Weekend Day Trips

18-20 February 2011

This weekend I did two different day trips. The first to Chianti a region in Italy known for its high quality wine and one to Viareggio a town outside of Florence that holds one the biggest Carnival parades in Tuscany.

Chianti

On Friday morning we took a 50-minute bus ride to Chianti to take a wine tour. The day turned out to be the perfect weather! Sunny and around 15 degrees Celsius (figure it out in Fahrenheit I had to ;) Just kidding I typed it in two a converter on google. It is about 60 degrees. So it was the perfect temperature to tour a vineyard. We started off by being shown around the property and through the wine cellars where they hold the big baraks (wooden barrels) that age the wine.  Each of the baraks cost about 50,000 dollars!  However they can each be used for about twenty years before being replaced. We also learned that on this particular vineyard the wine cellars used to be dungeons back in the middle ages. After the tour we were treated to a wine tasting of four different wines, three table wines and a dessert wine. The wine was accompanied by four different types of meat and two different types of bruschetta. After our tasting we walked around the vineyard a bit more and then headed back to Florence to make it home in time for dinner.

Viareggio

Viareggio was by far my favorite trip so far even considering the fact that it rained the entire time and was freezing!  The parade was incredible! The floats march in a parade along the boardwalk of Viareggio.  The floats have satirically inspired themes about local and international politics, each one taking about a year to make. Please see pictures for examples. My favorite float was the one against water pollution. From the front it is a beautiful flower but as it passes you can see how the damage to the environment has ruined its beauty because it is covered in smoke and trash. I am hurrying to type this so I can upload the pictures so if you have questions about the parade are carnival just comment on the post and I will answer them thoroughly!