Tuscany Road Trip!

So we decided to finally start using this thing and attempt to keep all of you wonderful friends and family updated on our travel adventures and life in Europe! I've been here for a year and a half now and am often sad that I don't get to keep in touch with everyone all the time.  So here is a blog in efforts to get you all more informed and coerce you to come visit!


The clouds in Northern Tuscany

So since Germany is a magical place with fun accents, white sausage and beer for work lunches; they give you many holidays! Last week we had 5 days off for Easter, rented a car and headed towards our friendly neighbors to the south!  It's only a 3 hour drive to Lake Garda in the Northern region which was our first stop for a mandatory Italian pizza and glass of wine upon entering the country! I'm fairly certain that we had pizza for lunch every day in 5 different cities.

View from Il Ciocco hotel

Our first day was the most adventurous but unfortunately the weather was really crappy and we ended up driving through rain and fog for half the day.  The first hotel was on the Southern edge of the Italian alps therefore we were literally driving in the clouds on tiny winding mountain roads for almost 2 hours with about 12 feet visibility ahead. Aka, I was terrified and pestering Sergei the entire time to slow down. But once we finally made it through the clouds it was amazing to see the views from the top of the mountains! 


Sergei drinking in Lucca

Half of the reason that we wanted to go to Italy was to enjoy all the lovely Italian food. We're a bit obsessed with Italian Burrata cheese. (If you have no idea what that is: go find some-it's AMAZING! http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cheese/cheese2/burrata.asp  Therefore, on our adventure into Lucca when we found some it kicked off a massive Italian good buying spree. We got tons of lovely Olive Oil since I bathe in it, Limoncello from tiny little produces and even found some Amarone wine for cheap! Heaven.

Is that the Leaning Tower of Pisa?!

The Ruins in front of Volterra, beautiful town in a mountain top

Day 2 was a blur complete with the entire Southwest of Tuscany covered. We stopped in Lucca for delicious food and to explore the tower walls, visited Pisa for the obligatory 'Leaning Tower falling on me' photo, went to a farm in the middle of nowhere and found fresh Italian cheese and played with Italian farm animals, stopped in Volterra to see the ancient ruins and clock tower and finally arrived in Montalcino (the Brunello wine region) around 10pm. Thankfully the Italians eat dinner late so we managed to score dinner in a lovely Fiaschetteria (wine and tapas bar) and had dinner in the wine cellar. One of the coolest moments was while we were having dinner. All of a sudden our waitress comes and turns off the music because the town is doing it's Good Friday processional.  We went outside to watch and in this tiny little city, there were hundreds of Catholic people walking and chanting through the streets for Good Friday at 11pm. The Priest was officiating in Italian obviously and there was a band too. It was just really cool to see.

Montalcino Good Friday Processional

With Signore Spina, the wine maker in his home

The next morning we had a private tour and wine tasting on the charming Sesta Di Sopra vineyard.  And wow, they make the most wonderful Brunello wine. All that stuff about earthy aromas with a hint of fresh grapes and old oak etc is really true!! We're wine snobs now. Needless to say after lots of tasting... we got tipsy and bought 12 bottles to bring back to Germany. It's a good thing we drove instead of fly :)  But the vineyard is so tiny, they only produce 4000 bottles of wine a year, how can they make a profit? I think they need some wine consulting!

The David

Florence was our last destination for 2 days and of course we did tons of the touristy stuff.  We started with the Duomo for Easter Sunday services, which were packed. We went to the Accademia which is where Michelangelo's: "The David" is housed. And it really was magnificent, HUGE and just breathtaking. They don't allow pictures to be taken, but I'm a rebel. So enjoy :)

Pont Vecchio Bridge in Firenze

We also went to the Galileo Museum which was really fun and Sergei was like a child playing with all the science exhibits.  We ate tons of Gelato, although to be fair, the best Gelato we had was in Modena on our way home.  We went to the Uffizi gallery and shopped and wandered around Pont Vecchio bridge.  We sat in Piazza della Repubblica and people watched and had cappuccino. And just ate a ton of great Italian food! The weather even improved and we had some sunny days in Florence!

Yummy Gelato!!!

Italy is just amazing with so much to see and do. And the people there are so friendly and welcoming. Obviously, I know firsthand about awesome Italians, but I think that they're definitely the best in Western Europe! We will definitely go back, especially to Montalcino.

Hmm, now where to find really good Gelato without driving 3 hours?!

~Lesley & Sergei

 

Football is over. Just waiting for IU Basketball in March!

I'm fairly certain that I should be excited about going skiing this weekend. But really I'm secretly scared! I mean, the first time I'm ever skiing and it's on the Austrian Alps?! I feel that a broken leg is imminent. Let's just hope I can find a teacher for a morning class tomorrow :)

Otherwise, Munich is great so far. Learning Deutsch is quite a challenge, but seems to be slowly growing on me. My accent is not as terrible as originally thought. But there is so much vocabulary that it makes me wonder how I ever mastered English without intensive courses.  Learning a 2nd language is really difficult and I really have a new respect for all those Europeans that can speak 3, 4 or 5 languages! It's awesome how diverse the people are here. Yet, somehow when asked if they speak German, they respond with, "A little bit." Only to go on and speak it perfectly to me. That's at least one good thing that America has done for me over here :)

And I am getting to travel a bit more lately.  The bf took me to Prague for my birthday and then there was the long winter trek to the US for Christmas with the obligatory 6 day stop in South Florida (it was ONLY to see my grandmother, I swear!).  But now I'm travelling a ton! Austria this weekend. Budapest, Hungary for 4 days next week. Frankfurt at the beginning of March. And hopefully, a trip to the Med for Easter. Perhaps Israel for Passover? I just need to get away from this terrible Munich weather! I'm so sick of the snow! Even Chicago wasn't so bad compared to this.

At least in Chicago they had deep dish pizza and a football team. Although the Super Bowl party last weekend was quite fun :)

German Observations

Just some random things that I've noticed so far:

It is not uncommon for kids under the age of 10 to wander around the streets after 11pm alone in this extremely safe city.

There is a KFC flagship here that has a 2 story parking garage attached. Just because the Germans have a thing for chicken :)

Germans follow the rules. Unconditionally. ALL THE TIME!  They NEVER jay-walk, they always buy train tickets-even though I've been checked one time in the entire month+ I've been here. They have insurance to cover everything-cars, health, bike, home, property, life insurance, animals, liabilities, etc!

They aren't particularly religious here (except about Soccer) but NOTHING is open on Sunday. And all the stores close at 8pm every other night.

You can drink alcohol anywhere; public transport, at the library, on the street. I think it's actually encouraged.

I think that Germans have a rep throughout Europe as being unfriendly. But I haven't seen ANY of that yet! Besides, all the people I've met so far have been very welcoming, interested in hearing about my far away land and get really excited when I tell them that we used to have an F1 race in my city :)

Now if I can just find a job that will allow me to speak English, I'll save everyone's ears from something disastrous!

Isn't there an election happening soon?

As a political science major I am deeply disappointed that I'll be overseas and missing the election-day chaos over here. And while I already sent my probably useless blue shaded absentee ballot to the red state of Indiana weeks ago, I'm sad that I will not be able to vote in person and get a sticker.

BUT, I will be staying up ALL night tomorrow watching Wolf, James, John and Anderson on CNN Intl and eating homemade blue colored cupcakes :) At least if the wrong outcome ensues then I can take comfort in the fact that I'll be in the EU the next few years and still have a shot at health insurance!

Just one more thing that needs to be transported around the globe. So far the biggest holidays/events that I've missed having friends and family to celebrate with are: St. Patrick's Day, the Indy 500, Halloween, my brother's graduation, a good-friend's wedding, July 4th, Election day and my birthday. It's just impossible to book a $1200 ticket for every event!

Perhaps it's time for a low cost airline that just does the short puddle jump?

 

Step 3: Start over again

Well it all finally happened!
I FINALLY Graduated with my MBA!!! It was an insanely long year of tests and cases and teamwork with my fellow classmates. I travelled 75,000 miles in 12 months to four continents and 11 countries. I spent 5 weeks in Singapore gaining an understanding of the Asian mindset and work ethic. I paid 200 Euros under the table to obtain a Russian visa for a week where we saw how their 'business model' worked. I froze in Cape Town while doing a hands on consulting project for a winery and experiencing some of the world's most breathtaking scenery. And of course I met tons of amazing people along the way.

My IIP team finished our project and had our final presentation on the morning of graduation and then that evening we all walked across the stage.  I know that having a graduation at this age and obtaining a master's isn't nearly exciting to some, but for me, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. When I arrived to Paris in September last year with 3 suitcases and a laptop, I didn't know a single person within a thousand miles. I said goodbye to my entire family, to my friends, to a boy, to a job, to a city that I had lived in for over 20 years and left. I completely started over.  And here I am, 1 year later, doing it again.  Only this time, I have an amazing person by my side.

I moved to Munich 10 days ago and so far I can say I love it. While Oktoberfest is clearly the best time of the year for the city, it hosts many great people and places.  And I'm so looking forward to learning German and getting to know many people here and getting involved in the local community.

Now if only I can figure out how to stay skinny in the land of brezen and bratwurst...