Under the Tuscan Sun: Part 1

June 30-Monday 

I took an early morning train to Florence so left Nauvoo's with my ever-increasing backpack strapped to my back to head to the train station. No great stories about the trip...but train rides through Tuscany are pretty! Oh and if you're riding a train through Italy, be sure to validate your tickets. I witnessed five girls from France all get fined because they didn't validate their tickets.

I arrived at Firenze Campo di Marti station and was greeted by Marina, my host for the next 10-ish days. We go back to her Florence apartment, eat lunch and settle in...kind of. We were only staying there the one night, then heading to her farm about 30 minutes outside of Florence. The apartment in Florence is actually more of a house. It has a big yard in the back and the ceilings are incredibly high. We had tomatoes and mozzarella for lunch (oh the mozzarella!) and Marina and her son Lorenzo tutored me in the proper pronunciation of the word "grazie". I then had the afternoon to wander around Florence. I didn't really have anything in particular in mind, I literally just wandered. I knew I'd be back for a day or so at the end of my time with Marina so I wasn't too worried. I saw the Florence Cathedral, checked out a few little shops, watched some football (I forget who was playing now) and ate some gelato (obviously). Then it was back to Marina's for dinner. Lorenzo had invited me to go out salsa dancing that night but I had only slept for like 4 hours the night before so by the time 9:30 rolled around I was more inclined towards sleeping than I was towards dancing! So it was early to bed for me.

We woke up the next morning, packed up the car, and headed for the hills. I spent the next 7 days in the hills of Tuscany, on a farm called Baronci outside the little village of Santa Brigida. 

The tower on Baronci was built in the 14th century, and the rest of the house was added to the tower in 1696 (if I remember correctly). Marina's grandparents owned the house and land, then her parents, and now her and her two brothers and they have divided the house into three separate apartments with some common areas. They've done a lot of renovations to it and it's a really beautiful place, with a great view!

Marina says Santa Brigida looks like a harbor at night...

The first day there we went for a walk around the land. Marina bush whacked her way through, demolishing anything that stood in her way.

 She also told me to beware of vipers. Ahh! But said as long as we stomp our feet they'll quickly get out of the way. There are also bees...lots of bees. They aren't so bad (like I said after Prabstorf, I'm not so afraid of bees anymore) except for the wasps. They are HUGE. We trapped one in the window...

My schedule at Baronci was a little different than it was in Prabstorf. We worked for a few hours in the morning then took a few hours off, then another few hours of work later in the afternoon before dinner.

We focused on three main jobs for the rest of the week I was there and they were: 

1) Yard work...Like weed-whacking picking fruit

2) Cleaning out the common room on the first floor and painting the fireplace...

3) Reupholstering a couch...getting my crafty on! Anything that means I can use fabric and a glue gun makes me happy!

The best part of staying in Florence and Baronci was Marina herself. 

She is a wealth of information and is full of fascinating stories. Her parents were Italian diplomats and growing up she lived in South Africa, Lebanon, and I think Somalia...(I'm not 100% sure I remember that correctly so don't judge me Marina!) Between her parents work and her work as an agronomist, she and/or her family has been to a multitude of countries in the world (most of Africa) and has the most wonderful collection of unique items from other countries. 

Big fruit shell

Weaving birds nests. These are built in this particular shape so that snakes can't make the turn and get to the eggs.

My favorite story of hers was about the time that her family drove from Florence to Beirut. They had a car with father, mother, grandmother, three kids, and all their belongings. Driving through Turkey their car got a flat tire, and her dad started to walk for help. He instructed his wife to keep the doors locked and not let anybody in. Shortly after a taxi with two(?) men pulled up to the car and Marina's mother used a form of sign language to indicate that her husband had gone to look for help. The taxi left and returned a short while later with her father. They proceeded to empty out the entire contents of the car, people, luggage, and everything from the car, right down to the radio antenna. Then they piled everybody and everything into the taxi, which drove them to their hotel. She said she could only imagine what the hotel staff was thinking as 9 people, luggage, and car parts pulled up in one taxi. What a sight to behold!

We went on a few outings during my time at Baronci. We went to the nearby town where we met with some of her friends for lunch at a little cafe...

And she took me to a monastery which had a beautiful view of the valley. This monastery is called della Madonna del Sasso and was built in 1490 because in 1484 there were three kids playing on a rock and Mary appeared to them and told them to go back to the village and tell everybody that she wanted it built right there. 

We spent the last day in Florence before I left for Pescia for another help exchange. I spent Monday night with Lorenzo and his roommate Sofie. We went for dinner and then watched football and witnessed Brazil get demolished by Germany. The next day I just wandered around again. It poured for a little while so everybody took refuge from the rain wherever they could. 

I went to Saint Lorenzo's Market

Florence Cathedral (Duomo)

Ponte Vecchio

(The view from Ponte Vecchio)

Piazzale Michaelangelo (great view of Florence) 

And this little art studio owned by an artist named Clet. His stuff is pretty unique, and slightly controversial. He adds his own little twist to traffic signs around the city, mostly without permission, so most of his early stuff was removed.

He also added a statue to Ponte... again, without license. It was removed after two days, but the citizens of Florence put up a fight and insisted that it be allowed to stay, so back on the bridge it went. It looks like he's about to jump into the river, but this actually represents everybody as we come to a crossroads in our lives. There comes a time when we need to make a decision, and sometimes that decision can be scary and even look quite stupid. But we need to go forward and take a leap of faith.

That night we all went out for dinner...me, Marina, Lorenzo and Sofie. We went to a restaurant a little outside the main area of Florence, so of course there were no tourists there. Marina wanted to take me there for "real" pizza, and it was delicious! We had a fabulous dinner, and I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I had tears streaming down my face and my sides ached. It was a wonderful feeling! I also learned about the history of pizza. The first pizza was just tomatoes, garlic, and basil OR oregano. When the king and queen of Italy visited Naples (where pizza originated) the people made them pizza and added mozzarella to make the pizza red, green and white, like the colors of the Italian flag. And they called it Margherita, which was the name of the queen. 

The next morning it was pack up and train to Pescia for my next Tuscan adventure! I will miss Marina, she's a bit of a spit-fire and reminds me a lot of my mom. It's been a wonderful adventure with her! Ciao, Marina!

Roman Holiday

June 24-Tuesday 


Lisbeth drove me to a tiny little town about half an hour away from Prabstorf to catch a bus (on which I was the only passenger for quite some time) to another little town, then the train to Berlin. I was really lucky to have Lisbeth drive me because otherwise the bus ride there would've been over two hours, stopping in 100 little towns along the way. I arrived in Berlin around 2pm to spend the day there before flying to Rome at the crack of dawn the next day. 

Berlin, Berlin. What do I say about Berlin? I think my friend Aabjørn summed it up quite nicely..."Berlin was nice to me, but I still feel it could use some windex and a scrub down." It definitely wasn't my favourite place, but cool to see and I'm glad I made it there.

Brandenburg Gate, which had some added character. Many thanks to the World Cup Fan Park...

Berlin Cathedral Church...

The East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall...

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe...

This memorial has 2711 columns of varying heights and the ground is completely uneven, and I don't think there is an answer as to why. But both of those factors contribute to the experience you have as you wander around inside. It can give the sensation of being lost, disoriented...maybe to give us a glimpse of the helplessness felt in concentration camps?

And last but not least, my sleeping quarters for the night. Berlin HBF...

Since I was leaving so early I decided to just spend the night in the train station...because I'm a) cheap and b) lazy. I met a girl named Gabby from Costa Rica who was doing the same thing, so we found a bench and tried to get some shut eye. 

It worked for about 3-4 hours and then it got really cold when it started chucking it outside. I've never been so grateful for McDonald's feeling the need to feed the public at 4am. They had some comfortable and warm benches that I, and a few other travellers, took full advantage of. After about an hour of napping at McD's I took the shuttle to the airport to catch my flight!

June 25-Wednesday

Gloomy day leaving Berlin...

and on to...ROMA!


My friend Daniele lives in Rome and met me at the central train station and we took the metro back to his flat. On our way I reintroduced him to an old friend of his...Mr.Perogie. It was a wonderful reunion to witness. We got to his apartment and I obviously didn't have the greatest sleep the night before so ended up spending the majority of my first day in Rome sleeping on the couch, how exciting! Haha. I woke up not feeling very refreshed, just less tired, and Daniele's brother Fausto and their roommate Andrea were lucky enough to meet me while I was still in a bit of a zombie state. After meeting and greeting, Daniele and Fausto fixed the best.dinner.ever. of noodles and sauce...oh and there was some meat thrown in there too, wasn't there? But they told me not to tell my dad or Shauna how "terribly" they fed me so let's hope they don't read this ;) (except it wasn't terrible at all) After dinner and some entertaining conversation about pigs and birthday cake, Daniele took me to meet his friend/neighbor Nauvoo, where I would be staying for the next 5 nights. It was about a 10 minute walk and he insisted on carrying my 12kg backpack the entire way. How very chivalrous of him, but I'm sure he regretted it!

June 26-Thursday 

I had a great sleep the night before, and didn't bother to try and wake up early. Some people might think I'm crazy for being in Rome and not leaving the flat until noon, but hey, that's the upside of traveling alone! I do what I want! There were some CRAZY thunder and lightening storms that day anyways, so all that happened was that I missed out on getting soaked. Daniele had told me about a market nearby, so I walked there and got some fresh fruit (1kg cherries and 2 peaches for less than 2€!) and went back to Nauvoo's apartment because I was not gonna carry all that around Rome! Then I headed out to see the city. 

I'm always surprised by how big and intimidating a new city seems on a map, but once you get walking it's pretty easy to get everywhere quickly. I took the metro to the center of the city and proceeded to weave my way through the streets, set on finding the best gelato place in town, Giolitti, to try the dark chocolate gelato recommended to me by Fausto. 


I passed by St.Peter's basilica, set on returning at a later date...

And the Castel Sant'Angelo...

Another view of St.Peter's...

And finally, to Giolitti!


Ok let me rant for a bit about the deliciousness of this gelato. I love ice cream, but the Italians really know what they are doing. I got Cioccolato Fondente (dark chocolate) and Pistachio, and they give you a nice serving of cream on top as well. At the time of writing this I am half way through my time in Italy and not willing to admit to you how much gelato I've eaten, but so far this is definitely the best. Cioccolato Fondente...attention all dark chocolate lovers, this is something you need to try. Kind of like a semi frozen chocolate pudding. It's rich, creamy and oh-so-delicious and if you see Cioccolato Fondente Extra Noir, I think you probably understand that this is the cream of the crop of dark chocolate ice cream. And the Pistachio...guess what!? It ACTUALLY tastes like pistachio! Not the bright green synthetic stuff we find in back home. It's nutty, has bits of pistachios in it, and is also rich, creamy and oh-so-delicious. I don't think I can handle Europe for too much longer, it's not good for my health!

After consuming pure joy in a cone, and wandered through the narrow streets of Rome,malong with a million other tourists and together we admired the beauty of the scaffolding covering Trevi Fountain...

I stopped to look at some paintings nearby. The guy selling them is telling me that this one costs so much, this one this much...all obviously expensive. I take my sunglasses off to take a closer look and he stops mid-sentence to exclaim with haste, "Your eyes! Your eyes are so beautiful!" Not sure how beautiful my eyes looked as they rolled into the back of my head, but he said that we should stop talking about prices and keep talking about my eyes... "Let me buy you a drink." "I don't drink." "Ok coffee." "Don't drink coffee either." With him looking a little stunned at that point and the sun going down, I purchased a painting from him (not, I assure you, because he won me over with his wooing ways) and proceeded to see a little bit of Rome by night.


The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland)...

This is a controversial monument was completed in 1925 and built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose body was chosen from among 11 unknown remains from WW1 and buried in a state funeral on 4 November 1921. The construction of this monument destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood, and is often regarded as conspicuous, pompous, and too large. (Thank you Wikipedia)

And the Colosseum...which also has some GORGEOUS scaffolding around it (I'll show you later)

June 26-Friday 

This day...more walking. Walking walking walking. I wasn't really set on anything in particular, so just wandered. 

I made it to the Pantheon...

This place is pretty awesome. I wish I didn't feel like a sardine while inside, but, it's awesome nonetheless. It's one of the best preserved Roman buildings, and after almost 2000 years of being built, it still has the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. The problem with having so much history and buildings packed so close to each other (and all the tourists (like me!) is that you can't get a proper picture from the outside.

One great thing about Rome is that there are public fountains all over the place where you can get a drink. No need to go thirsty or get dehydrated here!

Made a stop at Giolitti (again) and tried their Cocco (coconut) and Bacio, which is like a chocolate/hazelnut mix and very delicious. Definitely in my top 5 gelato flavours! 

Next it was a walk through Piazza del Popolo where there was a stage and whatnot being set up for some big event, a concert maybe? And Coca-Cola was there just giving away bottles of Coke to everyone! 

Now I haven't had much to drink other than water in the last few months so this felt like fire going down my throat, but hey, it was nice of them?!

I then ended up at the Spanish Steps, where the Trinità dei Monti and Baraccia Fountain were both under construction. So once I again I was able to admire the art of scaffolding, how lucky am I?!

Made my way down toward Piazza Venezia and walked by Trajan's Forum, a public square built between 106-112AD by/for Emperor Trajan...

And finally to Chiesa Evangelica Breccia di Roma, a church where I was able to have "V.I.P seating" to the opera "La Traviata". Nauvoo, the girl I was staying with, is a promoter for this opera/dance company, so she was able to get me in to see this opera. It pays to know people...thanks Nauvoo!

On the way home from the opera, we made a stop at a little Italian ice booth, which Nauvoo said was "the best in Rome"...

Again, pays to know people! Yes, this was delicious. Situated outside the south wall of Vatican City, it was surrounded by Italians. There were only two people working, one guy scraping a block of ice, and one girl pouring the syrup and adding ingredients. Here's my mint and coconut ice with coconut and lemon added, a wonderful midnight snack!

June 27-Saturday


This day...oh, what a day this was! I woke up early with every intention of waiting out the 3+ hour long queue to get into the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. I had gone to the market and bought fruit and bread to eat while I waited, brought a big bottle of water and everything. But 5 minutes into it with the sun blazing down on me, I knew I'd rather pay the extra cash to skip the line. So pay and skip I did, and met some great Scottish girls, Alys and Erica, who had decided to do the same thing. 

Ok so I really do appreciate history and art, but it's hard to get as much out of it as possible when there are hundreds of other people around you and you all get prodded on and on and on. And I knew I would feel this way, it happened at The Louvre Museum in Paris, but I also knew if I came to Rome and DIDN'T go I'd probably end up kicking myself. And I really am glad I went! Did you know Michelangelo didn't actually spend 4 years painting on his back? No, he was actually standing pretty much the entire time on scaffolding of his own design. Here's a little sketch he drew of himself...

And then the rest of the museum....

Court of the Pigna...

4th century original tile floor...

The Belvedere Torso...

This was once believed to be an original sculpture from the 1st century BC, but is now believed to be a copy of an older sculpture, possibly from the 2nd century BC. How people come to that conclusion is beyond me! But this was highly admired by Michaelangelo, and that admiration was very publicly known. Apparently he was asked by Pope Julius II to complete it, giving it arms, legs, and a face. But he declined, stating that it was too beautiful to change.


Crowds of people in the Gallery of Maps...

Inside St. Peter's Basilica...

Leaving Vatican City I could feel a headache coming on, and began the treck to the colosseum. 


Passed the Corte Suprema di Cassazion (Palace of Justice)...

The more I walked the worse I felt and debated on just going home, but I knew there was no guarantee I'd get there the next day. It was almost 6pm so I decided to just go for the last hour, which meant the queue was only 5 minutes long! The colosseum is really cool, really grand. I'm not gonna go I to a big explanation here, I think you all know what the colosseum is...right??!

Like I said, it's got some awesome scaffolding right now!

Now, here's where the story starts to get interesting. At this point I wasn't feeling well, headache, nausea etc. I hadn't eaten much that day, but I had been making sure to drink plenty of water. I was taking a little bit of a rest in the colosseum and a guy with an Eastern European accent asked me to take a picture for him. 10 minutes later same guy, same question. I left the colosseum at closing time and bought a frozen bottle of water from a booth on the street. I was sitting on a ledge with the bottle on the back of my neck when the same guy walked by and started to take a selfie...so I asked if he wanted me to take another picture for him. At this point we actually introduced ourselves. His name was Alexander and was from Armenia. I asked if people called him Sasha for short, he chuckled and said yes and asked how I knew that?! I told him I had just come from living in Ukraine, and that my sister-in-law is from Ukraine and my nephews name is Alexander. So we started talking and walking and decided to go get something to eat. We found a restaurant, sat down, and I was feeling worse than ever...headache and nausea. I could barely even hold a proper conversation because just the simple act of speaking took so much energy! The poor guy, I don't think he knew what to do. Then my mouth started watering, but not the good/hungry kind of watering. It was the I'm-gonna-start-puking kind of watering. I got up and found the bathroom. There was a girl waiting to go in but I had my hand over my mouth and probably looked all sorts of desperate and just said "sorry, I gotta..." and shoved my way into the little room just as the other girl was coming out. Well after that little episode, I felt better. Not good, but better. I went back to the table and just sat and sipped water as he ate. Again, the poor guy! He's having dinner with a stranger who's totally sick. He'll probably go home and tell all his friends he met this girl who ended up puking at dinner...what a story! We left the restaurant and made our way to the nearest metro, where we parted ways and his farewell was "Be healthy." Haha! So I get on the train and soon after start to feel queasy again. We get to the first stop and I decide to get off at the next stop to see if solid ground will help my situation. As SOON as the doors closed I just knew I should've exited the train at that station. I started to panic, and just prayed that the next stop wasn't far away. I got as close to the doors as possible and my mouth starts doing that watering thing again. I was terrified at what was about to happen. I feel it coming and...dry heave. Oh, I've never felt such relief! I knew I couldn't last much longer but I had NO desire to throw up in such closed conditions! Luckily, the train started to slow and came to a halt. I'm shaking at this point and come to terms with the fact that there's no way around it, I'm gonna hurl. I'm practically jumping up and down in anticipation for the doors to open and when they do, I book it towards the left. The exit is to the right but I want to be as far away from as many witnesses as possible. I'm almost clear but I can't stop it and about a dozen people were there to witness it. I just kept walking in the same direction and notice a half empty water bottle on the floor ahead of me (I had finished the last of my water getting to the metro) I used it to wash my face, and then his sweet old Italian lady brought me some napkins and told me to drink lots of water and it would go away. After that second little episode, I felt a lot better. Still not good, but I was pretty sure I was done with that kind of show for the evening. I sat down on a bench and had the whole platform to myself. A few minutes later people start trickling in and this man from Africa dances over (literally dances) and sits right beside me and starts talking. I tell him I speak English to which I replies "I no speak English."  He tells me his name is Billy, takes some beaded bracelets and puts them on my wrist. Then he tells me he loves me. Oh boy...it really MUST have been true love! For someone to make that exclamation when I was all pale and sweaty...what else could it have been?! He puts his arm around me, grabs my face and turns it towards his to try and kiss me but I resist, so basically...well basically he licked my face. Ya, I'm feeling like a total star at this point! It all happened so fast and I had no real energy to stand up and walk away. The train comes and we enter. He sits down beside me and says over and over again that he loves me. The only thing I could do in my physical state was to say "no you don't, that's impossible, you don't even know my name" etc. He asks me which stop I was going to. Then I realized that sure, this guy could actually be nice, and maybe "My name is Billy" and "I love you" are the only English phrases he knows. But He could also be a total creep and I had no desire for him to know which stop was mine, just in case. I was to exit at the last stop but I didn't know if he would also exit there or if he would follow me. So I decided to exit at the next stop. The doors opened and I stood up and jumped out and he didn't follow me. So then I waited for the third train on this leg of the journey to finally take me to my stop. That walk home was miserable and I was totally dismayed that I was subjecting myself to another 33 days away from home! But I took a shower, had a good sleep, and woke up the next morning realizing how incredibly blessed and lucky I am to have the experiences that I'm having in all these wonderful countries!

June 28-Sunday

Church day!

 Nauvoo drove me to the church in the morning on her way to work and told me that Andrea, Daniele's roommate, would make sure I got home. Now I think Heavenly Father is trying to send me a message. In Copenhagen, the missionaries shared that video with us by Elder Holland called "Wrong Roads", about how God wants to help us and guide us, and wants us to be sure that we are going in the right direction. Sometimes the fastest way He can let us know is to send us briefly down a wrong road, so that it becomes very apparent very quickly what the right road is. Well this is the same message that was shared in Priesthood/Relief Society. And then the next day The Mormon Channel posted the very same video on Facebook. What am I supposed to learn from this?!

After church Andrea and I walked back from church in the ridiculous heat. Seriously, remember how I was going to move to Arizona last year?!?! I don't know if I could handle it! The laundry that took like two full days to dry in Northern Germany only took two hours to dry in Rome. Anyways, I arrived back at Nauvoo's and packed up my bag to be ready to leave for Florence first thing in the morning, and then it was off to Chiesa Evangelica Breccia di Roma again with Nauvoo and her sister Zuleika for an evening performance of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". 

Once again, it pays to know people...thanks Nauvoo! And thanks to Zuleika for the wonderful conversation on that incredibly uncomfortable bench! It's a blessing to receive insight at such unexpected times.

Here's a wonderfully blurry photo of the three of us...totally the effect I was going for!

We made our way towards home and Nauvoo dropped me off at the Daniele/Fausto/Andrea apartment to have a little visit before I left the next day, since Daniele and Fausto had been in Naples for the previous couple of days.

I'm grateful to have met so many people from around the world. Whether it's because of my travels or other peoples travels, it's nice to have connections. Not just so you can know exactly where to get the best gelato or shaved ice in Rome or cheesecake in Copenhagen. No, knowing all these people just makes my family seem so much bigger. So thanks to everyone I've met, in all areas of the world for becoming a part of my global family!

Next stop...Tuscany! Gotta find me a pig and some birthday cake.