Montepulciano, Sant'Antimo, Pienza and the Natural History Museum

Had the best weekend! On Friday the entire class headed to Montepulciano, Sant'Antimo, and Pienza to check out some churches and see a little bit of the Tuscan countryside. The bus ride there was so beautiful. We winded our way through the little hill towns and farms. It really is THAT beautiful here. First stop was Sant'Antimo, a beautiful church in the middle of nowhere. The site itself is set in a little valley surrounded by fields and vineyards not far from Montalcino (not to be confused with Montepulciano). The church itself is rather plain and mostly white but scholars believe that it was once covered in frescos. The church also houses a 13th century wooden crucifix carved by a Catalan artisan passing through the area. Wooden sculptures rarely survive and this example is especially beautiful.

From there we headed to Pienza to look at the famous square and have lunch. The church had beautiful ceilings. The outer walls are riddled with bullet holes from WWII. Peinza is famous for its pecorino cheese and the entire town positively reeks of it -- but in a good way. Lunch was amazing. We started with pici (pronounced pee-chee). It's handrolled thick pasta -- each strand is about the width of a pencil. It had some sort of tomato sauce on it that was wonderful. Second course was roasted chicken and potatoes with rosemary and fresh green salad. Super good!

Next, we headed to Montepulciano a town that is now growing in popularity because they filmed some small portion of one of the twilight movies there. It is a captivating little place on the top of a hill will lovely views of the Tuscan countryside all around. About half way up the hill upon which Montepulciano sits is the beautiful Chiesa di San Biagio.

On Saturday, Emily and I headed to the Natural History Museum, which totally knocked my socks off. The very last picture is just a sampling. This museum holds room after room of wax anatomical models from the 18th century and an amazing array of taxidermy. All of the wax models are simultaneously alluring and repulsive. Some are so beautiful and lifelike that you just want to stare but when you do you realize what you are looking at and recoil. Anyway, it was amazing.

After the museum, Emily and I headed back to Via Romana (the student housing) where the students had organized a party in honor of the Oktoberfest we are all missing. None of us were able to get train tickets to Germany for any of the Oktoberfest weekends. We hung out there for a while then headed to aperitivo at Golden View again which is amazing. For the price of a drink you get a full meal including pasta, pizza, and various cold dishes. It is a really good meal, including drink, for only 10 euro. The best part is that you get to try a whole bunch of different things on the buffet, plus this place is classy and overlooks the Arno.

It rained most of the night but it was nice to walk around and see the streets all shiny. We hit a few more bars and clubs before finally calling it a night around 3 am. The bar scene here is startlingly American. All American music all the time. Will have to continue trying more places.

Again, the pictures are all out of order. Sorry guys.