hello friends and family! yes, we are still alive and kicking, although we have been unplugged for a while. let me catch you all up on our adventures....
after florence we had 2 free days to go wherever we wanted in Tuscany. rather than venture to a new location, we thought it best to return to Siena because we loved it so much. our 2 days there were full of good food and fun. on the good food front, we found an amazing sandwich shop with a view over Il Campo. we liked it so much we ate there both days for lunch. similarly, we found a quaint little osteria with narrow tables perched precariously on a very slanted hill. we liked it so much that we ate there both nights. on our second night, we shared a table with Jason and Amanda Phillips. turns out that they were Christians from Indiana, and we had a really good meal with them talking about church, community, and how far away they were from Zionsville where my cousin Becky lives (turns out they knew it....)
on the fun front, we did several things. first, siena is composed of many neighborhoods. the days that we were there just happened to be a celebration of the phoenix neighborhood. a little old italian man tried to explain it to me (in italian of course). from what i gathered, every 40 days each neighborhood takes turns celebrating their neighborhood...the phoenixes like parades so they had a parade about 5 times each day for the two days we were there. pretty neat.
the other fun thing that we did was attend a real italian soccer game. siena vs. milan and it was insane. italians are fiercely proud of their wine, their country, and soccer. we got tickets and got in line to enter the stadium. first observation: italians have no concept of lining up - they just push as hard as they can to get to the front. in fact, we would still be standing in line if we didn't allow ourselves to join in the mayhem. we finally got into the stadium and the game had already begun. second observation: the ushers/ticket takers are not there to do their job, they are there to watch the game and you can only ask them for help when the game is not being played. we had no idea where to go, but after a lot more pushing, we finally found our seats. third observation: italians will squat in whatever seat is empty - you get there late, you have no seat. we stood for the first half of the game next to a very friendly, drunk, chain-smoking italian guy. this guy felt like welcoming us by explaining things to us since we were out of towners. he would start with "youa speaka eenglish? va bene..." and then continue in italian. his fly was down, and he wore a shirt that said "**ck what i say." what a heartthrob. ladies, i think he's single. the game ended in a tie and there was just as much pushing to get out of the stadium and begin singing songs and chants for your particular team. what a cultural experience!
after siena, we made our way to lake como which happens to border switzerland. the lake is kind of shaped like a person. we called varenna, the right hip, home for 3 days. varenna is a quiet fishing village with pretty much nothing to do. it was great. we stayed in an old hermitage with a commanding view of the town and the lake, visited a lovely garden, read a lot, and kept our eyes peeled for george cloony (he lives on lake como...sadly, no george, but we did find out where he lived and for a small price, i may tell you). bellagio, located right in the crotch, is supposed to be the pearl of the lake. our 1 visit there was hilarious. we had a nice lunch and then they skies opened up in a torrential downpour that turned to hail. we got so soaked that i jonathan took a picture of me looking like a drowned rat ringing out my skirt. so romantic! despite the moist day in bellagio, lake como was a perfect last stop in italy as well as an experiment to see how low we could get our pulse.
after florence we had 2 free days to go wherever we wanted in Tuscany. rather than venture to a new location, we thought it best to return to Siena because we loved it so much. our 2 days there were full of good food and fun. on the good food front, we found an amazing sandwich shop with a view over Il Campo. we liked it so much we ate there both days for lunch. similarly, we found a quaint little osteria with narrow tables perched precariously on a very slanted hill. we liked it so much that we ate there both nights. on our second night, we shared a table with Jason and Amanda Phillips. turns out that they were Christians from Indiana, and we had a really good meal with them talking about church, community, and how far away they were from Zionsville where my cousin Becky lives (turns out they knew it....)
on the fun front, we did several things. first, siena is composed of many neighborhoods. the days that we were there just happened to be a celebration of the phoenix neighborhood. a little old italian man tried to explain it to me (in italian of course). from what i gathered, every 40 days each neighborhood takes turns celebrating their neighborhood...the phoenixes like parades so they had a parade about 5 times each day for the two days we were there. pretty neat.
the other fun thing that we did was attend a real italian soccer game. siena vs. milan and it was insane. italians are fiercely proud of their wine, their country, and soccer. we got tickets and got in line to enter the stadium. first observation: italians have no concept of lining up - they just push as hard as they can to get to the front. in fact, we would still be standing in line if we didn't allow ourselves to join in the mayhem. we finally got into the stadium and the game had already begun. second observation: the ushers/ticket takers are not there to do their job, they are there to watch the game and you can only ask them for help when the game is not being played. we had no idea where to go, but after a lot more pushing, we finally found our seats. third observation: italians will squat in whatever seat is empty - you get there late, you have no seat. we stood for the first half of the game next to a very friendly, drunk, chain-smoking italian guy. this guy felt like welcoming us by explaining things to us since we were out of towners. he would start with "youa speaka eenglish? va bene..." and then continue in italian. his fly was down, and he wore a shirt that said "**ck what i say." what a heartthrob. ladies, i think he's single. the game ended in a tie and there was just as much pushing to get out of the stadium and begin singing songs and chants for your particular team. what a cultural experience!
after siena, we made our way to lake como which happens to border switzerland. the lake is kind of shaped like a person. we called varenna, the right hip, home for 3 days. varenna is a quiet fishing village with pretty much nothing to do. it was great. we stayed in an old hermitage with a commanding view of the town and the lake, visited a lovely garden, read a lot, and kept our eyes peeled for george cloony (he lives on lake como...sadly, no george, but we did find out where he lived and for a small price, i may tell you). bellagio, located right in the crotch, is supposed to be the pearl of the lake. our 1 visit there was hilarious. we had a nice lunch and then they skies opened up in a torrential downpour that turned to hail. we got so soaked that i jonathan took a picture of me looking like a drowned rat ringing out my skirt. so romantic! despite the moist day in bellagio, lake como was a perfect last stop in italy as well as an experiment to see how low we could get our pulse.
2 comments:
it's amazing what a small world it is! glad to hear you met some fellow hoosiers (i still haven't figured out exactly what a hoosier is), and had some good fellowship:).
hope you have an awesome b-day sara! love you, becky
Can you get me one of those shirts the guy at the soccer game had????
JK
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