Tuscany - Bologna

The week after my incredible 18 day adventure could not be spent in Milan of course, I needed to travel haha. This time we decided to do Tuscany. Ravi hadn't been to Florence yet, so we were going to go to Florence for a day than do the Tuscan countryside the next few days. So we went, Ravi, Irvin, Mark, Gauthier and me, on Friday to Florence. When we got there, I had a really cool feeling that I hadn't really had before. Since I had already been in Florence and loved it so much, it was really cool being able to be back and know where everything was and have it feel familiar. Since every week was pretty much a new and amazing place, it was nice being back at one of those places. So when we got there we went to our hostel, Plus Florence, and met up with Laura!! We were so excited to see her again, and it was awesome to be able to meet up in all these amazing places. So that day Ravi, Irvin, Mark, and Gauthier went to the Uffizi (The most famous museum in Florence) while Laura and me went to find St. Croce cathedral. This cathedral had the bodies of such incredible men as Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and other prominent figures of the past. The Basilica itself was really nice, and being in the same room as this brilliant artists and thinkers was pretty incredible. Even though they died a long time ago, you still feel a sense of awe and are humbled thinking of all that those men accomplished. I'm really glad I got to see it, because this was one of the things I really regretted not seeing the first time around. After St. Croce, Laura and I attempted to find the Pitti Palace, a famous palace in the Renaissance times and for some reason we could not find it! We were literally standing on the corner where the map told us it was and there was no palace! We walked for around 20 minutes and could not find this place! Eventually we had to meet up with the other guys by the Duomo and so we had to give up our search. We met up with them and we all went to a nice pizza place and had a nice dinner together. After we went searching for a wine bar and sat around and just enjoyed each other's company for an hour or so. After, we went back to our hostel and went to bed, because early the next morning we were off to see the countryside of Tuscany! We woke up the next morning and began our adventure. Luckily, Laura has been traveling with a car so we got to use her car and it helped us get to places that would otherwise have been really complicated to get to. Our first stop on our journey was Montepulciano. This little village is known for their wine Vino Nobile, which is considered one of Italy's finest wines. Wine is one of Ravi's favorite things and this journey was sort of like a "Mecca" for him, because we would be hitting two of Italy's most famous wine towns, and he was super excited. Montepulciano was beautiful, the town itself was really what you think about when you think of classic Italy. It was a really small town, built on a hill and all around is the rolling countryside of Tuscany. It was so beautiful. We then found the Contucci Cantina, which is where we got to try the Vino Nobile. This Cantina held caskets of the Vino Nobile, and was one of the most respected Cantinas, It was run by an man named Adamo and he welcomes you in, tells you to take the quick tour, then come back to try the different types of Vino Nobile. It was awesome actually getting to see a really wine cellar and then trying the different wines and just having the whole experience. After Montepulciano, we made our way to Montalcino, the home of Brunello, considered again one of the best wines in all of Italy. This town was just as beautiful as the first, and we got amazing views, then walked around the city and went to a wine bar and tried the Brunello, and it was fantastic. After Montalcino, we went to Siena, this city was pretty awesome, and they had what was, according to Rick Steves, the best town square in Italy. I think it was a little overrated. It was nice and all, but honestly, I’ve seen better haha. We walked around the city, went to the Duomo which was absolutely incredible, had a nice dinner and just enjoyed the city. We then got lost on the way back and had a fun time trying to find our way. It took a while but we did it! We then headed back to Florence to go to bed after a long, although amazing day. The next day, we decided to try and go to a Chianti Vineyard, and so we headed off and went to the first town that Laura's GPS told us to go, it was a nice little town and we had some breakfast, but thought this isn't exactly what we were looking for. We then found a vineyard, and met this old lady who didn't speak any English, we tried some of the wine, said we didn't want to buy any and then she wasn't so friendly and pretty much wanted us to leave haha. After that we started the drive to Bologna, supposedly the most famous place in Italy for food. Yup, they were right. When we got there, we were driving, and it was kind of an ugly town, but we found a parking lot and somehow luckily were put right in front of a restaurant that looked pretty good. We went in, sat down, and began what was by far the best meal I have had since I have been here. We started off with what I can only describe as the most magical bruschetta on earth; it was so fresh and so incredible. Then I had some Pasta Bolognese (I had to!) and that was incredible, then we had to get some more bruschetta, then we had some pizza!! It was the biggest and most fantastic meal ever. We were there for hours, and enjoyed every second. The funniest/sad part was that there was only one lady working the whole place and she looked so stressed the whole time, and it was sad but she was doing a good job. However, one time she came by and touched Ravi's shoulder for a few seconds while he was in mid-sentence and she kept going, and his face was priceless. He was so confused, and we just burst out laughing, it was so funny! After the meal, we had to top it off with some gelato. We walked around a little, and surprisingly found one of if not the best gelato I have had in Italy. Bologna did not disappoint. Unfortunately we could not see that much of this city because we had to get back. So we made our way over to the train station and got back on a train to Milano. This trip was so much fun and a lot different from my others because we got to travel by car, and see some places that had a lot of famous history and amazing wines, and that were absolutely gorgeous. It was an incredible experience, and I loved every bit of it.