So the last time I left off I had told you I was planning on going on a free pub crawl with the roomies on Friday night, well just so you're aware, that did happen, it was awesome and I am still alive! yay! We went to two bars and one club and the only bad part about it...really the only bad part about Florence so far is it really genuinely feels like I am never going to stop sweating! It is so hot here and add the whole no building has air conditioning thing to that...it's just a recipe for disaster! I think I've sweated off at least 5 pounds since I've been here haha.
Other than that Friday and Saturday were pretty chill, added Gusta Panini to my favorite list of Gusta restaurants, it's this family can do no wrong! We also tried this cool kabob place over by the Squola language school where we had to apply for our permit of stay, it was really good as well.
So now on to what you're all waiting for....AREZZO!!!
To start off I really need to go all the way to the beginning and talk about the fact that even though you have a code, apparently if you buy your tickets online for the train, they still cannot give you a ticket if you do not have the printout...so unfortunately had to spend an extra 12 euro buying tickets that I had already bought to go to Arezzo, luckily it wasn't much more than that or I probably would have had doubts about it...oh well!
It was definitely worth it when we got there...besides being the hilliest town I've ever been to, (no wonder they are all in such good shape) Arezzo was beautiful. We started off the day by going to check out the place that the festival was going to be at later and enjoying a pastry and coffee at this small place right off the square. Then we decided to go check out this antiques festival we heard was supposed to be going on the first Sunday of every month. That was another hilly walk but when we finally made it up there it was definitely worth it. Think of the biggest flea market you've ever been to and multiply it by 3, then add the fact that you're in a gorgeous place with views of the hills of Tuscany all around, definitely a sight to behold! And if that wasn't enough, we also got to enjoy free live music by a genuine one man band playing "I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley...who knew he was so big in Italy! haha
We ended up having lunch at a small place that was recommended in my book as authentic Tuscan cuisine and it definitely was because we couldn't read a single thing on the menu. I ended up getting a dish called ribolitti and gnocchi funghi which translated is a stew like mixture of carrots and celery and pasta dumplings with mushrooms. It was really good!
So as the day proceeded, we figured out there is basically two parts to this festival...the parade...which basically goes on all day (we saw it four times) and progressively gets bigger and the jousting (which is insane!!) The parade was very cool with drums and trumpets, as well as flags from all the families with the various teams parading through and supporting their jousters (there are two from each team)...we also got to see the noblemen/women and the priests walk in the parade.
Now...since we are silly Americans and we wanted to fit in with all the crazy Italians, we decided that we needed to get flags to tie around our necks so that we could each support a team. While this is a good idea in theory, the way we approached it probably could have been better. We decided to each get the flag that we thought was prettiest and support that team. However, once the massive parade was over and we fought our way through the crowds to get back inside the Piazza Grande to wait for the jousting to start, we realized that each team had a different section to stand in. This wasn't a problem for me since we soon realized that we were standing in my team's section. Sarah was a little frightened since my team is the biggest and loudest team and she was getting several dirty looks because apparently our teams didn't get a long :/ So ya she took her flag off for the rest of the jousting...haha
But I can't stress enough to you how intense it really was! There was chanting and yelling and angry looks being thrown every which way and after we finally got through the opening ceremonies to the first joust (my team) it was crazy to hear every one get dead silent as the herald shouted "PORTA CRUCIFERA....(dead silence)...CINQUE!...(CROWDS ROARING!!! AHHHH!!!!) Anyway, it was so intense and we had such a long day that we were totally lame and only stayed for two jousts before we headed back to the train station to go home...I did get lots of pictures and some video though! Be sure to look on facebook for that!!
Here's a website I found with some more information on the festival if anyone is interesting
http://www.seeyouintuscany.com/tuscany_travel_guide/arezzo_area/arezzo/giostra_del_saracino/giostra_del_saracino.html
Also in case you were wondering...
Laura: Porta Crucifera
Sarah: Porta Santo Spirito (I was kindof sad I didn't choose this one after we found out the names since that's the street I live on :( )
Stacey: Porta del Foro
There's one other team but we only had three people...
So anyways, it was a fun day and I'm definitely glad I was able to experience such a crazy Italian festival! Maybe I'll get extra credit in my Festivals and Feasting class for going! haha, on that note, classes start tomorrow for me! Today for everyone else! Hope they go well, I'll keep you posted :)
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