Weekend coming soon...

So, my weekend consisted of a lot of day trips.  On Friday, which you already saw a post about, I lied low for the weekend to come. On Saturday, my program went to Assisi, which is the most perfect medieval town.  It was about a 2 and half hour drive, consisting of heavy napping.   It is a town that stands on a hill and basically surrounded by a fortress.  As we traveled throughout the tiny town we were able to see the most beautiful views.  Every turn was a new sight of the country side of Italy.  The rolling green hills were unbelievable.  I am pretty sad that my pictures don't do it any justice.   Another aspect of the beautiful town is how religious it is.  The town is a very catholic town and our walking tour was all churches and tombs of  religious figures.  We went to St. Francis, which was a gorgeous church that stood on a hill and beyond it was the countryside.

ANOTHER great thing about Assisi was the food and treats I had while I was there.  I was starving so I had a huge slice of pizza and a stuffed pizza.  Then I wanted gelato, so of course I had it.  But it doesn't stop there.  I had candy as well.  I need chewy, sweet candy, which I really miss from home.  I miss Sour Patch Kids and gummy bears.  I at least found gummy bears at the candy shop.  Let's just say, I am so glad we do a lot of walking in Italy.
On Sunday, we went to Siena and San Gimingnano.   Two more cute medieval towns.   We first went to Siena and were able to see the churches, Duomo, and the most famous piazza of the town.  One of the most interesting things about Siena is that it is segregated by "wards" or "neighborhoods."  That means that there were plaques that distinguished when a neighborhood ended and began.  The plaques symbolized the "ward" that it belonged to.  A lot of the "wards" got along while others didn't.  It was weird to think that certain people weren't allowed to live in an apartment because they weren't part of a "ward."  Also, neighbors could possibly be enemies, or at least our walking tour guide said.

 

 

The most famous piazza of Siena is Piazza del Campo.  It is where the horse races take place that occur every July and August. The replace the whole outside of the piazza with dirt for the horses to run on and the center becomes a places for all the spectators to watch.  Around the outside of the piazza, in the homes and on the balconies, people can watch the race as well.  I really wish I could have be there for the horse race, it would be amazing to see.  And of course I got gelato while I was in Siena.

After Siena, we went to San Gimingnano.  It was the picturesque town with the countryside leading up to the town, which was on the top of a hill. It was a very cute and small town and I wish it wouldn't have been raining so I could have enjoyed it more.   It started to rain hard when we got there, so at the end of our tour we were drenched.  In the town they were having Carnivale, so it was so much fun.  There was confetti covering the ground of the whole town and when we finally got to the center of the town, to the carnivale, we saw floats and clowns singing and dancing.  As we walked into the Carnivale, there were two clowns that threw confetti straight into my face and right into my mouth.  It made me choke and it was not enjoyable for about 2 seconds.  Despite that, it was so much fun.  We all threw confetti at each other and danced through the center of the city.  At the end, it was covered in rain and confetti and couldn't be happier.  Carnivale goes on in many cities in Italy throughout the next weeks, so after my experience in San Gimingnano, I want to go to another one.

 

Well, the weekend is coming up soon, so hopefully I will more great stories of the places I went.... because this weekend I am going to the Ferragamo Shoe Museum with my class, cooking class, and Orvieto with my program.  Great, huh?