Florence/Siena: A Dream Fulfilled

   Our second day in Florence, two of my companions went on a wine tour in the Tuscany countryside.  As I have not yet learned to appreciate wine (I make a distinctive gargoyle face whenever I taste it), I decided to stay behind in Florence and explore more of its wonders.  The first wonder was that wine was cheaper than water.

Cappuccinos are basically glorified water, right?

The second wonder was the most perfect place in the world.

   At sunset, I climbed to the top of Piazzalo Michelangelo, a hill northwest of the city of Florence.  The view was breathtaking--you could see the countryside, the city, and the mountains all at once. I'll never be somewhere more beautiful.  (Future fiancee, take note: this would be the perfect spot for a proposal.)

   
    That night, I had gelato for dinner....again.  We ended up switching hostels that night.  Now, normally, I would say it's a good idea to remind guests to be courteous.  This new hostel did so with a sign in broken English that was highly entertaining, although extremely ineffective.

    The next morning we decided to climb some towers before we headed to Siena.  We climbed to the top of the Duomo and the Cathedral tower--over 800 stairs in total.  Our calves raged for the rest of the trip, but it was totally worth it.

My thoughts exactly.

Yeah. I climbed that.

Irrelevant, but this is an attempt at an artsy shot in one of the candle holders in the cathedral.

   We then caught the train into Siena.  Two of my companions literally hopped on as the train was moving, but as nothing was damaged, we decided it was okay.

    Siena is built on a hill; the train station is at the bottom of the hill, and the city is at the top. But never fear--escalators are here!  (Whoah. That rhymed.)  There must have been at least fifteen escalators from the train station to Siena. It was quite a ride.  We checked into our hostel, run by an adorable old man who didn't speak a word of English, and decided to look around.  We were just in time for another sunset.

    Then, on our way to the restaurant, my Life Goal was achieved.
    Ever since I decided to study abroad in Europe, I have had one dream--to walk around the streets of a foreign city eating a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese.  Inspired by Beauty and the Beast (the part where the baker sells bread on the street) and Ratatouille, I had looked for a bread-and-cheese place all over Florence, which was too touristy to ever have such a cheap shop.  In Siena, however, my dream was realized.
     The lady didn't speak any English at all, but to show me the different kinds of bread, she crackled the bread. She crackled the bread in her hands, JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIES AND JUST LIKE IN MY DREAMS.  I was ecstatic, and promptly bought a loaf of bread and a large hunk of Parmesan cheese and ate it all the way to the restaurant.  My dream was satisfied; now I can die in peace.
    Siena felt more authentically Italian than any other place we visited.  There were no tourists, just little shops and restaurants and chapels, people going about their Italian-y business--I loved it.  Florence, Rome, and Pisa were all too international to really get a feel for the culture, but Siena was a quiet little city that didn't have to change for tourists.  Because of the bread and cheese place, and because of its beautiful peacefulness, I decided that I'm going to retire in Siena.  First I just have to learn Italian.

3 interesting things are happening at present.
1. My cousin Ashley is here! She arrived yesterday, and has been exploring all over Dublin while I'm in class.  Tomorrow we're going to visit the Jameson Distillery.  Neither of us are terribly fond of whiskey, but it will be an experience nonetheless.  Her presence has been extremely good for me so far.  I've gotten up earlier than I have in ages (8:30!), cooked a healthy meal (beef stew om nom nom), and even went running.  This last bit was unexpected, and of course I whined, but actually wasn't as bad as I expected.  Granted, I only ran about 1.7 miles, but at least it's a start.
2. Ashley and I are going to Galway for the weekend!  We signed up for a swing dance trip with the TCD Dance Society, so we'll be taking swing dance lessons and exploring Galway all weekend.  I'm so excited.
3. I met Bobby McFarrin!  For those of you who don't know who he is, it's okay--I didn't either when I heard about the event.  He's the singer of "Don't Worry, Be Happy."  I went to a (free!) Q&A session with him hosted at Trinity.  He also has concerts coming up this week, but those are on the very expensive side of "not free," so I don't think I will attend those.

The next place we visited was Rome, where two buttons escaped off of my coat, I learned yet again why everyone hates Americans, and my Roman Art & Architecture class finally came in handy....