Tuscan Day Tripper

A group of 4 of us started off at 9:30 am in a rental car to explore a few hill towns in Tuscany since we had a free day until rehearsal in Perugia that night. With no planned route we hit the road and went North. Our first detour was a beautiful lake called Lake Trasimeno, the 4th largest in Italy. It was overcast and still relatively early in the morning so I have a feeling the water wasn't quite as majestic had the sun been out in full force. But the view of the towns dotted around the lake was beautiful! We drove through Passignano, stopped at the small marina, and took in the view.

We got back on the road and the sights became increasingly picturesque. Driving through the Tuscan countryside, we passed by myriads of sunflower fields, large villas and rows and rows of grape vines. The further up in the hills we got, the more spectacular the view!

Our next stop was the beautiful city of Cortona. We walked past beautiful medieval architecture and even came across the oldest surviving houses in Italy! They reminded me of the waddle and daub houses in England with a jutting out 2nd floor supported by wooden beams. They were an unassuming row of about 6 tucked away in a corner, but it was obvious they were old.

After Cortona, we visited Montepulciano (known for their wine!) where we had lunch at this great hole in the wall place down an alley near one of the city entrances. We walked around for a bit then headed to an amazing church at the bottom of the hill town. Madonna di San Biagio was a majestic stone church off the main road with a tree-lined drive. There were a lot of locals sunbathing in the grass, which seemed a little weird. One older woman and her husband were in minimal clothing (ie. Speedo) attire taking in the sun at the back of the building. I too laid in the grass and just stared up at the church and the azure sky for several minutes. We didn't linger much after that and drove to the next destination, Montalcino, known for its medieval fortezza.

Near the parking lot was a little church with a courtyard out front and among the benches there was the top of a ionic column sticking out of the ground where we stopped to take pictures. We walked down the road to the main piazza (it kinda dipped and then escalated back up on the walk to the fortress). The fortezza was void of anything but a tour group in the middle and a closed cafe in the corner. On the other side of the wall was a courtyard and a view of the community calcio pitch.

On our way home we hit traffic and got lost in Perugia but after receiving instructions from a mechanic at a gas station who knew English, we made it back to rehearsal (albeit 40 minutes late).

--Sorry there aren't more photos. I've reached my allotted limit on Picasa so I will be exploring other outlets that don't make me pay for more storage :) Ciao ciao!

A Snippet of Perugia

While singing abroad, Perugia served as the choir's base city as we toured the region. Perugia is the capital city of Umbria, the region below Tuscany. It's the 23rd largest city in Italy and its population is comparable to that of Chatanooga, TN. In recent years the city has made great efforts to restrict traffic so the city is really walkable. A train station is located at the bottom of the hill and a Mini Metro (think Disney monorail car) takes people from the outskirts to the city center. Though very steep getting to the centro, walking around is quite easy since the city itself isn't overwhelmingly large.

The neighborhood of the Etruscan nobility in the Rocca

Built on a hill, the city has served as a natural stronghold in the region against opposition during wars and most significantly, against the papacy. You can see the struggle for power in the many lion (symbol of the Pope) and griffin (symbol of Perugia) plaques and statues dotting the old part of the city. My favorite story of Perugian defiance is during the Salt War in 1540 where the Perugians were finally defeated by the Pope after refusing to pay a tax on salt. The Pope commissioned a guy to build a fortress right over the neighborhood of the Etruscan nobility that resisted him. This is why to this day Perugians don't use salt on their bread. You can see the foundation of the Baglioni family houses in the Rocca Paolina fortress, and the Etruscan Arch.

Modern day Perugia is known for its chocolate and its universities. Unfortunately, they close down the Perugina chocolate factory during the summer but I was able to buy their baci, or 'kisses' as we call it in the States, at the store. Baci are round chocolates filled with hazelnut and a love note on the wrapper. They were perfect to bring back to the office! Perugia is also a huge study-abroad town. One of their universities is called 'Universita di Stranieri' which literally translates to 'University of Foreigners.' There were students everywhere, especially in Piazza Noviembre and along the Corso Vannucci.

Around Perugia

Piazza Novembre, a large, open square with the Duomo, Fontana Maggiore, and Palazzo dei Priori

Inside the Palazzo dei Priori

Piazza Italia

Medieval Acqueduct

Etruscan Arch

Chiesa di Sant'Angelo

Italian Noms

I think we can all agree that Italian food is amazing. When I got back to the States, I had a one month hiatus from eating anything remotely Italian. It was just too depressing to think about having anything but the real deal.

Colazione

Italians have a whole bunch of options for their breakfast. My Perugian breakfasts consisted of small, dry toasts, Nutella, fresh fruit, meat and cheeses, and pastry croissants filled with chocolate. As always, a cup of coffee (cappuccino, espresso) was there to accompany the meals :)

Cappuccino in Roma

Breakfast in Perugia

Pranzo

Most of my lunches in Italy were very casual since I was making a travel connection, was on a tour, or had to make an evening rehearsal. Bars, pizzerias, and trattorias were the name of the game!

Pizzeria in Perugia. The table did food swaps so we could all enjoy the variety of goodness.

Gnocchi in a balsamic vinaigrette sauce in Montepulciano

Lunch buffet in Perugia

Best panino of my life from La Buca del Tartufo (not far from Palazzo dei Consoli) in Gubbio.

Cena

Served around 8pm, these were the meals I looked forward to the most! Antipasto, contorni, primi piatti, secondi piatti and dolci... va bene! Also, here's a random factoid about Perugian cuisine: their bread has remained unsalted since 1540.

Welcome dinner in Perugia

Last meal in Italy- Fettuccine Alfredo

Vino

My favorite wines are Tuscan reds, like Chianti (I blame studying abroad in Florence for my love). I'd order a glass of the house wine for most meals, and go to the grocery to pick up super cheap bottles to drink back at the hotel. Even their worst "2 buck chuck" was decent. If you're on a budget, that's the best way to go!

Spaghetti and Chianti in Florence

Gelato

Straciatella. Enough said :)

Three flavors in that one cup of gelato

Weekend in Roma

Aside from the travel debacle (I forgot to mention the toddler across the aisle throwing up as we took off) it was great to be back in Rome! I had been 5 years ago for a weekend trip when I studied abroad in Florence and this time around I had approximately the same time frame to fit in all the sights before catching a bus to Perugia with the rest of the choir.

Our route through Rome

Our hotel was by the Castel Sant'Angelo (chosen for it's location near the big sites, the river, and centrality to Metro lines). It's the purple outline on the map that looks like the Pentagon. Use that as the starting point and follow along :)

Swag's guide on how to do Rome in a day and a half:

Piazza Navona.

We left our hotel around 8:30 after breakfast. When we got there, the piazza was practically empty, save a few art students. Our view of the Bernini Fountain of the Four Rivers was unspoiled by vendors and tourists!

Pantheon.

The Pantheon was only a few blocks away from Piazza Navona and again, we got there early enough to avoid large crowds of tourists. We signed a book to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification next to Vittorio Emanuele's grave.

Coliseum.

We walked along the Corso and stopped in various ruins along the way to take pics. At the Coliseum we waited in line for 45 min (not bad at all). In retrospect, we discovered that you can buy tickets that include the Forum and the Coliseum at the entrance to the Forum which would have spared us the long lines at the Coliseum.

Roman Forum.

Saw the Arch of Constantine, grabbed panini from a vendor, then made our way into the Forum. We did a bunch of walking among the ruins (Nero's Gardens, Palatine Hill etc) and throughout there were potable drinking fountains.

Spanish Steps.

We hopped the Metro at Colosseo and took it to Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. The station is literally right underneath the steps. We took advantage of the large palm trees nearby to take a gelato break.

Borghese Gardens.

The gelato powered us to climb the steps and walk past the Villa d' Medici and onto an amazing overlook of the Piazza del Popolo. It's truly one of the best places to see all of Rome. We made our way into the garden past magnificent fountains, chipped busts of exalted Italian literary masters, and onto a bench in the shade where we people watched.

Piazza del Popolo.

We backtracked a bit and made our way to the Corso which was filled with mainstream stores. After a few blocks we found ourselves at the obelisk in the middle of the circular plaza. We also went into one of the twin churches that are on the corner of the Piazza and Via del Corso.

Trevi Fountain.

Showers were definitely in order. We went to the grocery store next to the hotel to pick up breakfast for the next morning, cleaned up, had dinner near the Pantheon, and walked to the Trevi fountain after. It was crowded, like always, but it was a beautiful night. I made sure to throw in a coin :)

Vatican Museum.

Checked out of the hotel at 6:30 am and left our luggage in the hall to retrieve after our jaunt to Vatican City. After a 35 minute walk, we found the entrance to the museum and sat down in line (we were in the first 10!). Advice: If you want to do the Vatican museum, get there around 7 am. By the time the museum opens at 9, the line is wrapped along the wall down the length of the city's perimeter and you're screwed.

Inside was uncrowded! We were free to move around and see the museum at our pace which was important since we had to make our connection at the Rome airport that afternoon at 2pm. Some highlights were the Egypt exhibit (complete with mummies), The School of Athens, Henri Matisse, and the Sistine Chapel (breathtaking).

St. Peter's Square.

After the museum we hit up the square and took pics of the Swiss guards. Unfortunately, we were short on time so we didn't make it into St. Peter's Basilica (the line circled the square). But it was amazing just to even stand in the square and take it all in.

Getting there is half the fun!

Probably the best decision I made with my recent trip to Italy was to fly in earlier than the rest of the choir to conquer Rome Veni, Vidi, Vici style. Getting there was a stressful/fun/random adventure though. Our original flight plan was to take an evening flight to Rome with a layover in Amsterdam on Delta. Wrong. We checked in and found out that the flight was overbooked so only 1 of us was able to go on. Me and my other roomie were pushed to a late night Air France flight with a layover in Paris.

Not cool? Having no phones or idea of where to reunite at the Rome airport.

Cool? Delta wrote us $800 checks on the spot for screwing up.

The beautiful architecture in the CDG airport terminal.

Fast forward through an unconditioned Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, getting hit on by French airport security guys (so stereotypical but they were cute, hooray), and finding that our luggage was indeed en route to Roma Fiumicino, we found our roomie waiting in baggage claim. We were so relieved to find her! We swapped flight stories and it turned out they switched up our baggage so she picked up my traveling companion's bag and vice versa when our flight's luggage hit baggage claim.

We were in Rome and ready to go but we had no clue how we were getting into the city. Oops? We went outside to find a way to get to our hotel. Cabs=too expensive. Train=where was it? Shuttle bus for 6 Euro? Ok sure. The 3 of us and maybe 4 others boarded a bus after an intense inquisition of where the bus would drop off/would it be near our hotel etc. We were told the bus would take us to the Piramide station where we could catch the 271 bus to Castel Sant'Angelo. Wrong again, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The bus ride was going great. Sure there was some traffic but we were moving toward the city. Then it happened- our bus rear-ended a car. I could see it coming a mile away. (Italian drivers are crazy. CRAZY. They speed and swerve and tailgate...) The light just turned yellow and the driver decided to not go through the intersection. Our bus driver wanted to go. Boom! The guy's entire back window shattered onto the road. No one was hurt and the bus only suffered a small dent and busted headlight.

Bus driver (with man purse) arguing with the driver on the side of the road.

Cue the onslaught of Italian curse words and gestures. It was absolutely hilarious. We spent a half hour on the side of the road while our driver (who had a man purse btw) exchanged info with the guy he hit. We eventually made it to the Piramide station which had the sketchiest crowd of youth and homeless-looking old guys. Not good. The 271 bus that we were supposed to connect with wasn't there and even then the ticket machine was broken. Feeling somewhat defeated, we walked toward the depot building. All of a sudden, a car pulled up to us and the hot girl on our bus (she looked like a model) asked us if we needed help -- it was like divine intervention.

Her boyfriend got out of the driver seat and looked at the map. Between my limited Italian and his broken English, we figured out a game plan to get to the hotel. Piramide was a stop along the Rome Metro! He pointed us in the direction of the entrance and we hauled our luggage a few hundred yards and hopped a train to San Pietro via transfer at Termini. It was very late when we emerged from the Metro and we hoofed it a good 25 minutes to our hotel near the Castel Sant'Angelo.

v

Proscuitto pizza? Yes, please.

We celebrated our journey by dining along the Tiber and listening to 2 Canadian guys sing karaoke.

Ciao Roma!

Nobody Makes Me Bleed My Own Blood

Ciao tutti! This is the first of many blog posts from my recent trip to belisima Italia. I thought there'd be no better way to start than to recount how 5 American women took on a Roman pick-pocketer.

It was our last day in Italy and we made our final connection via Eurostar from Florence to Rome to catch the express train to Roma Fiumicino airport. Our tickets were for the second to last train out that night at 10:22 pm, so it was a bit later in the night but not so much that the platform was entirely void of people. There were 5 women that formed my travel group and never once did I feel unsafe.

As the train pulled in, I looked around to make sure I had all my bags but a guy nearby fiddling and repositioning his jacket on his arm caught my eye. My gut told me to keep tabs on him. As a few of us started boarding the train, jacket guy got closer to our group to the point where I started watching him closely since the platform wasn't that crowded. Then he shuffled close to my friend who was on the step with her bag close to the platform. Jacket on his left hand, he used it as a curtain and reached for my friend's phone inside the bag.

Instinct kicked in. I quickly grabbed his hand and started yelling "NO!" repeatedly at steady intervals. (Sidenote: As a singer, I know how to project my voice- he chose the wrong girl to not cause a commotion.) The other women in my group sort of automatically formed a circle around him and the train with their bodies and suitcases- in retrospect, it's awesome how instinct played its part in our reactions. He got out of my grip so I started swatting at him (haha). It was then that he cut me. It definitely wasn't a scrape from his fingernails, it was too precise a line for that. I'm guessing a small knife or some other sharp object he kept under the jacket.

To counter my persistent yelling, he started cussing me out and grabbing his crotch to play off the situation like I was falsely accusing him. During the verbal altercation on the platform, my friend discovered that he swiped her cell phone. At that point I didn't mess with him because it was escalating quickly so I tried to make eye contact with a platform attendant while he walked back toward our group and onto the train car.

I yelled to my friend to check his jacket since he boarded the train and she was right there between the two cars with him. Girl swung into action like nobody's business! She was all over him demanding he give back her phone. She got hold of him, took the wallet out of his pants, pulled the jacket from him and got her phone back.

We went into our car to get away from him and at that point saw the platform guy come onto the train. I assume he took care of the pick-pocketer because we were busy checking all of our belongings in the next car to ensure he didn't take anything else. Plus, the train departed later than normal. A few days earlier we missed the same express train (only one minute off the arrival time).

So although we have no official closure that the perp was caught, I am proud of how we banded together and chose fight rather than flight. It's reaffirming as a woman to know that the capability to kick @$$ is there and ready.

5 American women=power.

Live Vicariously Through Me (Again)

Hi all!

T minus 10 days until I return to my beloved Italia :) Let's be real, my countdown started 60 days out. I have a premonition that this will be another epic trip abroad. Singing the Verdi Requiem on the 150th anniversary of Italian unification and celebrating my quarter-life milestone. I can't wait!

In the meantime, here's what I'll be up to abroad.

Roma

On the 25th, my two roomies and I will peace out of the USA to get into Rome a few days earlier than the rest of the choir to do some serious sightseeing. (We have a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam which should give us some time to make mischief, too.) We'll be staying at Roma dei Papi Hotel de Charme solely based on my knowledge of having been to Rome 5 years ago. It's right near the Vatican, Castel Sant'Angelo, and across the Tiber from Piazza Navona and The Pantheon.

Angels and Demons scene at Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWzyab1v-lI

Other things on the to-do list:

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Roman baths

Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

Roman Forum

etc.

Perugia, Todi, Gubbio

After a few days in Roma, we will catch a bus with our compatriots to Perugia which is at the heart of Umbria (the region of Italy right below Tuscany). Perugia will act as our base city as we tour the region singing Verdi's Requiem.

During the day, we have free time before rehearsal to rent a car, hop a train, or hike anywhere we please. These adventures are still TBA but will most likely include a trip to Spoleto to check out the music festival, Festival dei Due Mondi. (The Spoleto Festival in Charleston is the USA counterpart.)

Concert time! The amassed choir will consist of peeps from Washington, Pennsylvania, members of the National Philharmonic Chorale, and the University of Perugia. Our orchestra is from Budapest, Hugary. Good thing music transcends language :) Speaking of music, check out our uber music-themed hotel: http://www.hotelgio.it/eng/home.htm.

July 1- First performance in Todi at the Teatro Comunale (below)

July 2- Performance at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo .... Post-concert party per mi cumpleanno!!!!!!

July 3- Performance in Gubbio at the Teatro Comunale

Firenze

5 years ago I rubbed il porcino's snout, and as the legend goes, I've found myself returning to the city I love :) A small group in my choir is traveling via rail for a day trip to the inspiring city of the Renaissance. I can't put a finger on what I love about Florence. It's steeped in rich history, you could walk by a Michelangelo or Donatello and not even realize it-- art and beauty are so commonplace... The moment to moment feeling of what exactly it means to be Italian -- living, breathing, experiencing another way of life... Gaahhhh I can't wait to stop by The Oil Shoppe for Alberto's famed meatball subs :)

Ciao ciao!