La Dolce Vita

Hi everyone!

Sorry that I have not posted in so long! The past month has flown by, between studying for midterms, mom & dad's visit, and my fall break trip, I can't believe that today is Halloween and tomorrow is November!

I will post a longer blog this week with pictures of my fall break trip to Dublin, Barcelona, and Amsterdam! And also tonight my family is having a huge Halloween party!

Last weekend we had a trip with our school to Tuscany, so all of the Bentley kids went! We started off in Arezzo, which is where they filmed "Life is Beautiful". There was also a huge antiques market going on which was cool to walk around and see. In the morning one of the professors from our school gave us a walking during of the city, which pretty much was just the grand tour of churches. I think we probably went into about seven and I remember nothing about any of them.

After spending the morning in Arezzo we were back on the bus and on our way to Cortona. Cortona was built on a hill to protect itself from enemies, so that they could see any approaching troops. Cortona also is where they filmed Under the Tuscan Sun! Our hotel was absolutely gorgeous and was built into the side of the hill with gorgeous views of the Tuscan countryside, you could see the rolling hills for miles! After getting there we had some free time to walk around and then we were off on a walking tour. The tour started off great as the Professor from our school brought us all to get gelato and the school paid for it! So I have learned that in Italy there really is no such thing as walking tours as everything is pretty much on a hill and Cortona was no different. Our Chaperone's saying was, "when in doubt chose the road that goes up" After climbing roads and stairs we arrived at church!!....a church in Italy? you don't see that everyday JUST KIDDING i am so sick of seeing churches I know that they are all beautiful but after the 20th church its kind of hard to appreciate each one.

Anyways from here we hiked up to the top of the town and went to a castle that was built for one of the Medicis. Once we got to the castle we then went up about five flights of stairs and when we got to the top we could see for miles! As much as walking up is hard going down can be even harder, trying to make sure that I wasn't going to fall or sprain my ankle haha

After the hike we went back and got ready for dinner. We had dinner in a restaurant near the hotel and it was absolutely delicous. We started off with croistini and I found out after that they were covered with chicken liver, and then we had delicious fried vegetables! After that they brought out homemade ravioli in a cream sauce, followed by home made spaghetti, and then we got served veal, potatoes, and salad. As if all this food wasn't enough, we also got gelato with fresh strawberries in a waffle cone bowl! So much food yet so delicous! After dinner we sat on the steps in the square and then went to a little Irish bar (Ironic I know, Irish bars seem to be everywhere in Italy)

Saturday morning we were off to Paenza which is a very small town that was about an hour away from Cortona. It was amazing how only an hour away the grass and fields were so much greener! In Paenza we went to a cheese farm! Paenza is famous for their Pecorino cheese which was absolutely delicous! The cheese man showed us how they make all the cheeses and told us about all the different types of cheese that are all aged differently. And then for the best part, we got to eat all the cheese! They had fresh salami too which is incredible and also homemade olive oil that they make on the same farm, so soooo good!

After we went to a Montepulciano, which is where they filmed New Moon, which is one of the Twilight movies! We bought a twilight sightseeing map and made sure we saw all the places where they filmed the movie! We even went up the clocktower and they had a red cloak that you could try on to look like the Vulturi from the movie. We had some time to walk around and then we went to a wine tasting in one of Italy's most famous wine cellars. The cellar was so cool, it was kind of spooky being lit with chandeliers and there were cobwebs everywehre! The wine casks were huge, taller than I was! After having a tour through the cellar we tried three different ages of the Vino Nobile wine, which is what Montepulciano is famous for. After the wine tasting it was time to go back to the bus and we were on our back to Florence! Tuscany was absolutely beautiful, I would love to go back in the spring or summer when everything is green and the sunflowers are in bloom!

The weather here is still so hot! I can't wait until I can wear pants, even wearing shorts and tanktops everyday it is still SO hot! Friday afternoon after stopping at our local supermarket and picking up bread (still hot in the bag from the oven) and cheese we were on our way to the Boboli Gardens. These gardens are part of the Palazzo Pitti or Pitti Palace which is across the river and was built for the Medici family. We were able to get a museum pass from our school giving us free admission, so we got our free tickets and were on our way to the gardens. It was so nice to see grass and to sit on it! I haven't seen grass since being in Florence! The gardens are huge so we just stayed in one part, we're going to wait for it to cool down before we walk around. The gardens are on a hill, by the time we got to the top we were sweating and ready for our bread and cheese! Not only are the gardens beautiful, but so is the view-you can see all of Florence, you look and all you can see are the teracotta colored rooftops.

On the way back we decided to go and find the JerseyShore House...such a great accomplishment haha

Saturday we went to Cinque Terre! We took the train from Florence to La Spezia and then took the regional train to the first town, Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre translates to five lands, which represents the five coastal towns: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglio, Vernazza, and Monterosso. The first walk is just along the cliff and is called "la ville d'amour" or the path of love. There is a tradition that couples will put a lock on the fence to represent their love. This walk was only twenty minutes and then we were in Manarola. The path from Manarola to Corniglia was closed due to a landslide so you can take the train that connects all the towns. Once in Corniglia we walked around for a little and then got ready for the real hike to begin. After going up 372 stairs we arrived in the center of Cornigilia. The hike to Vernazza took a little over an hour and was 3km long! However, I don't even think you could call it a hike-it was more like walk climbing. We were going up steps that were probably one feet high and at some points we were literally climbing up them! I think by the end of the hike we all were drenched in sweat and somehow we managed to survive without falling off any cliffs or spraining our ankles, the "path" was pretty much just rocks and small ledges that we had to navigate.

The views from our hike were surreal, we looked back and could see all the colorful houses of Manarola, look down and see the crystal blue water, and then up ahead we could see Vernazza! Once we got to Vernazza I was starving and had a delicious slice of pesto pizza! I love pesto and was in heaven that pesto was everywhere, since its the specialty of the region! We walked around in the little shops and down by the water. Vernazza not only has the colorful buildings, but also the umbrellas are all different colors. We watched the sunset at a restaurant on the water and after our appetizer of bruschetta, I couldn't resist more pesto and ordering pesto lasagna!

Cinque Terre was absolutley gorgeous! Despite the fact that at times we didn't know if we were going to make it, doing the hike instead of the train was definately worth it. There was a quote on one of the postcards that I think perfectly sums up our day, "it was a long hard road, but we got there."

This past weekend I went to Munich with Allison, Kelly, and Kristy...but the best part was that I got to meet up with Bre (my roommate from bentley) who is studying abroad in Dublin! After an 8hr bus ride which I luckily got to sleep through due to my good friend tylenoyl PM, we arrived in Munich at 9am and by 945 we were on a walking tour of the city! Allison had found this great tour company that has free walking tours all over europe and then after the tour you can decide how much you want to tip the guide. Our guide Curt was great, he was from Chicago so he had a nice american accent which was a plus and at times a little cheesy he tried to make the tour fun.

We started off at the Marienplatz square which has the famous Glockenspiel church, it kind of reminded me of the Its a small world ride at disney world, because when the clock chimes all these little charcter things spin and twirl around. We also saw some other churches, our guide was telling us that a large majority of the city was destroyed during WW2 and since then has never actually been rebuilit so alot of the famous landmarks no longer exist. Also, since the city was shambles after the war it was very expensive for them to rebuild, we saw one building that apprently used to be made of bricks and had columns but after the war they just painted on columns and bricks to this building to give it the facade. We then visited the Hofbräuhaus which is one of the most famous beerhalls in the world. This was also where Hitler gave one of his first speeches that started the 3rd reicht movement.

We had originally planned on doing a Hitler walking tour in the afternoon, but we liked our tour guide so much that we decided to go with him to Dachu, which was the first concentration to be built in 1933, and was built only two months after Hitler took power. The town of Dachu is about 10km outside the city so we had to take the U-Bahn (Munich's metro) to get to a station and then from there took a bus to the concentration camp. Visiting Dachu was a very moving experience, it was surreal to think that a concentration camp had been in operation there for over 12 years. Dachu started off as a labor camp, actually the front gate into the camp reads "Arbeit macht frei" which translates to "work sets you free", basically meeting that these prisoners would be worked to death. Over the course that Dachu was in operation over 200,000 prisoners passed through and over 43,000 died. Our guide brought us through the barracks, the gas chambers, and there was a museum that had a lot of artifacts from the camp. I still don't understand how the Nazi's could dehumanize these people and deprive them of all their human rights. I was really glad that we were able to visit Dachu, It was definately a different type of experience but I think it was an important one that I am glad to have the opportunity to have. What really stuck with me was the statue outside the krematory that was made by a survivor of the camp that read, "In Memory of the Dead, In warning to the Living."

So on to a happier subject! After the tours we returned to Munich and then somewhere in the streets of Munich Bre and I were reunited! We decided to eat dinner in the Haufbraus beer hall! When I had visited in the morning on my tour it was obviously empty, so it was crazy to see it completly full! We ordered a bunch of Bavarian food to try for dinner and it was all really good, even the white sausage! Of course we had to order beer, so we all officially had our first stein of beer During dinner there was a band playing and they kept playing the traditional german songs and then there is this one song that played constantly where everyone gets up and prost (cheers) their stein with everyone around them!

Saturday we were up nice and early to be at the beer tents at 9am! Saturday was the opening day of the festival so beer isn't actually served until 12pm when the mayor of Munich taps the first keg. Oktoberfest started in 1810 as a celebration to honor the wedding of one of the royals. SO originally Oktoberfest used to be held in October which is how it got its name, but as it became a very large tourist event it was moved to the month of September when Munich has much better weather. We decided to go to the Haufbraus beer tent, which is the 2nd most popular tent! So we waited in the tent until 12 when the festivities actually began. Pretty much everyone in the tent boys/girls dress up in the traditional Bavarian customes, so we looked a little out of place, but I attempted to blend in by braiding my hair haha We spend the morning indulging in delicious pretzels with cheese!! they were deliciousss and they had lots of other german food-sauerkraut, pickles, snitzel...It took forever for the beers actually to come out, it was insane the beer girls carry 10 of them at a time! I have no idea how they do it, my one stein was heavy enough! Oktoberfest attracts a lot of tourists and at our table we made friends with some Australians!

On the fair grounds are tons of rides, ferris wheels and all the traditional spinny rides that are like the Big-E. After we left the tents we walked around the grounds a little, got some more food-this term chicken and french fries...and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We ended up going to a little restaurant near our hotel which was delicious!

Sunday morning we packed up and checked out of the hotel and were off to the Costume and Riffleman's parade, which happens the first Sunday of Oktoberfest. The parade is 7km long and we would have stayed for the whole thing except it was pouring rain, and for the first time since I have been in europe I was actually cold! After the parade we walked around did some souvenir shopping, and then ended up running from store to store trying to stay out of the rain. We then went to the train station and walked around in there for a little and got our last cheesy pretzel of the trip before we had to head over to meet the tour group that we booked our bus through.

Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, the drive back through the Alps was gorgeous! I couldn't believe how green everything was, the buildings looked like something out of EPCOT, there were cows/sheep everywhere and you could even see snow in some parts of the ALps! THose roads were so windy and I can't believe how high up we were, it was crazy to look down! And despite the fact that we were in the countryside of Germany we probably passed five McDonalds!

Germany was quite the experience! I am not a huge fan of the language and its so hard to read I have no idea how people learn to speak it. Munich was a very modern city which is obviously much different from Florence and it was funny because maybe three times someone would come up to me and say "Spreek gen Deutch" and to that I had absolutely no other response then to give them a confused look and say no...as you can imagine my blonde hair and blue eyes don't really allow me to blend in with the Italians

Dad/Andy-all these pretzel pictures are for you, don't worry I consumed enough pretzels for all of us this weekend!

After an eight hour drive we finally arrived in Sorrento this was my first experience staying in a hostel so I had no idea what to expect. Turns out our hostel was super nice, it had a rooftop bar (perfect for watching the sunsets) but when we checked in at 3:30 in the morning all I cared about that there was a bed for me to sleep in. We had to be in the lobby for 7:20 to leave for Capri, so I slept for a couple hours and then we were on our way! We walked from our hotel down to the docks and from there took a boat from sorrento to another island and then from there we left for Capri! We were able to stand in the bow of the boat which gave an awesome view on the way over. It was almost like we were on a water coaster with all the waves but it was an absolute gorgeous ride over with the wind blowing and Capri getting closer and closer to us. Capri was by far the most beautiful place that I have seen, houses of all colors scatter the cliff with the bluest water below. As soon as we got off the ferry we got on much smaller boats to go on a tour of the island and also see the blue grotto! It did not seem real as we sat on the front of the boat, I couldn't stop staring/ taking pictures of everything!! And there is no way that pictures could even do Capri justice. Our first stop was the blue grotto. When we left from Marina Grande in Capri our big boat was pulling four smaller boats with men in them that would take us into the blue grotto. Since the opening is so small we had to sit in the boats as if we were in a tobogan, our boat man had us all ducked as he pulled us along a chain to enter the grotto. Being inside was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done! The water is the most vivid blue and between being able to swim around and listening to the boat guides sing in Italian, it was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in the past 19 years of my life haha

After swimming we continued on our boat tour, one of the reasons that I found Capri to be so beautiful is that it's full of cliffs and mountains so you look up and there are trees everywhere. There were also all these natural arches in the cliffs. There are also these three giant rocks that are in the water and one of them has an arch big enough to fit through and has become "lovers tunnel" you’re supposed to make a wish as you go through.

After our boat tour little did we know that we would be going on a 20 minute uphill vertical climb. I literally thought I was going to die and I never want to see another step again. Once we were up there was beautiful views of the island and all the boats and huge yachts that were in the water. We had some time to walk around and then we took a bus up to AniCapri. Despite the fact that I had full faith in our bus driver I was very relieved when we made it to the top, I have no idea how two buses can fit on one road that is probably the size of one lane in the US especially when these roads are uphill on the edge of a cliff and zigzagging. At this point we were all starving so we found a restaurant and I enjoyed a delicious pizza with salami mozzarella and basil yum. After lunch we had a limoncello tasting and we had more time to walk around, all the shops in Capri are famous for the limoncello and making custom sandals, the stores have all different colors that you can choose from and they will them as you wait (too bad they cost 90euros for one pair) To get back down to Marina Grande we took a taxi which was cool because all the taxis in Capri are convertibles! We spent the rest of the day at the beach which felt so good after walking around all morning. Then we took the ferry back to Sorrento and returned to our hostel. Friday night we went into downtown Sorrento which was about a 10minute taxi ride.

Saturday morning we were able to sleep in a little and then we were off to another one of the beach towns along the Amalfi Coast called Positano. It was about a 45 minute bus ride. The bus dropped us off at the top of the cliff and after looking down and realizing the beach was a long ways down we realized we had a nice long walk ahead of us. We zigzagged down the roads walking single file trying to avoid being killed by a moped or crazy Italian driver. We passed all these fruit stands on the way down, after passing stand after stand I had to stop and get something, I had the most delicious green apple, i havent had a green apple since i've been here so it was so good. By the time we reached the bottom of the cliff and where the beaches were my legs felt like jello and probably didn't stop shaking for 10minutes . We had the whole day free to do whatever we wanted, we started the morning off on the beach and then went on a boat to go cliff jumping and cave swimming! The cliff was around 12feet tall and it was so much fun! I've never been cliff jumping before, I climbed up all the rocks to the ledge looked over and freaked out for about 10 seconds and then just jumped, I probably went about 5 times and every time I still freaked out a little, it wasn't even the falling part it was looking down that was the scary.

Then we went back to the beach and floated in the beautiful water, it was so clear that we could see our feet and all the way down, we floated around for a while facing the cliffs filled with beautiful houses, and we decided to play a little game of "pick out which house you would want " so much fun. For lunch we went to Zini Panini, it was SO GOOD! You make your own sandwiches so I had fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, prusciutto and pesto. After lunch we went back to the beach for a little and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the stores and got some gelato. Then we returned to our hostel and they had an all you can eat pasta bar (pasta with pesto was great) then since our hostel has a rooftop bar we went up there with all the other students who were on the trip (there was probably 80 students on the trip.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hostel and with my fully charged camera I was on my way to Pompeii!! Even having visited Pompeii before it was still incredible to visit again. It’s so hard to fully grasp how old Pompeii actually is, 100 years sounds like a long time for me, but Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD! Crazy!! It was actually kind of creepy when we were looking at all the bodies that remained after the eruption, a couple of them you could see that they were covering their eyes and there was even a dog  Our tour guide brought us Pompeii’s bakery and she was telling us how when they were excavating Pompeii they actually found 18 loaves of bread in the oven. We also visited Pompeii’s brothel which was not one of the stops on the tour I took when I went to Pompeii with People to People, wonder why….Anyways we explored Pompeii and walked around for a while, outside of the entrance to Pompeii were lots of vendors and I bought a really pretty turquoise necklace, they wanted 40€ but I bargained the vendor down to 15€! It is still so hot here around low 90s so it was nice to take a break in the shade for a little before getting back on the bus to return to Florence. The bus ride back wasn’t as long as the way there because Naples is closer to Florence than Sorrento. We got back to Florence around 10:30, so it was nice to have some time to unpack and get ready for the week before going to bed.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and so was the Almafi coast!

This week is flying by, I can’t believe that it is already Wednesday! I’ll blog later about what has been going on in Florence!