Epic Post (Michelle's Birthday, Urbino, Firenze)

Ok, guys, I got a lot to catch up on, and it might go on for a while. Are you in? Cause I am.

Michelle's Birthday
A few weeks ago we went out for Michelle's birthday. We went to this great osteria called Buca delle Campane, which, according to the place mat, has had quite a history. For example, Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio, lived upstairs for a while. The restaurant felt rather like a cave, with vaulted ceilings of brick and no windows. There was also a live musician. The food was good, the atmosphere was good, the company was fantastic. There were two other birthdays in addition to Michelle's and the pianist made a special musical musical tribute to them, as well as the bride-to-be in the other corner of the room. Overall, a very eventful night in the osteria!

Urbino
The other weekend (Sept. 26th) we took a field trip to Urbino with the BCSP group. Because the town is small and far away from Bologna, we rented a bus. A double-decker bus. Too much space for twenty people? Yes, probably, but it was great sitting up top at the front, then you got a great view of all the idyllic buildings that the bus missed hitting by six inches as we went careening through the towns.

Urbino was a very important city during the Renaissance in Italy, which is why we went there, i suppose. But in actuality, I'm not sure that the trip wasn't centered around the fantastic lunch we had there. Anyway, we saw lots of the Palazzo Ducale, which was large enough to contain a small city inside (and indeed at one time it did). It was covered in marble and filled with art. The wooden walls of the study of Federico III da Montefeltro were covered top to bottom in intricate and exquisite carvings of people, places, and... things (so basically nouns, ok?). Urbino is also known as the birthplace of Raffaello Sanzio (the painter). We got the opportunity to walk through his childhome, which was great, but I wouldn't describe it as a particularly inspiring experience.

What was inspiring was the lunch. First, they brought out baskets of bread. I foolishly started to nibble one, not guessing what would come next. Garlic bread, and then meat ravioli covered in grated cheese. Then we got platters of pork shanks, and my adventurous friend Alessandra salvaged the bone marrow from one of them. For dessert, lemon cake and espresso.

Firenze
The next day, Sunday, I decided to ignore the fact that I had two exams the next day and went to Florence. Why? To surprise Michael, of course! I had it planned perfectly. I secretly ascertained the whereabouts of their hostel and showed up at 9:00AM, breakfast in hand. Unfortunately, Michael and his friends had already left the hostel, but I found them eventually at the Duomo. Which is beautiful, at least from the outside (I didn't get to go inside...next time!). There was a large race in Florence that day, for some sort of chartity, and while watching the hundreds of runners/walkers go by in their orange t-shirts, I found that it was quite easy to pick out all the Americans. (There are a lot of American students who study in Florence.)

Michael, his friends, and I waited outside of the Accademia Art Museum for about an hour and a half (but hey, admission was free). Then we blitzed through it, pausing just long enough for Sabian to take an illegal of Michelangelo's Davide. I think he's selling copies for 5 euro a piece. Then those guys left for Rome and Michael and I strolled about the city. We got great gelato, though. This little place on the way to the Boboli Garden makes homemade gelato of the most interesting flavors. I had chocolate mousse and cheesecake, Michael had the mousse and blueberry muffin. The astounding thing was, the flavors tasted exactly like we were eating the real thing. I just can't decide if that's because they did a great job making the gelato, or if it's because it wasn't actually gelato, but refrigerated chocolate mousse, mashed-up cheesecake, and creamed muffin. The world will never know, because they'll be too busy enjoying eating it.

The Boboli Gardens are beautiful. It's situated on a hill a little south of the city and affords a stupendous panoramic of Florence, as good, according to Michael, as the view you get from the bell tower near the Duomo.

I liked Florence. The streets, although filled with people of all different sorts, were wide enough to accomodate the traffic. On a whole, the city had a very light and sunny appearance, which could be from the weather or from the buildings. In any case, it makes it a very pleasant place to be, and I look forward to returing later this year.

That's all for now, folks. I'll be back soon.

Signed, the Sengenblogger