Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Hector Garcia, Study Abroad - Italy 2012


 The Following is an excerpt from a student's travel blog on his program in Italy.


Sunday was Lucca and my birthday.  It was pretty cool to experience my birthday in Italy.  It was certainly a birthday to remember.  It was pretty rainy that day and a little cold but I did not let it dampen my spirits.  Whereas we took a bus to Assisi the day before, we took the train to Lucca.  The train went from Siena to Firenze, Firenze to Lucca.  Lucca is famous for being one of the largest cities that still has fully intact medieval walls.  The walls are pretty thick.  I imagine it was pretty hard to penetrate them when they actually worked as a defense mechanism.  It was pretty cool walking through the tunnels and staircases just to get into the city.  The first stop in Lucca was the Duomo di San Martino.  Bless Rae Rae’s heart for getting me a birthday gift.  It was a book that basically covered the entire history of Lucca and acted as a guide to the city for me, as I would look stuff up in the book and then check it out.  

We walked around for a while before lunch.  Lunch was fantastic that day.  We found this little café next to the San Michele in Foro, another famous church in the city, and I ordered the best lasagna I had ever had.  It was a mix of Bolognese and lots of cheese.  It is almost hard to describe.  It was good, to say the least.  Ask Jon, he will vouch for me.  It was freaking amazing!  

After lunch, we climbed the Torre of the city.  It was a pretty good walk up the stairs and ladders but it was worth it!  I got some pretty fantastic panoramas from up there.  After that, half of the group left for Pisa to see the leaning tower.  Those who stayed were lucky enough to rent bikes for an hour to ride around the city walls.  It was still a little rainy but it made it all the more fun.  The bikes were awesome. 



 It was a nice way to see the whole city.  I discovered some areas I otherwise wouldn’t have.  All in all, I would say it was one of the better birthdays I had ever had.  Never in my dreams did I imagine I would be spending my birthday in Tuscany.

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