Field Trip North Day 1 - We All Speak Football

So its been awhile since ive had the time to blog. We just got back from our weeklong trip in the northern areas of italy around 5 PM Italy time yesterday, 11AM for you back on the east coast of the good ol red white and blue. We explored many places in northern italy including Florence, Venice, areas in Tuscany and Cinque Terre (coastal towns). OUr journey started on saturday morning at 715AM. The busses pulled out and we were on our way up north, our first stop-Caprarola. Admittingly i was not extremely excited for this stop, i pretty much assumed it was just a pitstop on the way to Florence, which we would be arriving at the next day. However, as usual i was wrong. We arrived in Caprarola at the estate known as Palazzo Farnese, an old fortress built in the 1500s as a future hideout in case of an attack on rome. It was set on top of a large hill overlooking the city of Caprarola. The Palazzo was built in plan view in the shape of a five pointed star, but looking at it from the front, you cant notice that at all. What you can notice is the fact that it looks completely symmetric, with staircases crawling up both sides of the courtyard at the bottom to the entranceway at the top. Quite a beautiful site it was, especailly the view from the inside of the palazzo to the adjacent city and one misplaced mountain in the distance. The whole estate was beautiful also, with precisely trimmed hedges making what seemed to be mazes all around the yard, which were in turn surrounded by statues of former roman warriors and kings. We left there sometime after noon to get to our next spot - Bagnaia where we would be visiting Villa Lante. Villa Lante had a blend of two different garden types we were supposed to explore, the italian gardens which we axially alligned versus the englsh style garens which were more natural-seeming with labyrnths and paths, however by this time we were all hungry and the main thing on our mind was getting food. We qucikly made our way to the estate and explored the italian gardens then decided to go get some lunch, after all we live in america, we can see english gardens whenever we want, right? the gardens again were really amazing. For lunch Romolo told us about this sweet vendor tha made wild boar paninis which were suposaly really good, however he was closed and we were all a little dissapointed. Not to worry though, iwould get to experience that meat later on the trip. After Bagnaia we left for S. Anna in Camprena, a small town in Tuscany. We stayed at Agriturismo S. Anna in Camprena, which was a small estate where the movie The English Patient was filmed. This place was literally in the middle of nowhere, the bus barely made it up the narrow dirt road that winded up and around and finally to the estate. There was no chance of anybody getting themsef in trouble here...there wasnt anything to do...except enjoy the amazing views and scenery all aorund us. The estate we stayed at was actually an old monestary used by yeah u guessed it, monks. The artwork in the house was really something to be amazed at also. Later that day me Doug and Kristan went for a run along the carless rural roads. I made them all freak out when i screamed wild boar and jumped , which freaked out doug and made him jump to the complete opposite side of the road, and Kristan let out a quite yelp as well. That night we all were given a meal prepared by the hotel which was really delicious, another 5 courese meal. Italians are odd though, the meal lasted for like 3 hours, between every plate there was like a half hour or so of downtime/time to socialize. One guy, Todd Povall actually left partway through, took a shower and came back and didnt miss a single thing. That noght we all slept pretty well after a big day.