so this weekend we took a 3 day trip to tuscany where we romped around the italian countryside. in total i believe we visited Pienza, Siena, Voltere, Montalcino, San Gimignano, e` un altro luogo che non io riccordo.
so the first city was Pienza... which when we first arrived, i couldn't shake the feeling that i had just walked into norther Scott land, the entire countryside was covered in fog and olive orchards. the city was small and completely made of stone, with a well in the center of town and a cemetery outside the main wall. the people there were friendly but seclusive (in the sense that the majority of our interactions with them were talking up to them through their windows). there was a pack of stray dogs wandering through the city, and it wasnt until we make the mistake of trying to pet them that we realized that they were close to death. they smelled terrible and would follow us around begging for food. what i couldnt figure out was that in addition to the pack of stray dogs, there was also a huge population of pigeons... and if there were so many pigeons there, why were the dogs going hungry? zombie films could be filmed here
kirstie and christina
well... i ended up wandering aimlessly around the wall of the city, which was nice. i talked briefly with a man working in the olive grove and discovered that it takes 70 years before the olive trees will even begin to start producing olives. the walls of the city were filled with ivy and holes which the pigeons had staked out as homes. we had a lot of time there before the bus would leave, so we ended up sitting in the main piazza watching the pigeons fight amongst one another.
our next stop after Pienza was our hotel, which wasn't so much a hotel as a collection of villas scattered amongst the tuscan countryside. it was absolutely beautiful. we spent the first four hours there eating lunch outside and sunbathing. (this was the first time in our trip where the weather permitted us to do this) ((ferrara is always foggy and cold)). so about an hour into our siesta i decided to wander around the property. there were orchards all around us and a lake situated at the bottom of the hill. at one end of the place there was a swimming pool over looking a valley... but the water was green and filled with huuuuge frogs. (probably toads). unfortunately i did not have to fore sight to take pictures of this place, so i have to use what i can steal...
after our siesta we were all rounded up and shipped off to our next town... which right now i cant remember the name... forse puo ritornare a me piu tardi. but the city was beautiful, and larger than the last. there were many pot stores, and even more cheese and wine shops. one of the things to note about our trip to tuscany is that this region is famous for its wine, you can pick up a bottle of brunello di montalcino for the low low cost of 90$ a bottle... whereas were were getting it for free. but that comes later. in the city without a name, we wandered around, got lost in the various abbys' and watched the italian tourists move in herds. there was a beautiful view, but this is seemingly the case for every place we go. in addition to our meandering, steve (another guy on the trip) and i have been playing an ongoing bout of the circle game, in which if you can make the other player look at the 'ok' hand gesture while you hold it below your waist, you get to hit them in the arm. it might sound childish, but whatever, its a fun way to see how many ways you can make someone look down. we also began creating a long list of direct translations from english to italian which really really Really dont work. here are a few examples. capo di culo - asshat inferni si - hells yeah parola su - word up parola - wooord cosa su - whats up nella tua faccia - in your face so on and so forth.... and just to say, we are always looking for more, so if you can think of american slang that we can use to butcher the italian language, let me know! well... moving on...
we left from that city and went to montalcino, which just so happens to have what i believe is the greatest wine in the entire world. when we got there, the first thing we did was go wine tasting. we were led down into a sampling room dug into the side of a mountainside... the walls were glass and so we could look out over more countryside (although it was especially beautiful because we just so happened to be there as the sun was setting. we tried three different wines, two from 2001 and another from 2002, i cant remember the names of the wines, but ill find them from the others on the trip shortly... i dont want to bore you with descriptions of the wines, but suffice to say that they were excellent. after our 3 hour wine tasting extraveganza we set off to diner. on our way out of the winery-ish place, we saw an array of bottles for sale. the one that caught my eye was the 7000 eu brunello. my god. sooo much. thats around 10,000 us. anyways, we continued to dinner and in giro i discovered that i had been pronouncing one of my friends names incorrectly THE ENTIRE TRIP. it would have been one thing if it was someone i had just met on the trip, but it was someone who had been going to colorado with me... i felt terrible. absolutely terrible. well, we were all feeling the wine when we got to dinner, and we now suspect that that was the plan all along (the idea was that we would get drunk enough on good wine that we wouldnt notice that the actual dinner was terrible.) but whatever, for the most part, they were right, and we all had a great time. we got back to the hotel at 2 in the morning and crashed hardcore.
realizing i had been fucking up kirsties name...
sooo good.
the next morning at 7, my alarm went off and we wandered down to the main lodge where we met up for breakfast. the italian idea of breakfast is very different than ours. but they did their best to make an american breakfast... we had this weird chalky cereal with goat milk. and then fruit and coffee. there was also cake... because americans loooove cake. we got our stuff together and left for siena. now siena is my favorite city in all of italy. hands down. luckily for me, it works out that it also has the most easily understandable spoken italian out of any city. our tour lasted all day and for this part, i think i will just supplement this entry with pictures, because they will show my experiences better. although i do have to mention that siena is home to saint catherine, who convinced the pope to return back to italy from exile. she was buried in rome, but her head was later cut off and returned to siena. awesome. there is something else special about siena, in that it is home to the palio which is a horse race around the center of town. it takes place in summer months and draws in 40000 visitors from around the world... its only 40k because they only count those that can fit into the piazza. while siena is the most famous city in italy for having this, ferrara is the first. booyeah. i.love.this.city.
we returned from siena and returned to the hotel where i had the most surreal night of my life. it started out where we were told to get dressed up for dinner, and after doing that we were led onto a patio behind the main lodge ( overlooking the pool and the valley). we were told that we were meeting there for dinner, but when we turned the corner to the patio, we found a table with punch bowls and a huge loudspeaker... what you would expect if you were going to a seventh grade dance. so we were talking amongst ourselves (mostly to the tune of "what the fuck is going on, wheres our food?") and then, all of a sudden there were explosions flying upwards from the other end of the patio. we all look over and there is a ten foot tall dragon shooting fireworks from his wings... after our eyes adjusted just enough to make out the figure behind the fireworks, we realized that it was a man on stilts in full dragon regalia holding a flaming torch and a bottle of gasoline. he came down from his perch above us and started walking around the grassy noll below us, all the while teetering on his stilts and spitting balls of flame from his mouth up at us. it was somewhere around this time when the idea occured to me that i had been dosed... that this was not possible and that i was simply hallucinating from whatever was put in the punch. well, the spectacle continued and we stood in disbelief while this man walked around spitting fire at us. i was convinced he was drunk. every so often his face would catch on fire and he would beat it out with the bottle of gasoline. great combination. well, after 15 minutes of this we were escorted into the dining hall where we began our dinner. the wine was good. better than we had expected, and as a result the next few hours were hazy. the edges of my memories are both blurred and frayed, but what i do remember is the belly dancer behind my seat. i remember the full pig that was brought to the table and dissected in front of us. i remember the extensive conversations about nothing between julie and me. i remember the way my breathing grew shallow the second time the belly dancer came to dance... and i remember an endless barrage of priceless quotes between steve and me. there was also the knight, who walked around the room in full armor with a candle scorching the ceiling, his purpose in that room is still a mystery to me. there were the people in black cloaks who filled our wine. after dinner we went back down and watched more fire shows... they were better this time, but im sure that that was only because my standards had dropped. as if all this was not enough to make anyone question their sanity, we went back to the patio and were greeted by an the blaring sounds of turn of the century russian communist revolutionary chants. then my parents called. i was hesitant to pick up, but all better judgment aside i did it anyways... so there i was, drunk, in the middle of one of the strangest situations i have ever had, talking to my parents. i dont know what the conversation sounded like to them, but at this point i sort of want to know. so if you are reading this mom, could you give me a call and let me know? sweet.
after dinner i went back to room and talked with the other guys in my room for a while ( antonio, ian, steven, and dan) after a bit of trash talking from the other guys, we decided to take a midnight walk into the mountains... we got to the summit where a grove of trees were situated. we sat up there, talked of this and that and finished off antonio's last bottle of wine. the others started making suggestions that we should go explore the forrest on the other side of the vineyard... luckily, dan and i convinced them that if we actually went into the woods we would be eaten by wolverines. so we wandered back and went to sleep. there was more, but i rather just forget.
bear with me, we are now to the last day of my grand excursion... only one more city left!!! san giminagno. well... chances are, im just as tired of writing this as you are at reading it... so its highlight time!!! amanda at one point climbed on the shoulders of dan so that she could look over a wall... meanwhile i was looking at a dog on the other side of a fence and apparently gave him the wrong look... and he barked. this made dan loose his footing and he and amanda fell down. dan fucked up his leg and amanda hurt her head. amanda got the worst of it and when we ended up leaving the city, there was talk of stopping at a hospital. about an hour into the bus ride back home, we stopped at a hospital where they looked over amanda. after an hour or so of tests they let her know that there was nothing they could do for her. it was pouring and i was in a foul mood. things had gone wrong that day. or at least they didnt go the way i wanted them to. we got back home at 9 and i was done. i climbed into bed and reflected on the vast collection of events which had transpired over the last few days. and that was my weekend. in the morning i realized that i had left my cellphone on the bus, but that will have to be another story.
so i just got back from AZ, it was pretty sweet. we ate some really great food, climbed a mountain, went indoor go-kart racing (mario style), saw all the types of AZ snakes, played with some adorable pocket dogs, and had an all around good time. not to mention that i was finally able to get some in-n-out. SO GOOD. hillary's roommate is pretty cool, i was stoked that she was able to understand some italian. i kinda feel like i was there, had enough time to say hello, and then had to leave, oh well. now that im back im feeling really sleepy, i think im going to go to bed at 730 tonight... im turning into an old fogey. in other news, they opened up the 29th street mall, which i was originally excited for, but i went there today and was disapointed to find out that practically every store there is a chick store, the whole mall just seems to be catering towards women. bah, but there is an apple store and a borders. i guess thats kinda nice. i really wanted a sharper image... just so i could sit in their massage chairs.
. you know all those hot pants that say 'juicy' or 'bebe' or whatnot on the butt? i want to make a pair that just straight-up says 'donations go here' above a little pocket on the butt. . i saw a car today that was covered in dirt, and in the dirt was written "you only wish your girlfriend was as dirty as me" . only one more signature and i'm set for italy... suh-weet. . i lost my mail key, and now i have to bribe the mail man to give me my mail directly. what should i offer? . SOUR FLINSTONE VITAMINES ROCK TITS. yes... that phrase is legit. i totally read it somewhere. . alla cena sta sera, mi rendo contro del fatto che il livello del conforto ho quando sono nel vicino di qualcuno consosco cambia con il livello che mi piacono. per esempio, quando sono stato alla cena oggi, ho trovato che sono stato piu` proprio agio di quando sono stato con lei prima. e e` perche non mi piace lei come prima... cosi e` bene... sembro piu bene. ma e` triste che non posso avere una ragazza prima andro a italia. ~d'accordo.~
and just for good measure... http://www.stanford.edu/~scodary/tkam.htm pretty much awsome.
and for some extra chuckles... http://www.awesomefunny.com/learnthecomputer.html
GOTH. What, canst thou say all this and never blush?
AARON. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.
LUCIUS. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
AARON. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more. Even now I curse the day- and yet, I think, Few come within the compass of my curse- Wherein I did not some notorious ill; As kill a man, or else devise his death; Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it; Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself; Set deadly enmity between two friends; Make poor men's cattle break their necks; Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night, And bid the owners quench them with their tears. Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves, And set them upright at their dear friends' door Even when their sorrows almost was forgot, And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, Have with my knife carved in Roman letters 'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.' Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things As willingly as one would kill a fly; And nothing grieves me heartily indeed But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
LUCIUS. Bring down the devil, for he must not die So sweet a death as hanging presently.
AARON. If there be devils, would I were a devil, To live and burn in everlasting fire, So I might have your company in hell But to torment you with my bitter tongue!
LUCIUS. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.
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