Verona

On the way back from the mountains we stopped in Verona, a beautiful city in Veneto, so called the 'city of love' for its connection to Romeo and Juliet. The city's reverence for its image is evident as they hang giant hearts from every street. Other than this spectacle, the presence of Romeo and Juliet was merely a detail. I visited the house of the Capulets, and though it was interesting, even better was the view from the streets. Unfortunately unable to finish this now, I'll try to put up the pictures and finish later.

In Montagna

Sorry for the long delay. I've been quite busy here. I am taking 6 classes and helping with teaching some english lessons outside of the school. The lessons are of varying difficulties which has as much to do with the other students in the class as the subject matter or teacher. Happily I don't find myself frustrated by the learning curve. Perhaps an attribute to having experience much of the same at home; simply put, others don't tend to take these lessons as seriously as I do. Ma non mi lamento.
We returned from the mountains about a week and a half ago and though I returned with the flu, I am glad for the break we had. My excitement for my lessons of emigration and sociolinguistics has not been tempered by the first week of classes, therefore I can rightfully conclude that this will be a solid semester.
I have photos of the mountain, specifically from a nature walk, winding upward through the mountains finally ending at a small island of a hotel, l'unico, the only, source of warmth in sight. And warm it was; we drank warm wine with spice and ate chocolate cake. A great experience, hopefully you enjoy the pictures as much as I did it live.
Soon I hope to give some notes about Verona, where we also visited (beautiful) and Firenze where we are about to go.\

San Gimagnano

Last weekend, I and the guys took a trip to a truly unique city. The city of seven towers. San Gimignano. It's hard to tell the story of the city outside of pictures, so I will keep my words brief, and litter this page with some of the 83 pictures that I took.





The city sits atop a mountain, with a fortress of walls, the ancient protections of medieval times. The streets are cobblestone, wide and open. The people didn't come out when we were there; most likely because a tour group of 20 or so accompanied us: loud and obnoxious. But we quickly separated from them and greatly enjoyed our walk around the city. The panoramic view of tuscan fields was truly unico. Unique, impossible to find elsewhere.