Oktoberfest, Paestum and Siena

A few weeks ago I went to Oktoberfest. It was quite an experience, with people from all over the world coming together to celebrate. I met my roommate Pepe in Florence, and while waiting for him I took pictures of Brunelleschi’s famous Duomo (dome) of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral (he lives across the street from it). We boarded a train to Munich and arrived there late (around 10 or 11 pm) and spent about 20 minutes just trying to get our bearings because the street name that we were looking for was different from what we were expecting. Eventually we made it to our nearby hotel and went directly to sleep so we would have enough energy in the morning. We woke up around 8 AM, ate an extravagant breakfast buffet in the downstairs lobby, then walked towards the festival. On our way there we met some local Germans a little younger than us who we quickly befriended and spent the majority of the day going into different tents, going on rides, and exploring the city. That evening I met some more Germans outside of one of the tents and spent the rest of the night with them. The Germans who I met at Oktoberfest were extremely friendly, and it was nice to learn more about their culture, such as how to sing drinking songs, etc.
The next day Pepe and I headed towards Hacker tent. Jon told me it was his favorite tent and I have to agree with him; the paintings on the inside of the tent are amazing, with sky and clouds on the ceiling to evoke the feeling that you are outside. It was extremely lively in the tent and we met friendly people from all over the world. In the afternoon we left the tent and went to the train station so I could catch my train to the Frankfurt airport. Since I flew with RyanAir (a cheap airline), the actual airport which I was flying out of was located an hour and a half away from the city of Frankfurt, so I had to take a night bus to get there. I arrived in Rome in the
morning and headed directly to school. I was tired from the weekend but had an amazing time. The chanting, traditional clothing, and large scale of the whole event is truly unique and you simply don’t know how fun Oktoberfest is until you actually experience it… it certainly lives up to and even surpasses its expectations.
Two Weekends ago I took a day trip to Paestum. It is a small town located south of Naples with a few Greek temples that are very well preserved. Southern Italy, including everything south of Naples and Sicily used to be a Greek colony called Magna Graecia. Before the Romans conquered the entire Italian peninsula the two main forces facing them were the Etruscans to the north of Rome and the Greeks to the south. Both of these cultures greatly shaped the art, politics and culture of the ancient Romans, and so our modern democratic-republic pays homage to them as well. I love classical architecture so to set my eyes upon a Greek temple for the first time was awe-inspiring. I took well over 300 pictures of just the 3 temples so that is a testament to how excited I was. It is simply amazing to look at structures built 2500 years ago (in about 500 B.C.), imagine how the ancients made use of the buildings and how many people have seen the temples and the history which they have lived through. The fact that I was seeing something which was so old, so well preserved and beautiful was shocking. I stayed until sundown and while waiting for the train back I met a nice German couple who had just been to Capri. The Germans who I have met lately have been much nicer than the ones I met initially, so it goes to show that you can't generalize the character of a whole society by only meeting a few of it's people. This is true with Italy too, for it's not the perfect "Olive Garden" paradise you might imagine from watching movies. The Italians in general are friendly but breaking the ice with them is a little harder than in America. And Italians tend to be calm in order to preserve their "bella figura," but when their temper is broken they will have a sudden and strong reaction. I have met extremely friendly Italians and cold Italians, so like any where else in the world there will always be all kinds of people in great or horrible moods, and acting differently towards you.
This past weekend my CEA group and I took a trip through the Tuscan hills to Siena, and stopped at a winery and restaurant on the way there. The drive through Tuscany is beautiful. As I said before, it is very reminiscent of the hills and vineyards of Northern California, except it is MUCH more hilly. There are many small medieval gated towns which were constructed on hilltops for protection. Two of these many types of towns which I visited were Siena and Sant'Angelo in Colle, but I the first stop which we visited was the Castello Banfi vineyard, located on its own hill. I already went wine tasting a few weeks ago as I wrote in my previous blog, so I don't need to elaborate on the experience, but the Castello Banfi is a lesser known winery that makes some great red wine. The scenery around the winery is magical since it is located ontop of a Tuscan hill and all you can see is valleys of vineyards and undulating hills surrounding you in the distance.
Our next stop was the walled Tuscan hilltop town of Sant'Angelo in Colle. We had several different courses starting with of bruschetta (bread with various toppings, a famous Italian appetizer), slices of meat and cheese for appertif, then 3 different types of pasta including thick spaghetti with ground beef, ravioli stuff with vegetables and some kind of linguine. After the delicious and filling meal we walked around the perimeter of the town and took pictures of some amazing views for a bout an hour before heading back onto the bus towards Siena. When we arrived in Siena it was late in the afternoon so we checked into our hotel (Hotel Athena) and some guys in my group walked around the city to the main square (which is in the shape of half an oval). When the sun came down we met at the hotel with the rest of the group to go to a medieval style dinner. I was expecting one large plate of chicken and bread which I would eat with my hands (since this is what I remembered having at the medieval banquet which I attended at the Camelot Casino in Las Vegas with my family manky Thanksgivings ago). Instead there were multiple small courses (almost 10!) of various kinds of bread with toppings, tarts with nuts, chicken and pea soup, all eaten with silver wear. We washed this meal down with carafes of wine, had a splendid time, and enjoyed the medieval costumes, wooden benches and tables, and medieval decoration surrounding us including stained-glass windows. After the meal most of my group headed to the square again (which is the main hang-out place of Siena) and I talked to a few Italian locals. I talked to one man in Italian about some of the beautiful sights and history in Siena and the rest of Italy, and also about California and America. Every European I've met seems to love California and wants to visit it, while I feel the same admiration and yearning for Italy... I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, although I am very grateful to live in California. When it was getting late we headed back to our hotel to sleep.
We woke up around 8:40 to eat a quick breakfast buffet and then head towards the center of town to meet our tour guide. She is a member of one of the 17 Contradas of Siena, the "caterpillar." The Contrada of Siena are basically social groups that pool money and resources together to compete against one another, the culmination of which is the Palio, or horse race. There are many palios in Italy, but the one in Siena is without doubt the most important. Contradas spend the whole year of every year preparing for this event. A Capitaino, or "captain," is chosen every year to lead the Contrada into victory during the Palio. Professional racing horses are drawn in lotteries and top jockeys are paid ridiculous undisclosed amounts by each of the chosen 10 palios who compete in the two different palios every summer. Winning means everything to the Contradas, because they get bragging rights for the rest of the year and get to display their flags on all their buildings while the other Contrada are not so fortunate. The Palio is life to the different contrada, and they are so prideful and competitive that they label each of the buildings in their designated part of town with their symbols/coat of arms. You are born and baptized into a contrada (during which you are given the Contrada scarf to wear which every member has), although if outsiders become close friends to many of a contrada's members they are often baptized into the contrada as well. Virtually all of Siena's population is a member of a contrada, and it can get complicated with spouses belonging to different contrada, and sometime sibling belonging to different contrada as well. The social aspects of contrada are extremely strong, with children being brought up to practice waving banners and drumming every weekend (which I was fortunate enough to see), and even when they leave for college they will always have strong ties to their contrada. The contradas are like large second families that celebrate together, hold large feasts, are always their for moral support when someone in a member goes through hard times, and they cheer and cry together when the Palio itself takes place. The Palio takes place in the main half-oval shaped square of the city. The horses race 3 times around the track/perimeter of the square, and it is the shortest yet probably most intense horse race in the world. Since winning the race means so much to each contrada the emotion during the race is extraordinary and there is often violence after it is over.
Overlooking the square is a tall tower attached to a governmental palace which I climbed up with a couple people in my CEA group. It was an amazing experience to climb up the narrow stairs and constantly having to turn corners up the square tower. The center of the stairwell had a clear view towards almost the starting point of the tower, so when we got near the top it was fun to see how far we had climbed. When we stepped outside on the top the view was breathtaking. The famous reddish tiles of Tuscan rooftops extended far out all around me. I could see the famous gothic Siena Cathedral (where I saw some newly-weds having there pictures taken, which now seems ubiquitous in Italy) with its stripes/bands (typical for many Italian cathedrals of this era) along the building, the half-oval square below me, numerous tiled buildings enclosed by the encompassing town wall, and hilltops and vineyards as far as the eye could see. There were some bells on the upper and lower levels of the top of the tower, and the top one rang while we were up there. After snapping pictures and video of the amazing view we went back down to square, ate a late lunch at a small cafe and then headed to the hotel where our bus was waiting to take us home. I spent most of the ride staring out the window and appreciating the beauty of the Tuscan hills while it lasted.