Home :)

So I am officially home in good old Vermont. I got in late last night and immediately went to sleep. It was a very long day of traveling, so I'm definitely glad to be home right now. I am fully unpacked, since I had the time and was so sick of looking at my suitcases and living out of them. The past couple of days have been great traveling around Italy with my parents, but I think having to live just out of a suitcase was getting to me. That's the one part of traveling that I don't like.
I'm trying to remember where I left off on the last post... Friday morning we got a short tour of Spanocchia (where we were staying in Siena). It's a really cool place and it was in a really beautiful area. I would definitely stay there again. We drove to visit Pienza and Montalcino. Both are small hill towns that my parents wanted to check out. I had gone to Pienza before for a field study for class, so I already knew a lot about the town. However, once we got there, it looked a bit different. There was a flower festival going on, so the town had flowers hanging everywhere and the main piazza was filled with flowers. It looked completely different and much nicer.  There were people walking throughout the streets, which was a nice change from the last time I was there and it seemed like a ghost town. We had a nice lunch before walking around a bit in the town. I am glad that I got to see Pienza again in that environment. Then we headed to Montalcino, since it was on our way back to the hotel. I wish we could have walked around a bit more in Montalcino. It was gorgeous and really nice. From every small town I've gone to, there are some amazing views. The Tuscan countryside is like nothing else. Vermont has some pretty good views, but Tuscany takes first place here. The rolling hillsides and vineyards scattered about with a random house or two thrown in just make it truly unique. It never gets old to see that and I know that is one thing I am going to truly miss about Italy. We drove back to Spanocchia to get ready for dinner. I had made a reservation at my favorite restaurant in Siena (and really anywhere). It was right at the end of my street and my parents loved it. We got seated at a table for 8 with a lady sitting by herself and later a couple sat on the other side of her. This restaurant, San Giuseppe, is a small, homey, and comfortable place. The service is great and everyone there is really nice. The food is exceptional and I wish you all could go there and have a meal. The first time I ate there, I immediately knew that I wanted my last supper to be there. It is a must for me to go back to Siena, even if just for dinner. I need to go back to San Giuseppe - that's how good it was. The older lady that we were sitting next to started talking to us in Italian. She didn't know any English, so my parents had a hard time communicating with her. But, I could understand some of what she was saying, so I tried to communicate with her a bit. After dinner, my parents told me that was probably the best meal they have had in Siena. I told them it was good and now they see why I needed to take them there. It's too bad I didn't go there more often.
On Saturday we had to check out of Spanocchia. We headed to a couple more small towns. First was San Gimignano which my mom thought was hyped up a lot. I completely agree. The skyscrapers are really cool when you understand that they built them a very long time ago without scaffolding. They built something that tall before they had any of the tools that people later on used. It's really cool to see, but other than that San Gimignano doesn't have much else to see. Then, we headed to Greve, which was on our way to Florence. On our way there, we passed by a restaurant and decided to stop. It was a cute, family run restaurant and it was a nice way to break up the drive. We got to Greve and walked around for about 20 minutes. My mom had wanted to go to see the Saturday market, but by the time we got there it was closed. We then made our way to Florence and got to our hotel. It was quiet and a nice place. It was a little outside the city, which was really nice. Once we had gotten settled, we took and walk and looked around. On our walk we found a restaurant where we could go for dinner. It was delicious and the view from the terrace we ate at was amazing. It was another family run restaurant, which I love. Throughout Italy, most of the restaurants are family run and it's a great atmosphere to eat in. The chef comes out a lot and talks with the diners because he knows a lot of them. I just love how much they love to cook and socialize and share that with everyone else.
On Sunday we walked around Florence for the day. We of course went to Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence and the most famous. Then, Elida had recommended some places for us to go that were a little less touristy. One of them was the oldest church in Florence which was on Piazza Limbo, where lots of children were buried. Then, we just walked around and made our way to the Duomo, which we unfortunately couldn't go into because a mass was going on at the time. We kept walking to the Accademia where David is, but the line was extremely long, so we just turned around and walked back. On our way back to our car, we walked through the botanical gardens. They were huge and cool, but different than other botanical gardens that I've walked through. It was more statues and paths than gardens. But, I think that we were a bit out of season and that the flowers/gardens hadn't fully bloomed yet. We made it back to our car and made our way to our last hotel, which was closer to the airport. That night we had our last meal in Italy. The next morning we got up early to head to the airport. Once we got into Chicago, it was a bit strange for me. It was weird to hear everyone around me speaking English. I actually had to be careful with what I said because everyone could understand exactly what I was saying. As I got off the plane, I saw a teenager traveling in a t-shirt, juicy sweatpants, and flip flops. I immediately knew that I was in America. I laughed a little to myself when I saw that and whispered to myself "Welcome Back." It's interesting the little things I notice now and things I would never do now. After traveling to Italy, I would never travel in sweats. Maybe I got that from being in Italy, but maybe it's just me growing up. Seeing all the different types of styles that people wear reminded me that I was back in the states. It still hasn't quite hit me that I am back here for good. After about a week, I think I will really start to feel the emotions that come with this. It all seems so surreal to me and most of it just feels like it was a dream. I am still in a bit of denial that I actually went and that I'm back. There are definitely things I am going to always miss about Siena and Italy, but it was the greatest opportunity of my life so far. It couldn't have been any better.