Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps

The next stop was the Trevi Fountain-- the most famous fountain in the world. This was also one of my favorite things in Rome. Tradition says, that if you throw a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome, if you throw 2 coins, you'll get love, and 3 coins a marriage or divorce (whichever you want). You have to throw the coins with your right hand over your left shoulder.

From Rome

From Rome

Finally, we went to the Spanish Steps, and they were a little disappointing.

From Rome

From Rome

The Pantheon

The next stop was the Pantheon-- it was an ancient Roman temple and is now a Catholic church. This was probably one of my favorite places. The roof has an oculus (a big hole in the top) and the building played a large role in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons.

From Rome

From Rome

From Rome

Rome Stop 3

Next we went to this plazza with Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier:

From Rome

Mussolini used to deliver his speeches here.

From Rome

In the background on the left is a brick tower-- the emperor Nero watched the city burn from there.

Stop 2-- the mouth of truth

Next we went to "The Mouth of Truth"-- it is this statue head of an old man on the outside of a church. Back hundreds of years agos, moms would tell their children if they put their hands in his mouth and told a lie, he would bite down on it. Inside the church we saw St. Valentine's skull.

From Rome

From Rome

The Coliseum

We went to the coliseum last night and this morning--- it exceeded my expectations (it's huge) and deserves its own post

From Rome

From Rome

From Rome

From Rome

San Croce

Today we toured the Cathedral of San Croce. In Florence, there are three large cathedrals within a few blocks of where I'm staying-- the Duomo (once the largest church in the world, the one with the big dome), Santa Maria Novella (I haven't visited this one yet) and San Croce.

San Croce is a Franciscan church, and six monks still live on site to take care of it.

Inside San Croce, Galileo, Michaelangelo, and Niccolo Macchiavelli are all buried.

From San Croce

The tomb of Galileo:

From San Croce

The tomb of Michaelangelo:

From San Croce

The body of some saint:

From San Croce

St. Francis' frock:

From San Croce

Wines so far

Here is a list of the wines we've had so far in class:

I couldn't find pictures of the Pepe Rose, the Campi Nuovi, the Visilia or the Godiolo.

Viareggio

After class today, a group from Memphis and I took the train to an Italian beach in a town called Viareggio. The beach was very nice, the water was warm enough to swim in, and the scenery was great-- Viareggio is at the base of the Apuane Alps, so if you notice in my pictures, you can see snow while you're swimming in the ocean, which is pretty cool.
Afterwards, we ate at a pizza place in Viareggio that was very good-- probably the best pizza yet.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TigerColby/Viareggio#

From viareggio

From viareggio

From viareggio

From viareggio

Under the Tuscan Sun

I had my first wine tasting class this morning. According to the Italians, the morning is the best time to taste wine because you have energy and your palate is still clean. There are only four people in my class and they are all from Memphis. We sampled 3 different wines today-- a glass of a Tuscan rose, a white, and a heavy red.

After lunch, we ate a 4 course meal at the culinary institute on campus. Our meal vouchers cover this, and it's where the chefs at the culinary school try out their dishes and everything, so the food was really good.

This afternoon, 6 of my Memphis friends and I bought sandwiches and wine and climbed the top of the mountain on the other side of the Arno River to watch the sun set. Here are some pictures:
(Also more here http://picasaweb.google.com/TigerColby/Florence# )

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

Pisa

Spent the weekend in Pisa: here's a link to the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TigerColby/Pisa#

There were 2 parades that came through while we were there, which was cool: a motorcycle rally (bikers look the same everywhere) and a mini car rally.

The leaning tower was really pretty, so was the cathedral next door. The food here has been great-- I had pizza for lunch, spaghetti for lunch yesterday, and lasagna (the best) for dinner last night. Gelato (Italian ice cream) is a staple after every meal.
We rented a bicycle-car out today and rode around the city. There was this big Sunday market on the Arno River, which was neat, the girls all bought things.

I should have regular internet service tomorrow.

From Pisa

From Pisa

From Pisa

From Pisa

From Pisa

From Pisa

From Pisa

Florence Part II

Well I finally got to walk around Florence, and it is an awesome city, I mean absolutely awesome. The weather is perfect and warm. There was a protest on my apartment doorstep, but it wasn't very impressive. We walked around the different piazzas and saw the Arno River. For dinner, we went and ate pizza-- the guy tossed the dough in front of us-- it was one of the best pizzas I've ever had.

Here are some pictures: You can click the album to see all of them.

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

More pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TigerColby/Florence#

Made it to Florence

I'm finally in Florence--- they flight from JFK to Rome ran about an hour and a half behind. Arrived in Rome this morning-- flew over Monaco and then Corsica, which had a lot of mountains, and that was neat. The Italians on the plane were very talkative and nice people.

Once I got in, we took the train into Florence, and didn't arrive until about 3:45 this afternoon. Checked into my apartment-- it's in a refurbished very old building. Still trying to make sure Dickens can stay-- there are 4 beds, I'm the only one who's checked in so far-- but I know for sure I have at least one apartment-mate.

Getting settled has been a little stressful-- Florence is crazy full of tourists and it's hard to get anywhere, the sidewalks are packed. The city is very pretty though. Also, for now, my apartment doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I'm in a McDonald's.

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence

From Florence