Urbino, Remini, & San Leo

This weekend we took a class excursion to three coastal cities of Italy. We had to get on the bus at eight on Friday morning, the day after Brian, my roommate’s 21^st birthday. I got up a lot easier that he did. We took a four hour bus ride to Urbino, where most people sleep, but Italian buses are smaller than American buses so I have a little trouble getting comfortable but on this ride I did fall asleep, but woke up with a horrible crik(?) in my neck that I still haven’t gotten rid of. We arrived in Urbino and took a little walking tour of the city, which reminds me of Siena quite a bit. We went to the home of Raphael, the master, and also my favorite ninja turtle. We got a break for lunch and we found this gorgeous hill that overlooks the entire town, which has a giant palace that we visit. Since I am not an art history major, nor do I know much about art, I cannot appreciate all of the hundreds of Madonna with Child, Annunciation, and Crucifixions that we see. The palace was cool and really big. We got to go underneath and check out the older stables and how a castle like that was really like a small city with all of the servants and people that kept it running. We left this city after I consumed a gyro, reminiscing of Greece, when I realized I was there a month ago. We took a two hour drive to Remini, a city known for its beaches and clubs. We got to our hotel, where Hanks and I were roommates, and ate a big 3 course meal, and plenty of wine. We took full advantage of both of the fames of Remini, going out to a cool outside bar and then going night swimming in the frigid Adriatic Sea. The next day we went and saw a classic Roman Arch, a medieval church, and a Renaissance temple of a man that reverted to Paganism and made a whole church to himself. There was a market outside after we were finished but most of us were excited to get to the beach in the daytime. We spent a few hours there, building a sand castle and getting sunburnt. After eating a good pizza for lunch, we took an hour drive to San Leo, a community on top of an intense rock formation. The town was quaint with a really old tower. It was ridiculously windy up there and some people got windburn while listening to the lecture. We walked even higher up to the castle on top of the rock, La Rocca. It was impressive and had a torture exhibit, with pictures and diagrams. It also was the place where a famous alchemist was interrogated by the Inquisition and eventually killed. It had a huge exhibit with a lot of old chemistry stuff and how they did these kinds of things in the 15^th century, which you can imagine I was enthralled with. We left here all very tired and I grabbed some road Coronas. I really enjoy these excursions because there are some really cool people on this program and sometimes its hard to hang out in Siena because we all live all over the city and I don’t really like hanging out with big groups. I think that it will get better and better as time goes on though. I just wrote this and the previous two because I am procrastinating writing papers, which I excel at. I have loved hearing from many of you and would love to hear from more.