Interlaken, Switzerland

Last weekend was my big Switzerland adventure.  It started on Thursday afternoon and did not end until Sunday night.  It involved many trains, little sleep, lots of chocolate, and more rain then I could have imagined!

On Thursday night three friends (Megan, Emily and Laura) and I headed to the train station in Florence to begin what would be almost a 24 hour trip to Interlaken, Switzerland.  Unfortunately our first train heading to Pisa was late and led to one of the most anxious train rides of my life.  Due to the delay we would be getting into the Pisa at the same time that our next train to Milan was supposed to be leaving.  I can confidently say that we looked like we were nuts running through the Pisa station searching for our next train which may or may not have already left.  Fortunately the next train was about five minuets delayed as well so we were able to catch it!  The rest of the train rides went rather smoothly in comparison.  We did have a couple of scary moments during our seven hour layover in the Milan train station (from 12am-7am).  Spending the night in train station is not something that I would do again that is for sure.  Needless to say we did not get much sleep that night, and rolled into Interlaken around 11am on Friday.

Our first stop in Interlaken was to taste some Swiss chocolate and check into our hostel the River Lodge which was actually very nice and in a good location (right on the river).  Back at the train station we caught a bus to where we would be leaving to go canyoning.  Canyoning is a cross between white river rafting and cliff jumping, except you don't use any rafts and you are jumping into a river.  We wore wetsuits, helmets, life jackets and harnesses, in fact we were had so many layers on, we could barely feel how incredibly cold the water was.  It was a blast! We jumped off rocks that were about 5 meters above the water and slid down natural water slides in the river.  After a warm shower and dry clothes we had Rugen Brau beer with our guides and scouted out a good place for dinner.  We ended up at a place called Des Alps, which was okay, not the best food, but we all had a Swiss dish called Röusti.  Röusti is a pan of potatoes with eggs and swiss cheese on top.  After not sleeping for more than 24 hours we headed back to the hostel and were all sleeping by 7pm!

Interlaken, Switzerland - view from our Hostel

Saturday in Interlaken was dedicated to exploring the town and checking out the caves at Saint Beatus Höhlen.  It rained the entire day, so we made sure to make lots of stops in shops in the little downtown area to warm up and dry off as often as we could.  I of course bought some swiss chocolate and a post card as souvenirs.  Unfortunately the caves that we planned on exploring were closed because all the rain had caused flooding, so instead we toured the little museum attached and hiked the trails that led up to the cave.  Saturday night we went to a restaurant that one of the workers at the River Lodge had recommended.  It served swiss cheese fondue and it was delicious!

We started our Sunday by going out for Cappuccino and muffins (not very Swiss I know, but still good) We walked around for a bit taking more pictures since finally it had stopped raining for a bit.  Caught our train at at about 2pm and got back to Florence by 8pm (thankfully a much shorter trip then the way there).

Just for you Mom! This is where you should do your next marathon!

Local beer after canyoning

Giardino di Boboli & Florentia Soccer

This weekend was devoted to Florence! Me and a couple of friends spent the majority of Thursday and Friday planing future weekend trips to Interlaken, Switzerland (next weekend) and a packed fall break trip to Paris, Barcelona and London.  In between all of the planning, I did get a chance to see a couple of notable things around Florence.

On Friday me and a several other girls that go to my school went to the Boboli Gardens on the other side of the famous Pitti Palace home to the Medici family (the famous family of bankers that started investing in art in Florence i.e. Michelangelo).  The gardens are technically the backyard to the palace and they were huge!  We were there on a kind of rainy day so the view of the city was a little foggy, although still beautiful, but my favorite part was this cave like area that was intricately decorated with carvings made directly into the wall.

Saturday morning me and my roommates headed to the market where we bought lots of fresh fruits, veggies, cheese and meat.  This was a great chance for us to practice all the new Italian we have been learning in school....its not great yet but we managed to get what we needed.  We also got some fresh bacon and eggs and had a good American brunch! yum! Saturday night I headed off to a soccer game (called Calcio in Italian)  Florentina was playing Rome (not sure what there team name was) at home.  After taking the longest bus ride possible to the game, we made it and got to witness first hand the crazy Italian soccer fans.  There was literally armed guards at the game to protect the Rome fans from the Florence Fans, and each time a goal was scored on either side they would get into position as the fans tried to get at each other! Other than that the game was fun and very lively but Florence lost 1-2.

Giardino di Boboli

Giardino di Boboli

Florentina Soccer!

Half of the group that biked (almost) to Chianti

The view during our biking trip!

After hours of biking uphill we stopped for a break on the side of the road

Biking (almost) to Chianti

I have now finished my second week of classes in Florence and I am starting to feel like this is actually real.  I am living in Italy! Last weekend was my first weekend spent in Florence so my roommates and I decided to take advantage of the great weather we have been having here and try a bike ride into the wine country of Chianti.  I got the idea from a guide book and looked into it a couple days before we decided to go and looked up some bike rental places in the area.  We ended up being able to rent eight bikes for a very reasonable price.  In true McCauley fashion I persuaded everyone that we could do the trip on our own without having to pay for an expensive guided tour.  Unfortunately none of the people we asked was able to tell us exactly how far Greve (the town we hoped to get to in Chianti) was from Florence.  We heard everything from 14km-40km!

We set off early Saturday morning and got lucky with beautiful weather.  What I had not anticipated was all the hills! We literally biked 6 of the first 10km uphill so we made frequent stops along the way to take pictures, rest, and drink lots of water!  We finally stopped in Strada (the northernmost town of Chianti) to have the sandwiches that we had packed and decieded that we should probably turn around because some of the girls were really tiring out.  If you ask me I think we could have made it, I think Greve was only 8km more south.  Anyway it had taken us close to 4 hours of uphill biking to get there but it was all worth it because the whole way back was downhill, it actually felt like a roller coaster and made the hours of treacherous biking all worth it!  Sadly my roommates were not aware of how directionally challenged I am and allowed me to be in charge of directions and the map.  So although we made it there fine...the way back took a bit longer and more nerve racking.  But we made it back and made a plan that we would take a bus all the way to Greve another day so we could see the town and taste the legendary wine! We did get some beautiful scenic pictures along the way and a great workout!

Statue in Saint Margherita

Me in Saint Margherita

Some of the very unique boats in Camogli

Saint Fruttuoso

Port in Portofino

Beautiful Coast in Cinque Terre

One of the many Secret Garden(ish) doors we saw while hiking

The buildings of Verhazza

Locks that lined the entire "love trail" from Manarola to Riomaggiore

Me, Megan and Hannah: The 3 champs that hiked through all 5 cities!

Portofino & Cinque Terre

Hello! Sorry I did not write sooner, It has been a busy start to the week with classes, visitors and my weekend trip!

This weekend I went on an overnight trip through my school (in Florence) to Portofino and Cinque Terre and I do not have enough words to describe how BEAUTIFUL it was.  We started our trip early Saturday morning by taking a bus to Saint Margherita and spending about two hours walking through the small town and sitting on the large rocky beach.  Next was Camogli, another town on the coast that required us to take the most terrifying bus ride of my life.  The roads were so small and curvy that the next biggest vehicle to the bus was a smart car!  Here I had my first authentic Italian pizza (Salami) and got to try some of my friend Kayla's kalamari.  From Camogli we took a boat to Saint Fruttuso (my favorite of the day) which was a coast town of only 79 people tucked between two mountains (maybe bluffs/hills...not sure).  There was a look out point at the highest part of the town that used to be used to shoot off cannons at approaching pirate ships!  From this lookout there was a wonderful view of the town and its small beach area.  We ended our day in Portofino which is a very rich town and had some very upscale shops and huge yachts.  Our group leader/guide Stephano said that this place attracted some big names and people payed a lot of money to have homes here...of course I did not know any of the big names he said...I need to be more up to date on my European celebrities I guess!  We ended the night with dinner at the hotel back in Saint Margherita; it was five courses with wine included, but not the best Italian food I have had so far.

Day two of our trip was dedicated to the five cities that make up the Cinque Terre.  The bus dropped the group off at Moterosso first.  This town had the best beach, it was big, sandy, and very crowded.  We did not spend very much time in Moterosso, instead we started our hike to the next town.  It was about an hour and a half hike to Verhazza, but well worth it.  The trail took us through many vineyards that were built right into the hills and seemed to be kept up by the people living in the small shacks along side them.  Verhazza was definitely my favorite of the day because the town was a bit smaller than the rest but it also had access to the sea with tons of colorful fishermen boats docked there.  From here on there were only two other girls and me that continued to hike to the next town (a train was also available for us to take).  So Megan, Hannah and I headed to Corniglia, the next town and the only one that did not have direct access to the sea.  Manarola was the fourth town and we ended in Riomaggiore taking the "love trail" all the way there.  The love trail was a paved hike that was full of drawings on the walls and pad locks with couples names on them.  From Riomaggiore we caught the train to La Spezia and took the bus home.  It was a packed weekend that for sure could have been streached out over a couple more days!

Classes started for me on Monday and they seem good so far! I am especially looking forward to my Wine and Culture class tomorrow night.  Two of my friends from home (Betsy and Caitlin) were here today and yesterday so I got to show them around and play tour guide of a city that I now have officially referred to as "home." Today we went to the Galleria Dell Accademia and saw Michelangelo's David in real life! It was much bigger then I expected and really the pride and joy of the whole museum.

Well that's about all for now, I will hopefully be doing a biking trip this coming weekend that I am looking forward to!

Sept 1 & 2

Well I made it to Italy! The travels were long and a little painful but I made it here in one piece and as a bonus so did my luggage.  My first night here my roommates and I went out to a group dinner organized by one of the students, it was delicious! It was 20 euro for 4 courses, wine and dessert shots (limoncillo) at the end.  I have realized that dinner is not a fast process in Italy, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to eat!

September 2nd was orientation day which took up most of the day.  We did get a break for lunch and I got a chance to get a cell phone that works in the area.  After the second part of orientation I walked around with some girls to explore the other side of the Arno River (Fiume Arno) and see the Piazzale Michelangiolo.  At the Piazzale, there is a wonderful look out of the city and of course the replica of the David statue in the middle.  That night the school set up a free dinner at a place called The Clubhouse, it was more American then the last place we had been the night before but still had 3 courses and great tiramisu!