Parents Weekend, 3/9-3/13

Unfortunately this week did not start off the greatest as I still was sick with some stomach bug, but fortunately, I was able to ward it off by consuming liter after liter of orange juice and chicken noodle soup and made it to my culinary class feeling rejuvenated. It was aggravating enough that I had taken on this illness, but I was most frightened by the thought of still being sick and not being able to take part in the consumption of the next divine meal in my culinary class. For this week’s creation, we made by far my favorite meal to date, a Ravioli di pere e pecorino. Essentially, a homemade ravioli filled with pecorino and ricotta cheese with a little salt and nutmeg, then the sauce consisted of pears, thyme, shallots, rosemary, and honey, then we drizzled a little balsamic vinegar over the top to make the sweetest, most fantastic pasta I can ever recall consuming. It was also incredibly pleasant that the dessert we made was also incredibly tasty and accompanied the pasta perfectly. It was a Crema di yogurt e mirtilli, which consisted of a honey, yogurt, and blueberry mixture, mixed with gelatin and vodka to make a type of custard, then fresh cream and crumbled biscuits to top it off made an incredible light, relaxing, and sweet concoction.

Perhaps one of my more eventful weekends to date, this was a weekend compacted with seeing all there is to see in Firenze. Here and there I’ve ventured off to see the tourist sites in the city I’ve spent the past two months living in, but up until now I still had yet to see the major sites, such as the David, Uffizzi, etc. It worked out perfectly for me actually because this was the weekend that, if the title didn’t give it away already, my parents chose to travel across the ole’ pond and spend some time in the homeland. They arrived that Wednesday, but not until around 11:30pm, so I met up with them and we went to one of the cafés in Piazza Republica for some snacks and wine. The night came to a relatively early close as they were wiped out from traveling and we had a long day of museums and attractions to see.

That Thursday I woke up fairly early to save a spot in line at the Uffizi while my parents slept in a bit. As it was not quite tourist season but almost on the verge of being so, I had absolutely no idea how early I should arrive as during the peak months they say lines can be over 3hrs long. Thus, I gave about 45minutes just to be safe to stand in line around 8:45, but turns out by the time they got there at 9:30, I had gotten to the front of the line twice and was working on my third time. Not only did my iPod die halfway through the wait in line, but it was absolutely frigid out and to top it off, I have a Florence Museum pass I had bought that gets me into basically every museum in the city and allows me to skip the line, so essentially there was no reason for me to have waited. I also found out from a girl in my culinary class that with that pass, they typically let you bring your family past the line if you show them your card. Furthermore, for anyone who goes in March to tour the Uffizi, its unnecessary to set aside more then 30min of waiting time (as long as you get there before 10 as the line started to expand quite rapidly around that time). Anyways, the Uffizi was worthwhile, its not nearly as impressive as the Louvre, but it is Italy’s largest museum and the name itself I guess makes it quite appealing. There are some really impressive pieces of artwork and artists there, Giotto, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Da Vinci just to name a few, but for the most part, there are just room after room of Madonna and Child and different renditions of it. Also, it is not nearly as big as the Louvre, basically only one long floor encompasses the artwork, and it only took us a little over an hour to tour. But again, it is worth the trip and there are a number of incredible pieces of work. On a side note, the audioguide was terrible; it goes over about 2 pieces of artwork per room, and a completely unnecessary and foolish purchase. Fortunately it had warmed up quite a bit after leaving the Uffizi which made the walk across the river to Gusta Panini enjoyable. The best panini I have ever had so far in Firenze is at this place, opposed to most cafés, they make the sandwich fresh and right in front of you and there are numerous combinations you can choose from. My mother and I both went with the classic turkey, pesto, tomato and mozzarella panini, while my dad got a prosciutto and rucola panini.

We quickly swung by Santa Trinita Gelato in order for my parents to take part in one of the best aspects about Firenze, the pistachio and nutella gelatos. Our next stop was passing through Piazza Republica, Piazza Strozzi (a very renaissance style piazza), Piazza Signoria (the one with all the statues and the town hall/clock tower), and we also stopped by the Firenze Boar where if you rub his nose, and place a coin in his mouth and it falls down the drain, you’ll have good luck (both mine an my dad’s fell through, my mom on the other hand was not so lucky). By this point it was obvious exhaustion was starting to settle in to these tourists, but they persevered to the next stop on my itinerary: a long trek up the hill to Piazza Michelangelo where they were able to enjoy the best view in all of Florence. As we were already up there, and as my mother loves visiting every church within a five mile radius, we made a pit stop by San Minato before heading back down. Perched atop the highest peak in Firenze, San Minato’s beauty and elegance overlooks the entire city. If you’re willing to make the climb, the church is incredibly lovely as it is a perfect example of Romanesque architecture with hints of Gothic. As it took over 150yrs to build a church in that day, the building of this church was constructed during the end of the Romanesque period and the beginning of the outside, as can be seen when you compare the top half and the bottom half of the façade. In order to catch our breath and cool off, we swung by my favorite wine bar at the foot of the hill where we a fine bottle of Sicilian white and some delicious thin/crispy wafer/chips of sorts baked in olive oil and salt.

The Wine Bar

The site seeing for the day concluded with this act of relaxation, and we set off for the hotel to change and go to dinner. Having been in Florence for a couple months, I knew of several phenomenal restaurants and knew that if I tried anywhere new you would find nothing less then perfection in the meals. But having said that, I knew I wanted the best of the best while my parents were here, mostly due in part to the fact I knew that the best of the best would be slightly more costly then what I’m used to, and I could actually get more then a primi piatti for dinner. So that week after my culinary class, I pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper and asked my teacher for the best and her favorite restaurants in all of Firenze. I figured that she of all people would know where the best local eats are, so I had no hesitations with calling in reservations for her three recommendations.

That night I took them to Il Latini, a casual, family run, incredibly friendly (the owner came over and talked to us for a few minutes towards the conclusion of dinner), and the most typical Tuscan meal/atmosphere you could ask for. One of the best aspects of this meal was that we never even saw a menu, we just went with the waiter’s recommendation which was definitely the path to take when at a restaurant such as this. For the appetizer we had fresh bread, salami/proscioutto platter, and a chicken liver pate. For the primi piatti I got a boars meat type pasta and both my parents got raviolis. For dinner my mother and I had roastbeef and my dad had beans and sausages. Then to top off the meal, the waiter brought over a complimentary dessert wine with bruschetta to dip in. There is no need to dive into details about each dish as they were all incredible and tasted so fresh and full of liveliness and flavor. But especially the roastbeef, I have never had such a spectacular cut of roastbeef in my life, definitely worth a visit to this restaurant as it was by far the best taste of Tuscan Cuisine I have had. 

The roastbeef

The conclusion of this day brought the arrival of our travels through the countryside of Tuscany. Another advantage to having my parents visit is that I would not have been able to rent a car and travel through Tuscany if it wasn’t for them, so quite grateful for that. The first stop on our trek was to a vineyard in Chianti for a wine tour in the town of Greti. Misfortunes arose when our GPS landed us literally right in the middle of some vineyard on a one-lane dirt road on a sloped hill. It was quite obvious that the GPS had led us astray as it was telling us the vineyard was only 50meters ahead and slightly to the right, but there was nothing but farmland and a couple workers here and there. We eventually decided that we had enough fun off-roading in our Ford Focus, so after making a 7point “k-turn,” barely making it up a fairly steep incline, ruthlessly scraping the bottom of the car on the uneven ground, and managing to not roll the car down the hill, we stopped at a nearby house to ask for directions. Apparently we were not the first tourists to run into this dilemma as the lady who answered the door chuckled and criticized the GPS, and was able to give us the real address and directions to the vineyard we were in search for. About 15minutes away from where we were, the real vineyard was very lovely, probably more so during the latter spring months, but nonetheless it was very quiet and we were able to take part in the small lunch they provided. As our detour cost us about 45min, we ended up missing the wine tour, but I’ve heard wine tours are relatively all the same so no skin off our back. The lunch consisted of the typical Tuscan salami, prosciutto, cheese, and beef platter and they served about five different types. The wine was very delectable but the highlight was the balsamic vinegar they gave you to try on one of the cheeses. I have never tasted such deliciousness from balsamic in my life, it tasted like pure gold and accompanied the cheese perfectly. Another enjoyable aspect of the meal was that the only other people taking part in the lunch tasting were two married couples from California but living in New Haven as the husbands were getting their masters from Yale and they were on break traveling across Europe via car. They were quite lively and full of interesting stories, which only made this meal even more enjoyable. After purchasing a bottle of balsamic and a couple bottles of wine, we set off for the Tuscan hilltop town: Volterra.

Wine tasting and fantastic Tuscan cuisine

Nowadays known as the residence of the vampire government, the Volterra, in the popular Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyers, but more commonly known amongst Italians as an incredibly old, Etruscan city perched atop one of the many hills in the region of Tuscany. It’s not as well known or visited as it’s neighbor hill town of San Gimignano, but as I already visited that town I wanted a new pace of scenery. The highlights of this trip included the Roman ruins, the duomo, baptistery, clock tower, and the panoramic views of the Tuscan landscape. There wasn’t that much activity going on as it was still early on in the season, but the lack of tourists made the culture feel more vibrant. All in all, the town was quite lovely and very beautiful, but if I had to pick one over the other, San Gimignano probably wins. Not by much at all, and perhaps because I did spend quite a bit more time there, but the towers are very awesome, but then again, they don’t have a wicked clock tower like Volterra does. Only about an hour away from Chianti, it fit well with our itinerary as we were planning on going to Pisa after this and looping back to Firenze. Unfortunately, my dad missed the exit to Pisa, and our offroading adventure set us back an hour, so my parents were unable to see the leaning tower and so we meandered back to Firenze. The tower is worth seeing, but then again, it is only a tower and not quite as amazing as its all hyped up to be. It was also very pleasant to have some extra time to relax back in Florence before dinner and I was able to finally show my parents my apartment.

Dinner was exceptional once again as we tried Il Fagioli, located near Santa Croce, and has what my cooking teacher claims as the best Fiorentine Steak in all of Florence. Of course this was the only Fiorentine Steak I have ever had so I have nothing to compare it to, but I’ll take her word for it as it was absolutely mouthwatering. Essentially, a Fiorentine Steak is a rare t-bone steak that even though its rare is not chewy but extremely succulent. The overall atmosphere was not as amazing as the night before, but I wasn’t anticipating that as this place appeared to cater more to the locals then the tourists who swung by. The food nonetheless exceeded my expectations as in addition to the Fiorentine Steak we had a bean soup and chicken soup for the primi piatti that were both very delicious. Following dinner I brought my folks to the gelateria Grom for another sample of one of the best gelatos in all of Firenze and the world.

The following day my phone turned off in the middle of the night, thus my alarm as well, so I was able to sleep in an hour an a half later while my parents frantically tried to get in touch with me. Eventually they found me asleep in my room and after quickly grabbing an espresso, we were off to the Accademia to see the legendary Statue of David. The David is in fact very impressive up close, but I was quite disappointed that we were not allowed to take photographs even without a flash. There really was nothing else noteworthy in the Accademia, so we strolled around the David and left for the Duomo to tour the inside. As I mentioned in my post about climbing the Duomo, it is quite rigorous so I had no intentions of climbing it again and my parents showed no interest either, so instead we toured the inside of the Duomo. It’s quite interesting how impressive the façade is, as the inside is for the most part empty and not as elegant. Of course, the reason it’s empty is because all the relics are stored in the Duomo museum across the street, which was our next stop on our quest to see as much of Florence as possible within two days. The Duomo museum was worth the visit as there were a number of famous pieces of artwork, but I still think it would be better to have left them in their original place. Following that museum, we went into the Baptistery where even though I had visited a few weeks prior, this time I had my camera. The Baptistery is essentially the opposite of the Duomo, basic/simple façade but absolutely breathtaking inside; definitely worth the visit, even worth two visits.

The David

For lunch we went to Gusta Panini’s brother restaurant, Gusta Pizza; a very much beloved pizza restaurant for study abroad students as the place is absolutely packed all hours of the day with college students. Even though this is a college joint for the most part, it is by far the best pizza I have ever consumed, every bite is so delicious. We each got our own pizza and shared it amongst ourselves; they included a Caprese (bufala cheese with tomatoes), Gusta (rucola and pecorino cheese), and a Cabrese (had spicy salami on it). Not only are the pizzas delicious but they are also incredibly filling, so with every ounce of energy we had left, we got up to tour the remaining sites on our list. I brought them by Pitti Palace (the largest palace in Firenze and used to be home to the Medici family), my mother bought a water-color painting depicting a Tuscan house in the countryside from a local artist, walked over the Ponte Vecchio where we saw a number of crew boats rowing past, had to swing by a ceramic store so my mother could pick up an olive oil holder and a platter, and then to the neighborhood of San Lorenzo. Here I brought them into the San Lorenzo food market where they had the delight of experiencing the wonders of this market, fresh food vendors everywhere you turn at very inexpensive costs. We bought a loaf of bread and some prosciutto and cheese to take back with us, and then we ventured off to San Lorenzo Church. A sight I feel most pass by without taking notice of, this church is very elegant on the inside, numerous chapels spread throughout, and just the artwork, ceilings, and altar were all just fantastic, making this one of my favorite churches I have stepped foot into along my travels. We then spent some time walking around the San Lorenzo street vendors that line the streets by the dozens and of course souvenirs, scarves, and leather were purchased as we browsed the various vendors. As dinner was fast approaching, we finally pulled ourselves away from the endless vendors and refrained from any more purchases. Aside from it being great my parents were able to come and visit and spend time with me, another huge advantage was that I was able to give them my suitcase filled with the majority of my clothes. Over the first few weeks of being in Firenze, I came to the realization that I would be spending 3weeks backpacking across Germany following the conclusion of my term, which would be absolutely excruciating if I had to lug a giant suitcase around with me. So I kept a weeks worth of clothing that could fit in my backpack, and sent my suitcase off with my folks, which also was a huge benefit to them as it gave them something to stash all the Italian goods in: wine, balsamic, souvenirs, prosciutto (well they ended up making a last minute decision to leave this behind), etc.

For dinner we ate at one of the best restaurants of my life, and by far the best seafood restaurant I have ever eaten at: Fuor d’Acqua. I had very limited knowledge about these restaurants when making reservations as my culinary teacher merely told me a few adjectives to describe them, but the sequence of restaurants couldn’t have been better, saving the best and most elegant for last is always a plus. Starting with the incredibly soft and fantastic bread, the meal was off to a very promising start. For an appetizer we had a raw seafood platter that was very interesting as aside from sushi, I’ve never had raw seafood, but very good nonetheless as it was actually one of the highlights of the meal. My parents got a cooked seafood over a salad for an appetizer that was also very scrumptious. For the primi piatti, we had the best pasta I think I have ever indulged upon. It was one of the best cooked pasta noodles I’ve had, with a type of crawfish sauce and the crawfish, even though you had to eat with your hands, were some of the best tasting meat I have had. By that point we were ready for the check, but of course this is Italy, so we had another course to enjoy. For the secondi piatti, we had a type of fish, again marvelous, cooked over a bed of rock salt with the head still left on. Even though we were so full, the fish was relatively light and it was hard to justify leaving any remains behind.
All three meals were incredibly memorable, but one of the greatest things about all three aside from the taste, was how each meal exemplified the Italian culture. From the numerous courses to simply relying on the waiter’s recommendations for what we should eat all contributed to a great experience and aided in my attempt to provide a purely Italian filled weekend for my folks. And that was my main motive for this weekend, was to not only see the Fiorentine sights, but to try and throw them deep into the culture and lifestyle of a typical Italian. Obviously taking the Italian’s stance of being relaxed and laid back was not on the agenda as we had a lot to see, but seeing all of Florence, a trip through Tuscany, indulging upon incredible meals and wine, going to winebars, and visiting all the local hotspots all combined into a very enjoyable weekend.

Venice Trip, March 4-6

This title is slightly misleading as I actually did not end up going to Venice. My housemate Jon Cooke and I were all ready to head off that Sunday, had our bags all packed, all showered and woke up at the crack of dawn (well 9:00, but still felt extremely early for us). After leaving the house we started sprinting for the station, only a block away, in order to catch the 9:30 train to Venice, but when we got to the ticket counter, we were taken aback by the fact that all the tickets for that day to Venice had been sold out. Apparently we did not make the correlation that when the Carnivale is in town, a lot of people from all over Italy want to go see it, especially on a weekend. So after that devastating blow, we stood and looked around aimlessly for a couple minutes trying to come up with any alternative solutions to making it to Venice. There weren’t any. We then picked up our chins, and walked over to a café near the Duomo, called Astor, where we indulged upon a fine American breakfast for the price of 7euro. It was quite refreshing to get a little taste of America once again, and for the price of 7euro where we got eggs, sausages, pancakes, bacon, toast, and your choice of a fine coffee. Unfortunately an iced coffee for whatever reason was not included in that price, so I got an iced espresso assuming it would be equivalent. Well it wasn’t quite the same, so I was quite surprised when they brought Jon’s steeping hot cup of American coffee and then my drink which was essentially a very pretty, and girly coffee martini. Very tasty, but not the most masculine of acts; probably the reason the group of girls at the table next to us were giggling quite ruthlessly. Following breakfast we were walking back and we ran into a couple of Jon’s friends from Marist (studying in London for the semester) who were visiting for the week. In an effort to redeem ourselves from our misfortunes with the Venice fiasco, we accompanied them to climb the Duomo. The climbing of the Duomo is definitely a worthwhile feat, but it is not for the lighthearted, or well those who easily become closterphobic, easily dizzy, or have trouble walking up 463 steep steps. It’s interesting how the outside of the Duomo is very architecturally impressive, while whoever designed the inside must have been the apprentice to the town baker. It is one of the most ridiculous, unorganized, and just silly passage ways I have ever climbed. You go around and around this spiral staircase for an eternity, and then you start zig-zagging throughout the inner workings up around the cupola. There is no way that this would pass any sort of fire inspection in the U.S. Nonetheless, it took a little over an hour to climb (I’d assume it’d be twice that long during the summer/tourist months which would be unbearable with the heat), and the view was amazing and definitely worth it.

What it looked like essentially

Essentially, that was my week, well the only eventful part of my week since that Friday I came down with some type of bug and didn’t get rid of it till that Tuesday. Although part of me felt disappointed I didn’t get to go on another adventure through Italy or Europe, it was quite relaxing and satisfying that I finally got to spend another weekend just enjoying myself in Firenze. On a side note, we did have a delicious meal in my culinary class where we made, three different types of dishes opposed to our normal two. For the first we created a Focaccine ai porri, where some of the primary ingredients included sweet gorgonzola cheese, shallots and leeks; all put together was absolutely marvelous. The following meal was titled Cialdine con mortadella e mele, which was a sort of very crispy, thin pistachio cookie with a slice of a fried green apple and a slice of fresh salami placed on top. This was perhaps one of my favorite dishes I have had, it was such an interesting and enjoyable taste, as the pistachio cookie, salami and green apple all yielded varying tastes but came together to produce such an amazing, delectable flavor. Lastly, what would an Italian meal without some pasta. The Triangoli di pasta fillo al pollo actually resembled more of an Asian type meal, as you stir fry the chicken, pepper, onion together, and then take fillo dough sheets and wrap the stir fry mixture in it to make triangles and place in the oven for about ten minutes. Needless to say, again this meal was absolutely fantastic.

Didn't take this picture, but felt like this blog needed some more pizazz to it

That Thursday night when my housemate’s friends from London were here so the three of them and my entire house had a very enjoyable meal at Il Gato el Volpe, a very typical Tuscan, family style restaurant that cost only 15euro per person. With that price, you got unlimited house wine and water, and your typical Italian courses, a platter of salami, prosciutto, cheese, then a platter of chicken liver pates, then fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, and then you move onto the two or three different types of delicious pastas. Before we even got to the pastas though we were full beyond belief, but persevered and finished the meal with our heads held high.

Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Mt. Vesuvius, and Pompeii

It might appear odd as to why I decided to go to the south of Italy at the end of February when its still mighty cold outside, but unfortunately all my weekends are booked for the rest of the semester. Nonetheless, traveling south to Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Mt. Vesuvius, and Pompeii was absolutely marvelous. Yes, it would have been a lot nicer if it were warmer out, but on the plus side, there weren’t many tourists out yet. These next few paragraphs will encompass those ventures and hopefully shed a little light on the feel and culture of the south of Italy for those who have not toured there.

As I mentioned earlier, I will only be referring to Monday-Wednesday if something of significance occurs, and to describe and make everyone envious of the extremely delectable dishes we construct in Culinary. This week in cooking class we made two types of pasta dishes, a fresh one (common in the south, has eggs in it) and a dry one (common in the north and is just flour/water). For the fresh we made a type of three layer lasagna, titled Lasagne alle melanzane, where each layer had a piece of pasta that we just made, topped with a béchamel sauce, a slice of eggplant, a slice of mozzarella, a slice of tomato, and a basil leaf, and then layer that with more pasta and other ingredients until they are all finished and bake. Absolutely marvelous, the taste was so fresh and full of a new taste with every bite. The dry pasta is titled strozzapreti con spinaci, and had spinach, almonds, sun dry tomatoes, and fresh goat cheese. Unlike the lasagna, this was very light and a very pleasant to eat especially having been so full after the lasagna, not to mention I love goat cheese, well all types of cheese for that matter.

Other activities during the week mostly consisted of trying to plan my weekend trip while dealing with a nonexistent router in our house. So many days were spent trekking to the library where I spent many an hour reading through all my guide books, figuring out bus and train times, and trying to communicate with Courtney as I would be meeting up with them for these travels. As Jess and Britt had a fieldtrip on Friday, I met up with Courtney at the Roma Termini station as that was on the way to Napoli. Arriving in Napoli Friday around 10am, I was sent on the task of finding the Beverello Pier, which after talking to the very pleasant and kind woman in the tourist office, appeared to be simple enough. She directed me to which bus to take but did not tell me the stop to get off at, which left me very confused as I made almost an entire loop back to the train station and finally getting off when I saw water, figuring I’d just trek around there. The people in Napoli were nice enough and finally directed me to the ferry to get to Capri. Although I was exhausted, it was extremely heartwarming to once again be back in my zone on a boat gliding across the crisp ocean waters. Not entirely sure if it was because of lack of sleep, but I found it quite humorous how accurate my tour book was in depicting Capri, “an island where even before you dock tourists are taking postcard quality snapshots of the island.” After reading this I was slightly embarrassed that I shed my attempts at acting like a guy who’s temporary living in Italy and joined in on the tourist fun. But you know what, it was quite enjoyable and I’m sure all the locals didn’t notice my 6’3 frame amongst all the small Asian tourists around me. First impressions really do tell a lot about a person, well an object/land mass in this case, as the incredible beauty and perfection of this island continued through every street and every step you took. I immediately set foot to Anacapri (the Isle of Capri has two towns, Capri, and Anacapri which mean above capri) and man they are not joking around when they mean that Anacapri really is “above.” Obviously looking upward I knew that this island was very hilly, but looking at my map, it appeared to be a short distance to Anacapri from Capri and I didn’t believe that Anacapri was literally on top of the mountain. So unable to figure out where the bus pick-up was, I became impatient and followed my map to Anacapri. The image below is a perfect indicator of how high I actually climbed up, and having woken up at 6am, only had a croissant for breakfast, and had one last swig of water, climbing the roughly 2,000 steps up the side of a mountain is not my cup of tea. After over an hour of consistent climbing, I finally reached the top, absolutely exhausted and with very little endorphins or sense of victory. I then set off to find this small café that my book raved about, and after finding it I was extraordinarily distraught when I learned that it was under renovations. I then settled on the next restaurant that offered a caprese salad and lemoncello, the two most famous delicacies of Capri. After returning back to Firenze and learning in my culinary class that lemoncello is typically an after-dinner digestivo, I now understand why my server had such a puzzled face and kept asking me if I wanted anything to drink while I continued to say, “no thank you, I’m fine with just the lemoncello.” The salad was wonderful and so fresh, something I would not object to having for every lunch time, and the lemoncello was fantastic, but I can definitely see that it’d be much better after finishing the caprese salad, and the basic toast that the server kept insisting I tried, even though it wasn’t anything special as it was essentially just toasted white bread; at least it was free. My next stop on my journey through Capri was to reach one of the seven natural wonders of Europe, “The Blue Grotto.” I had not heard of this marvel until reading my guidebook so it wasn’t incredibly disappointing when I learned that the seas were to rough so the Grotto was closed for the day, but nonetheless, it was very disheartening. I made up for this travesty by taking a chairlift to the highest peak of Capri, which yielded an entire panoramic view of the Bay of Naples, and Capri. One thing I did discover though is that Capri does a very solid job at sucking your wallet dry, as I was consistently dropping 10euro bills left and right, for the ferry, for the chairlift ride, for lunch, for the return bus ride that was absolutely necessary in order for me to not pull another five hernias trying to scale back down the mountain. I tried to get Capri back to the best of my ability by stealing a lemon from one of the many lemon trees that dotted the island, and successfully brought it back to Firenze. Capri was the only place where it was slightly disappointing I was not exploring during tourist season, as it would have been much nicer if it were warmer and more stores and such were open. Nonetheless, Capri was perhaps the most gorgeous and glorious place I have ever stepped foot onto and I would return in a heartbeat even in the middle of December.

That dock on the far top left is where I started from, and I'm no where near the top from this point

Departing Capri around 5pm, I took the ferry across the Bay to Sorrento where I was greeted by a very sketchy and empty pier. There were several stores open along the pier so I went into a Tabbaceria and bought a 3euro map as I had no idea where my hostel was from my current location. My first encounter of Sorrento was a deserted pier, but I soon began to discover that the people of Sorrento were extraordinarily warm and welcoming. The lady at the store pointed out exactly how to get to my hostel on the map, after having two lads who worked on the pier attempt to direct me by pointing aimlessly. After having to scale another mountain, well this time a giant wall that had over 500 steps (not the happiest of campers as I was still recovering from my Capri adventure) I felt like a yokel for buying the map as Sorrento is basically composed of one long drag and a few side streets off of it. After checking into my hostel, I put my map to at least some good use as I ventured off to find a restaurant that my guidebook recommended. The disappointment in finding the restaurant in Capri disappeared as I successfully found this restaurant, Il Giardiniello on Via Accademia 7/9, where I was greeted by an extremely friendly and pleasant elderly gentleman who showed me to my seat. Not only was the elderly gentleman charming, the entire restaurant was as well as it held a very Italian family-style theme to it. After ordering, the man brought me a cola, as the wine was well out of my pricerange, and complimentary bread, olives, and toasted bruschetta. I almost considered merely paying for the cola and service charge as this was plenty for me, but out of curtosy and my desire to have some fresh seafood from the Bay of Naples, I waited it out for my sciallatielli ai frutti di mare, a seafood pasta with some of the best homemade pasta I have ever had, a red sauce, prawns, little necks, squid, and by far the freshest muscles I have ever devoured. Perhaps the best meal since I’ve been in Italy, this was also a fantastic way to cap off my night, as I then retired back to my hostel, and went to sleep.

Sorrento was incredibly beautiful

The following day Courtney and I walked around Sorrento for a tad, walked around the beach, contemplated taking a dip in the ocean, then didn’t take a dip in the ocean, and finally boarded our train to Pompeii. Reaching Pompeii we were supposed to meet up with Brittney and Jess in a couple hours, so I decided to hike up Mt. Vesuvius while Court nestled in a corner to read while she waited for them. The department of Italian tourism really have their act put together, as I have not once ever encountered an issue when going to the info desk and asking for help. The pleasant man kindly directed me to where the bus picks you up, and it’s a convinent 50min journey up to the mountain where they drop you off about 2/3rds of the way up the mountain, and then you climb the remainder to the crater. Now I typically follow my guidebook word for word and they have never led me astray, so I was slightly nervous when I was on the bus to Vesuvius and they warned that it would be quite a bit colder at the top then in Pompeii. After reaching the top, I realized I had every right to be nervous as it was actually snowing and all I had on was a sweatshirt and my wind jacket while everyone around me looked like they were about to go skiing in Canada. Nevertheless, the cold really didn’t bother me five minutes after stepping out from the bus, mostly because my entire body was numb from the wind, so the climb was actually quite enjoyable. Reaching the crater, I was slightly saddened to learn that lava was actually not flowing around freely, but it was pretty awesome to see all the steam seeping from the crater, and barren wasteland with only one tree for vegetation, collecting several rocks for myself and to bring back to Court and co. for souvenirs, and of course buying a postcard from Mt. Vesuvius. After numerous snapshots, playing charades with a Swedish couple so they could take my picture in front of the volcano, and just breathing in the beauty of my surroundings, I trekked back down the mountain where the bus picked me up. Upon my return to Pompeii, Britt and Jess still had not arrived so I decided to start venturing off around Pompeii solo as Court had already toured Pompeii back in high school. There’s not entirely much to say about Pompeii as aside from Pisa and the Coliseum, is perhaps one of the most visited and renown destinations in Italy. It was just so remarkable how well preserved everything was and how much information the archeologists had dug up. After several hours of traveling through the ruins with my map in one hand, pocket book that described what everything was (I’m not the biggest fan of guided tours) in my other hand, and my camera around my neck, I left to meet up with Court, Britt and Jess outside the gates. Unfortunately for them, they took the wrong train stop and by the time they got to the ruins the ticket office was closed so they had to wait around an hour while I finished touring. But, don’t feel to sympathetic towards them as I had carefully planned out my end of the journey through reading several tour books, and explained to them in a very detailed message that when they take the train to Pompeii, they must get off at the Pompeii Scavi stop as the earlier Pompeii stop is for the city. Of course they did not read my message carefully, nor did they know the word “Scavi” means ruins in Italian, so they were left to just examine the outside walls and my photos I had just taken. On the plus side, they saved 11euro, enjoyed the volcanic rocks I gave to them from Mt. Vesuvius, and got to hop onto another train after spending all day traveling on trains.

Thoroughly enjoying the bitter wind

One of my favorite pictures I took of Pompeii

Courtney, Britt, and Jess, not the most chipper tourists after missing Pompeii

If there is one thing I have to say about Naples, unless you are using this as a pit stop on your journey to another town or home as I was, I would not recommend putting this as one of your destinations. I was slightly confused to being with when Courtney, Jess and Britt has mentioned to me that they were going to visit Naples and Pompeii this weekend as besides the pizza and the mob, I have never heard any other information about it. Of course that night upon reaching our hostel and resting for a few minutes, we then ventured off to find a pizzeria, resulting in this being the highlight of our trip. For whatever reason I forgot to update my journal after Sorrento so I forget the name of the pizzeria, not a huge dilemma as there are dozens just layering the street that I assume are of equal or greater value, but the pizza was heavenly as I got one with a red sauce, olives, artichoke, cheese and maybe several other minor ingredients. My visit to Napoli also got significantly more exciting when Court couldn’t finish her entire pizza, a four cheese pizza, so I was able to enjoy a couple slices of hers. The night got even more riveting when we made the decision to get three different slices of desert, a tiramisu, nutella cake thing with coconut topping, and this absolutely incredible something that had a flaky crust and such a smooth and sweet inside to it. All in all, this meal alone has the ability to actually change my opening paragraph. We then retired back to our hostel, chatted for a bit and hit the hay. The following morning we ventured off through the main touristy sections of Napoli where there really was not much to see, a few cool things here and there but the history of Napoli is seriously lacking any major significance or interest to me. Mostly renown for its pizza and being a major port, those were by far the only riveting aspects as the port was very nice and reminded me of the beach as I was able to watch the waves crash into the rocks as rowboats streamed on past. We spent most of our afternoon starring off into the Bay of Naples and passing boats, walking along the watersedge, and finally finding a castle where we climbed to the top. The ocean’s edge was actually very enjoyable and we all had a lovely time, but this was one of the few aspects that was actually worthwhile, and I’m sure heading a few hours south to the Amalfi Coast would be entirely more rewarding.

My incredible pizza

The three desserts we decided upon

Nevertheless, I’m glad I had the opportunity to tour Naples as one of my main goals while studying abroad is to see as much of Italy as possible, and as I still have several months remaining here, there was no time lost. I was able to enjoy another weekend with some close friends, delicious pizza, ruins, active volcanoes, lots and lots of lemons, and the opportunity to explore the south of Italy. I actually enjoyed it so much I considered for a while taking one of my weekends in April to spend time on the Amalfi Coast with a few of my housemates and tour Capri/Pompeii again, but alas, money is always a barrier while a college student and there are so many other areas of Italy/Europe that I don’t even have time to visit within my semester.

Roma & Vatican City: A Clash Between Ancient and Modern

My internet hasn’t been working the past week, so my apologies for this blogpost being a week overdue.

As I sit here indulging upon a fine DOCG (cheers for those who recognize this name), I’ve been contemplating for a while how to incorporate a riveting introduction into my blog; one that has both style and class. I guess the sentence prior technically is a valid opening but talking about an opening and using that for one’s opening is plain silly. I have come to the realization that with each new blog post it is much easier to write, but I have had less and less time to write one with all my weekend travels, planning for the upcoming weekend travel, and having to attend something called a class. Nonetheless, my past weekend was incredibly fantastic, adventurous, tiresome, weird, and legen….dary. This perhaps could be my shortest blog as this weekend felt as if it lasted a month and everything simply blended together, or a typical length one if my writing develops into a solid rhythm and I recollect everything. I personally am quite excited to see how this shall unfold.

Another realization that I have come to is that in comparison to the extremely rigorous and intellectually strenuous past semester I had, this semester is absolutely pointless in terms of learning a vast amount of knowledge. The classes are extremely easy and slightly pointless as most of our teacher’s talk in broken English and the concepts are very elementary. As is such, the only time I’ll actually reference my classes are the field trips I go on for my art history class and what I make in my culinary class. For this week’s art adventure, we toured the highly coveted baptistery that sits adjacent to the Duomo. The outside represents a very Romanesque architecture as it is very plain and not incredibly welcoming, but as you walk inside, your jaw immediately drops. Only a 4euro charge, this was an absolutely marvelous journey as the ceilings are all covered in mosaics with a gold background. There are roughly five different layers of the ceiling, where each layer tells a different story from the Bible: genesis, stories of Joseph, stories of Mary and Jesus, and because Firenze’s patron saint is John the Baptist, the murder of Saint John. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but there is always the chance I might stop by again, or just borrow a few pictures from Google of course. My cooking class this week was absolutely phenomenal and one of my favorite meals I have ever made. For dessert the three girls in my group made a chocolate soufflé, which was absolutely life changing, and although I didn’t make it, the recipe is so simple it amazes me how more people don’t make it more often. While they made the soufflé, my roommate Ryan and I took on the task of making a spinach and also a pumpkin risotto from scratch. Initially we made the vegetable stock and then worked our way to the risotto which was one of the more intensive recipes I’ve had. The taste was incredible, and every bite kept changing mine and my housemate’s opinion of which flavor yielded the most rewarding sensation to our taste buds.

Skipping to Wednesday late afternoon, I bolted out of my class, swung by the local wine store to purchase a giant jug of bianco wine (5 liters to be exact) for only 8euro (more on this story to come), went home to pack, and booked it to the corner café to grab a panini. The panini was excellent but I had given 15minutes to make my train figuring that the café stop would take a max of three minutes. Well by the time I finally placed my order I already burned three minutes, and then the barista took a little over 5min heating the panini up, which still wasn’t finished but through my broken Italian and my superb charades skills, I was able to tell her I needed it right now for the train. Luckily I managed to snag my train right as the doors were closing considering that was the last intercity train for the night so I would then have to spend 20euro more for the Eurostar. The train ride was quite enjoyable as I was able to snack on my prized panini, which had brie, salami and lettuce, listen to my favorite indie rock music, and then start on my newest Kurt Vonnegut novel: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewalter; and exceptionally good novel, but not nearly as good as his other novel Slaughterhouse-Five (fun fact of the day: my favorite book of all time). I eventually landed in Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome, and then met Courtney who led me back to her apartment. I must say, her apartment was exceptionally lovely and quaint, not to mention she was only a few minutes away from the colosseum. The view from her place overlooks San Giovanni from merely laying on her couch while the warm breeze comforts you is unbelievable, not to mention her apartment is very small which adds a nice amount of character and warmth to the place. As we waited for Brittney to arrive from her place, I presented the jug of bianco as a gift to Jess as she requested it when she laid her eyes upon it when she visited Firenze. The impressiveness of the size and the low cost was not enough to mask the incredibly disgusting taste of the actual wine. This would probably be a valid explanation for why the shop owner lowered the price of the jug a few euros without me even saying a word to him. Maybe it’s because she’s from California, but she did not actually mind it opposed to everyone else dousing their taste buds with the nearest liquid in site. Upon Brit’s arrival, we ventured off to a local Irish Pub called Scholars where Court and I caught up while Britt and Jess schmoozed it up with a couple of French guys by the names of Pierre and Timothy (pronounced Timotay). Unfortunately, Rome’s public transportation closes before midnight so we were forced to walk about 45minute home. This is part of the reason for the reason I believe I lost over 7pounds alone just walking around Rome.

The following day I was awoken by the marvelous breeze, the pleasant warmth of the sun and the incredible view of San Giovanni, if only every morning yielded this amount of luxury. Unfortunately for Britt, she was awoken at 9am by a friend informing her of the art field trip she was supposed to be on, which was extremely unfortunate considering we stayed awake until about 4:30 just chit-chatting. Upon her return I embarked upon my first tour of Roma where we toured San Giovanni, the Church by their apartment that was incredibly marvelous. According to Britt, one of the pillars in the Church produces condensation and drips down the pillar to form a puddle a few weeks before the Pope’s death. In addition to the tomb of the head of both martyrs Saint John and Saint Peter and the incredible architecture, San Giovanni is well worth a visit if one ever stops by Roma. Our next venture brought us to Courtney’s school as we had a few minutes to kill before we met Jess for lunch. It’s incredible how different my school and her school are considering we are both a part of the same program, but her school consists of one lonely floor in an office building opposed to the five or so buildings that consist of my school. After this quick visit we then departed to a local café where we devoured a suppli (a local dish consisting of rice, mozzarella, eggs, wrapped in breadcrumbs and deep-fried). Next we swung by the President’s house which was not all that impressive in comparison to the White House as it did not stick out much from the other buildings surrounding it. After several snapshots of the changing of the guard, we ventured a block down the road to the highly coveted Trevi Fountain. I must say, the fountain is not exactly what you would anticipate seeing as it is oh so much more marvelous then pictures or words can describe. After tossing my coins into the fountain like a true tourist, I dabbled upon a very delicious nutella gelato that Courtney had been raving about for weeks. Although the gelato was incredibly fabulous as I can still recall the exact taste of it, Firenze’s gelato still surpasses any gelato I had in Roma. Our last stop was the Spanish Steps, a very pretty sight indeed but I felt it was no where near as marvelous as it tends to be made out to be. A few quick photos, a stop by the local grocery store, and we were once again back at Court’s apartment where her and I whipped up a quick gnocchi and pesto dish with a side of her famous and extremely delectable chickpeas, peas, garlic, olive oil and a dash of water (a recipe that I have now incorporated into my daily dinners). Of course, our night would result in the same events that took part the night before, minus the French boys but plus a few Marist students who are studying with me in Firenze. It’s truly remarkable how it appeared that the majority of Firenze students from LDM decided to all go to Roma this weekend, and even more remarkable how in this relatively small pub I managed to bump into a few classmates.

The following morning Court and I went tourist hunting for the initial part of the day, venturing to the Santa Maria Basilica for our first destination. Although it lacks a majestic façade, the interior to this Church was once again absolutely breathtaking. This Church not only encompasses an impressive architectural design, but also houses the Meridian Line that runs right through the center of the Church. That day it was so warm and pleasant out so Court and I chose to go to this massive park where we just walked around and enjoyed the nature. I do enjoy cities, but after a month of walking on cobblestones and cement, the feel of grass beneath one’s feet is extremely heartwarming. After enjoying the crisp breeze and watching as couples leisurely rowed across a small pond in the heart of the park, we trekked back to Court’s place where she awaited the arrival of her cousin and cousin’s boyfriend. From there, I met up with Britt who would become my new tour guide for the rest of the weekend as I didn’t want to intrude on Court’s time with her cousin. With our eyes set on touring the Colosseum and Roman Forum, we got entirely sidetracked as we passed by the Sacred Steps (the marble steps from Pontius Pilot’s palace that Jesus climbed with the cross on his back) and as we are both practicing Catholics, paid a visit to this monument. It’s surprising to me how such a vital aspect of the Catholic religion has gone unnoticed by so many people as neither myself, Brittney, or several others I have talked to have ever heard of these until we stepped foot into Rome. Although we had our eyes set on the Colosseum, we decided to climb the steps (one must climb solely on one’s knees as Jesus had done) which was an absolutely incredible experience. Perhaps some of the greatest pain I have ever felt as even today, six days after the climb, my knees are still extremely sensitive and sore. The first four steps were merely uncomfortable, but after that (there are a total of 28 steps) it was absolute searing pain with every movement you took. This experience wasn’t incredible because of this unbearable pain, but because amidst all the pain it really opened and cleared your mind, allowed you to think deeply about absolutely anything and everything, and was an amazing religious experience. Apart from the actual climbing of the stairs, the house that encases these stairs is marvelous, from the artwork, to the chapel, and to the preserved parts of the stairway where Jesus’ own blood fell made this an absolutely remarkable stop on my journey through Rome.

Unfortunately, the climb took around an hour so we missed the Colosseum, but as I felt about the events that unfolded for this entire trip, everything happened for a reason. I was able to take some great photos of the Colosseum at night and wasn’t forced to rush through the tour as we saved it for the following day. Britt then went back for dinner to her host mom’s apartment while I fended for myself for supper. This was one major aspect of Rome that I was not entirely pleased about: after roaming the streets for over 45min, I passed by fifty pizzerias and then only two trattorias that were overly priced. I eventually settled on a pizzeria where I miscommunicated with the server by trying to say I wanted it to go, while come to think of it I believe he was asking if I wanted it caldo (hot in Italian). The pizza was still good nonetheless, but other then that, the food selection in Rome was atrocious to the vast amounts of quality restaurants on every corner in Firenze. I then met back up with Britt where after much convincing we decided to go see the Vatican at night (actually that was only to please Britt if she is to read this, as it actually didn’t take any convincing since I was up to do whatever but we finally settled on the Vatican even though she insists to this day that she told me numerous times that she wanted to be in bed by 20:30). As this was the first time I had ever been to Rome, this was also the first time I have ever stepped foot into the Vatican, which aside from the incredibly relaxing sensation from the walk in the park, this yielded an astonishing amount of warmth over me. After a few quality snapshots of the outside of St. Peter’s Square, we started our trek back to Court’s place with stops by the Tiber River, Castle Sant’Angelo (a castle commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, as a mausoleum for himself and his family that was later used as a fortress and castle by a number of Popes), and finally arrived back home after a delightful run in with a snazzy black Lamborghini.

My hopes of starting the following day’s adventures at an early hour failed miserably as I was not able to meet up with Britt until about 12:00. The reason for Britt’s tardiness was not due to her typical miscalculation of time (similar to my sister Kristen who always claims everything is merely a 15min walk from no matter where your starting point is, even if it takes over an hour; a very traumatic experience for a 13yr old me while venturing through Paris), but because she was pulled aside by the police at the train station for questioning. Aside from her terrible misrepresentation of arrival time, another thing I learned about Britt is that she has some of the worst possible luck in the world, and something like this would obviously happen to her. The reasoning behind her run-in with the cops was because her host mom had her buy a red metro pass which was a bit cheaper then the blue pass that Court/Jess had, but apparently she was not eligible to have a red pass and so this once in a blue moon day that the cops actually checked everyone’s passes, she just so happened to be one of those unfortunate victims. The cop apparently was a complete jerk as he refused to speak any English to her, so through her broken Italian she managed to escape a 100euro fine and other repercussions, but still managed to have a very traumatic experience where the cop ripped her pass very aggressively right in front of her. Fortunately for her, the rest of our day was very pleasant as we paid a few extra euro (about 10 I believe) for a guided tour of both the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, mostly due in part to the fact the line was wicked long and the guided tour allowed us to skip it. As these are perhaps the most toured places in all of Italy, and actually probably all of Europe, there is no reason to discuss how amazing both landmarks were. The only misfortune we ended up running into was at the end of our tour at the Roman Forum where our tour guide went off on a little spiel about how you could use the same tour company for a tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel but would have to wait until Monday as its closed Sundays and closes at 4 on Saturdays. Now if my foreshadowing merely a sentence prior did not give it away, then I am about to reveal some of the most disappointing news of my study abroad experience thus far. As it was almost nearing 3 o’clock when our tour ended, I realized that the Vatican was slightly far away and we had to leg it (a British slang word for run as fast as possible to one location) to get there in time. Of course I had an incredible amount of adrenaline flowing through my system and was extremely more motivated than Britt in reaching our final destination of the Sistine; so looking back on that, my apologies for that Britt but way to be a good sport about it! Once Britt navigated me through the Metro and we arrived at our stop in Vatican City, she pointed in the direction of it and I went on an all out sprint and arrived about 15 or so minutes before 4. My heart essentially dropped when I arrived there and found myself faced with a line comparable to the line for Splash Mountain in Disney World. Nevertheless, I sucked it up and hopped into line and reached the end with about 5min to spare and with high hopes that they would be late with closing it. Now I can’t recall if I mentioned this prior, but one of my favorite lines from my all time favorite movie in the world, Good Will Hunting, was the scene where Robin Williams is talking to Matt Damon in the park and asks him if he has “ever smelled the inside of the Sistine Chapel,” in order to convey to him that he has not truly experienced life as he hasn’t stepped foot outside the south of Boston. As Court/Jess/Britt can all vouch for me, the amount of times I quoted that line while in Rome was astronomical, but it depicts the extreme amount of excitement I held for finally stepping foot into the most famous Chapel on Earth. This is why I was extremely disappointed and saddened when I found out that at 4:05 there was no possible way I was going to make it to the Chapel, and even more saddened when I learned from a worker that the Sistine Chapel was not in fact in St. Peter’s Square, that I had actually stood in line for that long for the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica, and that the Chapel was about a kilometer down the road. Although I have had so many lessons in both art, history, and CCD classes about both St. Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel, no one had ever mentioned to me (an apparently to Britt/Jess/Court) that the Chapel was not a part of St. Peter’s Square but it’s own separate entity. After feeling like a complete buffoon and tourist in front of that worker, I cheered myself up by completing a full tour of St. Peters, the tombs of the Popes (which was very remarkable as I was able to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II and Saint Peter), and finally was cheered up by the presentation of a chilled bottle of water from Court/Jess/Britt (another aggravating feature of Italy is the fact that I don’t stay nearly as hydrated as I do back in the States as I have yet to find a place that sells reusable water bottles). As I mentioned prior, all these events occurred for a reason as I was able to get a full tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum, but even though I missed the Sistine Chapel, I was able to plan to arrive in Rome a day before I fly out for Easter break with Court and spend all day Wednesday touring the Sistine Chapel, and the catcombs/Vatican Museum which I would not have had the opportunity/motivation to see if I had seen the Sistine Chapel that day; not to mention seeing the entire Chapel in only 10 or 15minutes would not have been as rewarding and worthwhile.

After walking by the Tiber, this time in daylight, and the Circus Maximus (essentially just a large oval of sand with a strip of hilly grass in the middle), we went to a local restaurant where I indulged upon a very pleasant plate of tortellini with prosciutto and a fine glass of their house wine. Afterwards, my last night in Rome incorporated a walk to the Trevi Fountain at night, and surprise surprise, another trip back to the pub Scholars, which I know feel as if I’m truly a regular there and the waiters all know who I am. Our night did not end there where drama began to unfold back at Courtney’s place as earlier that day they discovered their water no longer worked because the water company had turned it off, due perhaps to the fact that there were so many guests residing in their tiny apartment: there were the three residents, myself, Jess had four friends, and Claire had five friends visiting. When I left Sunday afternoon their water was still not turned back on (they ended up getting it fixed by Monday) even though the landlord had shown up several times with a plumber. Another thing about Italy I have learned is that they are very slow about doing everything, and their technology is not nearly as advanced as ours is back in the States.

The following morning I was absolutely thrilled to wake up at 8am (a very rare occurrence) as Britt and I were about to step forth onto my favorite journey of this weekend: Sunday Morning Mass, in Latin with the full choir and hymnal, at none other then St. Peter’s Basilica. After my poor luck with the Sistine, I made sure we arrived over an hour early to the service (you really only need to get to the square an hour ahead of time, 30min in the security line, and 30min before mass in order to get a good seat), but we were able to get incredible seats right in the middle aisle and four rows back from the altar. The mass was breathtaking, with what appeared to be over 50 clergymen, an incredibly beautiful choir, a mass that I did not understand one word of but was incredible nonetheless, and the fact that I was standing amidst some of the most phenomenal architecture in the world all contributed to this glorious experience. What added to this fantastic experience was that as we were leaving the mass, Britt and I realized that the square was filled with thousands of people, which didn’t take us very long to realize that Pope Benedict was about to make his weekly appearance/speech from his apartment. Words would only deter from the greatness of this experience, so I will not try to lament on this event. It did amaze me though how the Pope was able to convey his message in six different languages, and even though I could only understand the English and bits of the Spanish, his speech was incredibly fluent in all six languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and I believe Latin?).

Another enjoyable moment for the day was my proud purchase of roasted chestnuts, which were very tasty and now I can finally relate to that popular Christmas jingle. Afterwards, I returned back to Court’s to find them filling up pots and pans (they were only able to use a minimal amount of water) in order to bath from, and from there I packed my things to my return journey home. I was planning on taking the Regional line, twice as long as the Eurostar but over half the price off for the ticket, but unfortunately the one incident I ran into with the lack of English speaking people in Rome (opposed to Firenze where essentially everyone speaks a bit of English) was at the Train Station where I could not figure out where track 2 PE was. I had assumed it was merely on track 2, which it wasn’t, and when I had came to that realization I only had 6min to spare and could not for the life of me find one person who spoke English. I ended up missing my train, switched my ticket for a Eurostar ticket (a 2hr ride opposed to a 4hr one) as the next Regional Line was not for a few more hours and I would not get home until 9pm, and finally got home around 4pm. I must say, my body has not been nearly that sore for years, the amount of walking we did was incredible, so much so that I ended up running places and bolting it up stairs as my body was so numb I figured I might as well get in the extra workout since I couldn’t even feel legs. Even though I had an amazing time in Roma, I was incredibly happy to be back in Firenze (one of the main reasons I succumbed to buying the Eurostar ticket) as it felt like home in comparison. Roma was nice, but I felt that aside from the extremely old ruins and the Vatican, making it an archeological paradise and essential pilgrimage to all practicing Catholics, it was very modern, expensive, lacking a vast amount of incredible food and character/warmth that Firenze has to offer, and in some ways very similar to New York City. It is completely different from Firenze, but I am going to have to side with the majority of travelers and say that Roma is a very nice place to visit, but I’m glad I chose Firenze as a place to live and study.

The French Riviera- Monaco, Nice, St. Paul, Cannes, and Eze

With every new post that comes and goes, my attempts to make them short, sweet, witty, and to the point continuously fail. I am merely beginning to write this one and I already know this will take me quite some time to express every encounter and experience that presented itself to me this past week. First, a small editorial from the last post, I forgot to mention the wonderful restaurant that I attended last Friday with Courtney and her friends. We went to Trattoria al Trebbio where I indulged upon a plate of the seafood pasta special that were very good, the muscles were smaller then I would like, and felt it just needed a little more taste to make it phenomenal. But, what was phenomenal was Courtney’s cheese raviolis. They were so delightful it made my meal taste almost bitter, the sauce was out of this world, the raviolis texture was pristine, and I would definitely recommend that dish to anyone who has the fortune of going there. This restaurant is on via delle Belle Donne, 47, which is awfully close to the SMN train station, and is just very cozy, small but quaint, and filled with a plentiful amount of Italian regulars who would consistently have drinks with the one waiter that serviced the entire restaurant. Without even tasting the food and merely just breathing in the atmosphere of a restaurant, one can easily tell how incredible their meal will be, and this is one of those places. Also, for college kids like myself, the price was very inexpensive, only about 10euro with food and a glass of wine.

Now, back on track to my encounters of this past week. Not much occurred at school, nor do I anticipate much occurring in the near future. Having spent endless hours last semester in the library and slaving away at my desk, it is a nice break to not take all senior level courses, yet part of me actually does miss the stress that accompanies the endless path of homework and the history essays I actually do enjoy writing. The only interesting thing worth mentioning is my cooking class where we made a delicious entrée, …., and then for desert we made a panna cotte with a blackberry and strawberry syrup as the topping. Both were absolutely delightful with every mouthful, but what was very exciting was the fact that this is indeed the intermediate cooking class I was looking for, and in addition our teacher stresses presentation, another aspect of cooking I find very fascinating. In five minutes alone, I learned three different ways of cutting a strawberry to make it look like a flower. Aside from cooking class, that Wednesday night, I searched far and wide on the Google search engine for the best Kebab place in all of Firenze. For whatever reason, kebabs are extremely popular here and you see them spread sporadically throughout the city. After searching many forums, I wrote down the address for a place called Mesopotamian Kebab, on via della Oriuolo 14r, and a few of my housemates, Jon, Pat, Russ and I set off to the Holy Grail of Firenze kebabs (only 4euros) conveniently located only a few blocks from the Duomo, and we indulged upon the best kebab I have ever had in my life. In fact as we were walking back home and reminiscing about our remarkable endeavor, a few passersbys heard the name of the restaurant and went wild about how incredible these kebabs are, thus another reason you should take a trip that way if you visit Firenze.

Considering my weekend officially starts on Wednesday at 4:15pm, that kebab completely tired me out, and also I was in a vicious battle with the common cold, so Thursday I stayed home, drank about a gallon of orange juice, and just spent time reading and talking to my housemates. Friday the real excitement went down as Pat and I traveled to the small hilltop town in Tuscany called San Gimignano. My apologies if I perhaps use the same adjectives in several instances throughout these posts, but my trip has been nothing less then incredible so far so I feel like I’m running low on classy adjectives; that, and my internet isn’t working so I sadly do not have access to Thesaurus.com where I could put forth a façade that I am well rehearsed in the use of inspiring adjectives. San Gimignano is renown for their towers that line the town, their gelato that I sadly did not partake in, and the medieval feel/look it has. I absolutely adore towns such as this one; a town that makes me feel as if I were in one of the scenes of Lord of the Rings and has the ability to make me vividly imagine that every dark/small alleyway I take, a few hundred years ago there were some epic sword battles that took place where I was standing. The two hour bus ride, which was very confusing the first time you use the Italian bus transit, was well worth it as it only cost around 12euro for a round trip and there are no fees when you hit the city, unless of course you want to take part in the tourist trap museums or climb one of the towers where you can get the same view from any angle of the city. But oh my, the views were breathtaking, the hills, the houses, the smoke from the fires, and most of all the smell of fresh beautiful air was enough to render you speechless. After a few hours of walking around we eventually headed back to Firenze.

The Towers of San Gimignano

I almost did not include the following because my words could not possibly do the beauty of The French Riviera justice. But for the sake of writing down my memories, this must be done. For the sake of future reference, the places we visited were Monaco, Nice, St.Paul, Cannes and Eze. My house, everyone except Pat and Jeff, woke up at the dreadful hour of 5am, hopped on a bus, and napped for quite some time in perhaps the most uncomfortable seat ever (the typical European really must be quite a bit shorter then my 6’3½ frame, because this coach bus was more uncomfortable and smaller then the seats on a yellow schoolbus). Our first stop on our excursion of the French Riviera, graciously paid for by the school, and by graciously, I mean they were generous to not keep all the tuition money for themselves, was the second smallest city-state in the world! If you guessed Vatican City as the smallest, you are correct, if you guess Monaco as the second smallest and my first stop on this little jaunt, then you are also correct! I’m just going to spit it out right now, but Monaco was either my favorite or tied for my favorite town, as Eze would be the game changer and put a run for Monacos money.

Monaco was fabulous, especially after having spent the past few weeks having to wear a sweatshirt and jacket, it was almost to hot to even be wearing pants. This small country is surrounded by mountains, which block the wind and create this very warm climate, ideal for the English to choose this as their winter vacation destination. Although Monaco was absolutely lovely, its apparent why the rich and famous have chosen this as one of their homes as property can run around 230million euros, but if I had the money I would probably not choose to live here. It was very pleasant seeing all the rich homes, but they were all so packed together that there was really no beach or land, the only construction they can do here is to either build up or down, every square foot of land is being occupied. Seeing the ocean was very heartwarming as it did remind me of Great Hammock Beach (in OldSaybrook, CT), and Nice especially reminded me of it considering I was able to actually step onto the beach. 

Monaco and my housemates: Ryan, Jon and Russ

After a few hours spent in Monaco, we ventured 30min to the second largest city (and airport) in France: Nice. I’m going to come out and say it right now, but I didn’t think Nice was anything special. This perhaps was due in part to the fact that I was overly excited to step foot on a beach once again, but was knocked back about 15 meters (going with European measurements now) when I found that rather then sand, there were these extremely smooth/white pebbles lining the beach that were extremely uncomfortable to walk on and especially lay on. Foregoing the chance to take a dip in the sea and trying to heal my disappointment with the sandless beach, I took the opportunity to go on a little photoshoot of the beach, dogs, fishermen, etc. As in Monaco, we once again forwent going on the provided tour as all of us agreed that it’s incredibly more exciting to venture off on your own with no motive in mind other then getting lost and finding your point A once again. We spent some time traveling the city after the beach, stopped at a café where my housemates all bought a glass of Leffe beer while I enjoyed my dainty Orangina. Now when I say dainty, I’m not exaggerating as it was the same size as any normal Orangina, but in comparison to the gargantuan goblets that my housemates received, it was very dainty indeed. My intense craving for the French’s soda of choice was quickly extinguished after I realized that both our drinks cost exactly the same price and it took me merely 10min to consume my beverage, in comparison to the entire hour it took them to drink there beverage. The beach and my misfortunes with selecting the wrong beverage were not the main reasons for my dislike of Nice, but the main reason was I felt there was not all that much to do and it looked like a lesser version of Paris. It had many of the same elements and culture of Paris, but it didn’t have the same feel and besides the beach, there was not much excitement. I capped the night off by watching BBC in my hotel room where I caught up on the events in Egypt, watched an episode of The Simpsons, even though it was in French I had seen it before so I was able to get by, and finally crashed by ten o’clock while my housemates roamed the streets in their suits (yes they suited up to blend in with the rich and elite) only to be heartbroken when they could not find any riveting and exhilarating clubs/bars/casinos/whatever else the rich dabble in.

A street in Nice

I was pleasantly woken up the following morning by the sounds of my roommate Jon shouting and stomping around in the bathroom. Apparently he had just taken part in a duel with a cockroach that was inhabiting our bathroom. For those of you who were wondering, Jon in fact did win with one final charge where he threw his shoe and instantly killed the invader. My apologies for this lengthy transition/sidestory, but I will now take you on my journey to the Village of St. Paul, another 30min bus ride. This village was definitely a place worth seeing, but it was very similar to San Gimignano, old medieval village built on a hill with narrow streets and an incredible view, so I will not lament long on this stop. The high point of the trip was buying a nutella/banana crepe that tasted incredible, the low point was getting slightly lost on my way back to the bus. Now I wasn’t exactly lost (so don’t loosing your hair over it mother), but I opted to get the crepe at the last minute and so I only had 5min to get back to the bus and as I existed the gated village I took the left fork in the road opposed to the right fork that would have led me back to the bus. The roads were exactly parallel to each other, thus the reason I thought I was on the correct path as everything looked exactly the same, until I realized I had been walking for more then 5min and I was starting to go downhill. So what does one do when their lost? First they suddenly realize that they know absolutely zero French, and second they flag down the first car that drives by to ask where the Pharmacy is (where the bus was parked). The moment I stopped the car I realized my first realization and my attempts to say “where Pharmacy?” in every possible form that sounded like it could be French absolutely flabbergasted the old couple I was attempting to have a conversation with. After I concluded that this was a lost cause, I started to run back to the village and from there decided to take the other fork which led me directly to the bus. Now I haven’t ran hills in a few months, and I certainly haven’t run hills while balancing a crepe in a while, so by the time I reached the bus after running for a solid 10min, having to endure the banter of my housemates who couldn’t stop laughing at my inability to follow a simple route, and warmth of the bus that was starting to make me glissen all contributed to my crepe not tasting nearly as good as it should have, oh and even though I successfully balanced my crepe, I managed to drop my fork en route.

St. Paul

My next stop on this journey was to Cannes, about 45min away. Cannes was a very nice place, we only explored the main drag by the beach as that was the home to, well the beach, and the theatre that hosts the Cannes Film Festival. We explored the outside of the theatre which included the handprints of famous celebrities (Samuel L. Jackson, the Coen brothers, Mel Gibson, Spike Lee, etc.), had lunch at a local café where my friends all got hamburgers on a giant baguette that was also filled with French fries and ketchup, while I sipped upon a fine cup of espresso (I was still quite full from that crepe). When we went to pay I handed the cashier 10euros and received 3.50euros in change, which left me completely befuddled but I casually walked out of the restaurant as I figured it was my fault for not checking beforehand of how much the espresso cost, merely figuring it would be relatively the same price as an espresso in Firenze which is only a euro. After my friends finished paying and I was starting to build a personal vendetta against this local joint, I decided to ask the cashier how my tiny espresso was 1.50euros more then the behemoth of a sandwich burger that my housemates got. Again, I don’t speak a word of French, but the cashier appeared to understand and simply laughed and started speaking to me in French, so I still don’t know if she was playing a joke on this silly American tourist, or she thought I had also ordered a sandwich, so end of story, I was able to get my money back as it only cost 1.50euros.

Cannes Film Festival Theater

 After walking across the beach and jetties that again started making me quite nostalgic of the summers at the CT shoreline, we hopped on the bus to our final stop to the village of Eze. Now this village was pretty similar to St. Paul and San Gimignano as it had the same medieval feel, but it was so much cooler, wicked, epic, and phenomenal. Now the epicness did not start until after we finished touring the perfume factory that sits at the bottom of the village. Apparently Eze is known worldwide for their excellent perfumes, and I would sure hope so considering a tiny bottle runs for about 20euro. Initially the factory was pretty cool as our first stop was the testing room which looked like Dexter’s Laboratory, but it went incredibly downhill from there as my nose, eyes, ears, and brain were all clogged from the intense mixture of perfumes. So a little background on Eze, its in between Monaco and Nice, so very close to the Italian border, and was built high up on top of this hill overlooking the sea in order to protect the village from the pirates. After climbing to the top of the entrance of the village, I concluded that any pirate who dared infiltrate this village either was extremely brave, cunning, and a relative of Chuck Norris, or they were perhaps the most unintellectual human beings on the planet. Maybe it was running up a steep hill while balancing a crepe for 10minutes or so, but after climbing up an unpaved path, my group and I were extremely exhausted. A little advise to any pirates who read this blog, start climbing at dusk, climb halfway and camp out for the night and make sure to bring plenty of water, then wake up, have an espresso and do your thing. Even though the hike was very tiresome, it was also very incredible and rewarding as the views continued to get better after every step, we saw a GIANT chess board that made start reminiscing about Harry Potter, and the village itself was so much more awesome then the other two of similar sorts. I’m not one who likes to pay for the additional features of a tourist trap, such as fees to climb a tour, explore a tunnel, etc., but I finally caved in and payed my 3euro to reach the highest peak of the village. If it wasn’t so foggy and we could see perfectly across the sea, I may have never returned to Firenze as it was hard enough to force myself down the mountain after experiencing the beauty of the highest point. If any of you have seen Lord of the Rings, this looked exactly like the scene in the first movie where Frodo fights the nazguls, except the view was much more exceptional. Cacti everywhere, a lovely clock tower, the sea, mountains on every side, the giant chess board, and the lovely smell of nature all contributed to this being perhaps the most incredible vantage point I have ever stepped foot upon.

The Giant Chess Board

Lord of the Rings-esque

The View from a top of the peak in Eze

Finally we managed to pull ourselves away, and we traveled back to the bus and started our trek back to Firenze. Typically, I wouldn’t describe our return journey, but it was very interesting as we saw an Italian movie titled, “Welcome to the South,” about a man from Milan who gets transferred to a village in southern Italy and at first absolutely despises it but then falls completely in love with it. It was surprisingly a very enjoyable film and I would definitely recommend it. Anyways, this weekend was absolutely marvelous, incredibly exhausting, perhaps one of the longest weekends I have had in a long time, filmed with excitement and crepes, and I was able to explore a completely different culture and became much closer with my housemates. Oh one last side note, my housemate Jeff, the one from Egypt, actually left and went back to Marist to finish up the semester in hopes of being able to study abroad in Egypt next semester. Back to my main story. As I finish writing this at about 1:45am on Wednesday morning, I am still exhausted from this weekend but start my next journey on my itinerary to Rome in about 16hrs to visit Courtney, her housemates, and the Pope. Until next time, take care, love you all, and hope you still find enjoyment through my writing.

Ciao!