Devan, Gloria and I do not have class on Thursday, so what better way to use this extra day than a quick trip to Cortona and back?
Cortona, as I was to find out, is where Under the Tuscan Sun movie and book are set.
As you will see, though, we were not under any hot Tuscan sun! The beginning of the week was mild weather, but getting colder by the day. Florence only had flurries that did not stick. If any of us had been paying attention to the weather reports around Italy, we would have found out that Italy was in its coldest stint in decades. And we went all the way to Cortona in it!
The morning started off in a rush as per normal. We left the house late for the train station. We arrived with 20 minutes to get our tickets and find the train. After 10 minutes figuring out that the self-service ticket machines either took cash or credit card, we got our tickets. Three validating machines later, we were able to get the necessary stamp to get on the train. With two minutes to spare, we were off to Cortona!
Check out the view up to Cortona! Beautiful, but cold! We kept on going up into the mountains. It surprised me at first when my ears were popping every 5 minutes for a while. I got used to it soon, though.
Finally in Cortona! Well, in Camucia. Cortona is in the mountains behind the town. The plan was to buy the 2 euro bus ticket up to Cortona, but none of the buses were running up there because of the snow. Was it really that bad going up? We were soon to find out. Instead of walking the 40 minutes to Cortona, we settled on the 10 euro cab fare.
The view in the first piazza in Cortona:
Gorgeous, right??? There are not any pictures of my faux-converse in a foot of snow, but this is the truth of this visit. Aren't we lucky to see Cortona in a way no one else ever does?
In Cortona, there are hills, hills, and stairs. EVERYWHERE. You definitely take your life into your own hands when you walk about!
Even stairs up to the churches! I bet they do not have to worry about snow enough for this to be a problem most of the time.
Is this the monastery that is near Cortona that Devan wanted to walk to? Either way, it is pretty and medieval! Maybe when we come back, we can hike out to it.
Steeeeeeeeeeep!
We took shelter in the foyer of a church. Very pretty inside! We did not have enough courage to open the door to the main church, but here is a picture through the glass!
Where we ate! This stop was quicker than anticipated, but we wanted to get out of the wind. It was really quaint and nicely priced. During our warm endeavour, the power went out! Like, not a blown-fuse power out, but an actual, due-to-the-weather black out. Oh the fun quirks to our adventure!
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| I ate this by myself. ;) |
Back into the cold, now time to get some real exploring done! Steep hills and stairs again. Mostly, I was concerned about my footing. All we were doing was going up--we're going to have to go back down some time!
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| There are these all over the place in Italy! Randomly in the walls. |
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| Took refuge in this monastery's chapel for a while. |
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| Highest point yet! |
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| No one really moves when it snows... not even worth it. |
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| Snowman in Cortona, Italy. |
After trying to get to the big church on the top hill, we turned back due to the wind and huge snowdrifts. We went to a cafe to warm up with hot chocolate (cioccolato). This was the first time I have had the pudding-like hot chocolate. I believe Gloria has pictures of this thing. Pretty much, it is hot pudding. No skin off my back--it was warm and good!
We called the taxi to get on his queue for pick up. Unfortunately, we had to wait an hour for him to pick us up. It probably had something to do with siesta time, but now what were we supposed to do to stay warm?
Cue the randomly opened, museum-like-entrance building! I spotted the statues in it when we arrived earlier, but thought nothing more of it. Devan figures it is a residence or business building. So we chilled on the ground level. It was cold, but without the wind, it was bearable.
So concludes my first real adventure in Italy! Not my classes post like I promised, but that is soon to come.
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| Sculpture in a building we waiting for an hour for a taxi to show up. |
And that was that! The taxi guy got us back to the train station with time to spare, and the train ride back was warmer than to Cortona. I slept pretty much the whole way back. Because I had latched my knees together to stay warm, though, I managed to bruise my left knee. I hate when I do that!
Exhausted, we walked back to our apartment. On the way, I saw this cafe!! I had to take a picture.
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| Any Disney Nerds? |
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