Tripp's Final Blog

Well unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, this is my final post for “Scott and Tripp in Italy”. We hope that everyone has enjoyed following our adventures in Italy. We’ve definitely enjoyed telling you about them.

This has been a pretty good ending week. We got our finals knocked out and had Thursday afternoon and today to just relax and enjoy our last hours in Florence. It has been an amazing time and I can’t believe that the month is already over. Italy is great on so many different levels but it has taught me many things that I should never take for granted when I return to America.

1) shaved armpits

2) Not having to walk home through thousands of tourists and battle creepy North African men trying to sell you a stolen belt, wallet, or Rolex.

3) Grass, front yards, green things…like trees…there is no such thing as a yard in Florence.

4) Arkansas really is the “Natural State”. Tuscany is pretty but there is something to be said about farmland, the Ozarks, Pinnacle Mountain, and the lake

5) Great meals for less than $10

6) Free water at restaurants

7) Free refills

8) Customer service…people actually caring about the person they are serving, helping, or talking to.

9) Southern hospitality…people waving at people just because its nice

10) American deodorant

11) Air conditioning

12) Churches that aren’t just used for museums

13) Family and Friends…yeah sappy I know

14) Being blessed enough to have a car and not have to walk everywhere

15) Clean Air Act…I think I’ve probably smoked a pack a day…just from second hand smoke

This has been a great experience and I will of course always remember it. But if I tend to forget, I can always look back at the thousands of pictures I’ve taken or the fact that my life has been saved on the internet through this blog. Can’t wait to be back in America. *Cliché Ending* Thanks to everyone that has made this possible for me to come over here and experience Italy…maybe next time I won’t have to room with Scott…just kidding…Ciao

Scott's Final Post

Well at the time of this writing its Friday evening, however, our internet is not working, so who knows when this will be posted. We figured we could add some closure and do one final post each. The month has certainly been an eventful one, filled with adventures around Italy. Since our first lunch in this city, we have learned a lot. Not only about getting good deals, but a lot about the culture of Italy. Now obviously, nothing compares to home, but it has been a great place to live for a month. We went to Cinque Terre, Lucca to see Dave Matthews, Venice, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast, as well as many places in and around Florence. The blog has kept you updated for the most part, so there is no need to recap it all, but I guess I could be a little sappy and talk about my favorite things and what I will miss the most. But first, what I won’t miss the most: the top of that list would have to be having to pay for water and no free refills. Now for what I will miss the most is being able to stop practically at any time on any street and be close to a good restaurant or food shop. The food here has been great and I have really enjoyed trying all the Italian dishes, although a lot of times I stick with the safe stuff like spaghetti. Also, the ease of travel by the rail system has been nice. We have been able to see a lot of the country for fairly cheap. Out of all the cities I went to, I would probably say that Florence is my favorite. Venice was nice, but probably better for a romantic couple to visit together, not three college guys. Lucca was fun, but a little too small and not enough going on. Rome was great, but a little too big and crazy. The Amalfi coast was beautiful, but all the villages are on cliffs and who wants to hike stairs all day long? Florence has the perfect balance of beauty, size, art, and fun to keep the typical college student interested. It’s definitely walkable and there is always something new to see in a museum or another church. Also, there are plenty of other American students here to hang out with so there is always something to do at night. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to be back. Hopefully sooner than later. Thanks to all our followers for reading our blog and posting comments. We apologize for some of the delays in posting, (the two week gap in the last part of our trip), but we figure you would want us out doing stuff rather than making time to update the blog. So as the trip comes to an end, I am sad to leave but probably more happy to get back home. First stop, Senor Tequila for some chips and salsa and as much Dr. Pepper as I can drink.

Scott

Amalfi Coastin

Look at us go!! Another post! Thanks for being so patient.

This weekend we went to the Amalfi Coast. We went through an organization called Florence for Fun with about 50 other students, many of those were our friends that we've made since we have been over here. It was a beautiful location and a type of Italy that we had yet to see. It was a great place to spend our last weekend, relaxing on the beach, swimming in caves, and cliff jumping. If you own a yacht that is sea worthy and can make it across the big pond to Italy, I would recommend stopping off here. Make sure your yacht is bigger than 250 feet though, otherwise you might feel a little out of place while you're hanging out with Georgio Armani, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, and Bill Gates.

Me and Scott getting ready to get on our ferry. We took a boat tour around Capri Island and then hung out on the beach.

View of one of the villages and beaches. This boat was probably three to four times the size of my house.

The guys that we've made friends with since we've been over here.

This is a video we took going into the Blue Grotto. Tight fit but we made it.

This is a picture inside the Blue Grotto of the water and other boats. Now you see why they named it the Blue Grotto.

Sorry for the Delay

All of a sudden we have realized that we havent done a post in 2 weeks. Sorry for the delay but we want to inform you that we ARE STILL ALIVE. These posts will be short and sweet but have some good pictures. Hope you like. The weekend of the 16-19th we went to Rome. Jordan was there for two of the days and we saw all the sights there was to see. We visited the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Coliseum, ancient ruins, Vatican museum, St. Peters, and everything in between. It was a good time best summed up in a few pictures:

It decided to post them backwards but oh well. THe one with us in our capes is us at the ice bar. It's a bar that is entierly made of ice. We had to go there. Its 21 degrees F inside and they give you capes and gloves. It was still freezing though.

Above is the Trevi Fountain. I threw a 10 cent piece in so hopefully I'll be back.

St. peters Square and basilica. It was massive.

Jordan Tripp and I inside the coliseum. That was right after we battle some angry tigers.

While you wait...

Hello all you avid bloggonians!



We realize that we haven't posted anything in a while and you are probably thinking to yourself..."How do I not Follow these guys anymore...I'm waisting my time. I guess they just aren't doing anything exciting in Italy anymore." Slow those horses down there cowboy, it is the complete opposite. Me and Scotty G have been going 24/7, taking in all the sites in Italy, that we haven't had much time to write on the blog. We greatly apologise. However, we will soon be posting our adventures of Rome from this past weekend. But in the meantime, while you wait patiently, a short adventure with Tripp in the streets of Florence.



Well, over the past couple of weeks, my hair has continued to grow...imagine that...and it was time for me to get a little trim. I figured that this would be a great experience. How many times are you going to have the opportunity to get your haircut in a different country? Maybe this doesn't excite you, but for me, I saw an adventure. Turns out my intuitions were correct.



The program that we are studying under, Study Abroad Italy, gave us a handbook with a lot of nifty information in it. It also provided us with a suggestion for a beauty salon, for both girls and boys don't you worry. The place was called Jean Louis David (I was guessing it was pronounced Gene Lewis David) and of course it was located across town by the Arno, about 15 minute fast walk from our apartment. However, it was peak rush hour tourist time, so this was going to take a little longer. I finally made it to Gene Lewis' place and I was in a complete sweat...perfect for getting my haircut. Judging a book by its cover, this place was fancy and I was going to feel out of place. I walked in and was greated by a middle aged man, I'm guessing it was Mr. David. After a very short look from head to toe and then back to head from Gene Lewis, he said something to me in Italian. All I knew to do was make a motion to my head like I had scissors in my hand and said, "Haircut?" Dumb question apparently, of course I could get my haircut, at the ripe ole price of 25 euros. I would rather eat a 4 course meal than spend that much on a haircut. Shoot, hand me the clippers for 5 minutes, and I could have been done with my own haircut. For some reason, I agreed. He took my backpack from me and then put a robe around me...thanks Lewis. He then led me around to these couches and told me to sit down...I think...it was in Italian. At this point, I got nervous and was having major second thoughts on paying 25 euro. The only thing I could think to do was run. So, I did, right after I took off my robe, brought my cell phone out of my pocket, told them I had an important call to make, and that I'd be right back. They seemed confused but all Mr. David could say was, "Whatever". Perfect, he understood. I quickly walked away from the beauty shop, apparently graced by Prince Strozzi himself, and started to make my way back to the apartment.

I found another barber shop and decided to try my luck. Of course, no one spoke English but they said 18 euros so I was in. I was sent to go get my hair shampooed. This was a pleasant surprise. Then I was led to the chair. I spoke English, he spoke Italian...but that didn't stop us. The barber finally got the idea of what I was saying and started to buzz the side of my head. He asked me if I liked the height...I didn't really have much options, it was little short but no turning back now. After my clean cut, I was again sent back to the shampoo girl. After almost falling asleep, I was sent on my way with a fresh Italian haircut...short on the sides and goofy looking on the top. First and last haircut in Italy I guess...its the experience right?

Caught you red handed!!!

On Friday, we took a school guided trip to the outskirts of Florence to a local vineyard and wine production estate. After a 45 minute bus ride on public transportation (always guaranteed to be bumpy, hot, and slightly sweaty ride), our guide decided we better continue our journey up a huge hill where the estate was. Finally reaching the top, we realized that our effort was worth it.

This was one of the vineyards that we were able to walk past while coming to the top of the hill to the Malenchini estate. We walked through grape vines on one side and olive trees on the other to a wonderful chateu established in the 11th century...no big deal.

This is the courtyard at the estate. The land and villa came into the hands of the Medici family and our tour guide's husband's family purchased the estate in the 1830s...I'm going to say this was a pretty good investment. Everything about this place screamed I'm rich, our house is older than your country, and our wine is a secret...thanks for coming and looking.

Our guide decided to take us around the other side to show us the front of the villa...not a bad view to wake up to. The pots holding the lemon trees are over 300 years old...I'm not sure Home Depot sells these anymore. The only thing we could think about was how perfect the grass was for a football game...true Americans I guess. Nevertheless, this chateau was something else.

Another view of the villa, it might look old...well it is...but it has alot of character.

Our guide finally decided to take us down to the cellar and show us some of the prized family barrels. If you notice the latter, these barrels are rather large and contain enough wine to fill a small swimming pool. She said that the cellar remains a constant temperature perfect for the wine all year long. As we walked around, we couldn't help but think about how old this basement was and what old famous politicians had been there before us...very cool.

The best part of our trip definitely occurred when Scott's curiousty got the better of him. Being the curious engineer that he is, he wanted to know how tight the plugs were on the barrels. So he decided to play with one. Well if you notice the fourth barrel on the left, some wine has come out. That is from Scott playing with the top. Of course, he pulled it out and wine went everywhere. Luckily the only person around was me to witness this thousand dollar mistake. After quickly wiping his hands off and me taking a picture, we ran out of there laughing. Maybe 2009 for the Chianti Classico from barrel 24 at Malenchini estate isn't the best vintage. The only thing I could think of as we ran out of the cellar was, "They are definitely going to catch you red handed!"

The trip was great. We learned alot about wine production and was able to experience another side of Florence that we hadn't seen before.

Venezia

After our adventures in Pisa and Malenchini, we caught the train to Venice. The train left at 8:37 and we got to the train station about 8 so we decided to indulge into a local Italian favorite, the BIG MAC. Yes the golden arches do exist in Italy and surprisingly, it tastes exactly the same. We each got a Big Mac, fries, and a coke and man was it good. After the quick bite to eat, we hopped on the 2 hour and 40 minute train ride to Venice. It went by a lot faster than other trains because it was one of the big boys, a Eurostar train. Where as the smaller ones go about 60-70 mph, this one goes closer to 120 so you really feel like you are getting somewhere. We filled the time with important things such as playing snake on our old school Nokia phones and discussing how we missed Mexican food and BBQ. (However, apparently there is a good Mexican place here that some people went to last night. We will definitely be trying that out)

We arrived in Venice about 10:15 and Jordan was waiting for us in the train station to meet us. He had been there working for the week and extended his stay to the weekend to explore the city with us. The plan was for the three of us to stay in his room with him but, as is often the case, it didn't go according to plan. I ended up having to get another single room and Jordan and Tripp stayed in Jordan's. When I say single room, I mean small. The bathroom (shower, toilet, sink) was probably the size of most of showers in the US. Also, for those who have been to the small room in Fayetteville, formerly mine, formerly Zach's, and currently belonging to the Ropeman, the actual hotel room could have fit in that room a good 2-3 times. It was tiny. Other than that, it was great! Small twin bed, 13" tv, the works. But it was ok because we only slept in our rooms and thats about it. The picture below shows our hotel right on the water on the left side, facing the bridge.

About 11, we headed out to walk the streets, or should I say canals, of Venice. The front desk guy for some reason kept telling us to go to Margherita square because thats where the young people and many girls hang out so we swung by. Afterwards, we walked along several side streets and made our way to San Marco square, the location of the San Marco cathedral. Mark is buried under the church. Apparently he was originally buried in the Holy Land but his body was smuggled out in a cart of dead pigs and brought to Venice. I guess a good way to keep and claim his body is to build a huge church on top of it. After that, we went to the Rialto bridge which is similar to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence because it has a lot of shops on it. Naturally, every time we saw a little side canal or a fast boat we wondered if thats where the Italian Job was shot. We will have to go back and watch. After walking around for what seemed like forever, and getting lost several times, we made it back to our hotel in one of the most confusing cities I have ever been on. It seems like every street leads somewhere new and its really tough to get your bearings because there are so many bridges and different canals.

Saturday morning we got up about 9 and went downstairs for the breakfast. It wasn't the best but it was free. First we went and bought our boat pass. It was 18 euro for a 24 hour pass and we made it worth it. We went to Murano which is famous for its glass making. They had a free demonstration where a guy would explain how its made in about 4 languages for everyone to understand and another guy was making a little vase out of glass. Pretty cool stuff. After that we just went and walked along the main street and saw probably 100 glass stores.

Next we got on the wrong boat so we skipped our next stop and just went straight to Lido Island. It's right in between the main city of Venice and the Adriatic Sea. The far side of the island has a really long beach. We went to it and walked along the beach for about 30 minute while we worked on our tans. Needless to say, the Italians really take the phrase, "less is more", to the extreme. Guys wore speedos and women wore two pieces, no matter their weight. And of course there are the few women who still prefer the one piece, so they decide to take off the top piece. The beach wasn't really white sand but it was still pretty and we worked on our tans. We also saw one of the coolest sno cone stands ever. It rolled down the beach on tracks.

We came back to the mainland and went to the San Marco cathedral and went in for a look. It was covered in what looked like mosaics made of tiny tile and a lot of gold. It was really pretty. There was even a service going on in one part. It was funny though because I think they were speaking Spanish, either that or I suddenly got the gift to understand Italian perfectly.

While walking around we found where we had left our boat.

We didn't get on one but I had to get a picture of the gondola. And that's the Rialto bridge in the back packed with people.

For dinner we went to a little place and we sat outside right beside the building. We were right on the edge of the covered part which was unfortunate because right after we sat down, a bird decided to drop down a little gift right on Tripp's hand. Other than that, the meal was good. Below is a good view of the Rialto bridge at night the lights reflecting off the water. The lady in the bottom right seems interested.

We wanted to find a good place to relax after dinner so we started walking around. Harry's Bar had been suggested so we walked in wearing shorts and t-shirts and quickly walked back out when we saw everyone was wearing nice shirts and ties...next option. Hard Rock Cafe would have been fun but it was full...next option. We stumbled upon a band playing in a plaza that was comparable to the worst wedding band you have ever heard. As we walked up they were playing SHOUT and all the Italians were dancing. It wasn't the best performance or best dancing but people looked like they were having fun so we decided to join in. The hits just kept coming until 11 when they shut it down and we sadly walked back to catch a boat to our hotel. It was a great ending to a wonderful day in Venice.

Don't know if you can tell but the lead singer has on a superman undershirt, an open black shirt with flames on it, pink sunglasses, and a bush for hair...classic.

It's still leaning...

Sorry for the delayed posts but Italy has really been working us overtime lately. No worries, me and Scott will get you back up to speed.

Well on Thursday, we decided to hop on our "oh so familiar" regional train and take a ride up to Pisa. A short bit of information on train transportation in Italy. First of all, it is very handy but it does come with a couple hidden catches. Regional trains are the not so glamirous kind. Their exteriors are normally adorned with tasteful graffiti (apparently a huge past time of Italians) while the interiors are hot, quite noisy, and slightly sketchy. Unlike their older brother the Eurostar trains (very comfortable seating, quiet, direct travel, 120 mph, snack car, etc.), regional trains poke along stopping at seemingly every train station along the way, turning what could be fairly short ride into a marathon of stops and starts. It is undecided if these trains have air conditioning. The head rests are a nice shade of brown/black. No but really, it could be worse. Like, you could have to stand in between the cars because all the seats are taken, while an African baby grabs your backpack and won't let go, a strange couple kiss in the corner, and Italian teens light up cigarettes. I guess that's a soap box for another day. Back to Pisa...

After our 1.5 train ride, we reach Pisa and start our 15-20 minute walk to the main square. It contains the Leaning Tower, the Duomo and Cathedral, and the Baptistry. As to our knowledge, this is Pisa...no need to walk anywhere else. It is a mass of thousands of tourists all pretending to hold the tower up. I was slightly nervous thinking about having to act like I was holding this tower up and everyone looking at me. Well not to worry, I was in no way alone in my cliche picture taking. After snapping off a couple pictures, we went up to the tower to do some engineering investigation. To be honest, this tower is a health hazard. It is unbelievable that it is still standing. It is a huge architectural "oops" that has turned into a money making machine.

Seeing all that we could see in Pisa. We headed back to the train station to embark on another friendly train ride back to Florence. From leaving our door to returning to our door, 5 hours...efficient spells fun.

Long Awaited Toothbrush Tour

Here is the tour of our apartment. Sorry it has taken so long. My computer has had the cold...but after a couple good nights of sleep...its feeling much better. Enjoy!!

How bout a watch my friend?

Well the inevitable has occurred...the dreaded first week of school has arrived. Luckily, study abroad classes have lived up to their difficulty level. Attendance is a major portion of your grade, teachers normally show up a little late for class, and smoke breaks are not frowned upon. This is quiet a bit different than the day to day grind of engineering classes.

The past couple of days have been a little slow since school started. We feel so comfortable in Florence we have no longer felt the need to be "touristy". Our new past time is finding people on the sidewalk and helping them read their maps, acting like we are pros of course. Occasionally, you run into those tourists that ask you too many hard questions about where they are and where they are trying to go. Easiest solution to this problem in order to not look like a tourist ourself, start speaking a different language, shrug your shoulders, point down one street, say take your first left, and quickly walk away.

We made a new friend today on the streets around our apartment...his name was Paco. We had seen him yesterday and said hello because he was wearing a Lebron James High School jersey. We introduced ourselves and of course he didn't understand my name. I tried to clear it up with the phrase, "Like, trip and fall." He then made a joke saying, "Oh, so are you accident prone?" Good one Taco...I mean Paco. Well today, he said he had a deal for us though. Knowing that this was going to be interesting and probably pretty funny with a hint of danger, we said, "what you got homie?" He said, "I got what you need, what about a watch?" Perfect!!! He had obviously seen my Wal-Mart watch and figured that I needed a new one. We proceeded to move away from the street and walk into a group of other friendly, black (not really important but a needed detail I think), slightly ghetto dressed, street business entrepreneurs (to put it nicely). He introduced us to a couple of his peeps and then proceeded to speak Italian to a jolly man behind a counter at a pizzeria. I thought we might be getting dinner out of the deal...nope...the man only pulled out Rolexes.
He had three, apparently "real" Rolexes, and he even took off his own watch and said it was up for the taking. He also added that his watch is normally sold for around 4000 euros in Florence and never needs batteries...hmmm...the street vending business must be pretty good these days. He handed it to me and it stopped working. Oops, good thing he didn't notice. Well me and scott immediately went into street vendor defense 101. We had rehearsed this for a couple of hours in our room. We of course acted like we were really interested in these watches...Scott even tried one on. I played the slightly hesitant dork while Scott acted like he already had a Rolex and was looking to expand his watch collection. We both picked out our favorites and then it was time to talk money. He kept telling us that he had a good deal for us, but only today, only that meeting...fishy...but we were still interested. Paco said he could give us the watches for 80 euros each, only if we bought two. WOW!!! 80 euros Paco? What a deal! He said that was the situation only today because he didn't have any money. Bad news Paco, neither did we. We proceeded to beat around the bush for a little while, not wanting to aggrivate the posse and kindly slapped ole Paco on the back and said, we'll have our people call your people, or something like that. Moral of the story, what looks too good to be true, probably is really good but how do you feel about buying stolen goods? I'm beginning to warm up to the idea. Unfortunately, I find the touch of metal on skin to be slightly rude and abbrasive. Maybe Paco sells stolen food at good rates...we might be really interested then. Good thing he'll be around for the entire month we'll be here.

Weekend plans...Venice

Dave and First day of school

Sunday we made our voyage by train to Lucca for the Dave Matthews Concert. We got off the train and made our way through the 20ft walls into the city to the Piazza Napoleone where the concert was going to be. Our first view of the stage gave us an instant jolt of excitement about the concert. Here is our first view of the stage:

Thats Tripp trying out the bed in our room at Bed and Breakfast Evelina. Sure was nice.

After getting into our room, we got out bus tickets for the next morning and then waited in about a million lines. the concert was amazing though. he played for 3 and a half hours.

For some reason they yell and wave their hands so Tripp and I decided it was time to call the hogs with the italians.

This video gives a good idea of how close we were. Unfortunately I had the microphone covered for half of it. Oh well.

This morning we took the 6:25 out of Lucca to get back to Florence in time for class this morning. Tripp and I decided it would be a good idea to take the traditional first day of school picture. Mom's should be proud.

This morning was a little rough since we woke up at about 5:45 in Lucca. We did make it to class though. Our first class was the Wine and Culture class. Our teacher is part of the Frescobaldi family and she said her family has been making wine in Italy for 700 years. That like 3.5 times as old as our whole country! Thats crazy. She is the 32 generation. So its safe to say she knows a little bit about wine. It will be interesting to learn about the different aspects of wine. And the class consists of me, Tripp, and Denise, a 29 year old student from New Jersey. Pretty funny. My second class was Intro to Renaissance Art and I think i'm gonna like it a lot. Every day we will have lecture for about an hour and then go out to different museums and churches to see different things. I can't think of a better way to learn about art. Tripp's other class is Food and Culture so I'm hoping one of these days we can stop spending 25 dollars or dinner every night and he can just cook for me. We'll see.

That's the updates for now but I'm sure we'll have more soon. Thanks for looking and we hope u enjoy the pictures and stories. I try to make mine somewhat funny but somehow tripp's are always funnier. I guess it just comes naturally when your last name is Cashion. Ciao.

Cultural Do's and Don'ts

Spurred by recent adventures in the streets of Florence this afternoon, I realized a couple of things. Hopefully by reading this, you will be able to safely and comfortably travel Italy and walk the streets of Florence with ease. First lesson: While studying abroad in Florence, it is very important to bring with you a spiral notebook, or something to take notes in for your class. It does not weight that much and it is easy to pack. There are hundreds of small stores in Florence, however it appears that none of them carry notebooks. I read through my university handbook and got some addresses for some local school supply stores. Having the addresses conveniently memorized, I left the apartment with a confident Italian swagger, grinning at the tourists and snickering while I blew past them on the sidewalks while they stupidly studied their oversized maps. In Florence, there are two different types of street number addresses, thoughs that are black and thoughs that are red. Well, seeing where this is probably going, I forgot to look at that little bit of information. The street that my prospective notebook target was located on, of course, turned out to be the longest street in Florence. No worries, I had my chacos on...nothing could stop me now. My number was 55. Starting at 1, I marched on my merry way. I finally reached my destination, halfway between and unmentionables store for the females and a tobacco shop, there lay lucky number 55. The door had been removed and replaced with a sheet of ply wood. In Arkansas, that normally means "RUN FOR IT!! DANGER APPROACHES!!". But I have learned that in Florence to truly not judge a book by its cover. So I gave this place a chance. While skimming the yellow notice posted on the wooden door replacement, I tried to pick out key words. One drew my attention, it appeared something like this, "evictimente". Now my Italian is lacking in some areas, but I know that that can't be good. Down troddened and rejected, I called my trusty roommate for some moral boosting information. He informed me that the address was truly Via Cavour 55 but it had that dirty little "r" on the end, meaning red. This changes everything. I set off to find my new location. In true American fashion, red 55 was just passed the McDonald's. I knew that I was in the right place. As I happily approached red 55, I saw a man coming out of the door with a ladder and a bucket of paint. Sure enough, red 55 was being renovated. Strike again. I proceeded to walk around Florence for 2 more hours trying to find something resembling a bookstore. Every liberia I went into, only had books with words, I wanted the book where I could put my own words in. No one could understand. Rejected and slightly agitated with Florence, I headed back home. I made it into the tent market area and decided to go just a little past the apartment and give Florence a chance to redeem itself. Like an oasis in the Sahara, I found a bookstore resembling that of a Barnes and Nobles. I thought that surely this place had spiral notebooks. I asked the woman at the front desk and she pointed to the leather bound memo pads, 25 euro each. Out of politeness, I looked them over and then sneakly walked away to search the store by myself. I finally found some!!!! One problem, do I choose the Hello Kitty pattern or the flower power combination with purple pages. Strike again. With renewed hope, I continued to look and finally found something that fit the description of a notebook!!! Glorious! 4.8 euro later I was headed back to the apartment. Out of happiness, I finally stopped at the sunglass tent to see what there was to offer a triumphant American like myself. Luckily for me, the asian man working the stand neither spoke Italian or English or anything for that matter. This was a Clint Eastwood show down. We did the talkin with our hands. He held up a five and I held up a 3. He didnt like that much so I handed him the sunglasses back...he handed them back to me and held up 4. I grimmiced and shook my head. Reaching into my pocket I grabbed 3 euro out. He shook his head. 3.5? DEAL!!!! Tax free baby!!! Two glorious wins in the streets of Florence! A good afternoon.

Tripp

Italian Bread has bubbles

Well today was for sure our most tiring but fun day in Italy yet. We woke up at about 6:30 and got to the train station at 7. After a quick English muffin and orange juice from Mickey D's, we hopped on our train to the Cinque Terre. It was our first train ride but fortunately we had Jordan with us so he showed us the ropes. The trains go about 120 mph so we were flying. It was a great way to see some of the country around Florence. We had to change trains in La Spezia but that ain't no thang for pros like us. That train let us off at Riomaggiore which was the first village of the Cinque Terre. For those who don't know, Cinque Terre is a group of 5 villages on the coast of Italy that are linked together by a 7 mile trail. The coast is very mountainous so some of the villages are literally built on cliffs as you can see from the pictures. Also, there are vineyards on the mountain sides that they somehow farm. What we did today was hike the trail from the first village, Riomaggiore, to the last one, Monterosso. Tripp and I agree that it is one of the prettiest places we have ever been.

We started by meandering along the trail stopping every 10 feet it seemed like to take a picture of a new great view. Its hard to describe but the water was so clear and blue and the villages were so colorful and steep along the cliffs it seemed like they were painted on the mountainside. It was so neat because you could always see the water or a village or a vineyard. I'll just put some pictures so you can see for yourself.

The trail goes through the top arches with views out towards the sea. This part is called Via dell' Amore, the Italian Version of Lovers Lane. Inside people write on the walls different things, mostly couples. Jordan, Tripp, and I didnt have any lovers with us so we didn't hang around there too long.

This is a special request picture of the one and only Laura Miller. This is a view of the second village, Manarola, and is probably one of the best views of a whole village on the whole trail. You can see the water, the cliffs, the village, and the vineyard to the left. What a view!

This picture is of me and Tripp looking out from the trail. Yes we looked like twins with same backpack, same sunglasses, same haircut, white shirt, black shorts, and a watch, but who cares?

This is a picture from where we ate lunch. The restaurant was on the top of one of the mountains and looked out over a vineyard on the right side of the picture and straight out to the sea on the left side of the picture. I sure do hate to be out of the USA on the Fourth of July but I gotta admit, it doesn't get much better than this.

This is a picture of the fourth village, Vernazza. It was very cool because it had a beautiful port and also a little beach. There were tons of people just sitting around or laying out...very relaxed. This picture helps to show how high we were. We had hiked from all the way down there to this point so you could imagine it was a little intense. Definitely worth it though!

After the hike, we went down to the beach at the last village, Monterosso and sat on the beach and got in the water. It was nice to relax after the long hike. One funny thing was that they charge to use the bathroom or shower or use a changing room on the beach. They nickel and dime you for everything around here but in this case its euros which is more than a dollar.

As you can see, this place is beautiful. I wish I could put more pictures up but it kinda takes a while. I took 163 just there. Our train rides back were a little interesting. They were crowded with tons of people. One funny part about the train is that they go so fast and a lot of times they pass by each other. They are so close that it is really loud and sounds like the windows are hitting each other. One time we were all not paying attention and all of sudden there it goes and we all jump out of our seats. Even trains can be entertaining!

We are worn our from the long hike and the travel today but I would do it again tomorrow if I could because it was a blast. We can't wait to hear Dave tomorrow!!

Holy Duomo Thats Big

Hello all you avid blog followers! We coming to the close of day 3 and Florence has yet to let us down. Today was a great day but it started out a little rough. By that, I mean, we got up at 9am to go to a meeting that we didnt have to. I guess that was just the engineer in us and a little bit of our nerdyness wanting to go to everything we could for school like good boys. Hopefully our moms are proud. Anyways, it turned out to be a good thing because it got us up and moving around Florence early.
We piddle paddle around Florence for a while and ended up grabbing a quick piece of pizza at a little store by our school. They also had FANTA!!! Apparently its really popular here. After that we walked around some more (this will be a daily trend...Italians aren't fat because they walk all the time and sweet 24/7). We decided to go to the train station to scope out some train tickets, and of course to catch a glipse of some gypsies!!! Well we didn't really get anywhere with getting the tickets or finding gypsies. Luckily they didn't find us either.
When we got back me and the scott man decided that it was no better day than to climb the Duomo...all 437 steps of it. It was 8 euro well spent. The Duomo might be one of the largest and coolest buildings I've ever been in. It is tremendous (don't worry, pictures are soon to come). We started our ascent to base camp one. Apparently Italians are pretty small because these stair wells are TINY!!! None the less, Brutelesci (sorry about butchering the spelling...I'm an engineer...not a Englech magor) is the man. How he was able to construct and engineer this dome is beyond belief. The whole dome is painted as well. I think a guy named Michalangelo helped out on it...not sure if you've heard of him....he's a pretty big deal around here supposedly. Nevertheless, the view from the top was breath taking and money well spent...me and scott got some good quality time at the top...lots of pictures.
Dinner was something out of a movie. We found a place right by the Ponte Veccio over looking the Arno. It was kind of pricey but well worth it. No better way to usher in a Florentine sunset. After that we walked to our favorite gelato place thus far and got us some dessert. We also found an awesome musician around the corner. Great day all around.

Welcome to Italy

After three flights and a few bus rides, we finally made it to our humble abode in Florence. Obviously Susan and Ramona wanted some pre-trip pictures.

Our apartment consists of a kitchen, a dining room, a sitting area, two bedrooms, each with their own closet, and a bathroom. However, only the bathroom is separated by a wall so it all runs together. On top of the building we have a terrace that looks out over the market close to our house as well as San Lorenzo, a really big tower and dome. Check out the video tour that tripp is posting.

We are settling in pretty well and have only gotten ripped off once. We went to lunch yesterday at a place that advertised bruschetta, pizza, and a drink for 10 euro. We did that deal for each of us plus we got a bottle of water and somehow we paid 33 euro. Today though for lunch we did better and had a sandwich and a drink at the Oil Shoppe for 4.50. Good rates. We had our orientation this afternoon where we learned that we actually have to go to class while we are here...what a bummer. Tonight we'll eat dinner somewhere good im sure and planning to see more of the city tomorrow and make sure we can get train tickets. CIAO!!