Then Friday night we went to the Florence Wine event. For ten euros we received a class, a punch card and a booklet telling us all about the wines at the event. The punch card has 12 punches and we had three days to try 12 different types of wine. But most stops that night didn't punch our cards...more free wine! But it was a really great opportunity to try the different types of wine from Tuscany. It will be a big help in my wine tasting class, I will finally have wines to discuss.
Saturday morning, my roommate Maria and I woke up very early and went to the train station to meet with school. (We made it this time ;) We all jumped on a train and headed to Cinque Terre, five small towns on the cost of Italy--two hours north--which are connected by paths through the mountains. We arrived at one, hiked through the mountainous terrain to a second--this was actually quite a challenge, I was huffing and puffing. Honestly, it was worth the small asthma attack because it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Maria, who HATES my constant need to take pictures said when we got home, "Stacey, I am actually glad you were the pop-a-frickin'-razzi because the pictures are awesome." Which is a huge step because normally she just says "Do you have to take ANOTHER picture?" And of course I always say "yes."
After we hiked through the mountains, the rocky path just ended and all of a sudden we were in the middle of a town, it was crazy. But we had two hours free to eat or swim or shop, whatever we wanted. Maria, our new friend Jack and I grabbed a pizza and a bottle of wine, then we headed to the beach. It was only about 70 degrees (F) but we were at Cinque Terre, I had to go in the water. It was cold, but worth it.
When we got out remembered we were not going to go swimming, so we brought out suits in case, but no towels...great thinking. It was fine, we just air-dried. It was a little breezy though!
Then we met back up with our class and hopped on a boat to a third town, as equally beautiful as the last two. We then walked the paved "love" path to the fourth town. The love path was built in the 1960s when the towns were still very secluded and people stayed in their villages. It was the path that helped lovers from other villages meet up. So today there are paintings on the wall and a lot of graffiti and names up. It was a very beautiful walk also.
We arrived at our fourth town of the day and had some free time to check out the port and of course grab something sweet before getting back on the train to Florence--more gelato! After a long day, we walked home, snacked and fell right asleep.
Sunday was another early start. A bunch of us from school did the 5K breast cancer walk together. I was my normal cheerleader self, so excited, getting everybody pumped up for the walk. Then it started...mob mentality. Everyone who wasn't running headed toward the start line. There was no where to go and thousands of people. After a slight panic attack (I knew for sure this would turn into a riot...I heard the news flashes "American Student killed in riot for breast cancer walk") A little dramatic, but it was really traumatizing.
Finally, the walk started, I met back up with my friends and we walking, waiting for the people to thin out. We waited and waited. It never happened. Then the runners started to loop back to finish they had to run through the walkers going the opposite direction. Good thing for the 10K runners they police escorts for the leaders. It was the most chaotic and crazy walk I have ever done, but it was typical Italy organization. No one is ever quite sure what is going on...crazy. The redeeming factor was the view. Nothing could be better than walking and being able to see all of Florence from the Michelangelo Piazza. It did turn out to be a great walk--without causalities.
I also managed to finish some homework and make it to the wine festival one more time! It was another epic weekend in Italy.
I will put up more photos soon, I am looking for a better place to store them, I had a request from Kristen--she wanted the photos to be easier to access--so hopefully I can find something better.
Have a great week!
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