On Friday I went on a museum studies field trip to three
small towns in Tuscany; Buonconvento, Pienza and Bagno Vignoni. In Buonconvento
we went to the Museo di Arte Sacra and the Museo della Mezzadria. The Museo
della Mezzadria is an agricultural and sharecropper museum about farmers in
Tuscany. The museum was flooded a few months ago and all of their items were
covered in mud and water. It was very interesting to visit because we learned
about the farm life in Tuscany as well as how a museum takes steps to recuperate
from such devastation. We then went to Pienza, considered the first Renaissance
town of Tuscany. We visited the duomo there and Palazzo Piccolomini. We got a
beautiful view of the hills of Tuscany from the balcony overlooking the palace’s
garden! We ended the day by visiting the tiny town of Bagno Vignoni where the
town piazza is a natural hot spring that the Medici family soaked in. The water
was very warm and clear! The water from the pool in the center of town flows
down a cliff into a crystal blue river. It was so beautiful and fun to feel
such warm, natural water! Bagno Vignoni also has ancient Roman bath ruins
situated on the cliffs next to the water trickling down into the river; very
picturesque! On Saturday I took a very long (6 hours) bus ride to Verona; “The
city of love.” I walked around Piazza Bra and saw an antique car show going on
outside the city’s government buildings. I went into the ancient Roman arena
that takes up most of the town’s center. I haven’t been to Rome yet but it
looked like the Coliseum to me! It was so fun to walk around the top of the
arena and see Verona. It is currently being restored but is used for the opera
and concerts in the summer. I then ventured off to the main attraction in
Verona: Juliet’s house! It looks exactly like it does in the movie Letters to
Juliet, which I watched a few days before going. It was very crowded and had
high security to prevent people from writing on the walls. It was fun to see the
balcony and the sculpture of Juliet though! I had someone take a picture of me
at the sculpture of Juliet and then everyone around me yelled at me to touch
her boob, apparently it is good luck. I also went to Romeo’s house but it was
gated off, I am not sure if it is ever open. I enjoyed walking around the
streets of Verona; it is so pretty and lively with so much history! I climbed
to the top of Lamberti Tower and got a great view of the city. It was
unfortunately pretty polluted which was a shock to see for the first time in
Italy. I then walked along the Adige River and went across all of the famous
bridges. I ended at Castelvecchio at sunset after a busy day of sightseeing!
For dinner I found an Italian buffet! I went thinking I could get a good dinner
for pretty cheap but it was actually very expensive, not like the buffets in
the U.S. It was a buffet of delicious food, but there were no deals and you had
to pay for each item individually which gets pretty pricey when water is 3 euro
alone. A difference in Italy is definitely how things work in a
restaurant. You are not expected to tip your server but you get charged a “service
charge” at the end and a lot of times you can’t find out a restaurant’s service
charge until you get the bill. It is misleading because anywhere you sit down,
you get charged a service charge, even if you don’t really have a formal
waiter. Another thing is that water is not free. Water is so expensive in
Italy. We have learned to fill our water bottles up at any fountain we can find
and always have them with us in restaurants so that we can always say no when
we are asked if we want water. Always say no if you have your own, it is expensive.
I did have a good dinner though in Verona. I got pasta carbonara and a yummy
cherry cheesecake for dessert. On Sunday I arrived at the train station ready
for my fifteen minute train ride to Lake Garda. I found out that the ticket I
had purchased beforehand was an ordinary ticket and the time I planned to go
was only for people with regional tickets. So I was sent to the ticketing
office to wait in a line to change my ticket so that I could catch a 9:32am
train. I ended up switching my ticket at 9:30, left the ticketing office at
9:31 and ran to the train, literally just getting on when the wheels were
moving! Catching these buses and trains are tough sometimes! We constantly feel
like we are on the Amazing Race! I got to Peschiera del Garda, a
town on Lake Garda. The lake was so pretty and blue! It was a beautiful day
out, sunny and perfect weather. I walked around the town and around the town
perimeters of the lake, looking at all of the sailboats and seagulls. It was a
fun weekend in Verona and at Lake Garda, next weekend I will be going to Milan,
Turin and Lake Como!
Ciao!
-Rachel
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