice for a conferences and this! We took the opportunity to take some sick selfies with them! We spent the evening in a hotel in Padova and rested up for a full day exploring Verona! 

David for the Day!

So after about a month of being in Florence I decided it might be time to actually see the David. I pass the replica that stands where the original once did in front of Palazzo della Signoria and I've spent time near the other replica atop the Piazzale Michelangelo, but I figured it was time to see the real deal. The real Michelangelo's David is located in the Accademia Gallery in the heart of Florence. After seeing the replicas and the million statues sold by street vendors I wasn't expecting too much of the original, but as usual I was so wrong! At 17ft tall I can't even begin to imagine how this was done. Also we weren't allowed to take pictures in the museum, but I managed to get this terrible one from my pocket!

For anyone visiting Florence make sure you see the actual David despite my previous thoughts pictures and replicas don't do this any justice! Enjoy the view!