Tuscany

Buona Sera,
Just got back from our weekend in Tuscany. We left thursday night and drove to Aruzzo, a small town north of italy. It is in the middle of Florence and Siena. The first night we got there and checked into the hotel and at dinner at the hotel. the hotel was a really nice it was a 5 star hotel, by italian standards.....think of like a comfort inn by american standards. The next day we got up at 7 to start touring Arruzzo. We saw some original frescos of the Pregnant Madonna and Christ Triumphing Death, they were really quite good and still in pretty good condition even though they were made in the same year Columbus left for the new world. Me and my roomates went to this little teeny hole in the wall italian resturant for lunch and we had 6 courses for only 20 bucks a peice. It was the best food ive had since weve been in italy. We also saw Petrarch's house.
Saturday we got up early and went to Florence, which is very different from rome. We saw the Duomo, The David, the Pont Di Vechio and spent most of the day in musems. It was ok because there isnt alot to do in Firenza. It is a beautiful city but only one that i would want to visit. The David is magnificent it is one of the most beautiful things ive seen. And he is like 15 feet tall which i had no idea. We saw Michelangelo's second and third Pieta's the ones he did after the original most famous ones. Then we went to the Ufizi, which is kind of like the Louve of Italy. We saw some of Da Vinici's works aswell as his notebooks. Also the Birth of Venus and La Primavera were there, they are amazing too, it was crazy to think that art history students all around the world were studying the paintings i was standing in front of.
This morning we went to Seina and had mass in the Church of San Dominico. Seina is really neat, very different then rome, its very laid back. We went to the museum there and saw the cathedral. And then spent the afternoon to ourselves shopping and hanging out.
Anyways, im glad to be back at my place in rome, im beat. And mom and sr. pat and grams are home now, i was very sad to see them leave. They had a great week here and i totally loved having them here.

ciao,
Matty