Some of My Last Travels

Hello!

What a couple of weeks, and the ones coming up don't look much calmer! It has been an interesting time, as I took my last trips out of the country and welcomed friends to my own. I toured tiny towns of Italy, and visited the largest Metropolis on this side of the Atlantic. A study in paradoxes, my last couple of weeks have been in a word.... exhausting. :)

The weekend following my trip to beautiful Belgium, I traveled over mountains to the other side of the Italy, and embarked on a Pilgrimage to the great Italian painter, Piero della Francesca. I will henceforth refer to it as the Piero Pilgrimage. Sarah M. and I went with a class from our school, and visited FIVE cities: Arezzo, Monterchi, Sansepolcro, Urbino, Rimini. It was a whirlwind of two days, but absolutely unforgettable. We saw, without a doubt, almost the entirety of this artist's work, and even if we didn't see every work, we saw the best!! We also had this FABULOUS dinner, where we sat at two huge tables of 25 people each, and were served course after delicious course of food for 3 hours. I must explain the magnitude of the food though. When I say course after course, I mean FOUR courses with at least SEVEN options each. We had antipastas, primis, secundis, and dolce! All washed down with unlimited delicious wine from central Italy. I have NEVER been so full. It was an unforgettable weekend, and I adored all the small towns I had never seen before!

I came home after that weekend, and looked at the list of places I had compiled on my first flight to Florence last September of all the places that I wanted to see while I was abroad and realized that my number one city was NOT crossed off! So I got my ticket and I headed to LONDON the next weekend. I must say that it was a relief to get off the plane and be able to speak English, it made everything so much easier! However, I did miss the smell of Italy when it was replaced with the pollution in London. :( I immediately hit the museums, starting off with the National Gallery and touring for hours. I saw paintings I have dreamt about for years, but interestingly I did not remember being there before. I went to London on my first trip to Europe when I was 9 years old, and I didn't remember anything I saw on my trip this time. Anyway, I hit the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Portrait Gallery, the Tower, and Somerset House and Courtauld Institute, which many of you know I had hoped to attend this semester. It was a good experience, and I was given a tour of the Institute so I know what I am getting into if I decided to apply again, this time for graduate school there. Also by chance they were hosting an exhibition of the Tuscan Renaissance Marriage Cassone (large chests given to brides by the groom's parents) which I am writing a very long presentation on at the moment! So it was great to see some other examples of the works, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I then walked all around that area, and truth be told, shopped. I was staying in Sloane Square at the Sloane Square Hotel (which I completely reccomend, it was AMAZING and perfect location). It was easy to hit up the square for shopping and an easy walk to HARRODS! :) All in all a great weekend but London was a bit hard to do alone, I feel like it is definitely a place to go with a group as walking around all those museums gets a bit lonely! However, I had tons of English movies to keep me company and I saw two chick flicks I had been dying to see, hehe. It was a great end to a fantastic weekend.

I headed back to Italy, and welcomed my bestie Natalie T. to our shores! We toured Florence, went on a day trip to the hill towns of Orvieto and Cortona, and then back to Florence where we did a whirlwind of museum visits (Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti Palace) with some shopping thrown in (San Lorenzo, Oltrarno) where we are proud to say she only bought things crafted in Florence! We dined on amazing food, including a new place for me in the Oltrarno. It was incredible to be able to share my adopted city with someone who knows me so well from another life! We finished our time together in Rome, and she went on to tour the city while I headed back to real life and homework!

This weekend I have stayed in Florence and caught up on culture and sleep! Today's Easter celebration was intense, but another experience I am so happy to remember. No one celebrates like the Florentines!

All my love, and I have attached pictures below!
That Girl in Europe

Piero Pilgrimage (Arezzo, Monterchi, Sansepolcro, Urbino, Rimini):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2539154&id=8642257&l=119ca9cab7

London Calling:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2543716&id=8642257&l=0d4f390007

Natalie in Italy (Florence, Orvieto, Cortona):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2543729&id=8642257&l=5899527a75