Claire Constantino,
CET Student Correspondent
I don’t know much in this crazy, mixed up world of ours, but I do know that the new goal of my life is to spend more time on a cruiser bike. Law school, finding a true love, and hiking the Appalachian trail all just took a back seat on my list of life goals. Denny, my Italian roommate, made me ride home one night on the top tube of his bike, which was mostly terrifying and a little fun. In a safer and more practical turn, I rented a bike today while I was in Lucca and it was just so darn wonderful that I can’t believe people ever invented cars.
This week, or really since last Thursday, I’ve been on fall break. Thursday and Friday I was an unapologetic bum (had to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy at some point). Saturday – Monday I traveled around Tuscany and Umbria, hitting Arezzo, Orvieto’s train station, Lake Trasimeno, Perugia, and Lucca. Arezzo is just about the most perfect place ever made; Orvieto was a train mistake, but I would like to see it intentionally and during daylight hours sometime ... Lake Trasimeno… well, it’s the 4th largest lake in Italy; and Lucca was a delight. Lots happened on this jaunt, so I’ll just list the highlights:
Arezzo is so perfect! Tour books always say “Tuscany is at it’s most breathtaking and impressive in its small towns,” which sounds sappy but is totally true. Florence is wonderful, but there’s just something about those windy streets and little cafes. You know that time in the late afternoon where things are sleepy from morning busy-ness, but pregnant with excitement for the night? That’s how it feels all day long here, but it was an especially strong feeling in Arezzo. “Life is Beautiful” was filmed there, and we saw a wedding where they recreated a scene from the movie! Cute! And then practically the whole town toasted them in the main piazza! Cuter! And everyone was so happy and stylish! Cute overload!
Eurochocolate 2009 would have been more aptly named Lose Your Faith in Humanity and Get Diabetes 2009. I think Italians are great people, but this event brought out the worst in them. They just don’t believe in lines, so moving through the crowd was really, really unpleasant. It was like a war zone around the sites stands giving out free samples, none of which were even that special. The event was disappointingly corporate, too – we only saw stands from the biggest European candy brands. We had envisioned a tranquil festival of artisan chocolates and happiness where we could linger all day, but we had to flee after about 20 minutes. On the plus side, we saw a lot more of Perugia’s sites than we’d thought we’d have time for!
Lucca was so cute and full of medieval stuff in the same time capsule way Florence is about the Renaissance. I climbed a medieval tower and rode around the perfectly intact (and scenic) city walls. Did you know they used to have trees on top of medieval towers? Weird! It’s a bold claim to make in Italy, but I also had the most delicious pizza ever in Lucca at Pizzeria di Felice. Take that, Naples!
I have a few days in Florence before my next trip, and I plan to see some of the sites I’ve missed and test out some Tuscan recipes. Wish me luck on my ribollita!
Claire Costantino,
CET Florence, Fall 2009
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento