Tuscany Wine of Choice - Chianti Classico

It has officially been way too long since I updated this blog. I guess that I just kept thinking "I'll wait until something big happens," except that now I have so much I could tell you about, I don't know where to begin. Let me go re-read my last entry so that I know where I left off...

I don't have much time left in Florence (in fact, exactly two weeks as of today! Yikes!), so I've been trying to eradicate all of the remaining items on my list of "Things to See" and "Places to Go". Unfortunately - I seem to keep adding on one more item for every one that I cross off. But I did manage to really see the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, took a bus to Fiesole (a small town outside of the city with a gorgeous view and natural park), and took a couple of day trips when I could squeeze them in to the cities of Bologna, Perugia, and Orvieto.

I also finally got to Rome (if only for a day) with my Women and Religion Class. It was a really small group, seven of us including Martina, our teacher, so it almost felt like just hanging out with a group of students visiting the city. I'll tell you, standing in front of the Colosseum for the first time was one of those breathtaking, "Oh my God, I can't believe that I'm actually here!" moments. You know the kind, when you feel completely overwhelmed by the size, history, beauty, or whatever, you're stomach seems to drop, you inhale and feel like you will never exhale again - to me, moments like that are some of the best in life! I had been reading Angels and Demons (I found an old copy in our apartment) and was pretty much falling in love with the book. (I read it years ago, but I think that I was too young at the time to really appreciate it.) Anyway, our class visited a number of the sites that they mention in the book, such as Piazza Navona, Santa Maria della Vittoria, and St. Peter's Square, which I also found really exciting since it was all fresh in my mind - not to mention that it was ROME!

I also had the opportunity to go to Castello Verrazzano in the Chianti Region of Italy, which is an old castle now a winery, although they also produce many other delicious products. A trip through the Study Abroad Italy program took some students up to this castle, for a tour of the castle, winery, and a delicious lunch and wine tasting. It was a lot of fun, and delicious. We had a full five course meal, including wild boar sausages (they raise wild boar on the land), amazing Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegarette, and a different type of wine for each course. The staple wine is the Chianti Classico, so of course I had to buy a bottle of that to take home! It was also really nice to actually have a certain type wine with the course that it was meant for (I usually don't match the wine and food well), and to listen to our guide talking about how for him, wine, wine-making, and the Italian countryside was a way of life and a way to get in touch with himself and his humanity. His passion for the wine was evident in everything that he said.

I think that is everything that I wanted to say right now, but keep checking back because I'll be telling you all about my trip to Vienna soon!

Ciao!