It is my last full day in Florence and the semester has come to a bittersweet end. I am anxious to get home to my family and friends, while I know there is so much I will miss in Firenze and Europe in general. But I am very satisfied with my time spent here. In less than four months I have visited eight new countries! I have had many new experiences, tried many new foods and learned a lot about European culture.
The last few days I've been a tourist, taking pictures of all the things I don't have pictures of but know I should. I just have to finish packing a little more, it could be a tight fit! Soon were headed downstairs to eat our last Italian dinner at Bigallo with Giorgio and his bartenders. Last time the food was awesome, so I'm pretty excited.
Tomorrow I will fly into JFK after connecting in Rome (how stupid is it to fly to Rome?) This weekend I will be able to catch up with my family and high school friends. I'm already leaving again (as my mom would say) on Monday for Poughkeepsie (I can't wait to get back to school) to celebrate Senior Week and catch up with all of my friends at Marist.
So I guess this means ciao for now since I won't have anything nearly as exciting as this semester abroad to write about. Thanks for reading, I hope you were able to live vicariously through my adventures. I can't wait to see everyone once I get back to the States! Arrivederci!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Fiorentina v Siena
This was the first sporting event I attended where I was actually rooting against Siena. (besides Marist basketball games of course) Over 29,000 of the Fiorentina faithful made their way to Stadio Artemio Franchi on this beautiful day for the last home game of the season. Since my weekend plans were completely on a whim (booking a Thursday flight to Malta on Monday) I did not know if I would be around for the weekend and had not yet bought tickets. I was glad our only choice for a return flight from Malta was Saturday. Now I had the opportunity to go to La Viola's last home game. We walked to the stadium and lined up at the ticket booth. It took forever to get tickets and we did not make it inside until about 25 minutes into the first half, after all the scoring was over. By the third minute, Siena had the first goal of the game. The only cheering we heard while outside the stadium was when Fiorentina tied it up in minute fifteen with a goal of their own. Of course neither I nor Tyler knew what the score when we walked into the stadium so we believed the score was 1-0 in favor of La Viola. However we did receive free Fiorentina flags upon entering which we were really excited about. I think it will be a great souvenir to remember my favorite soccer team by when I get back to the States. Anyway I did not find out that the game was a draw until I checked the recap online. The whole time I thought they won because we heard the crowd cheer loudly when we were waiting in line for tickets. Oh well, it was fun to close out my last weekend here with Fiorentina's final home game of the season.
Since its Mother's Day I want to give a special shout out: Thanks for raising me Mom, I think you did a good job!
Since its Mother's Day I want to give a special shout out: Thanks for raising me Mom, I think you did a good job!
Malta
This past weekend in Malta was the most relaxing trip yet. I'm so glad I decided to go. Malta is a country within Europe, even though it is excluded from many European maps since it is so far south (parallel to the top of Africa). It is the third smallest country I visited and eleventh overall.
We left on Thursday from the Pisa airport. I know I swore I would never take RyanAir again, but it was worth it this time. We got into Malta that evening and took a taxi to our hotel, Riu Seabank. The strangest thing we noticed on our way there was that cars had their steering wheels on the right and therefore drove on the left side of the rode. Weird! The Riu was an extremely nice four-star hotel located in Mellieha, the northwestern part of the island. We checked out our rooms, which were probably the biggest I've ever stayed in. When you walk in there is a bathroom with two showers and a toilet on the left. On the right was a room with two cots and a table. Down the hallway there was a small kitchen with a sink, burners, a refrigerator and cabinets. Before getting to the main room was a little desk set against the wall, perfect for all the Finals we would study for this weekend (NOT!) The last room was about the size of a regular hotel room with two beds and a TV. The best part of the room though was probably the balcony with a view of the beach and sea.
All this for three people, and it wasn't even that expensive. We put our stuff down then explored the hotel's options for dinner because we were pretty hungry by now. The hotel had a few different restaurant options attached inside the same building. We walked through a bar downstairs as well as a Jungle-themed restaurant before deciding on a restaurant called Le Mar. I ordered a barbecue double cheeseburger and a Budweiser (only because it was about the same price as water). The beer bottles were even smaller in Malta. Europe's sizes are about the same as America, 33cl is about 12 oz. In Malta they carried 25cl which was very tiny. The service was pretty slow but the burger was huge and tasted delicious. It came with fries and a little cup of vegetables which were good too. We walked outside after dinner to check out the beach. We literally crossed the street and were there. Now it was time to explore the rest of Riu's amenities. Unfortunately by now it was about 10 p.m. and the Atrium Spa closed at 9. That was okay though, there was a lot to do inside. Downstairs by the bar was a four-lane bowling alley (which we suspect to be a popular sport in Malta) and an arcade full of games. We bought beers and set up a game of bowling. It was a lot of fun.
On Friday we made sure to get ourselves up early so we had the whole day to enjoy. We went downstairs to the hotel's complimentary buffet breakfast, which was great. They had so many options, you could find almost anything. From eggs cooked every different way, to these extremely thin pancakes, to dried fruit; they had it all. The girls we went with (Jenn, Britt, and Lisa) collected bread, peanut butter and jelly and formed an assembly line to make us sandwiches for lunch. While they were doing this Tyler, Drew, and I did our job and picked out beach chairs in the most ideal spot- center poolside. It was perfect, we just sat in the sun all day and relaxed by the pool, jumping in when we got too warm.
Of course we had to check out the Spa downstairs now that it was open. Down this hallway was an indoor pool and a gym. This was great, I hadn't lifted a weight in four months!
Further down the hallway was a sign that read "Chill Out Room." In here we found a steam room, sauna, and a lounge room with a glass ceiling. What else could you ask for? We tried out everything and when we were done we went to the beach. We laid down on our towels to take in the sun for awhile. We found out that our hotel's happy hour was from 4 to 6 so we went to the cocktail bar to take advantage of it. We had a very happy hour running back and forth between the bar and our chairs. After it was over we went to the indoor pool and steam room again. For dinner we went back to the same restaurant we dined at the night before. We split an order of calamari rings for an appetizer and I ordered a barbecue chicken and bacon pizza which also had a bunch of other toppings. The food was good but we waited FOREVER to be served. That night we just chilled out on the balcony.
On our last day Saturday, we had the same relaxing agenda as the day before. I wasn't sure if the weather would hold out since I went out on the balcony right when I got up to find waves crashing hard and the sun was nowhere to be found. Luckily around noon, the sun pushed all the clouds aside and it was another great day. The best thing about this trip was we did not give a damn about exploring the city for historical significance, which sounds terrible from an enlightened study-abroad scholar, but that's what this whole last weekend was about: relaxing. We had nothing to do except sit back and enjoy the sun. By the time evening came, it was time to catch our flight back but no one wanted to leave this wonderful island called Malta. On the plane I kept checking out my arms, trying to figure out how much darker I was than before I arrived. You know its a relaxing weekend when your biggest concern is how much color you got.
We left on Thursday from the Pisa airport. I know I swore I would never take RyanAir again, but it was worth it this time. We got into Malta that evening and took a taxi to our hotel, Riu Seabank. The strangest thing we noticed on our way there was that cars had their steering wheels on the right and therefore drove on the left side of the rode. Weird! The Riu was an extremely nice four-star hotel located in Mellieha, the northwestern part of the island. We checked out our rooms, which were probably the biggest I've ever stayed in. When you walk in there is a bathroom with two showers and a toilet on the left. On the right was a room with two cots and a table. Down the hallway there was a small kitchen with a sink, burners, a refrigerator and cabinets. Before getting to the main room was a little desk set against the wall, perfect for all the Finals we would study for this weekend (NOT!) The last room was about the size of a regular hotel room with two beds and a TV. The best part of the room though was probably the balcony with a view of the beach and sea.
All this for three people, and it wasn't even that expensive. We put our stuff down then explored the hotel's options for dinner because we were pretty hungry by now. The hotel had a few different restaurant options attached inside the same building. We walked through a bar downstairs as well as a Jungle-themed restaurant before deciding on a restaurant called Le Mar. I ordered a barbecue double cheeseburger and a Budweiser (only because it was about the same price as water). The beer bottles were even smaller in Malta. Europe's sizes are about the same as America, 33cl is about 12 oz. In Malta they carried 25cl which was very tiny. The service was pretty slow but the burger was huge and tasted delicious. It came with fries and a little cup of vegetables which were good too. We walked outside after dinner to check out the beach. We literally crossed the street and were there. Now it was time to explore the rest of Riu's amenities. Unfortunately by now it was about 10 p.m. and the Atrium Spa closed at 9. That was okay though, there was a lot to do inside. Downstairs by the bar was a four-lane bowling alley (which we suspect to be a popular sport in Malta) and an arcade full of games. We bought beers and set up a game of bowling. It was a lot of fun.
On Friday we made sure to get ourselves up early so we had the whole day to enjoy. We went downstairs to the hotel's complimentary buffet breakfast, which was great. They had so many options, you could find almost anything. From eggs cooked every different way, to these extremely thin pancakes, to dried fruit; they had it all. The girls we went with (Jenn, Britt, and Lisa) collected bread, peanut butter and jelly and formed an assembly line to make us sandwiches for lunch. While they were doing this Tyler, Drew, and I did our job and picked out beach chairs in the most ideal spot- center poolside. It was perfect, we just sat in the sun all day and relaxed by the pool, jumping in when we got too warm.
Of course we had to check out the Spa downstairs now that it was open. Down this hallway was an indoor pool and a gym. This was great, I hadn't lifted a weight in four months!
Further down the hallway was a sign that read "Chill Out Room." In here we found a steam room, sauna, and a lounge room with a glass ceiling. What else could you ask for? We tried out everything and when we were done we went to the beach. We laid down on our towels to take in the sun for awhile. We found out that our hotel's happy hour was from 4 to 6 so we went to the cocktail bar to take advantage of it. We had a very happy hour running back and forth between the bar and our chairs. After it was over we went to the indoor pool and steam room again. For dinner we went back to the same restaurant we dined at the night before. We split an order of calamari rings for an appetizer and I ordered a barbecue chicken and bacon pizza which also had a bunch of other toppings. The food was good but we waited FOREVER to be served. That night we just chilled out on the balcony.
On our last day Saturday, we had the same relaxing agenda as the day before. I wasn't sure if the weather would hold out since I went out on the balcony right when I got up to find waves crashing hard and the sun was nowhere to be found. Luckily around noon, the sun pushed all the clouds aside and it was another great day. The best thing about this trip was we did not give a damn about exploring the city for historical significance, which sounds terrible from an enlightened study-abroad scholar, but that's what this whole last weekend was about: relaxing. We had nothing to do except sit back and enjoy the sun. By the time evening came, it was time to catch our flight back but no one wanted to leave this wonderful island called Malta. On the plane I kept checking out my arms, trying to figure out how much darker I was than before I arrived. You know its a relaxing weekend when your biggest concern is how much color you got.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Notte Bianca/ Fiesole
Ok so originally I did not even want to write a post for this past weekend. Mostly because I was bummed I did not get to go where I originally planned and because it was not as eventful as I would have liked. But I haven't written in awhile and I'm sure my parents would like to know I'm still alive over here! My original plan was to go to Prague with Bus2Alps. Unfortunately not enough people signed up and the trip was canceled. I did have the opportunity to go on the school trip to Switzerland, but did not really care to.
On Saturday I wanted to do something close by to make up for not going anywhere. Brian was the only other person in my house who did not go on the trip so we decided it was a good day to visit Fiesole. Fiesole is a pretty little hill-town overlooking Florence. It is only a 15 minute bus ride away. There was not much to do there besides admire the great view of Florence.
There were a few nice churches, one of which was hosting a wedding. The big site to see was a historical Roman-style amphitheater with its surrounding archaeological area.
We walked around the site as well as the museum inside. I thought it was really cool how they had a lot of modern art spread throughout the site in addition to all of the scattered stone foundations. I thought this one was the coolest:
After walking around the town a little bit more, we decided we had seen just about everything. So we hopped back on the bus home to San Marco.
***Good news though: I thought my travels were over once the Prague trip got canceled BUT I just booked plane tickets and a hotel room in Malta for this upcoming weekend. I'm pretty excited, it should be really nice there.***
So anyway Friday night, April 30th, was a huge celebration throughout the entire city of Florence, called Notte Bianca or "White Night" which apparently loses the meaning in translation. Basically everything stays open really late and there is a constant party in the streets. The whole town, including kids, seemed to stay out enjoying the festivities until 1 or 2 in the morning. I guess parts of the celebration went as late as 6 a.m.! The theme for Notte Biana is "creative insomnia," but I guess that doesn't quite translate either. We noticed this starting in the evening when we could hear a band from down the street banging drums. There were huge celebrations in every piazza all night long. First we went to the Uffizi Piazza and caught a really elaborate light show projected onto the hallway of the Uffizi which portrayed the bricks transforming, being knocked down, and then built back up again. At midnight was Drew's 21st birthday so we had to make it back to Bigallo for the countdown. Since almost all of my housemates were going on the school's trip to Switzerland, their plan was to stay up all night anyway. (The bus leaves at 4:30 a.m. for that trip) Next we headed to Santa Croce where a bunch of tents have been set up for the week (having nothing to do with Notte Bianca) selling traditional Italian eats. There was another band thumping in the Piazza so we crowded around with all the other Italians to join in the celebration. After that was done, we walked to Piazza Republica to see what was going on there. It was not as wild. The scene was mellower with a dance floor set up in the middle of the square. People were doing the tango I think. Some couples were dancing very sternly and seriously, while others were just fooling around with their partners. I came back to the house and waited to go to bed until all the drunk idiots left for their trip. There was no point in sleeping, the whole city was up! I sent them off which was hilarious to watch them walk down the street on their way to the Alps.
On Saturday I wanted to do something close by to make up for not going anywhere. Brian was the only other person in my house who did not go on the trip so we decided it was a good day to visit Fiesole. Fiesole is a pretty little hill-town overlooking Florence. It is only a 15 minute bus ride away. There was not much to do there besides admire the great view of Florence.
There were a few nice churches, one of which was hosting a wedding. The big site to see was a historical Roman-style amphitheater with its surrounding archaeological area.
We walked around the site as well as the museum inside. I thought it was really cool how they had a lot of modern art spread throughout the site in addition to all of the scattered stone foundations. I thought this one was the coolest:
After walking around the town a little bit more, we decided we had seen just about everything. So we hopped back on the bus home to San Marco.
***Good news though: I thought my travels were over once the Prague trip got canceled BUT I just booked plane tickets and a hotel room in Malta for this upcoming weekend. I'm pretty excited, it should be really nice there.***
Monday, April 19, 2010
Munich Frühlingsfest
We left for Munich, Germany on Thursday evening after our last class. Our destination was the spring celebration known as "Fruhlingsfest" (Oktoberfest on a smaller scale). Once we finally arrived in Munich and had time to explore the city, I found it to be a very nice place. It was extremely clean for a major city and had very modern architecture (a possible consequence of getting their shit rocked during World War II). As far as stereotypes go, not everything/ everyone in Germany was efficient, but the people of Munich were very happy and friendly toward visitors during their spring festival.
Friday
After resting up from the trip and getting a decent breakfast in our hostel, we were ready to embark on "Mike's Bike Tour" to see the city. Our tour guide was (guess who) Mike, a New Yorker who has been putting on bike tours in Munich since 1995. The tour lasted for about four hours (including a lunch in the middle) and brought us to all the major sights Munich had to offer with some historical background and interesting commentary courtesy of Mike. I can't name all the places we went, but off of the top of my head we covered Marienplatz and the town hall, the Hofgarten, the Golden Friedensengel, and many more.
We rode through a beautiful park that is 50% bigger than Central Park in New York, called the Englischer Garten (English Garden). For lunch we stopped at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) inside of the English Garden. Being the strange eating world traveler that I am, I had to order the strangest item on the menu. Schweinshaxe, or "pig knuckle" is a Bavarian specialty that was recommended to me earlier. It is actually the knee of a pig which is very fatty on the outside, but is full of some good pork once you get into it. Of course you can't have a real German meal without a liter of beer so I ordered that too.
Possibly the coolest spot I saw on the bike tour is known as the Eisbach, or "Ice Creek," where there is a man-made surfing current. We watched as three surfers took turns, trying to tame the wave without crashing into either side of the embankment.
We finished the bike tour at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall after getting some good views of Munich and went back to Wombat's Hostel to prepare for the first night of Fruhlingsfest 2010. The festival is held in a large fairground, Theresienwiese, the same park that hosts Oktoberfest. It was only a ten minute walk from our hostel which was very convenient since that was the reason we came to Munich in the first place. Once the fairgrounds were in sight our eyes must have lit up like little kids'. The first thing we noticed were the rides and loud music. Walking around, it was exactly like any other carnival or fair. The biggest difference were the enormous tents set up and some people dressed in traditional Germans outfits. There were two main tents: Augustiner and Paulaner. The one we spent most of our time in each night was the Augustiner tent, named after the type of beer they serve inside. In Munich, and possibly all of Germany it is most common to see beer served in steins, which are heavy glass liter mugs. Each stein holds the liquid equivalent of three beers. When taking into account the stronger alcoholic content of German beer, it works out to about four drinks. To be served, you had to find a spot to sit at one of the many tables inside the tent. We didn't get there too late, but finding a seat was still not easy. At the front of the tent, was a live band playing what I would guess to be traditional Bavarian music. Even though we had to settle for a table off to the side of the tent, we still had a great time at our first night of Fruhlingsfest.
Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up and got breakfast. I really liked the breakfast at Wombat's Hostel. They had a little more variety for a hostel breakfast than I was used to, but the difference was the panini maker. You can take two pieces of bread with cold cuts and cheese and put it into the panini maker and come out with a good sandwich. I need to get one of those mini grills for next year.
After breakfast we met up to go to one of the saddest places around Munich, the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau does not have the notoriety of Auschwitz, but was one of the first camps established in 1933. It is horrible to imagine what happened there, but I felt that it was something I had to see since I was there. I was not traumatized like I thought I would be after visiting Dachau, probably because I had already been to a very sad Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. five years earlier. It was interesting to actually walk around the huge site that was once a concentration camp. It is overwhelming to think about the historical significance as well as suffering that took place there. We took a bus back to the subway and went back to the hostel after taking everything in.
The Fruhlingsfest on Saturday night was even wilder than the night before, most likely because the Germans were not working. Had it been Oktoberfest, they supposedly would have come on Friday too. We got seats near the middle of the tent that night and enjoyed it a lot more because of that. The later it got, the wilder it was. By the end of the night people were dancing on benches and tables, stein in hand. We basically stayed until we got kicked out because no one wanted to leave our last night of Fruhlingsfest. Once they started putting up benches and cleaning off the tables we eventually found our way out. Some of my friends went on rides and others got food. I tried to order a sausage sandwich since I hadn't had one all weekend, which seems absurd in Germany. Unfortunately the item I ordered turned out to be fries. I was kind of pissed but was pretty hungry so I just went along with it. They ended up being very tasty anyway. Tyler and I walked back to the hostel and headed to the bar. There we met some soldiers who were temporarily in Munich, waiting to be sent to Afghanistan. One of them was from upstate New York and was happy to find someone else who understood his area.
Sunday
We had a good amount of Sunday to spend in Munich before heading home. We made good use of this day to go to the BMW museum and the Olympic Park used for the 1972 Summer Games. It was very convenient since these two sites are right across the street from each other and they were only a quick subway ride away from our hostel. Before finding the BMW (which I just learned translates to Bavarian Motor Works) museum we walked through the Welt, which had some new cars on display. There were also some interactive games and other cool stuff to see. Both the welt and museum are very modern, futuristic-looking buildings.
Walking through the museum, it was apparent they had put a lot of work into everything. The museum was huge with many rooms and different displays to observe. We spent awhile there before walking down the street to the Olympic Park. In 1972, Munich hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Of course I had to go there because the only thing that comes to mind when I think of that Olympic year was Steve Prefontaine's historic race. I got to see the huge Olympic pool, where Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, as well as the main event stadium. I think we also saw the Olympic village where the Iranian hostages were kidnapped as we walked out too.
Friday
After resting up from the trip and getting a decent breakfast in our hostel, we were ready to embark on "Mike's Bike Tour" to see the city. Our tour guide was (guess who) Mike, a New Yorker who has been putting on bike tours in Munich since 1995. The tour lasted for about four hours (including a lunch in the middle) and brought us to all the major sights Munich had to offer with some historical background and interesting commentary courtesy of Mike. I can't name all the places we went, but off of the top of my head we covered Marienplatz and the town hall, the Hofgarten, the Golden Friedensengel, and many more.
We rode through a beautiful park that is 50% bigger than Central Park in New York, called the Englischer Garten (English Garden). For lunch we stopped at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) inside of the English Garden. Being the strange eating world traveler that I am, I had to order the strangest item on the menu. Schweinshaxe, or "pig knuckle" is a Bavarian specialty that was recommended to me earlier. It is actually the knee of a pig which is very fatty on the outside, but is full of some good pork once you get into it. Of course you can't have a real German meal without a liter of beer so I ordered that too.
Possibly the coolest spot I saw on the bike tour is known as the Eisbach, or "Ice Creek," where there is a man-made surfing current. We watched as three surfers took turns, trying to tame the wave without crashing into either side of the embankment.
We finished the bike tour at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall after getting some good views of Munich and went back to Wombat's Hostel to prepare for the first night of Fruhlingsfest 2010. The festival is held in a large fairground, Theresienwiese, the same park that hosts Oktoberfest. It was only a ten minute walk from our hostel which was very convenient since that was the reason we came to Munich in the first place. Once the fairgrounds were in sight our eyes must have lit up like little kids'. The first thing we noticed were the rides and loud music. Walking around, it was exactly like any other carnival or fair. The biggest difference were the enormous tents set up and some people dressed in traditional Germans outfits. There were two main tents: Augustiner and Paulaner. The one we spent most of our time in each night was the Augustiner tent, named after the type of beer they serve inside. In Munich, and possibly all of Germany it is most common to see beer served in steins, which are heavy glass liter mugs. Each stein holds the liquid equivalent of three beers. When taking into account the stronger alcoholic content of German beer, it works out to about four drinks. To be served, you had to find a spot to sit at one of the many tables inside the tent. We didn't get there too late, but finding a seat was still not easy. At the front of the tent, was a live band playing what I would guess to be traditional Bavarian music. Even though we had to settle for a table off to the side of the tent, we still had a great time at our first night of Fruhlingsfest.
Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up and got breakfast. I really liked the breakfast at Wombat's Hostel. They had a little more variety for a hostel breakfast than I was used to, but the difference was the panini maker. You can take two pieces of bread with cold cuts and cheese and put it into the panini maker and come out with a good sandwich. I need to get one of those mini grills for next year.
After breakfast we met up to go to one of the saddest places around Munich, the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau does not have the notoriety of Auschwitz, but was one of the first camps established in 1933. It is horrible to imagine what happened there, but I felt that it was something I had to see since I was there. I was not traumatized like I thought I would be after visiting Dachau, probably because I had already been to a very sad Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. five years earlier. It was interesting to actually walk around the huge site that was once a concentration camp. It is overwhelming to think about the historical significance as well as suffering that took place there. We took a bus back to the subway and went back to the hostel after taking everything in.
The Fruhlingsfest on Saturday night was even wilder than the night before, most likely because the Germans were not working. Had it been Oktoberfest, they supposedly would have come on Friday too. We got seats near the middle of the tent that night and enjoyed it a lot more because of that. The later it got, the wilder it was. By the end of the night people were dancing on benches and tables, stein in hand. We basically stayed until we got kicked out because no one wanted to leave our last night of Fruhlingsfest. Once they started putting up benches and cleaning off the tables we eventually found our way out. Some of my friends went on rides and others got food. I tried to order a sausage sandwich since I hadn't had one all weekend, which seems absurd in Germany. Unfortunately the item I ordered turned out to be fries. I was kind of pissed but was pretty hungry so I just went along with it. They ended up being very tasty anyway. Tyler and I walked back to the hostel and headed to the bar. There we met some soldiers who were temporarily in Munich, waiting to be sent to Afghanistan. One of them was from upstate New York and was happy to find someone else who understood his area.
Sunday
We had a good amount of Sunday to spend in Munich before heading home. We made good use of this day to go to the BMW museum and the Olympic Park used for the 1972 Summer Games. It was very convenient since these two sites are right across the street from each other and they were only a quick subway ride away from our hostel. Before finding the BMW (which I just learned translates to Bavarian Motor Works) museum we walked through the Welt, which had some new cars on display. There were also some interactive games and other cool stuff to see. Both the welt and museum are very modern, futuristic-looking buildings.
Walking through the museum, it was apparent they had put a lot of work into everything. The museum was huge with many rooms and different displays to observe. We spent awhile there before walking down the street to the Olympic Park. In 1972, Munich hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Of course I had to go there because the only thing that comes to mind when I think of that Olympic year was Steve Prefontaine's historic race. I got to see the huge Olympic pool, where Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, as well as the main event stadium. I think we also saw the Olympic village where the Iranian hostages were kidnapped as we walked out too.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Vivicittà Firenze Half Marathon
This morning I ran my first ever half-marathon, in Florence nonetheless. For those of you keeping track at home thats 13.1 miles, or just over 21 kilometers as it is more commonly referred to in Europe. The event was pretty big and drew in over 1,000 participants. This year was the 27th running of the Vivicittà Firenze. I got up early this morning to meet a middle-aged runner, Roberto, who is associated with the running club at Lorenzo de Medici and also happens to know one of the organizers of the half-marathon. So fortunately with his help I was able to take part in this event. It was a rainy morning but that did not stop many runners from showing up. Roberto gave me a singlet to race in, which was more like the football practice jerseys I would wear in junior high. But its the thought that counts right? I put it on since I didn't bring anything better to run in to Florence. It didn't matter anyway because he suggested I put on a water-proof running vest (sounds stupid, but everyone wears them) over it to help with the rain. The entrance fee was only five euro and came with the previously described vest and an event t-shirt. I was originally entered in the non-competitive run, which would have sucked because I think that was only a 12K. But fortunately Roberto was able to get me a "competitive" bib since some of the entered runners had not shown up yet and it was getting close to race time. I paid five more euros for a high-tech timing chip which was refundable once I returned my chip after the race. Now I was officially allowed to run in the half-marathon. I could tell there had to be some decent prize money to be won because a few Kenyans showed up. I did not feel like warming up so I just stood under a ledge and waited for everyone to line up at the start. I would ease into my pace since I had to swerve in and out of slow people ahead of me anyway.
My goal was to complete the race without hurting myself, since I am definitely not in shape to race a half-marathon right now. As I previously discussed with Pete, it should be a hard tempo run. I think I executed perfectly. I fell into a comfortable pace and stayed pretty consistent throughout, every time I checked my 5k splits they were right about 19 minutes each. The half-marathon course was basically two loops on each side of the Arno, taking runners through most of Florence's famous piazzas. The start and finish were in the big square in front of Santa Croce. I almost took a wrong turn when the course split up the competitive race from the non-competitive runners. Luckily I was able to turn around and see which way the other runners with blue bibs were going. I also almost "ate it" while turning off one of the bridges over the Arno onto a perpendicular street. I took it very wide and tried to stay on more asphalt than cobble-stone but it was still raining and very slippery. Fortunately I recovered and was only thrown off balance, instead of falling on my face. The course was very flat for the most part. My aerobic fitness was still there and my legs didn't get real tired until 14/15k. Besides those minor things the race went very well. I was handed a really cool participation medal at the finish and moved on to the refreshment tents. Post-race snacks are a little different in Italy. They still have water, sports drink, and fruit; but in addition to that they also had cut up fruit crescents and hot tea. For fruit they had cut up banana chunks and sliced blood oranges. I snacked on a bunch of this food since the only thing I ate all day was an apple when I got up. I changed into some warm clothes and walked home, eager to take a hot shower after being rained on all day. Today was such a priceless experience which I was very satisfied to take part in. How many Americans can say they walked down the street to run a half-marathon through Florence?
I can't find my Italian alias in the race results but I know I finished around 1:20:45, good enough for about 30th place.
Edit: I just found a picture that helps me piece together my finish time. I was actually 1:20:30, which got me 23rd!
My goal was to complete the race without hurting myself, since I am definitely not in shape to race a half-marathon right now. As I previously discussed with Pete, it should be a hard tempo run. I think I executed perfectly. I fell into a comfortable pace and stayed pretty consistent throughout, every time I checked my 5k splits they were right about 19 minutes each. The half-marathon course was basically two loops on each side of the Arno, taking runners through most of Florence's famous piazzas. The start and finish were in the big square in front of Santa Croce. I almost took a wrong turn when the course split up the competitive race from the non-competitive runners. Luckily I was able to turn around and see which way the other runners with blue bibs were going. I also almost "ate it" while turning off one of the bridges over the Arno onto a perpendicular street. I took it very wide and tried to stay on more asphalt than cobble-stone but it was still raining and very slippery. Fortunately I recovered and was only thrown off balance, instead of falling on my face. The course was very flat for the most part. My aerobic fitness was still there and my legs didn't get real tired until 14/15k. Besides those minor things the race went very well. I was handed a really cool participation medal at the finish and moved on to the refreshment tents. Post-race snacks are a little different in Italy. They still have water, sports drink, and fruit; but in addition to that they also had cut up fruit crescents and hot tea. For fruit they had cut up banana chunks and sliced blood oranges. I snacked on a bunch of this food since the only thing I ate all day was an apple when I got up. I changed into some warm clothes and walked home, eager to take a hot shower after being rained on all day. Today was such a priceless experience which I was very satisfied to take part in. How many Americans can say they walked down the street to run a half-marathon through Florence?
Edit: I just found a picture that helps me piece together my finish time. I was actually 1:20:30, which got me 23rd!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Fiorentina v Internazionale
Tonight Fiorentina took on the team sitting atop the Italian Serie A standings- Internazionale. Since I know nothing about soccer or "calcio" as its called here, it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I found out this team is also called Inter-Milan. Great, so were playing another powerhouse team from Milan. We're gonna get our butts kicked. Personally I did not think we could win but I knew La Viola would be able to "play up" to their competition.
We walked over to the game before it got dark. The match started at 20:45 (8:45 p.m. for you Americans). Vinny and I stopped at an authentic Italian sandwich shop to grab a quick dinner before heading to Stadio Artemio Franchi. We arrived at the game earlier than ever and saw the starting line-ups introduced. The stadium was more packed than we had ever seen it (almost 37,000 spectators). Finding seats wasn't easy but we managed to find several open seats about midway up La Curva (the cheap ticket section) right behind the goal.
Surprisingly Fiorentina started the scoring, when Keirrison scored only about eleven minutes into the game. The home crowd went wild and some fans in the front lit a red smoke bomb which I thought was really cool because that's what you always see in soccer highlights on ESPN. No one scored for awhile and Fiorentina held onto their lead for as long as they could. It wasn't until the 74th minute that Inter's Diego Milito scored the equalizer. The game was a very aggressive one throughout, with seven yellow cards handed out and even more players falling to the ground faking injuries (okay some of them were actually hurt.) It was devastating when the Viola keeper let another one slip by into the goal. Inter-Milan now had a 2-1 lead with less than ten minutes remaining in the match. Fortunately Per Kroldrup of Fiorentina tied it back up only a minute later. La Viola was able to hold them off for the rest of the game and the Fiorentina faithful were definitely satisfied with a tie. There is no overtime in regular season and a lot of games do end up tied (good thing Donovan McNabb doesn't play soccer, or else he would be really confused). The tie brought Fiorentina to 13-13-7 and held their position at 8th in the league, two positions away from a European qualifying spot. They did more damage to Inter (by forcing a tie) by causing them to loose their league lead. Next up, Fiorentina plays Inter again at home on Tuesday night for a Coppa Italia match.
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