Pisa

Mara, Beth and I went to Pisa on Thursday last week. We went up the Leaning Tower. The tower was built in 1173 because of a poor foundation and soft soil it started to lean. Then, the construction was stopped for almost a century. Then, in 1272 the construction started again and the architect added more floors and had those floors tilted the other way to try to correct the lean. That made the tower lean a little bit to the other direction. Now the tower is curved because of this. The tower is still being restored from corrosion and blackening. The tower is really cool! After the tower we went into the Duomo. We saw Galileo's lamp which is called that because Galileo looked at it and it was swinging back and forth each swing the same height and he discovered a new idea.

New Guests

On Saturday, Mara and her mom, Beth came to visit us for 9 days. The first thing that we did with them is we went to a pig farm. We went with the students who are in the program that my dad is the leader of. The pigs are called Cinta Senese. They are black with a band of white on around their bellies. They were actually pretty big and we even got to see piglets., which I thought were cute. They were also very loud. At the pig farm there was a black cat too. Then, after the pig farm we went to the Copra farm or goat cheese farm. They had a lot of goats. It reminded me of the goats at Catlin, but there were a lot more. We didn't get to try the cheese though, because it was not the season that they make cheese. There was even a rooster. We learned about how they make the cheese there. I learned that different kinds of shapes of the cheese molds and what size the wholes there are, make the chesse a different consisitency. I really liked both of the farms!

The Uffizi

I went to Florence with my Aunt and my mom and dad. We went to the gallery Uffizi, which means offices because the Medici family, the richest family in Florence had there offices there. It has lots of paintings in it from very famous artists. It has the very famous The Birth of Venus and Primavera painted by Botticelli. All of the paintings are very old. My favorite two paintings are The Birth of Venus and Primavera. I like the three godesses dancing in Primavera and also I like Primavera because I was born in Primavera or Spring. To give you a example on how big the Uffizi is it would take a day to look at all the paintings. We got tired and stopped at almost two hours. There is the Ponte Vechio or Old Bridge with a lot of shops on it now, but when the Medici lived they used it to cross the Arno river without having to walk with the common people. The Medici even had secret passageways to go to church and see a service without the common people seeing them or being near them. The Medici family ruled all of Tuscany. Sienese and Florentines don't like eachother still today because a long time ago Siena won a battle against Florence. I really like the Uffizi, but you get really tired of walking and you can't take too much in.

Eating in Italy

There are things that are similar and different about eating in Italy. First of all, Italians eat their biggest meal for lunch. Italians eat dinner at 8:00 P.M. A lot later than America. Italians and Americans both like pasta, pizza and sandwiches. Italian pizza is very thin and it does not have very much crust. Italians have a Antipasti or appetizers then Primi or first course, Secondi or Second course. After that they have Dolci or Dessert and Contorni or Sides.
Typical things that you would find on a menu in a restaraunt in Siena:

Antipasti
Bruschetta: toasted bread with sauces on top (both easy to make and tasty)
Pane con formaggio e miele: bread with chesse and honey

Primi
Ribollita: a vegetable soup
Papa al pomodoro: tomato and stale bread soup (really good)
Carbonara: spaghetti with a cream sauce and ham (good, but really rich and filling)

Secondi
Ossobucco: veal with olive oil and a sauce (very delicious)
Fiorentina: stake (I have not had this yet, but I am sure it is great)

Contorni
Spinaci con olio e aglio: spinach with olive oil and garlic (I like this)
Patate Fritte: patatoe (good, but it is different for every restaraunt

I usually just get a Primi, since I would not be able to eat Secondi too. Almost all Italian restaraunts are good!

Montalcino and San Gimignano

On Tuesday I went to Montalcino and then to San Gimignano. Montalcino is a very pretty small town in Tuscany, about an hours drive from Siena. Montalcino is known for its wine. My parents and Aunt like the wine. There was not very many tourists there at all. We were very lucky to have such a beautiful sunny day to travel. I would go back to Montalcino anytime!

We also went to San Gimignano. I looked at shops and my Aunt got me a scarf. San Gimignano is another small and pretty town. Almost all the towns are on top of hills. There were a lot more tourists there. We went to our favorite restaruant. Ristorante Chiribiri. They had very good food! All the people in the restaraunt were tourists. There were British people, French people, and when we left some Chinese or Japanese people were coming in. There were people talking in so many different languages. I think that San Gimignano is a great city!

Cortona

On Monday I went to Cortona with my mom, dad, and Aunt. We rented a car to drive there from Siena. Cortona was on a very high hill. We went inside a church during what seemed to be a windstorm. Which was very loud and cold. We ate at Dolce Maria or Sweet Mary. We were the only ones there. The manager/chef Luigi was very nice and the food was really good! I had Ribollita a vegetable soup. We walked through the streets of Cortona. After that, we looked at the countryside and the Lake Trasimeno, from an overlook. The movie, Under the Tuscan Sun was about and filmed in Cortona. The book was written by Frances Mayes. I liked Cortona!

School

I forgot to say that I have school from 8:20 A.M. to 1:20 P.M. It is a very short school day. I have school on Saturday! I wish that school was longer and only five days. I really like having two days of no school. I don't get very much homework just some practice worksheets for learning Italian. But my other friends get a lot of homework. My class is a music class. So, on Saturday I have music. I just play the claves because I don't know what the people in the class are playing. I know the names of them though. They are learning some songs from Pinocchio or pine-eye and a song called Olyem Goylem. The songs that they play are classical. The instruments that they play are flute/flauto,clarinet/clarinetto,piano/pianoforte,oboe, and guitar/chitarra. I am learning a lot of Italian and enjoying it!

Carnevale di Foiano

Sunday night I went to the Carnevale di Foiano with the college students that are in the program that my dad is working in. Foiano is a small town an hours drive away from Siena. There is silly string and confetti that you can buy. I got silly string and sprayed it at people. There are four segments that Foiano is split up into. Each segment makes a float, out of papier mache, and it represents something that they wish for the New Year. Some people dress up in costumes. There is music played from the floats and bands that play. It was really fun! Soon I will add pictures of both Carnevale's!

Here is the link to a photo album of Carnevale of Foiano. Copy and paste it to your URL.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=277511444/a=27920112_27920112/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast2