Ciao tutti,

This weekend went by far too fast. On Friday, our adviser Elena treated us to a wine tour/tasting at the Enoteca Italiana here in Siena. It is located underneath the Fortezza and houses wines from all over Italy (learn more here). Here is an awkward family photo that Elena took,

Saturday afternoon I joined my Italian family for lunch. I must say, I am not used to il pranzo italiano. I practically rolled home. We started with spaghetti alle vongole, followed by two types of grilled fish -- one which resembled swordfish and another that was only native to the Mediterranean (I forget the name).  AND salad. AND gelato. Oh and when asked if you want seconds, "No thank you, I'm full" is not an option. 

Tonight we took our roommate, Ray out for a Birthday meal to Fontegiusta, our go-to for affordable delicious food. In my opinion, the free bread is the best part. It is soft and hot out of the oven (LITERALLY straight from the oven)...and it has SALT in it. Which is a big deal here in Tuscany, where the bread is tasteless and hard.

As I am now more than halfway through with my trip here (quite depressing...) I have started to plan the rest of my travels for these coming months. Beginning of April -London and/or Amsterdam. May 1st I am going to Barcelona for 5 days. I think it is necessary to see more of Italy and I am trying to fit in a trip down south to Naples and over to the coast. If anyone has suggestions on must-see places in (or out) of Italy, send me a message. I'm a clueless traveler and up for practically anything.

A presto, M

Parigi

Last weekend's trip to Paris was an interesting one. The city is absolutely beautiful. The food is incredible. And I realized that I am better suited to traveling alone. Besides hitting all of the major tourist stops (The Louvre, Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, etc) I spent most of my weekend wandering aimlessly while waiting for my roommate to wake up. I generally wake up early, and it was frustrating having to wake until 1130/noon to really get the day started..

That said, my mornings consisted mostly of people watching...and Paris is the perfect city for people watching. I chuckled every time I saw a business man, wearing a beret, carrying a baguette (this happened often).

However, my Paris trip was not entirely a French experience. Living in a small city like Siena my encounters with the American lifestyle are limited...in the long run this is probably a good thing. I feel as though I must get as authentic an experience as possible while living in Europe. However, the fact that my map of Paris labeled the location of every single Starbucks within walking distance kind of set me up for failure.

The holiest place on Earth.

Okay, I caved. I went to Starbucks. Every day. I ordered a Venti....every day. I sprinted -- yes sprinted -- when I saw the sign in the distance. I have no self control.

Our first night in Paris, we went to a very nice bistro where the food was not too expensive (to Parisian standards...not saying much) and delicious. I had a fantastic dish that was called "lasagna" on the menu, but was nothing of the sort. It came with a dish of baked eggplant in tomato sauce, sans cheese. On the side came a lump of fresh mozzarella and a salad. While this is a sad excuse for lasagna, it was exactly what I wanted.

I will say that the Italians do mozzarella WAY better than the French, but that's okay. French know their bread.

Oh, and I tried snails.

It looks like I'm just posing jokingly with  the fork, but I did actually eat it. And it was......good.

On Sunday we visited Versailles, which was by far my favorite part of the trip.

hall of mirrors

louis and i

We also visited the Notre Dame cathedral..and I promptly watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame when I got home:

Montmartre

A foggy view of Paris from Montmartre

My tourist shot outside the Louvre