Verona, Wine Tasting and Gondolas

It was a pretty big weekend! It started off on Friday when I discovered the closest thing to Chipotle that can be found in Florence! It's called Mesopotamia Kebob. It's not a burrito, it's more a wrap, but it's SOOOOO GOOOD. It's got lots of meat, cheese, lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and ranch dressing....so it's not necessarily Chipotle, but it was really really good. It's nice to get a break from the pizza, pasta and paninis every once in a while.

We headed out VERY early Saturday morning to Verona. It's the hometown of Romeo and Juliet, so we were able to see the Capulets Castle along with the Montagues as well. We even got to see Juliet's balcony. Pretty cool stuff. There is a bronze statue of her in the courtyard and tradition says that if you touch her, excuse my language, boob, you will have good luck in love. Unfortunately, the line was about a million people long, obviously, so I figured I would take my chance in love and pass ;) Verona was a really nice and quaint town and we got some free time to just walk around and explore a little bit. After our tours and free time around Verona we went to another wine tasting! Now if you remember one of last posts on it...forget it because this one was SO MUCH BETTER. This time, we got to walk through the vineyards and I had SO MANY grapes off the vine it was out of control! They were the best grapes I've ever had...it was sad to leave them behind knowing what I have to eat back in the states. So that was really fun, then we got the tours of the cellar and then we had the tasting. This one seemed much more professional and informative. The last time, I didn't really learn anything, and the four steps I told you in the other post was second-hand from the girl next to me. Haha...but this time, somebody actually walked us through the tasting and now I REALLY understand what is good about wine tasting, what kind of foods go with what wine AND how to tell a difference between regular wine and dessert wine...all because there was a lot more useful and beneficial info. We tried three different kinds of red...I was hoping for a little white...but at this farm they don't really make it. PLUS, I learned that white is not as healthy for you because it has a lot of chemicals in it. So...don't drink it, okay? Needless to say though, it was really fun and I loved being able to walk through the vineyards...it was just so fun. Then we headed to our hotel for dinner, which was interesting...when we got to the hotel we got to our rooms before they cleaned it, and it's safe to say that this wasn't a four star by any means. Three words: stains, hair and smelly. That's what we saw on our mattresses when we walked in. It was SICK. They cleaned it up and we just tried to forget the images we saw when we first got there. We left to go to dinner and afterwards we went to Lake Garda. I think it's one of the biggest lakes in Italy, and coming from the Land of 10,000 it felt super nice to be by the lake again :) We just hung out and I got the biggest serving of gelato since I've been here for only 2.60. AMAZING. It was really fun just hanging by the lake and eating our gelato and treats. The next morning, the water didn't work which was great because all of us needed to shower. But...whatevs...we clean up well ;) NOW. Forget about the hotel because the day got much better...

So VENICE IS AMAZING. It's pretty full of tourists though, so it was hard to get around at times. We got a guided tour throughout the city, walking through the town and my favorite, Piazza San Marco...the famous place that is always in movies. We then had a few hours on our own, so we got some delicious pizza at a cute restaurant, walked through some markets, sat by the water, and then of course...went on a Gondola ride! Six of us went and it was realllly fun. Unfortunately, I didn't fall in love because our gondalear was about 50 years older than me...and he didn't sing for us...so two things that held me back ;) Haha, anyways...Venice is a pretty amazing city and I'm really glad I was able to experience it!

This week is me just getting ready for mid-terms next week. I've actually got schoolwork to do...surprising huh? So I'll be doing my studying and everything this week and weekend to get ready for it! I'll be going on a day trip to Perugia on Saturday that I'm pretty excited about. I'll be going with my roommate Roxanne and her parents actually, who are visiting this week, and we're going to head to the CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL that Perugia is famous for. YUM! CAN'T WAIT!!

That's the update for now...I'm off to make pasta for din din...again :) Ciao!