Welcome to Wine Country!

Entrance to the Castello del Trebbio

Touring the wine cellars in the castle

Oh my goodness, so much has happened here in the past week- it's hard to keep up with all of the excitement! I'll start with this past Friday- Our school took a day trip to the Tuscan countryside to do some wine tasting in Chianti. Now that is my kind of field trip! It was absolutely gorgeous. We went to  Castello del Trebbio, which is this amazing 900 year old castle in the countryside that was restored in the 1960's to become a family-owned winery. While we were there, we got to tour part of the inside of the castle and the wine cellars, and learn more about what goes into making Chianti wine. They also make extra virgin olive oil there, and explained that process to us as well. Who knew that something as simple as olive oil could be such a complicated process! [For inquiring minds- apparently not all olive oil sold in stores is actually good for consumption... Something like 60% of the stuff sold really shouldn't be because it is too acidic. Even if it says "Extra Virgin", it doesn't mean it is. And there's not really a way to make sure it's good, which is problematic. But, basically the stuff that's actually good should always be Extra Virgin, and generally if it's more expensive, it's better for you. Sooooo there you go :)]

The beautiful Tuscan Countryside!

Wine Connoisseur 

After the tour of the cellars, we got to have a typical Tuscan-style lunch and taste some wine! We tried two different kinds, a 2008 and a 2011 Chianti. Our guide taught us the "proper" way to taste wine; how to hold the glass, then look at the color, swirl, look at how it drips, smell, taste, and what it all means. Too complicated of a process for me to really tell the difference more than to the extent of yummy or not, and they both tasted great to me! We then went on a walk outside to a nearby pond to take in the beautiful scenery and pick some fresh fruit to munch on. It was so good, and the view was unbelievable! It was so nice to see some greenery outside of the city walls- pictures don't do it justice.  I still have a lot more of the country to see, but I think this may end up being one of my favorite places in Italy! Our guide mentioned they also do weddings at the castle... too soon to start planning already? ;)

That night when we got back there was a festival going on- Festa della Rificolona (Lantern Festival of Florence), so me and two other friends decided to go out and celebrate with the rest of the city! This parade is a celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary, and the parade of lanterns represents the pilgrimage of the farmers made before the break of dawn for the religious ceremony. Today, the city of Florence gathers and parades through the city holding paper lanterns in the air, and ends up in the Piazza Santissima Annunziata (which is the one right near our apartment that has the Basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary) where there was a festival with candy, snacks, and games! It was so much fun walking through the parade and seeing all of the local families out and about and feeling part of the Florentine culture. And all of the little kids were so cute with their homemade lanterns! Part of the tradition, however, is that the kids spit spitballs and pellets at all of the lanterns to try and knock over the candle inside to set it on fire. I guess this is part of the tradition that dates back to the first pilgrimage and by the end of the night most of the lanterns are ceremoniously set ablaze, but if you know me and how I feel about spit, that was one part of the festivities I didn't enjoy so much. But all in all it was really awesome and so much fun :)

Danielle, Me, and Kelsey at the Lantern Festival

Classic.

The next day, I went with a group organized through the school to visit Pisa and Lucca! We didn't spend too much time in Pisa- just a few hours, which was basically just enough time to see all of the monuments in the Field of Miracles and take some classic tourist shots. Besides the leaning tower, there is also a Duomo and Baptistry which are really beautiful along with a monumental cemetery which is also pretty cool to see. Other than those monuments, there isn't really a ton much else to do in Pisa, but the tower was really so awesome to see in person. It almost seems unreal, like it could actually fall over at any moment. I learned though that they were finally able to secure it so it's not going anywhere, after many many attempts (and a lot of money spent!) to stop it from sinking. That was one of my favorite parts, seeing the base of the tower where you can see exactly how far it tipped downwards into the sinking ground! 

The base of the tower where you
can see how far down it has sunk

After visiting Pisa, we went right to Lucca, which is another small neighboring town just outside of Florence. It is sooooo beautiful! It also has much more of a local vibe to it with hardly any tourists, which was a nice change from Florence where there are always tour groups crowding the streets. [Listen to me, sounding like a local after only 2 weeks here ;)] Another cool thing about the city is that is still has the protective walls encircling it that were originally built way back when, only now they are more of a park-like promenade where people lounge around on a sunny afternoon. Which is precisely what we did! After getting a little tour of some cool places in the city and having some free time to get lunch, we all rented bikes to ride around along the top of walls and get a wonderful view of the city! It was so pretty. Looking in one direction you could see the humble town with beautiful gardens and adorable houses, and in the other the outstretched land that the walls used to protect against. I was so upset that my camera died in Pisa so I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the beautiful city to share :( One of my roommates took some awesome ones though, so when she is back in town I will steal some of the ones she uploads to add to my album on Facebook for you all to see! In the meantime, here is a picture I stole from online of the beautiful park on top of the walls!

Walls surrounding Lucca

The last day of the weekend, me and two of my other roommates decided to spend the day relaxing at the beach at Viareggio. It was so nice! And such a nice day. The beach was abound with men in speedos, naked babies and topless women bathing in the sun. Gotta love that free European culture! It was a beautiful day though, and nice and relaxing! The rest of this past week mostly consisted of going to classes, but I also went to another wine tasting on Wednesday, which was also my birthday! What a classy way to celebrate. I also went to a wine festival on Thursday that was set up in Piazza della Republica with a friend from class... I think that by the end of my time here I might have actually learned a thing or two about wine! It was really fun attempting to practice my Italian with all of the wine connoisseurs there and trying all of the local and home grown goods. How nice it is to just walk outside after class one day and be in the middle of a wine festival... I love Florence! :)