Olive Oil, Truffles, and Chaos

Last Saturday I went  to the White Truffle Festival in San Miniato.  The town is a 40 minute train ride from Florence.  The festival started partially down the hillside and led all the way to the top where there was an amazing view of the surrounding hills.  The festival had more than just truffles.  The olive harvest just ended and there were booths with new oil that is a bright green color and glows like a neon light in the sun.  There was also local wines and preserves.  Booths full of meats and cheeses and some packed with sweets.  The town was beautiful as well.  I decided to walk down to the train station instead of taking the bus.  As I began to walk I realized that San Miniato was the hilltop town and that the lower town was a different name and they were separated by vineyards.  It took me a few hours but I finally reached the train station and returned to Florence.

On Sunday I went to an organic festival and a new oil festival in Florence.  The organic festival had all kinds of food and clothing and was perfectly situated in what is known as the "hippie piazza."

Tuesday my photography class went to the farm school where the Fiorentina Soccer Club trains their new prospects.  It was cool to watch the goalies train and to see all the soon to be Fiorentina players.

Friday I went to Venice with my friends Megan, Christy, and Patricia.  We arrived in Venice around noon and the city was covered in a light fog.  It was cold and grey all day but the city was still beautiful.  We went to Piazza di San Marco and saw the San Marco cathedral.  Walked down to a festival and then went to the small island of Burano.  The island is known for its lace and the brightly colored buildings that make up the community.  It was so nice to be in a city where there are no vehicles except for boats and it was interesting taking a water taxi to Burano and seeing how the sinking town's tower is at an extreme tilt.

Going home, we had to take 3 different trains which was not a problem.  Our train from Venice to Bologna was 25 minutes late and we got to Bologna with just a few minutes to get to our train.  We searched everywhere and could not find it.  When we finally realized where our train was, we noticed it has been delayed 4 hours.  This meant we would not leave Bologna until 2am and Florence by 4:30.  No one wanted to stay that late so we went on a quest to find a way to get home earlier.  As we ran around I noticed that all the trains were delayed but I assumed that was typical Italian transit.  Christy and Patricia went to talk to the information desk and found out that there was a train accident and there was only one train going by Florence for the rest of the night and it left in 6 minutes.  We did not know where the train was so we began running up and down platforms and asking anyone we could find.  Finally we found the train and jumped on.  We lucked out because we were not checked for tickets.  We finally reached Florence around midnight.  The rest of my weekend was spent doing massive amounts of homework.

I leave for Barcelona in the morning to spend my Thanksgiving Spanish style.

Festivals

Venice and Burano