Leaving Florence

Our Last day in Florence!!! After having finished packing yesterday, the plan was to go take my suitcase to uni in the morning, then help pack up and clean the apartment before leaving on the 2:09 train to Foligno. Not unusually, things didn’t quite go to plan!!! I was burning a DVD in the morning (thinking it would finish rather quickly) so I could pack away my computer and catch a 9.47 train, however ½ hour after the train had left the DVD was only just finishing. I ended up having to take a bus (which I only just managed to get) as this was the ‘convienient’ gap in the train timetable to Prato… Then I didn’t manage to get back in time for the handover (not really that tragic) and only just made it back to Florence by 1.45. We decided that we would rather catch the later train (4:09) as neither of us felt ready enough to leave. 2 hours later, we’d managed to send 3 packages to Australia, buy Tim’s leather satchel and only just make it to the station – although the apartment was still a mess (at least we’d moved all the furniture back to how it was when we moved in…) Saying goodbye to Tim was hard especially after we had spent so much time together the last week. Leaving Florence was really sad after an awesome 3 months with great people!





After a fairly long train ride, we arrived in Foligno to find, once again, horribly inadequate directions to the hostel; “500m from the train station” and the tourist office closed! After asking numerous locals for directions, we finally found the hostel down a tiny alleyway, a little further than 500m from the station. It turned out to be a really nice hostel with a beautiful courtyard in the middle and large and clean rooms.






Dinner was quite amusing; after having wandered into the 1st nice place with a menu, we managed to order antipasti without realising (the waiter offered us stuffed zucchii and we didn’t say no; then they just kept coming) as well as the meals (well, primi piatti as usual) and left spending slightly more than planned, feeling almost as full as we were after the bistecca!!! We then wandered back to the hostel, straight to bed, feeling rather exhausted after all the rushing around, needing a good night’s sleep…

Il Palio

Il Palio!!! What can I say but simply amazing… (in a crazy kind of way). We headed off on the bus to Siena at about 10.30 stopping to take in a couple of the sights and buying the flag of a certain Contrada (I chose the wolf) before reserving our places near the front railing at the corner where apparently everyone falls and waiting (this involved taking shifts at eating, going to the toilet, buying drinks etc…) Waiting took quite a while, although the atmosphere in the square as it slowly filled till it was packed and the police locked everyone in the Campo was electric. The pomp and pageantry of the pre-race parade was amazing, with “representatives” of all the guilds marching, flag throwers, warriors and the racehorse of all the Contrada marching before finally the Palium (the prize for the winner which is only a silk banner) came out at the end pulled by these huge ox!!!

The Parade is a lively display of rich, brightly coloured medieval costumes which date back to the 1400s. The procession winds around the racetrack with the flag-bearer of the Commune oh horseback bearing the standard of Siena, followed by his groom, a group of drummers, trumpeters and musicions (the Musici di Palazzo). These are followed by the Captains, the representatives of the “Podestà”, the flag bearers with the standards of the “Terzieri” of the town and land, the flag-bearers of the Corporations of the Arts and Crafts, the capitain of the people on horseback and a group of flag-bear ers with flags of the old Sienese Republic. Next were the representatives of each “Contrada” (the first 10 are the ones running in the race_ which are followed by a row of pages bearing the festoons of laurel leaves and then by the seven Contrade that don’t run. Finally, the triumphal chariot drawn by huge oxen which carries the four “Provveditori di Biccherna” along with the oriflamme of the Commune, the Palio and a group of trumpeters.

When finally the parade finished (took about 3 hours I think) and after a couple of punch ups behind us… (involving something about Contrada loyalties… the Sienese are incredibly passionate about the race and their Contradas) the race was almost ready to start. Nothing like the Melbourne cup, it took 3 false starts and a lot of pushing and shoving (supposedly where last-minute bargains are made) before the race was finally underway. The race was finally won by the Goose Contrada, but not without dramas… The Shell horse was a close second (which is considered losing) and 3 horses finished (or didn’t quite make it across the finishing line deciding at the last corner that running in a circle 3 times was quite a stupid idea) having lost their riders in the 1st 2 laps. As we rushed back towards the buses back to Florence, we had to navigate seas of cheering, jubilant residents of the Goose Contrada, as well as the crying and angry residents of other contrada, making quite an intimidating atmosphere…

Venice and Bologna

I went to Bologna and Venice this weekend... Loved Venice, even though there are way to many tourists!!! Bologna was beautiful, although a complete contrast. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything in the historical city seems to have been built out of Red Bricks and all the walkways are covered!!! Not that this was ugly or anything... just completely different to what I am used to in Florence. I did the obligatory climb of the 92 meter tower (with a 1.3 meter lean) for a beautiful view over the city... the tower next to it had to be shortened because the foundations were so awful, that there was a risk it would fall on the city!!! The climb up the porticoed walkway (well at least the last 2 kms) to the Basilica Santuario della Madonna di San Luca on top of the hill overlooking Bologna is amazing... Not the best walk to do when you're in a hurry, but it was definitely worth all the pain!!! Unfortunately the hostel (well camping ground) was well outside the city and I had to catch a bus there (only one bus.. the other one involved a ½ walk) and the last bus was at 8:30 (somehow I managed to make it, even though I had a sit down dinner in a wine bar – yes I had Lasagna with Ragu sauce aka Bolognaise sauce).

I set of to Venice early the next morning on a regionale (again) with some apprehension (someone had said something about a trainstrike…) hoping that the train would run, and that I would in fact get to Venice. The train was even on time!!! But packed… I ended up sitting next to this African-italian guy who attempted to start a conversation with me and explain something in this book he had… but as my Italian is like non-existent, and his English was worse this didn’t work too well… He did give me his e-mail and phone number to call whist I was in Venice (ok… so we can’t communicate on a train, but I’m still supposed to call you… wtf?)

I managed to buy a ferry ticket and get on the right ferry without any problems, but reading the map and finding the hostel was quite difficult (if only the Venitians could put up street signs!!!) but luckily, a friendly Caribinieri told me which way to go… I met up with Tal and Morann in the afternoon and we climbed the tower (well… took the lift cause there were no stairs) and wandered into the Basilica (for some reason there was no line when we wanted to go in) before they headed back to Florence. I visited the Gallerie dell’Accademia for an overload of religious art (I swear I can only see so many versions of the Madonna and Child before I go crazy!!!) before trying to find a restaurant for dinner which served food at slightly less than the 15 euros for a pesto pasta than most of the ones on the tourist route… I spent the evening going up and down the Grand Canal in the Ferries, trying to get some night pictures, but failing miserably as each time I went to take a picture, the person in front of me would stick an arm or elbow into the shot… (Bloody tourists!!!) I spent the next day in Murano, and Torcello visiting the Glass makers and the oldest standing church in Venice on Torcello with 2 amazing glass mosaics (one behind the alter of the Madonna and Child, and on the rear wall the Assumption). I also stumbled across the German Embassy in my search for some drinking water in the afternoon, before visiting the grave of Titan, as well as his Ascension.

Rome

After 3 days at home, and a couple of classes, I was off again to Rome this time for 5 days. After another early morning regionale train, we arrived in Rome 3 and a half hours later. After checking into our hostel, which is best described as something close to an American Fraternity house with people coming and going all the time, we set off to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum. After a half and hour wait to get our tickets, I discovered again the benefits of my German Passport, as I was able to get in for almost half price.

The Colosseum was amazing with its sheer size and architecture. We were able to listen in on a couple of the tours going through which was really interesting, hearing some of its history. The Roman Forum was equally amazing with dramatic ruins in the middle of the city with many other monuments and landmarks in the background, as well as numerous more modern buildings.

We spent the next day in the Vatican, and had lunch on the roof of St Peter's Basilica, which was another amazing church... although the masses of people there didn't let you enjoy it nearly as much as it deserved. It was the first cathedral (or basilica) I’ve actually been in where it is warmer on the inside than outside simply because of the masses of people. After being crushed by a number of tour groups pushing past us to see a number of the significant artworks in the basilica, we climbed up to the roof for an amazing view over Rome. After our picnic lunch on the roof, we headed into the Vatican Museum where we had about 2 hours to see everything including the Sistine Chapel… After speeding though a number of exhibits, and pausing briefly in the Rapahel rooms, we spend a considerable amount of time (along with all the other tourists) admiring (and in awe of) Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, trying to work out which paintings depicted which bible story.

The next day we wondered around the streets of Rome, getting soaked by yet another big rainstorm (the third that week...) and headed out to the Catacombs in the afternoon. The Catacombs represented an interesting part of Rome's history during the time of the oppression of the Christians, and the catacomb we visited, San Callisto originally contained the bones of Saint Cecilia and also apparently one of the early pope's was also murdered in the chapel in the upper level of the catacombs. Unfortunately we managed to get into the biggest tour group ever and couldn’t really spend much time looking around.

Our last day in Rome contained the obligatory visit to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon as well as the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione, a church which houses a graveyard of a particular order of monks who used the remains of 4000 of their brethren as wall ordinates to prove that we are mortal. Both the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain were beautiful, however completely overrun by tourists (and the african’s selling “cheap” toys, watches and of course roses…) which was a shame, as it was difficult to enjoy the beauty of these “artworks”. The Pantheon, was absolutely amazing!!! I am still awe-struck at the sheer size of the dome, and much of its artwork. Unlike many other churches I have seen in Italy (especially from the Renaissance period) it is fairly simply decorated and allows the architecture to be its main attraction, which is simply amazing…

Tren Italia adventure

The next weekend I set off with a couple of friends (namely Chris, Stuti and Cam) for a Tren Italia adventure, testing both our endurance and the punctuality of the Tren Italia system. We were planning on visiting 3 cities (Rimini, Perugia and Sienna) in 3 different regions (San Marino, Umbria and Tuscany) in 3 days, with each train journey involving at least one change on the regionale trains (think Connex stopping all stations trains that are perpetually late by at least 10 minutes, have no airconditioning, soundproofing and tend to stop in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason) as there was not one direct train (or train line) between these three cities.


First was Rimini, a coastal beach resort town directly west of Florence on the Adriatic coast. Unfortunately no train line runs directly there (due to some mountain ranges) and we had to go via Bologna. Two train changes later, which amazingly went without a hitch, we arrived in Rimini and checked into possibly the best hostel I've stayed at so far; free breakfast, kitchen, free lockers in the bedrooms, free bikes and a nice big and clean bathroom. After a quick lunch (at a Chinese place, which involved a history lesson from Cam about the Polish Army and their “Battle Pigs” of the 1920’s?!?) we headed down to the beach which is about 13 kilometers long of private bathing areas with rows and rows of beach umbrellas and chairs with only about 800m of "free beach", however at long last (after the stony beaches of Cinque Terre, Lake Garda and Lake Como) we had found a sandy beach in Italy. After an hour of swimming and sun backing, we took some of the bikes from the Hostel and rode into the historical town, had a look at some of the remains of the old city wall (roman I believe), visited the Castel Sismondo and had aperetivo in a nice wine bar in the centre (also served an awesome Margarita!). Afterwards we stayed in the Piazza Cavour and listened to a band playing for the opening night of a multicultural festival (mainly African from what I could see) and enjoyed some of the hospitality of the local Commune (council) offering 1 euro glasses of wine.


The next morning we checked out and rushed to catch the 9.00 train to a small town near Ancona which reminded us of Bonnie Doon with the leathery old men lounging on a dirty beach with an gas refinery in the background. Nevertheless, we had a really good coffee in a little bar across the street from the station as we waited for our train to take us to Foligno where we would again change trains to reach Perugia. Unfortunately this train was a first-class only train, which we didn't discover until after the train had left the station when we had walked up and down the whole train looking for the 2nd class carriage. Luckily, the conductor only fined the group once, not individually, so we only had to pay a couple of euros more than we had budgeted for the ticket each. Amazingly this was the only difficulty we had with the trains for the whole weekend!

Arriving in Perugia we had the most amazing Pizza I have had in Italy so far, and spent the afternoon wandering around the town (which is not so easy as it is built on the top of a hill and involved walking up and down countless amounts of stairs and hills) sucking in the views, and having aperetivo (again… with another great Margarita and Daquiri) for dinner. Unfortunately we still needed to head to Siena, as our accommodation for the night was there. This involved catching a bus at 10:30 pm at night from the bottom of the hill near the station. However, we weren't certain that the bus was leaving from there (we only had it from the guy at the bus information office who had to call someone else to check), if it would come or where to buy tickets... so sitting in a wet bus station (it was raining) at 10:15 pm was rather amusing (especially with our incredibly civilized conversation about whether someone could try to be raped… not entirely sure why!?!). The bus arrived, and after some negotiation with the driver and a local Italian student to interpret for us, we landed in front of our Hostel in Siena.


The Hostel in Siena was well... prison-like. It had a curfew at midnight, a really bad, non-complimetary breakfast between 7.30 and 8.30am (which we didn’t buy, preferring the little bar down the road with some awesome panini) topped off with a 9am lockout. Luckily we only really needed the bed and had planned to leave early in the morning anyway, as we only had a day in Siena.


Siena is a beautiful city; all pageantry and Middle Ages with every building built out of these beautiful red (almost like terracotta) bricks and little streets with lots of cute little shops. The Duomo is amazing, although rather overdone with the entire inside and facade made up of zebra-stripe black and white marble giving it an almost epileptic effect. However, some of the artwork contained was amazing!!! Despite a rather big rainstorm, we still climbed the unfinished facade of the "new" Duomo, which had an amazing view... Unfortunately due to the rain and wind, we weren't able to enjoy it for long, only stopping to take a couple of photos before climbing back down... The Piazza del Campo is an amazingly large piazza, which is the centre of the old city and is dominated by the Palazzo Communale (the town hall from the Renaissance), and it is very easy to imagine the Il Palio (the wild horserace dating from the Middle Ages) taking place.

Lake Garda, Milan, Lake Como

In my week off after the first two subjects I spent a couple of days in Lake Garda with Chris and then went on to Milan and Lake Como for a few more days by myself. When we bought the train tickets to Lake Garda the day before we left, we were informed that we could only take the Eurostar to Padova, as there was a Train Strike. Unfortunately the lady selling us the tickets couldn't tell us if there would be a connecting train from there, as the train strikes are often localised. Fortunately when we got there, we found that the trains were running and we got to Lake Garda on time, but unfortunately had to pay more for the train tickets.

Lake Garda is a beautiful lake surrounded by Mountains on the northern side, and is frequented by many German Tourists. It was a welcome change hearing all the tourists speaking German instead of American as they do in Florence. We met some other Australian backpackers at the train station and spent the first day with them wandering around Peschiera del Garda, lazing on the beach and sampling some wine in one of the numerous wine bars in the town centre. We also hired some bikes and rode through a couple of the small towns in the afternoon. I also spent the next afternoon sailing on the Lake, which was probably the best way of enjoying it.

The next day I went to Milan, which I didn't like very much. I arrived at around midday and took about an hour to get to the hostel because of the hopeless directions they had given. The city is very modern and whilst it still has a lot of impressive sights it wasn't as I had expected it and I was quite disappointed. I spent the first afternoon wandering around the city centre and went into an Egyptian exhibition at a museum in the Castello, which had a few mummies and alot of the idols and other medallions and things that they would put into the caskets with the bodies. Unfortunately I was hassled quite a few times during the afternoon by numerous young men as well as having one of the African gypsies at the Piazza del Duomo attempt to swindle money out of me. They "give" you handmade bracelets and tie them to your wrist and chat to you for a while before they ask for money. If you don't give them any they say they will take it themselves out of your wallet. Unfortunately for this particular African , I wasn't about to part with any money and he had to walk away with no money and a bracelet less.

The next morning was spent looking at the main sights of Milan with a Belorussian girl I met at the hostel. The Duomo, which is one of the largest cathedrals in the world was very impressive with its many statues, pinnacles, pillars and flying buttresses. Unfortunately much of the front of the cathedral was covered by scaffolding, as part of the ongoing renovations, so much of the initial effect was dampened. The climb to the roof of the cathedral resulted in an amazing close-up look at many of the spires and a wonderful view of the surrounding city. After a wonder through the gardens at the Castello Sforzeco, where we were approached by a self-professed transsexual fortune teller who was determined to read our palms for a mere 7 euros each, which both of us declined we made our way to Lake Como for the afternoon.

Como is the main access town to the lake which we spent most of the afternoon at. It is a sleepy little town (well it was in the middle of May which was presumably prior to the peak tourist season) with a cute little city centre full of pedestrian lanes and little speciality shops. After wandering around the city centre for a couple of hours we made our way to the lake shore where we decided to rest for a while enjoying the view. After a while we noticed this small motor boat driving back and forth parallel to the shore line, laughing to ourselves as we assumed they were checking out the girls along the lake shore. They continued this for a while, and started coming closer to the shore, eventually waving at us and gesturing at us to go somewhere. When we then walked along the lake shore to the next town, they followed us for about 10 minutes trying to talk to us until they eventually realised that we weren't interested in them at all. The next morning I visited Corsa Bunos Aires for some window-shopping before heading home in the afternoon.