Ciao Mieli! It is already into the fifth week and like I continue to say, time is flying by.
This past Sunday, March 2nd we took a class trip to Viareggio. Viareggio, by the way, is a city somewhat north of Castiglion Fiorentino along the east coast of Italy. Viareggio, behind Venice, hosts one of the more popular celebrations of Carnevale. Therefore, being here in Italy during the season of Carnevale making a trip to this cultural celebration was necessary. We took two trains to get there, the first to Florence where we meet up with Sydney’s boyfriend, Jack. Then, a second train from Florence to Viareggio. Once in Viareggio, the attitude of our group was full excitement. Walking from the train station we all immediately knew we were in the right place. People with the most creative and miscellaneous costumes were everywhere. I would have to say my favorite costume was a woman dressed as Mary Poppins. She was practically perfect in every way. Once inside the entrance to Carnevale, we were amazed. Enormous floats lined the two parallel streets that ran along Viareggio’s coastline. Almost immediately everyone spotted Donald Trump standing several stories high and dressed like a powerful action figure. He was incredible. As we moved further down the streets, we began to notice that Trump was a popular theme among many other floats. However, before we could do any more thinking, food. Jack, Sydney, Lainey and I walked with a purpose to the first food truck we could find with a tolerable line. I treated myself with a wonderful “real” hotdog. When I say “real,” I mean true Italian sausage between two beautiful fluffy slices of bread. Delicious!
Everyone surrounding us was either wearing a costume or was decorated with some silly accessory, even the dogs. Therefore, once our stomachs were satisfied, we each purchased an accessory. Sydney and Jack bought complementing angle halo and demon horned headbands and I found a classic “Jessie from Toy Story” red cowgirl hat. With the sun shining bright and scattered showers of confetti, the cowboy hat deemed itself worthy of my five euros. We found a spot along the sidewalk just in time for the parade to begin. We watched over twenty floats pass by, each with remarkable quality, creativity, and ingeniousness. Almost every float was accompanied with loud music and lively dancers thus creating an electrifying vibe.
Among all of the floats, I would have to say my favorite was one that depicted the Four Horsemen. Among the most impressive of the floats due to its immense size, I was immediately taken aback by its grandness. Each horse was built to a great magnitude and furthermore on each horse was a rider. There was War who rode in full armor on the red horse, Conquest rode the white horse, Death depicted as a skeleton sat upon a black horse’s skeleton, and the last rider, which I believed to be Pestilence, rode a green horse. There is a high chance that I do not know what I am talking about, but that is what I gathered from my observance. Furthermore, after a little online search, I discovered that this float was called “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” in reference to Ernest Hemmingway’s popular novel. According to a website I found, the float’s “message is that the bell tolls for everyone, so we should free ourselves from individualism and participate in the world to which we belong.” Each float had significant meaning and it was so fascinating trying to decode them as they eased by us. I cannot wait to dive into some more research on many of the other floats.
To end our time in Viareggio, we walked down to the beach. My first time along the Mediterranean Sea! Well, technically it might be the Tyrrhenian Sea, but nonetheless still connected to the Mediterranean Sea. It was just before sunset and we walked all along the sand and chased the waves. A perfect close to a festive Carnevale.
We took two similar trains back home with the same midway stop in Florence. We had about an hour in Florence before the last stride home, so Lainey, Sydney, Jack, and I super-power walked down to the market for dinner. We ordered some pork dumplings to go and raced back to the station just in time to catch our train! Might I add that dumplings on an Italian train after a long thrilling day sure does make one of my all-time favorite moments.
What a day and what a trip. March 2nd, 2019 was a day I will never forget.
