Day 1 of the field trip started a little too early for our liking. We boarded the bus at 8 am and took off for Arezzo. The bus ride through the countryside was absolutely beautiful! Much better scenery than that along the interstates in Illinois. :)
We met up with a tour guide who took us around to the major sites in Arezzo (and also talked WAY too much, even the professor chaperoning commented on the lady's extra-lengthy explanations of EVERYTHING)- some beautiful churches, a few historic sites, and sites from a famous movie, which will be revealed later in the blog!
We saw far too many places to remember the names of all of them, so here are some highlights:
A fun fact: Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella, in italiano) was partially filmed in Arezzo! This is a beautiful movie, which everyone should see. It was really cool to see the places from the film in person!
It was so cool to see the places where this film was shot in person!
A famous piazza featured in the movie.
A chapel devoted to Mary Magdalene, decorated with mimosa flowers to celebrate Women's Day (March 8).
Piero della Francesca's fresco of Mary Magdalene. I don't know how to say this, but she's kind of a big deal. People know her.
Cimabue's Crucifix- it's also a big deal. Just go with it.
After a quick lunch, we hopped on the bus and headed to Cortona, a town tucked up in the hills of the Tuscan countryside. HILLS being the operative word here.
This picture shows us scaling the steep streets of Cortona to get to our hotel.
We went on a short walking tour lead by our chaperone, Luca, a man of few words (which we all appreciated, lol). Before hiking up to the fortress at the highest point of the city, we stopped at the Gelateria Snoopy for a quick snack :) Snoopy must be popular, because over the course of the weekend, I saw at least two more Snoopy gelato shops and one Snoopy Pizzeria.
I think that I've mentioned this before, but it seems like EVERYONE in Italy has a dog, and a cute dog at that. We thought maybe it was just our imaginations, but our suspicions were confirmed when we saw this at a church in Cortona:
Yes, that is Mary kneeling at the foot of Jesus's cross.....with a dog. Apparently this obsession with dogs goes WAY back in Italian culture. haha. :)
So, we walked up the steep streets of Cortona to the top of the city where the old fortress was for a great view of the city.
Shannon and I chilling out, watchin the sunset from the top of the city, exhausted from a day's worth of walking and the equivalent of probably a good hour on a Stairmaster. lol
We made our way back down to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We met out on the terrace in front of the restaurant for appetizers and wine before heading inside for an amazing dinner! The food just kept coming! We started with bread, as usual. Next came a pesto quiche (and yes, I DID have to look up the spelling for that, lol), followed by two different pastas, a ravioli with white sauce and a spaghetti with red sauce. The main course was a special kind of Tuscan steak with a salad, which while delicious, I barely touched, already stuffed and anticipating dessert. And dessert certainly did not disappoint- it was a HOT chocolate cake filled with chocolate sauce. YUM. We now understand the truth behind why Italians take so long to complete a meal- too many courses!
Completely stuffed from dinner, we decided to go for a stroll through the city with some new friends, two of them ISU girls! We ended up at a local pub where we hung out and talked while our food digested.
We all turned in fairly early, exhausted from the day, and anticipating another long day Sunday!
There are WAY more pictures from Arezzo and Cortona on my Picasa album!
Ciao!
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