postcard kind of livin'

Our week in the Tuscany region proved to be wonderfully excellent, but I’ll keep it brief.  Yes, it is as beautiful as it seems in movies and magazines.  Plentiful of vineyards and resorts, land of luxury!  We first traveled to a resort hotel which was close to Siena.  We stayed the night in Siena which was a fun town, then kept on to Florence the next day where we stayed the rest of the week.  

Looking out to the Tuscany region...fields and fields of vineyards!

At the square in Siena

Florence was great.  A lot of American students study there so it was more Americanized than we were used to.  Very nice change of pace.  I would compare Rome to New York City.  Big, crowded, and a tad over-whelming.  Lovely place though, don’t get me wrong.  But, Florence would be like a Nashville.  Young, small enough to navigate, but big enough to always find something to do.  I think it was more my pace.  We toured over 400 churches and museums.  We literally beg our teachers to show us more churches and practically run into them we are so excited to finally be there…again.  You practically have to drag us all out too.  Just can’t get enough!

On your 112th church, you just learn to make your own fun!

Carolyn decided to clean shop one night and take the Bama shirt off the ceiling in a pub.
War Eagle...I guess!

Art class on the river.  Just simply too picturesque. 

Snuck a picture of The David.  oops.  But what cha gunna do 'bout it?

How cool!  Jesus even came to Florence once!

Top of The Duomo! Florence in the back...pretty, pretty little city!

But all in all, Florence was good to us.  Lots of leather, Americans, and gelato.  Our last morning there a few of us climbed the famous dome of the Duomo.  At the top you could look out to all of Florence and the extensive Tuscany region.  We experienced everything from a clear day, cool breeze, and shin splints from the hike up.  We made our way down and hit the road for our weekend trip to Cinque Terra!

I try to spare all of you from facts and information that you could just as easily google than read this, so apologies if you feel I am being short…slash you have no idea what I am talking about.

For all you Pintrest fans, I’m sure you have seen images of Cinque Terra pinned to every wall.  I was a bit skeptical during my journey to the shore because I thought there was no way the real thing could top the photo edited pins on the internet.  But oh was I wrong.  By far the most colorful little village coming out of a mountain over the water I have ever seen.  Ok, it is the only little village I have ever seen coming out of a mountain over the sea, but still.  It was ideal.

You can see how the city really is built into the mountain.  Most of it is held up by ropes!

AHHHH! How cool would it be to live here!

Beautiful day to hike!  Just look at that water!

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There are 5 cities that make up what we call Cinque Terra.  Most people go and hike around to all the different towns.  They each have their own personality and spunk.  They are all on the water, but spread out among the coastal hillside of the Cinque Terra National Park.  For all you intensive readers, (mom), here is the link to Wikipedia so you can read about the city.  It is actually pretty cool how it came to be. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Terre

So naturally, we hiked.  We don’t do enough walking so I was glad to use my feet…more.  But seriously it was beautiful.  We even got to go for a swim.  The water was chilly  but it felt so good after being in the sun all day.  I don’t know it the pictures can really do it justice.  It was a beautiful day.  It was a good change of pace from museums and churches too! 

  The water was so cool and blue!  It took your breath away at first and you could float there was so much salt.  We were all just soaking up the Meditaranian goodness enjoying its coolness.  The Italian Riviera is unlike any beach I have ever been to before.  The water was beautiful but you pay for it wit the rocks.  There is no such thing as sand…just rocks.  So it makes for hanging out on the beach a bit rough, but I don’t know that I would trade it.  I would trade all the old men walking around in Speedos…and woen laying out topless.  But yah know, just do yo thang you Europeans.  I don’t know that I will ever understand you!

Dinner by the water with the crew on our last night.

Even got to dance with the band after!
Perfect ending to the perfect weekend!