Epic travels

the Tuscan countryside...with a twist


What a busy but break break I've been having! Mom and I have gotten back to the apartment pretty late the last few days, so I've been lax on updating. At least I haven't been lax on the photo taking. I've burned a few battery sets so far. An overview of the activities of the week:


We went horseback riding on Monday near Siena, which was full of vine fields and views of the classic Tuscan countryside. We were expecting to just ride for two hours, have a small wine tasting, and then go home. We definitely got more than we paid for! Our tour guides, Issam and Daniele were amazing, humorous and creative. We went to a 13th castle called Monteriggioni for the wine tasting and Daniele (a history student from Florence who spends his weekends giving tours) gave us an overview of the area. It was a great castle town because there were hardly any tourists. The food and wine were of course, amazing also. It sounds tourist-idealistic, but it really was! The riding wasn't spectacular, but then again we were with 3 other beginner riders so we slowly walked the whole way. Both me and my mare Princess definitely wanted to run, but behaved ourselves with the occasional trot just to kill boredom time.

(((( click on photos for larger, uncropped view ))))



Mom and her "warhorse"..aka slow plug horse

I wanted to keep this guy!!!

tour guide Daniele and me

Mom and me at Monteriggioni castle

Monteriggioni castle - the terraced steps were to provide traction for horses traveling on the hill - a major trade entrance in the 13th century

Issam thought it would be funny if he picked me up for a photo on the castle wall - so he did

our great group of Australians, Americans and Britons outside the wine tasting location

After the wine tasting, Issam and Daniele took us all on a tour of San Gimignano, a nearby Italian hill town. I had already visited there with friend Nora, but I loved seeing it again! Daniele knew a special way to approach the city by means of an ancient road way, so we got to see the city in a whole new way.



We also stayed for the sunset, which was timeless and gorgeous when viewed from a hilltop city.





Our guides also bought us gelato from a pretty popular place:



On the drive back from San Gimignano with the whole group of us crammed into a mini van, we were listening to some Indian dance music when I commented that it would be fun to bellydance to. Wrong thing to say! Issam just grinned and said, "well why don't you?" And so, in a very crazy-fun-impromptu European way, we pulled over onto a side street in the middle of nowhere and made our own discotech club. (disclaimer: none of us were under the influence of alcohol...judging by the photos, I know this will seem surprising) It started with me doing a bellydance on the top of the van (again, all Issam's idea) but then everyone started dancing to techno music around the van. What a great time!!!

Issam on the van

tired from dancing

Issam and Daniele

we even got Mom into the dancing act!

Daniele...just another Italian smoker

It sounds terribly cliche, but it's true that a wonderful time was had by all. Issam even offered to host a birthday party for me at his villa in Florence and for me to bring as many friends as I wanted. I look forward to spending more time with both of them.

On Tuesday we headed to Venice. Mom had been to Venice when she was younger, so it was great for her to be able to actually lead me around. It's surreal having to take water taxis instead of buses. Canals and water everywhere! And gondolas are about $100 a ride so they are just for special occasions. There are large motor-powered boats for mass public transport and it was only about $20 each to get a 24hr pass to take the water taxis.

We hit all the major sights including San Marco Square and Cathedral. The weirdest thing about the square is that when we visited it in the daytime, it was full of people and pigeons. When we came back at night, the whole square had flooded with about 4-5inches of water. We heard that in October and November, areas will flood at night but drain off before the next day. Very, very weird. Just shows that it's definitely true that Venice is slowly sinking. We stayed at a cheap hostel where the staff wasn't very helpful and friendly, but it was in the heart of the city so we had a great base of operations. Venice is also a city famous for its carnival masks and there was a great selection of them to admire.

Around the city:













a weird mirror wall on the canal

the symbol of Venice: a winged lion that represents Saint Mark (San Marco)



stunning authentic Murano glass horses (we also got to visit Murano, a nearby island that's world-famous for it's glass making)

the original bronze horses that previously stood atop Saint Mark's Cathedral. Wiki info: "The Horses of Saint Mark were installed on the basilica in about 1254. They date to Classical Antiquity; by some accounts they once adorned the Arch of Trajan. The horses were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, and in 1204 Doge Enrico Dandolo sent them back to Venice as part of the loot sacked from Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. They were brought to Paris by Napoleon in 1797 but returned to Venice in 1815. After a long restoration, since the 1990s they have been kept in St Mark’s Museum (inside the basilica). The horses now on the facade of the cathedral are bronze replicas."

a gorgeous mosaic that adorns the inside of the cathedral

Mom taking the time to geocache between canals

the Bridge of Sighs, sandwiched between huge annoying advertisements. this saddens and angers me at the same time. this is NO place for a billboard and in my opinion, it looks bad on the car company that sponsored it

Except for raining while we were there, the Venice trip was also a great success. We only got lost a few times. The next few days we explored Venice and yesterday we went to Lucca, Italy, for a comic and games convention. I'll have to upload the photos and explain more tomorrow though because it's already 2:40am and we're getting up at 7am to explore more! Stay tuned!