We had a very special visitor this past weekend. My dad!
My dad travels quite a bit for his work, and occasionally he does come over to Europe. He was in Finland for some job training. When he told me he was going to be in Finland I, by random chance, decided to look on RyanAir's webpage to see if there are a flight from where he was to Frankfurt. I was shocked to discover there was! I mentioned this to my dad, and as luck would have it he was able to fit a quick weekend trip to our house into his travel plans.
When I found out that he officially was coming to visit and the dates he would be there, we were in Italy. I had terrible phone reception and was doing most of my communication via Josh's IPod and free hotel wi-fi. In a panic, I emailed a co-worker to ask her to cover for me for the weekend my dad was there. I work with some truly wonderful people. Not only was my co-worker helpful in getting my days covered while my dad was there, but she was completely un-phased by me asking such a favor of her. It is so nice to work with such selfless, caring, sweet people. I can't even express how much I appreciate some of my co-workers.
I asked my dad what he wanted to do while he was here visiting, but he said he was perfectly content to just see our local area. I picked him up at the airport on Friday afternoon. We went out to lunch with my friend Melissa at one of our favorite restaurants. You know you are a frequent customer of a place when your "usual" waiter asks your dad if this is his first time visiting you, and how long he will be here for... ha ha. Whoops. Well, what can I say? Apparently I like Turkish food. It sounds silly, but I was very excited for my dad to meet Melissa. It's just nice to have your family get to know someone who you have grown close to and who you treasure as a friend.
After lunch I took my dad on base to check it out. My dad is passionate about aviation, and is a huge plane freak. Luckily on our base there are some "retired" planes out on display, which he was happy to look at. He was also able to see a C-5 on the flight line getting prepped, and he saw an A-10 in its hanger. I think he was pretty tickled with his first-hand look at things.
That evening we took dad out to one of our other favorite restaurants, which is a Thai restaurant. My dad loves Thai food, so we figured it would be something he'd enjoy. We were able to meet up with my cousin Megan and her family, and it is the first time my dad has seen them in a few years. It was generally just a nice catch-up evening with great food.
The next day we all slept in - I think my poor dad was still jet-lagged. I worked on a paper while he and Josh slept late. After breakfast we decided to drive down to Trier. Trier is the closest "city" to us, and it does have some historical significance as well as some neat sights. We wandered around the cobble stone walk-platz, went to see the cathedral, and then went up inside the Porta Nigra. I'm ashamed to say although I've been to Trier many times I don't really have any good pictures of the Porta Nigra - check out these google images. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and it used to be under Roman rule. The Porta Nigra is one of the original gates or entrances to the city. You can go up inside of it, which we did. It gives you some great views of the city. As we wandered around there were some vendors out with little stands selling various things. I'm glad my dad got a chance to see that aspect of Europe, as it is one of my favorites.
After Trier we drove to Bitburg, which is where another base is. We showed him around that base (which is pretty dead and boring compared to ours). We also took him to our favorite toy store that we like to shop at for Zoey. We all walked out of the store with something for her. Josh and I got her a boat for the bathtub as well as some slippers and boots. My dad bought her a doll that had a dog which looks like my parent's dog Fritz. What a spoiled little girl! One of my goals while my dad was in Germany was for him to try ice cream at one of the many Italian ice cream shops. Our favorite shop is still closed for the winter, but we took him to a shop in Bitburg and he had his first spaghetti ice cream. I think he's hooked. Saturday night we went out to one of our favorite German food restaurants. There is no way you can come to Germany and NOT try schnitzel. We had a fun evening chatting, eating, and sampling beer.
On Sunday we were lazy and spent most of the day just hanging around the house. We watched a few movies (we always have to update my dad on the newest ones he hasn't seen. This trip the main focus was to get him to see Avatar. Yes, he is behind the times). After an early dinner we hopped in the car and drove him to the Frankfurt Airport. He had an early morning flight back to the states and had booked a hotel room near the airport. It was a bit of an adventure to find his hotel room... and it was a bit of a late night for us. However, I'm really glad he had the chance to come visit us and finally get to see our house and local area.
I did realize while my dad was hear that all that we did was eat. And drink. What can I say? Europe is an adventure for your taste buds! There are so many delicious things we have discovered over here!
I also realized that there really isn't a way to "show" someone Europe in a short amount of time. Anytime someone asks me for advice on where to go, or what to see (which still kind of takes me by surprise, as I don't by any means think I have some sort of authority on the topic) it's hard for me to narrow down my suggestions. The first thing I ask is "How much time do you have?" Based on that I could recommend things. I used to think (prior to being here) that you could book a 10 day trip and see a lot of Europe. And you could, I suppose. People do it all the time. Fly into one spot, zip around to a bunch of places, and fly out of another. However, I guess I just don't know how you could really see places that way. How you could get a whole lot out of them, or how you could pick up on the vibe. That, and I realized on our trip to Italy that although you can go a lot of places quickly via plane or train... that traveling still takes overall time away from your trip. That being said... I was almost unsure what to do with my dad being here for just two days. I know Trier would be fun and interesting to see, and we could do that in an afternoon. However, the only other thing I could think of doing was going to Koln, which is about an hour and a half or two hour drive away. Anything else I felt like we didn't have enough time to actually get there and see it. Which isn't what I used to think... but two days is enough time to see our little area and have some amazing food and beer!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Saying Yes
... I meant for this post to be written on February 18th, our wedding anniversary. However, there were better things to do on that day than write a blog. But this is something I have been thinking over for a few days... so we'll pretend it is the 18th and I'm writing it for the day.
To summarize and make what could be a long story short... Josh and I decided to get married while he was overseas in Korea. There was a window of time between when he got home from Korea and before he left for Germany where we were planning to get married. I was trying to plan a wedding without the groom there, I was planning a wedding without a set date since we didn't know when he would get home, and I was trying to do it in less than three months. The biggest challenge - besides patience.... lots and LOTS of patience which most times I did not have - was deciding what kind of wedding I wanted.
Unlike most girls, I never really pictured a wedding for myself before. I had thought about my wedding (with different grooms) but I never made any set decisions about what I wanted. When the time came to actually make a decision I was completely unsure of what I wanted. Flowers? Um, I don't know. Bridesmaids? In a church... not in a church? Wedding dress? The only thing I had ever known was that I wanted my wedding to be small. I have always thought the focus of a wedding is the couple and their love and commitment to one another.I thought this was a good starting point for me. Small. A small wedding with just our family. I thought this would be a simple enough task... until you actually start to think about your family, and have to decide where to draw the line as to who can be there, and who can't. So... your grandpa can be there, but mine can't... my aunts can be present, but yours can't. I wanted the people important to us - our families - to be there, however we both have large families that we are close to. "Just family" quickly grew much larger and more complex than I wanted. At first, I did what any normal bride would do and freaked out. I freaked out, I cried, I stressed. Then I took control. Our wedding was already small, but I scaled it back even further and made it what I wanted it to be. Bridesmaids? Doesn't matter, don't want them. Flowers? Who cares. What about what other people thought? Believe me, I was told plenty what other people thought. I didn't care. What was important was Josh and I. I wanted a marriage, not a wedding.
Suddenly the stress was gone. It did not matter that I had no time to plan. It didn't matter that I had changed the plans for my wedding three weeks prior to it happening. Josh and I woke up the morning we got married and had a wonderful breakfast together. We drank coffee, made a list of things to do for the day, and then worked together all afternoon cleaning and preparing appetizers for our guests.
So we got married quietly at my house, in my kitchen on an unassuming Friday night. I walked down my stairs and was escorted halfway down by my father who then gave me away. We were married by Josh and my brother's best friend who was ordained on the internet (please laugh, I do). I wore a beautiful wedding dress my mom and best friend helped me to pick out. I had a bouquet my mom had specially made for me. My hair and makeup was done by a friend of mine. Our vows were classic, and they were the focus of the evening. Afterwards we enjoyed drinks and food with our parents, siblings, and best friends. We were surprised with a delicious cake by my best friend. It had all of the pieces of any other wedding... just maybe not in the most "traditional" of manner. But for me, it was perfect and everything I wanted, even if I hadn't realized it before.
One year ago... I said Yes
- To keeping it simple
- To focusing on love
- To a kitchen wedding
- To a web-ordained minister wearing flannel and suspenders
I said Yes
- To walking down stairs instead of an aisle
- To allowing myself to be "given away"
I said Yes
- To have and to hold
- To love, honor, and to cherish
- To the military, and all the adventures it may bring, good or bad
- To uniting two families
- To being a wife
I said Yes
- To cake... even if you run the risk of having it stuffed in your face
I said Yes
- To a best friend, supporter, sounding board, confidant
- To a life partner
- To an equal
- To true love
THE BEST IS YET TO COME
To summarize and make what could be a long story short... Josh and I decided to get married while he was overseas in Korea. There was a window of time between when he got home from Korea and before he left for Germany where we were planning to get married. I was trying to plan a wedding without the groom there, I was planning a wedding without a set date since we didn't know when he would get home, and I was trying to do it in less than three months. The biggest challenge - besides patience.... lots and LOTS of patience which most times I did not have - was deciding what kind of wedding I wanted.
Unlike most girls, I never really pictured a wedding for myself before. I had thought about my wedding (with different grooms) but I never made any set decisions about what I wanted. When the time came to actually make a decision I was completely unsure of what I wanted. Flowers? Um, I don't know. Bridesmaids? In a church... not in a church? Wedding dress? The only thing I had ever known was that I wanted my wedding to be small. I have always thought the focus of a wedding is the couple and their love and commitment to one another.I thought this was a good starting point for me. Small. A small wedding with just our family. I thought this would be a simple enough task... until you actually start to think about your family, and have to decide where to draw the line as to who can be there, and who can't. So... your grandpa can be there, but mine can't... my aunts can be present, but yours can't. I wanted the people important to us - our families - to be there, however we both have large families that we are close to. "Just family" quickly grew much larger and more complex than I wanted. At first, I did what any normal bride would do and freaked out. I freaked out, I cried, I stressed. Then I took control. Our wedding was already small, but I scaled it back even further and made it what I wanted it to be. Bridesmaids? Doesn't matter, don't want them. Flowers? Who cares. What about what other people thought? Believe me, I was told plenty what other people thought. I didn't care. What was important was Josh and I. I wanted a marriage, not a wedding.
Suddenly the stress was gone. It did not matter that I had no time to plan. It didn't matter that I had changed the plans for my wedding three weeks prior to it happening. Josh and I woke up the morning we got married and had a wonderful breakfast together. We drank coffee, made a list of things to do for the day, and then worked together all afternoon cleaning and preparing appetizers for our guests.
So we got married quietly at my house, in my kitchen on an unassuming Friday night. I walked down my stairs and was escorted halfway down by my father who then gave me away. We were married by Josh and my brother's best friend who was ordained on the internet (please laugh, I do). I wore a beautiful wedding dress my mom and best friend helped me to pick out. I had a bouquet my mom had specially made for me. My hair and makeup was done by a friend of mine. Our vows were classic, and they were the focus of the evening. Afterwards we enjoyed drinks and food with our parents, siblings, and best friends. We were surprised with a delicious cake by my best friend. It had all of the pieces of any other wedding... just maybe not in the most "traditional" of manner. But for me, it was perfect and everything I wanted, even if I hadn't realized it before.
One year ago... I said Yes
- To keeping it simple
- To focusing on love
- To a kitchen wedding
- To a web-ordained minister wearing flannel and suspenders
- To walking down stairs instead of an aisle
- To allowing myself to be "given away"
- To have and to hold
- To love, honor, and to cherish
- To the military, and all the adventures it may bring, good or bad
- To uniting two families
- To being a wife
- To cake... even if you run the risk of having it stuffed in your face
I said Yes
- To a best friend, supporter, sounding board, confidant
- To a life partner
- To an equal
- To true love
THE BEST IS YET TO COME
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Two Weeks in Italy - Part Two
The same warning applies... long, lots of food talk... so fortify yourself as necessary.
Day #5
We spent the full day in Florence. We went to the Accademia, which is another art museum. It is well known because it houses the original sculpture "David" by Michelangelo. This is one of the rare times in which I was actually impressed with something being bigger than I thought it would be. I've seen "David" in pictures, books, and even on TV... and I thought I had an idea of what it would look like. However, it is much larger in person than it appears in pictures. Again, I don't make any claims of being an art person or anything close to an art expert, but it was amazing. Hence why it is considered a masterpiece. After our time at the Accademia we walked across town to Pitti Palace. The palace is made up of multiple different museums. We saw the museum of modern art, and then toured the royal apartments. The royal apartments were neat in that they housed a large collection of paintings, and the majority of the ceilings were frescoes. There were also a lot of heavy tapestries and heavy wall hangings, which in the context of a royal apartment were grand.
That evening we decided to do like the locals and enjoy some pre-dinner cocktails. Well, wine, not cocktails. There were a lot of wine bars around Florence, and they were always quite busy starting around 5 pm. We figured the Italians must enjoy wine first before dinner, which is why they eat later. I wasn't opposed to the idea of having some delicious wine to start our evening. We went to a wine bar near our hotel and sampled some local Tuscan red wines, which were amazing. Afterwards we went for a late (for us) dinner. I enjoyed some gnocchi (pronounced no-key) in a cheese sauce. Gnocchi is a small, soft potato dumpling which (when made right) practically melts in your mouth. It is delicious. We enjoyed a local white wine with our dinner (you can't discriminate and only drink red) and had homemade almond biscotti for dessert compliments of the restaurant. I have never had much biscotti before, but it was delicious, melt-in-your-mouth. A fantastic end to the day.
Day #6
My birthday!!! We woke up and had breakfast (full of LOTS of Italian coffee) to kick off my day of turning 27. After checking out of our hotel we went to the train station to go to Siena. Rick Steves suggests taking the bus from Florence to Siena as it is faster, however we picked the train because it was cheaper. I'm glad we took the train, because we saw some beautiful landscapes - rolling hills and vineyards. Again, I couldn't help but imagine how it would look in the summer when everything is in full bloom and green. We arrived in Siena and tried to find our way around the town. Siena is a small, so it didn't take too long to orient ourselves.
As you can see above, Siena has a large cathedral. I have seen quite a few cathedrals in my time in Europe, and I have to say this cathedral is one of my favorites. It is similar to the cathedral in Florence in some ways, but at the same time it's like nothing I have ever seen. The cathedral is made of white, pink, and dark green marble. The inside is striped with green marble, and the dome is dark blue with gold stars. It was a touch shocking, as most cathedrals only have color in the stained glass and the paintings. I loved it.
The outside of the cathedral was extremely photogenic as well. After I got home I realized the majority of the photos I took were of the Siena Cathedral.
That evening we decided to try out the restaurant in our hotel for my birthday dinner. I had saffron risotto with shrimp - which was a bit of a change from the pasta and pizza I had been eating prior to this. Josh ordered pasta with meat sauce, which was the first "traditional" pasta either one of us had ordered. Hands down one of the best meals I've had in a very long time. For dessert we ordered tiramisu to share. I love tiramisu, and it seemed a fitting Italian dessert. It wasn't the best tiramisu I've ever had, but it was still pretty fantastic.
Day #7
We spent the day further exploring Siena. We bought a special pass to go inside of the cathedral museum. The museum was full of old artwork and church artifacts, which weren't too exciting... but you are able to access a rooftop portion of the museum. When the cathedral was build it was originally suppose to be much larger, but during the construction the plaque hit and Siena lost a lot of workers and money, so the cathedral was made smaller. However, where the cathedral museum is located is right next to the cathedral and has some of the original walls for the cathedral. When you walk onto the rooftop of the museum you are almost level with the rooftop of the cathedral. It offers wide views of all of Siena. We got a lot of great photos, and we were up there when the cathedral's bells rang at noon. That experience made the cost of the museum worth it.
Siena is in the "heart" of Tuscany and during the non-winter months (read: when it's not freezing cold, snowy, and when the Italians aren't in a panic over the snow) there are lots of vineyard and wine tasting excursions to take. I would love to go back another time to head outside of Siena to do just that. Siena was actually suggested to me by a co-worker, and I'm glad I took her advice! Siena is magic. We spent our last evening enjoying more mouth-watering gnocchi topped off with local wine.
Day #8
We woke up in the morning and went to catch a bus to Rome. Buses seem to be the transportation in and around Siena. Buses are more convient, run more frequently, and are cheaper than the train. A lot of trains in and out of Rome had been cancelled in the past few days, and I was worried about getting there. Our bus ride was actually pleasant. We were one of only a few people, so we had plenty of space to stretch out. The ride was quiet, and we were there in about three hours. After finding our hotel and checking in, we took off to start sightseeing.
We took the metro down to see the Colosseum. I was told the Rome metro system was easy to understand, and the person who told me that was right. There are only two lines which go in opposite directions. Almost idiot proof. When we arrived in Rome most of the snow had melted, and in fact the sun was shining and it was the warmest it had been in a long time. Despite this, the Colosseum was closed. We were still able to walk all around it, but we couldn't go inside (which honestly, was fine by me. I think Josh was okay with by-passing it as well). After the Colosseum we walked around the perimeter of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (old Roman ruins) to Circus Maximus (old chariot racing area which is now open field). I would have to say by walking around the outskirts of the Roman Forum we saw a great majority of the sites. I simply used my Rick Steves book to orient ourselves and figure out what we were seeing.
From this area we wandered over to see the Victor Emmanual Monument - which houses Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier. Then we hopped back on the metro to head to another area of town to see the Trevi Fountain. We made our way to the fountain and found many people sitting on the benches in front of the fountain eating gelato. Conveniently there are multiple gelato shops right next to the fountain. Who am I to resist what is in front me me? We got some gelato (coconut for me, and let me just say... it was fantastic. Almost as good as Big Dipper. Almost) and settled in withe other folks to look at the fountain, eat gelato, and people watch.
From the Trevi Fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps. It was a bit of a walk, but not as long/big as I thought it was going to be when I looked at the map. As it was, it turned out to be a beautiful way to see more of Rome.
It was around the Spanish Steps that I first became annoyed with Rome. I should explain. As you can see from my photo, there were plenty of people in this area, and a lot of them were tourists. In this same area there were a lot of people trying to sell things. Not just your typical street vendors, but people selling all sorts of things like purses, toys, cheap souvenirs, flowers, ect. In a one block stretch there had to have been at least thirty people out there selling things, and they were quite pushy and in your face about it. In fact as I was attempting to take the above picture, a flower vendor walked over to try and sell me flowers. I told him "no thank you" (in Italian) many times... followed by "NO" multiple times. He finally just laid flowers out on my arm (which was in busy holding/aiming my camera) and demanded money. Seriously dude? Really? At this point I graciously told him to fuck off. Not my shining moment, and yes I realize this makes me a bad ambassador for the US. But ya know... if there are five different people selling flowers and you've seen me tell each one of them no... why on earth would I want to buy one from you? And if I wanted a wilted, half dead flower... don't you think I'd own one by now? Good grief. On that note, we called it a night and went back to our hotel.
Day # 9
It was recommended to us to devote an entire day at the Vatican. So we did. I'm glad we did. After our breakfast we went to take the metro to the Vatican (it was suppose to be a quick, easy ride there). It was 9:30 in the morning, and we figured most of the morning rush was already at work. I guess we were wrong. The subway was overflowing with people. We were at the back of the crowd waiting for the train to arrive. When it did arrive it was already quite full, but more people pushed in it. We were able to make our way from the back to the front. We figured when the next train arrived we would get on. Wrong. When the next train arrived it was stuff full as well, and only a few aggressive people attempted to shove themselves onto the train. We waited a few more minutes for another train to arrive, and when it did it was also quite full. By this time most of the crowd was pushing forward (and had been pushing forward) so the people on the train who wanted to get off had nowhere to go. We were getting pushed, but had nowhere to go. Many shoving matches broke out, and a few people started yelling/arguing... and the train took off stuffed to the brim. I looked at Josh and said "hop on hop off bus?" He nodded, and we left the chaos of the metro to take a hop on hop off bus through Rome. We knew the bus would take us to the Vatican, and it would be an easy way to "see" around Rome. It was still quite cold, but it was sunny day. We got to see a lot of the "sights" before we got to the Vatican.
Although it was cold outside and Rome had unexpected snow, there was a huge advantage to being in Rome in February. We got to the Vatican and had absolutely no lines to wait in. There were still plenty of people there... but obviously it wasn't too many because we had no problems getting around, which I know isn't the case in the summer months.
St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. I don't even know if you could begin to call it a church... obviously it is a church... but the sheer size and grandeur of it... "church" just doesn't seem to fit. It goes without saying (and it seems a little "DUH" to say) that it is, far and away, one of the most grand places on earth. It is full of not only history, but some famous and beautiful artwork. I could have easily spent hours upon hours simply standing with my head up looking at the ceiling. I thought I had an idea of what it would look like based upon the Angels and Demons movie. The movie is accurate, however I don't think there is any way you could capture the beauty of it on film. There really aren't even words to try and describe it to you... so I won't, I'll just try and show you with my pathetic pictures.
After making our way through the Basilica, we went back out to St. Peter's Square. It is hard to comprehend how much history is in that square (hell, in all of Rome outside of the Vatican for that matter!). I am struggling to find words to even try to describe how things looked or how I felt and feel I am failing. The only word which consistently pops into my head is "beautiful," and I would like to be a bit more eloquent than that. I guess I feel the only thing I can really say is anyone, despite your religious preference, can find beauty and admiration of this place.
We left St. Peter's Square and made our way down the block to the Vatican Museum. This museum houses a LOT of different artwork - but the thing I wanted to see most (as to the majority of people I would assume) was the Sistine Chapel. I was told the Chapel is at the very end of the museum... and it is. You have to wander through everything else to get there. However, the museum does have one section of rooms which is full of Raphael frescoes. We are talking floor to ceiling, wall to wall frescoes. Impressive. Not what I was expecting. After wandering through the museum for a few hours we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. I wish I had photos to show you of it, but unfortunately I don't because they don't allow you to take photos (and in this case, I followed the rules). The ceiling is exactly as you think it will be... it is amazing. There is so much going on that it is hard to take your time and focus on one painting before jumping to the next one. There are benches which line the walls, and most people were sitting down to give themselves a chance to sit and stare. We joined them. It could be easy to "get lost" so to speak and spend quite a bit of time in the Chapel. As it is there are a LOT of people who wander in and out (even in February, so I can only imagine in the summer) so it does make it hard to stay for too long. I will say that I expected the Chapel to be bigger. However, it didn't take away from the experience of it.
When we left the Vatican we walked up to the Castle Sant Angelo - which was originally built to be a last defense and a hiding place for the pope. Over time it also served as a prison. I remember it for its role in Angels and Demons (yes, that reference again. Sorry, I liked the book. There will be another reference to it again in a few minutes). All around the Castle were some great views of the Vatican. Across the bridge we got slices of pizza for lunch - and it was a unique pizza. It was a thick crust (almost like bread) which had no sauce, but was covered in spicy sausage, french fries, and cheese. It was served cold. Judge me if you want, because I know that it is one of the most unhealthy things I could ever eat. It was also delicious. It could satisfy every craving (salty, starchy, greasy) you could ever have.
That evening we had the best meal of our trip, hands down. We found a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant which was clearly an old family run place. All of the waiters wore matching white suits, and they were all old - and I'm not just saying "old." I'm pretty sure they were close to my Granpa's age. Our waiter was a cute little old man who we thought spoke English, but as the evening went on we realized he must only know a few key phrases, which made him even more endearing. We ordered a bottle of red (what else?) house wine (which, I have discovered house wine at most Italian restaurants is fantastic. In fact most restaurants take great pride in our their house wine). It was, hands down, the best wine of the trip. Fantastic. We debated ordering more wine simply because it was so good, but decided we didn't really need more wine... and we didn't want to look like a bunch of lushes. We split a caprese salad to start with, and it was the freshest mozzarella cheese I have ever had - which is saying a lot because I had been in Italy for a solid week prior to eating this. I had gnocchi with a mushroom champagne sauce. It was to die for. Soooo unbelievably good that it warrants having extra "O"s on the end of so. Josh ordered something which turned out to be intestine with a tomato sauce. He swears he knew that's what it was going to be, and he ate all of it and proclaimed it to be good. I was content to not try any of his and stuck with my own. We agreed to order dessert, and our waiter brought over menus for us. I decided to order "dolce della casa" which literally means "cake of the house." I have heard this is similar to house wine in that most of the time it is pretty good. It was. It was an extremely flaky pie crust filled with a cream filling that had a crunchy cinnamon topping. Not what I was expecting, but still good. Josh couldn't make his mind up about what to order, and our waiter pointed something out to him and said it was very good. He then said "potatoes... it's very good." Josh decided to go ahead and order it and give it a try. We were trying to figure out what kind of a dessert, exactly, would have potatoes in it... and would it be any good? Imagine our surprise when the waiter brought out Josh's dish and it had lamb shank with potatoes. Hmm. Well, that explains part of it. I then realized we had only ordered pasta and the waiter simply assumed we were ready/wanting to order another course, which is why he recommended the lamb to Josh. Josh LOVED the lamb (I'm not much of a sheep person). I sampled some of the potatoes, and they were very good. After his second course Josh said he was stuffed and he would just skip dessert for the night. However, it was an amazing meal in a wonderful atmosphere. I have to give it to the Italians - not only did we have some amazing food, but at meal times we just spent time together. Yes, what people say about European or Italian meals is true, they do "take" longer or last longer than an American meal. However, I liked it. It was relaxing to have an opportunity to enjoy some wine and talk with Josh not just about what we had seen and what we were going to see, but to reconnect after some crazy busy months. So hats off to the Italians, they know how to savor not only a meal, but the company at a meal.
Day # 10
For our last day in Rome we mainly wanted to try and see everything that we hadn't gotten to yet. We wanted to go see some of the major plazas and churches that we hadn't gotten to yet. We were feeling ambitious and decided to do all of it on foot. In our ambition of walking we wanted to try and see some of the sites from Angels and Demons. I am pleased to say that not only did we accomplish our goal, but we were able to find everything on foot without getting lost. My only disappointment was the Pantheon was closed while we were there (of course it opened up the day after we left Rome). However, we did cover a lot of ground and saw more beautiful, breathtaking sculptures, fountains, and churches. Partway through our walk it began to rain, and the rain turned into a thick, wet snow. Being Montanans this did little to slow us down. At least at first. We continued with our walk, and the snow started coming down harder accompanied with wind. We took a break and had lunch at a wine bar. When we got back outside the weather had gotten worse. We had talked of going to the crypt for the afternoon, but like many things it was closed due to the weather. As we walked along we were bombarded, again, by people selling things. This time they had switched from flowers and trinkets to umbrellas. Again, within a short block we had been asked if we wanted an umbrella at least ten times. We decided to head back to our hotel to take a nap and warm up before dinner.
We went to a local pizza restaurant that evening (are you sensing a trend?). The pizza wasn't anything too special, but I had the best dessert of our whole trip. It was a coco Nutella torte, which is a fancy way of saying heaven. It was a torte which had a chocolate crust which was covered in a layer of Nutella, a creamy yet fluffy coconut filling, another layer of Nutella, and then whipped cream on top. It was amazing. I had never thought of pairing Nutella and coconut before... and I must say I think they belong together.
Day #11
Our plan was to take a fast train from Rome to Verona (our next destination). When we woke up in the morning there was about two inches of snow on the ground, and I was instantly worried about our train. We got to the station and learned that our train had been cancelled. Instead of taking a fast train all the way to Verona, we had to take one to Bologna and then switch to a slower train for the rest of the trip. This made our trip to Verona closer to 4.5 hours instead of 3, but I was just grateful to still be able to get out of Rome. It was my first time on a fast train. All the trains we had taken up until now were regional ones, which go plenty fast, but they make frequent stops. And the fast train definitely lived up to it's name.
We arrived in Verona to discover we were, apparently, there at the right time as the city was having a festival of love (as Verona is the city of love, and Valentine's Day is the day of love... or something like that). Verona is also where Romeo and Juliet took place. It was kind of cute, in a way. There were lots of vendors booths selling wine and chocolate, and there was romantic love songs playing. We didn't necessarily think much of the Verona in Love festival, but I did like Verona. Like many Italian towns it has narrow, winding streets which are crowded with buildings. However, there is something romantic about it. Maybe it is simply because we had just left the hustle of Rome and arrived in a place that was calmer, slower, and there wasn't anyone in my face trying to sell me something. A lot of the buildings have balconies, which does make me think of Romeo and Juliet. Verona has a fictitious "Juliet's House" which has a balcony you can go out on. I just liked the feeling of Verona. They also have colosseum there, which looks very similar to the one of Rome, which is the venue for the Verona opera during the summer.
Day #12
We woke up in the morning and hoped on a train for Venice. One of the reasons we chose Italy when picking our vacation destination was that we would be in Italy during Carnival. Carnival is basically the same thing as Carnival in Brazil or Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It's a giant party to celebrate prior to lent. Venice is known for masks, which was worn during Carnival. I had researched this a bit before our trip, but I truely had no clue what to expect. I also wasn't sure what to expect of Venice as I had heard a wide range of things about it. I really enjoyed Venice. Even when we first left the train station and started to walk through the town, I was overwhelmed by the sights. It is hard not to be overwhelmed.
All that I knew for sure was that Carnival was taking place mainly in St. Mark's Square. There were signs which pointed us in the direction of St. Mark's. I was surprised to find Venice's streets are extremely narrow, and quite windy. I don't know if windy could really describe them properly... but there are plenty of streets (it's not even a street, more like a pathway) which will suddenly make a full 90 degree turn. A little surprising. But I suppose it is part of Venice's charm.
We found our way through Venice to St. Mark's by following people who were in costumes. Some people wore Halloween type costumes (we saw a group of people dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland), but others dress up in more traditional costumes.
We followed people and finally came through a narrow alleyway to find ourselves in the middle of St. Mark's Square. What a site it was! St. Mark's Basilica is enough to be overwhelming on it's own, but to have the church be the backdrop for such a huge party... there aren't words. We wandered around taking it all in. There was a stage area where there were many performances of people dancing, playing drums, acting, ect. It was lots of fun to watch, and the people watching opportunities were endless. After taking in a few hours of the Carnival activities, we wandered around Venice some more. People told me they didn't like Venice because it was dirty (yes, it is), because it smelled (yes, it does), and because it is a tourist trap (yes, but how could it not be?). Despite all this, I found it hard not to like Venice. It is like nothing I have ever seen before - from the canals, to the narrow streets, gondolas, and bright buildings. The Carnival atmosphere was a great way to experience it.
To answer a question a lot of people had... no, we did not take a gondola ride. It was a very cold day with cold winds blowing across the water. I can only think how cold that ride would be. And a gondola ride costs around 100 euros... which... I'd rather spend that money on other things. A gondola ride doesn't mean that much to me.
One of the only things I bought for myself on my trip was a Venician mask. I had seen many masks which were shapped like a cat, so I went on the hunt for one which looked like my cat Vega. I was happy to find one.
After a long day of walking around, we took a train back to Verona. When I was looking for hotels for our trip, because of Carnival there weren't many hotels available in Venice. The ones which were available were very expensive. So we decided to stay outside of Venice... and I'm glad that we did. It was nice to get away from the craziness at the end of the day.
Day #13
Our last day in Italy. We woke up, did one last walk around Verona to soak up as much "romance" as we could, then headed to the train station. We were headed back to Bergoma where the airport is. The train ride was uneventful, however it was a bit nerve-wracking for me. The train we were on was spray painted with graffiti, and every train station we passed looked more and more run down. Most of the train stations had boarded up windows and the walls of the stations were covered in graffiti as well. As I noticed that... I also noticed we were the only white people on the train, and we were obviously white Americans. It was... just something we hadn't experienced in our trip, and something I haven't experienced in a long time. However, we made it safe without problems.
We found our hotel, and then spent a lazy afternoon and evening at the hotel. We were completely exhausted after all of the non-stop go-go-go touring we'd been doing. It was a nice evening spent together just relaxing and talking about our trip together.
Day #14
We had an early morning flight... we woke up at 4 am (which is better than 2 am) to get ready. We were at the train station by 5 am to catch a bus to the airport. In a half hour we went from the bus station, to the airport, through security, and were drinking coffee inside the airport. It was good flight home, and we were back at our house safe and sound by noon.
Thoughts on Italy
I really enjoyed our trip. There are many things I am happy I can now check off my bucket list. I found the Italian people to be friendly and inviting. We had great food, great wine, and great sightseeing. I know we only scratched the surface of Italy, there are so many other places I want to see. I would definitely go back to Cinque Terre, in fact I hope we go back soon. I would like to go back to Siena and venture out into some of the towns in the surrounding area.
It was a special and fun way to celebrate my birthday, valentine's day, and our first year of marriage together.
Day #5
We spent the full day in Florence. We went to the Accademia, which is another art museum. It is well known because it houses the original sculpture "David" by Michelangelo. This is one of the rare times in which I was actually impressed with something being bigger than I thought it would be. I've seen "David" in pictures, books, and even on TV... and I thought I had an idea of what it would look like. However, it is much larger in person than it appears in pictures. Again, I don't make any claims of being an art person or anything close to an art expert, but it was amazing. Hence why it is considered a masterpiece. After our time at the Accademia we walked across town to Pitti Palace. The palace is made up of multiple different museums. We saw the museum of modern art, and then toured the royal apartments. The royal apartments were neat in that they housed a large collection of paintings, and the majority of the ceilings were frescoes. There were also a lot of heavy tapestries and heavy wall hangings, which in the context of a royal apartment were grand.
That evening we decided to do like the locals and enjoy some pre-dinner cocktails. Well, wine, not cocktails. There were a lot of wine bars around Florence, and they were always quite busy starting around 5 pm. We figured the Italians must enjoy wine first before dinner, which is why they eat later. I wasn't opposed to the idea of having some delicious wine to start our evening. We went to a wine bar near our hotel and sampled some local Tuscan red wines, which were amazing. Afterwards we went for a late (for us) dinner. I enjoyed some gnocchi (pronounced no-key) in a cheese sauce. Gnocchi is a small, soft potato dumpling which (when made right) practically melts in your mouth. It is delicious. We enjoyed a local white wine with our dinner (you can't discriminate and only drink red) and had homemade almond biscotti for dessert compliments of the restaurant. I have never had much biscotti before, but it was delicious, melt-in-your-mouth. A fantastic end to the day.
Day #6
My birthday!!! We woke up and had breakfast (full of LOTS of Italian coffee) to kick off my day of turning 27. After checking out of our hotel we went to the train station to go to Siena. Rick Steves suggests taking the bus from Florence to Siena as it is faster, however we picked the train because it was cheaper. I'm glad we took the train, because we saw some beautiful landscapes - rolling hills and vineyards. Again, I couldn't help but imagine how it would look in the summer when everything is in full bloom and green. We arrived in Siena and tried to find our way around the town. Siena is a small, so it didn't take too long to orient ourselves.
As you can see above, Siena has a large cathedral. I have seen quite a few cathedrals in my time in Europe, and I have to say this cathedral is one of my favorites. It is similar to the cathedral in Florence in some ways, but at the same time it's like nothing I have ever seen. The cathedral is made of white, pink, and dark green marble. The inside is striped with green marble, and the dome is dark blue with gold stars. It was a touch shocking, as most cathedrals only have color in the stained glass and the paintings. I loved it.
That evening we decided to try out the restaurant in our hotel for my birthday dinner. I had saffron risotto with shrimp - which was a bit of a change from the pasta and pizza I had been eating prior to this. Josh ordered pasta with meat sauce, which was the first "traditional" pasta either one of us had ordered. Hands down one of the best meals I've had in a very long time. For dessert we ordered tiramisu to share. I love tiramisu, and it seemed a fitting Italian dessert. It wasn't the best tiramisu I've ever had, but it was still pretty fantastic.
Day #7
We spent the day further exploring Siena. We bought a special pass to go inside of the cathedral museum. The museum was full of old artwork and church artifacts, which weren't too exciting... but you are able to access a rooftop portion of the museum. When the cathedral was build it was originally suppose to be much larger, but during the construction the plaque hit and Siena lost a lot of workers and money, so the cathedral was made smaller. However, where the cathedral museum is located is right next to the cathedral and has some of the original walls for the cathedral. When you walk onto the rooftop of the museum you are almost level with the rooftop of the cathedral. It offers wide views of all of Siena. We got a lot of great photos, and we were up there when the cathedral's bells rang at noon. That experience made the cost of the museum worth it.
Siena is in the "heart" of Tuscany and during the non-winter months (read: when it's not freezing cold, snowy, and when the Italians aren't in a panic over the snow) there are lots of vineyard and wine tasting excursions to take. I would love to go back another time to head outside of Siena to do just that. Siena was actually suggested to me by a co-worker, and I'm glad I took her advice! Siena is magic. We spent our last evening enjoying more mouth-watering gnocchi topped off with local wine.
Day #8
We woke up in the morning and went to catch a bus to Rome. Buses seem to be the transportation in and around Siena. Buses are more convient, run more frequently, and are cheaper than the train. A lot of trains in and out of Rome had been cancelled in the past few days, and I was worried about getting there. Our bus ride was actually pleasant. We were one of only a few people, so we had plenty of space to stretch out. The ride was quiet, and we were there in about three hours. After finding our hotel and checking in, we took off to start sightseeing.
We took the metro down to see the Colosseum. I was told the Rome metro system was easy to understand, and the person who told me that was right. There are only two lines which go in opposite directions. Almost idiot proof. When we arrived in Rome most of the snow had melted, and in fact the sun was shining and it was the warmest it had been in a long time. Despite this, the Colosseum was closed. We were still able to walk all around it, but we couldn't go inside (which honestly, was fine by me. I think Josh was okay with by-passing it as well). After the Colosseum we walked around the perimeter of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (old Roman ruins) to Circus Maximus (old chariot racing area which is now open field). I would have to say by walking around the outskirts of the Roman Forum we saw a great majority of the sites. I simply used my Rick Steves book to orient ourselves and figure out what we were seeing.
From this area we wandered over to see the Victor Emmanual Monument - which houses Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier. Then we hopped back on the metro to head to another area of town to see the Trevi Fountain. We made our way to the fountain and found many people sitting on the benches in front of the fountain eating gelato. Conveniently there are multiple gelato shops right next to the fountain. Who am I to resist what is in front me me? We got some gelato (coconut for me, and let me just say... it was fantastic. Almost as good as Big Dipper. Almost) and settled in withe other folks to look at the fountain, eat gelato, and people watch.
From the Trevi Fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps. It was a bit of a walk, but not as long/big as I thought it was going to be when I looked at the map. As it was, it turned out to be a beautiful way to see more of Rome.
It was around the Spanish Steps that I first became annoyed with Rome. I should explain. As you can see from my photo, there were plenty of people in this area, and a lot of them were tourists. In this same area there were a lot of people trying to sell things. Not just your typical street vendors, but people selling all sorts of things like purses, toys, cheap souvenirs, flowers, ect. In a one block stretch there had to have been at least thirty people out there selling things, and they were quite pushy and in your face about it. In fact as I was attempting to take the above picture, a flower vendor walked over to try and sell me flowers. I told him "no thank you" (in Italian) many times... followed by "NO" multiple times. He finally just laid flowers out on my arm (which was in busy holding/aiming my camera) and demanded money. Seriously dude? Really? At this point I graciously told him to fuck off. Not my shining moment, and yes I realize this makes me a bad ambassador for the US. But ya know... if there are five different people selling flowers and you've seen me tell each one of them no... why on earth would I want to buy one from you? And if I wanted a wilted, half dead flower... don't you think I'd own one by now? Good grief. On that note, we called it a night and went back to our hotel.
Day # 9
It was recommended to us to devote an entire day at the Vatican. So we did. I'm glad we did. After our breakfast we went to take the metro to the Vatican (it was suppose to be a quick, easy ride there). It was 9:30 in the morning, and we figured most of the morning rush was already at work. I guess we were wrong. The subway was overflowing with people. We were at the back of the crowd waiting for the train to arrive. When it did arrive it was already quite full, but more people pushed in it. We were able to make our way from the back to the front. We figured when the next train arrived we would get on. Wrong. When the next train arrived it was stuff full as well, and only a few aggressive people attempted to shove themselves onto the train. We waited a few more minutes for another train to arrive, and when it did it was also quite full. By this time most of the crowd was pushing forward (and had been pushing forward) so the people on the train who wanted to get off had nowhere to go. We were getting pushed, but had nowhere to go. Many shoving matches broke out, and a few people started yelling/arguing... and the train took off stuffed to the brim. I looked at Josh and said "hop on hop off bus?" He nodded, and we left the chaos of the metro to take a hop on hop off bus through Rome. We knew the bus would take us to the Vatican, and it would be an easy way to "see" around Rome. It was still quite cold, but it was sunny day. We got to see a lot of the "sights" before we got to the Vatican.
Although it was cold outside and Rome had unexpected snow, there was a huge advantage to being in Rome in February. We got to the Vatican and had absolutely no lines to wait in. There were still plenty of people there... but obviously it wasn't too many because we had no problems getting around, which I know isn't the case in the summer months.
St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. I don't even know if you could begin to call it a church... obviously it is a church... but the sheer size and grandeur of it... "church" just doesn't seem to fit. It goes without saying (and it seems a little "DUH" to say) that it is, far and away, one of the most grand places on earth. It is full of not only history, but some famous and beautiful artwork. I could have easily spent hours upon hours simply standing with my head up looking at the ceiling. I thought I had an idea of what it would look like based upon the Angels and Demons movie. The movie is accurate, however I don't think there is any way you could capture the beauty of it on film. There really aren't even words to try and describe it to you... so I won't, I'll just try and show you with my pathetic pictures.
We left St. Peter's Square and made our way down the block to the Vatican Museum. This museum houses a LOT of different artwork - but the thing I wanted to see most (as to the majority of people I would assume) was the Sistine Chapel. I was told the Chapel is at the very end of the museum... and it is. You have to wander through everything else to get there. However, the museum does have one section of rooms which is full of Raphael frescoes. We are talking floor to ceiling, wall to wall frescoes. Impressive. Not what I was expecting. After wandering through the museum for a few hours we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. I wish I had photos to show you of it, but unfortunately I don't because they don't allow you to take photos (and in this case, I followed the rules). The ceiling is exactly as you think it will be... it is amazing. There is so much going on that it is hard to take your time and focus on one painting before jumping to the next one. There are benches which line the walls, and most people were sitting down to give themselves a chance to sit and stare. We joined them. It could be easy to "get lost" so to speak and spend quite a bit of time in the Chapel. As it is there are a LOT of people who wander in and out (even in February, so I can only imagine in the summer) so it does make it hard to stay for too long. I will say that I expected the Chapel to be bigger. However, it didn't take away from the experience of it.
When we left the Vatican we walked up to the Castle Sant Angelo - which was originally built to be a last defense and a hiding place for the pope. Over time it also served as a prison. I remember it for its role in Angels and Demons (yes, that reference again. Sorry, I liked the book. There will be another reference to it again in a few minutes). All around the Castle were some great views of the Vatican. Across the bridge we got slices of pizza for lunch - and it was a unique pizza. It was a thick crust (almost like bread) which had no sauce, but was covered in spicy sausage, french fries, and cheese. It was served cold. Judge me if you want, because I know that it is one of the most unhealthy things I could ever eat. It was also delicious. It could satisfy every craving (salty, starchy, greasy) you could ever have.
Day # 10
For our last day in Rome we mainly wanted to try and see everything that we hadn't gotten to yet. We wanted to go see some of the major plazas and churches that we hadn't gotten to yet. We were feeling ambitious and decided to do all of it on foot. In our ambition of walking we wanted to try and see some of the sites from Angels and Demons. I am pleased to say that not only did we accomplish our goal, but we were able to find everything on foot without getting lost. My only disappointment was the Pantheon was closed while we were there (of course it opened up the day after we left Rome). However, we did cover a lot of ground and saw more beautiful, breathtaking sculptures, fountains, and churches. Partway through our walk it began to rain, and the rain turned into a thick, wet snow. Being Montanans this did little to slow us down. At least at first. We continued with our walk, and the snow started coming down harder accompanied with wind. We took a break and had lunch at a wine bar. When we got back outside the weather had gotten worse. We had talked of going to the crypt for the afternoon, but like many things it was closed due to the weather. As we walked along we were bombarded, again, by people selling things. This time they had switched from flowers and trinkets to umbrellas. Again, within a short block we had been asked if we wanted an umbrella at least ten times. We decided to head back to our hotel to take a nap and warm up before dinner.
We went to a local pizza restaurant that evening (are you sensing a trend?). The pizza wasn't anything too special, but I had the best dessert of our whole trip. It was a coco Nutella torte, which is a fancy way of saying heaven. It was a torte which had a chocolate crust which was covered in a layer of Nutella, a creamy yet fluffy coconut filling, another layer of Nutella, and then whipped cream on top. It was amazing. I had never thought of pairing Nutella and coconut before... and I must say I think they belong together.
Day #11
Our plan was to take a fast train from Rome to Verona (our next destination). When we woke up in the morning there was about two inches of snow on the ground, and I was instantly worried about our train. We got to the station and learned that our train had been cancelled. Instead of taking a fast train all the way to Verona, we had to take one to Bologna and then switch to a slower train for the rest of the trip. This made our trip to Verona closer to 4.5 hours instead of 3, but I was just grateful to still be able to get out of Rome. It was my first time on a fast train. All the trains we had taken up until now were regional ones, which go plenty fast, but they make frequent stops. And the fast train definitely lived up to it's name.
We arrived in Verona to discover we were, apparently, there at the right time as the city was having a festival of love (as Verona is the city of love, and Valentine's Day is the day of love... or something like that). Verona is also where Romeo and Juliet took place. It was kind of cute, in a way. There were lots of vendors booths selling wine and chocolate, and there was romantic love songs playing. We didn't necessarily think much of the Verona in Love festival, but I did like Verona. Like many Italian towns it has narrow, winding streets which are crowded with buildings. However, there is something romantic about it. Maybe it is simply because we had just left the hustle of Rome and arrived in a place that was calmer, slower, and there wasn't anyone in my face trying to sell me something. A lot of the buildings have balconies, which does make me think of Romeo and Juliet. Verona has a fictitious "Juliet's House" which has a balcony you can go out on. I just liked the feeling of Verona. They also have colosseum there, which looks very similar to the one of Rome, which is the venue for the Verona opera during the summer.
Day #12
We woke up in the morning and hoped on a train for Venice. One of the reasons we chose Italy when picking our vacation destination was that we would be in Italy during Carnival. Carnival is basically the same thing as Carnival in Brazil or Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It's a giant party to celebrate prior to lent. Venice is known for masks, which was worn during Carnival. I had researched this a bit before our trip, but I truely had no clue what to expect. I also wasn't sure what to expect of Venice as I had heard a wide range of things about it. I really enjoyed Venice. Even when we first left the train station and started to walk through the town, I was overwhelmed by the sights. It is hard not to be overwhelmed.
We found our way through Venice to St. Mark's by following people who were in costumes. Some people wore Halloween type costumes (we saw a group of people dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland), but others dress up in more traditional costumes.
To answer a question a lot of people had... no, we did not take a gondola ride. It was a very cold day with cold winds blowing across the water. I can only think how cold that ride would be. And a gondola ride costs around 100 euros... which... I'd rather spend that money on other things. A gondola ride doesn't mean that much to me.
One of the only things I bought for myself on my trip was a Venician mask. I had seen many masks which were shapped like a cat, so I went on the hunt for one which looked like my cat Vega. I was happy to find one.
After a long day of walking around, we took a train back to Verona. When I was looking for hotels for our trip, because of Carnival there weren't many hotels available in Venice. The ones which were available were very expensive. So we decided to stay outside of Venice... and I'm glad that we did. It was nice to get away from the craziness at the end of the day.
Day #13
Our last day in Italy. We woke up, did one last walk around Verona to soak up as much "romance" as we could, then headed to the train station. We were headed back to Bergoma where the airport is. The train ride was uneventful, however it was a bit nerve-wracking for me. The train we were on was spray painted with graffiti, and every train station we passed looked more and more run down. Most of the train stations had boarded up windows and the walls of the stations were covered in graffiti as well. As I noticed that... I also noticed we were the only white people on the train, and we were obviously white Americans. It was... just something we hadn't experienced in our trip, and something I haven't experienced in a long time. However, we made it safe without problems.
We found our hotel, and then spent a lazy afternoon and evening at the hotel. We were completely exhausted after all of the non-stop go-go-go touring we'd been doing. It was a nice evening spent together just relaxing and talking about our trip together.
Day #14
We had an early morning flight... we woke up at 4 am (which is better than 2 am) to get ready. We were at the train station by 5 am to catch a bus to the airport. In a half hour we went from the bus station, to the airport, through security, and were drinking coffee inside the airport. It was good flight home, and we were back at our house safe and sound by noon.
Thoughts on Italy
I really enjoyed our trip. There are many things I am happy I can now check off my bucket list. I found the Italian people to be friendly and inviting. We had great food, great wine, and great sightseeing. I know we only scratched the surface of Italy, there are so many other places I want to see. I would definitely go back to Cinque Terre, in fact I hope we go back soon. I would like to go back to Siena and venture out into some of the towns in the surrounding area.
It was a special and fun way to celebrate my birthday, valentine's day, and our first year of marriage together.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Two Weeks in Italy - Part One
Okay this is going to be a long one, and it's only part of the story. So go get a snack, a cup of coffee, and cozy in. Seriously, get a snack because I'm going to talk about food. A lot.
Some of you may be asking, why February? Why go anywhere that isn't wonderfully sunny, warm, and tropical in February? As I said before, this was the first time Josh was able to take time off since we've been here. There are places in Italy I have been wanting to see (Josh too) and have been thinking a lot about since I got here. This was the first chance we were going to have to take some time to actually go. I had looked into weather conditions in Italy in February, and was told in the northern parts it should be in the high 40s and in Rome it would be in the low 50s. Not hot, but not really cold either. With the exception of going to a hot climate in the dead of winter (which I find to be a wonderful break), I'm not really a hot weather sort of person. Yes, I like summers in Montana, but I'm not a heat person. I also am not a crowds person. For the most part crowds (especially anywhere in Europe) are hard to avoid, but if I can avoid them, I try to. I want to go to Italy, but the idea of going in the heat of summer when it was hot and the streets were packed with other tourists just did not appeal to me. In fact just thinking of that scenario makes me want to pull my hair out. So yes, February would definitely be an "off" time to go. It may be a bit cold, there may be some winter conditions, some attractions may be closed or have reduced hours... but I'd still rather go now than in the summer. I also made this decision before Italy was hit with the worst winter weather it has had in 30 years....
I did a lot of online research before I planned our trip - and actually a fair amount of what I used was reading other people's blogs. It gave me some ideas of places to go that I probably would not have thought of or considered before. I also got some great ideas from patients and co-workers. A hygienist who fills in at our office when we leave (so she's worked for me a lot in the past month) recommended a place for us to visit. Armed with all of my suggestions and my trusty Rick Steves travel book, I made an itinerary for our trip. The plan was this:
February 1st Day #1 - Fly into Milan
Feb 2nd Day #2 - Train to Cinque Terre (pronounced Chink-ah Tar-ah)
Feb 3rd Day #3 - Cinque Terre
Feb 4th Day #4 - Train to Pisa, then onto Florence
Feb 5th Day #5 - Florence
Feb 6th Day #6 - Siena
Feb 7th Day #7 - Siena
Feb 8th Day #8 - Rome
Feb 9th Day #9 - Rome
Feb 10th Day #10 - Rome
Feb 11th Day #11 - Verona
Feb 12th Day #12 - Venice
Feb 13th Day #13 - Verona and make our way back to Milan
Feb 14th Day #14 - Fly home out of Milan
Surprisingly, we actually stuck to our plan. Here is a very silly map so that you can at least see where we went, because I will be honest I wasn't quite sure where some of these places were before I started looking into it.
The night before we left we were running around doing last minute things to get ready for the trip. We had our cat sitter come over one last time to remind her of where everything was and to make sure she felt comfortable finding our house. We also packed. Josh surprised me with an early birthday present. He bought me a new pack (and a matching one for himself) for this trip... and for all of our future trips. It worked out really well. I was surprised by how much stuff I could fit into it, and it was lightweight even when I had it fully packed. And for the record, the flower came with the backpack. I love Josh, but it is not his style to pick that out or add it.
Our flight was uneventful, and an hour later we landed in Bergamo, which is an airport about an hour outside of Milan. We bought bus tickets from the airport to Milan Central Train Station. The bus ride took about an hour. I thought it was a neat way to sit back and observe. There was about three inches of snow on the ground in the Milan area, and the roads weren't very clear. Josh commented that he was glad to not be driving. I had to agree. Once we were in the city of Milan, we hopped on the metro and went down to the cathedral. The Milan cathedral is unique in that it is made of pink marble. It is also a much different style from the cathedrals we have seen in Germany. It was interesting to see. Right next to the cathedral is the Galleria, which is a glass domed arcade. I am sure in the spring, summer, and fall it can be a great place to shop and people watch. However, it was miserably cold and wet outside, and the wind kept howling through the open doors. It made window shopping unappealing, and the cold didn't give us many people to watch... Although it was a neat building.
We went to find our hotel, and then took hot showers and settled in for a nap. We were chilled to the bone and exhausted from our early morning. After our nap we went back out and went to Sforza Castle. It made me smile simply because it is a castle that is now in the middle of a busy intersection of a large city. We wandered around the inner and outer walls over the castles (which houses many museums, none of which we were very interested in) and then strolled along the streets to make our way back to the cathedral. For our first dinner in Italy we went to a local pizzeria and had calzones. They were amazing... and huge. We each ordered a calzone, and the calzone took up half of a large plate. But no worries, we each polished ours off and then topped it off with red wine. It. Was. Amazing. Hands down the best calzone I have ever had in my life. But what did I expect? We were in Italy
Day #2
We woke up in the morning and made our way to the train station. Our next destination was Cinque Terre, which is a series of five towns along the coast. Cinque Terre is a destination I had never heard of until a few months ago. A girl I know wrote a blog post about going there, and she had some amazing pictures posted of it. I did more research on Cinque Terre and found that no one had anything bad to say about it. After being there, I can see why. We took the train from Milan to Genoa, then the train followed the coast through Cinque Terre to La Spezia, which is where we were staying. The train we took was not a direct train, and it added about an hour and a half to our trip, but I'm glad we went the way we did. It was the most beautiful train ride! The Italian coastline in that area is beautiful, even in winter. It was a bright sunny day, so we had crystal clear skies and sunshine reflecting off bright waters as we whizzed along. We arrived in La Spezia and wandered through the town to our hotel. There is a large pedestrian zone where narrow streets are lined with shops and restaurants. It made for some great sightseeing and people watching. After settling in and dropping off our bags, we went off on a hunt for dinner. This is where we first encountered our first trouble with Italian meal times. We usually eat dinner sometime between 5 and 6:30, depending on how hungry we are and when the cooking is done. In Italy most restaurants close around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and open back up for dinner around 7 or 8. In fact if a restaurant is open before 7 you should question how good of a place it is, because it may serve terrible, high priced food to tourists (which was excellent advice I got from my Rick Steves book). Although I read all of this beforehand, I had forgotten... and we were starving at 5. We wandered all around La Spezia trying to find a place to eat with no luck. Finally we found a doner shop. A doner is something you can find all over Europe, and there are a lot of doner shops around Germany. I describe a doner as being similar to a gyro - it is similar meat in a pita-type bread with a white sauce (not tzatziki sauce like a gyro, something else, not sure what it is) with onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. A doner isn't exactly traditional Italian food, but it was delicious. It was also a surprise because this particular shop used focaccia bread instead of pita bread. This area of Italy is known for focaccia bread, and it was an amazing addition to the doner. We were a little early for dinner by Italian standards, but we still found something great to eat.
Day #3
We went off to explore the five towns of Cinque Terre (which is what Cinque Terre means, five towns). You can reach the towns by car (which we didn't have), boat (too cold and not tourist season), train, or by hiking along paths with connect the towns. We bought a special pass to be able to hike between the towns. As it turns out due to the weather only one of the hiking trails was open. We started out in the fifth town, Monterosso, which was the farthest away from La Spezia where we were staying. Monterosso is considered the most touristy of the towns and is the one with sandy beaches. And yes, that is snow on the sand. It was another bitterly cold day, and there was a constant wind blowing off the ocean. However, it was easy to imagine what an amazing place this would be to visit in warmer weather. I didn't have to do much imagining at all with the beautiful sunshine we had. I just tried to ignore the cold.
We started to hike from Monterosso to the next town and then found out the trail was closed when the trail head was chained off. I was bummed out, but it made for some amazing pictures.
Since we weren't able to hike to the next town of Vernazza, we took the train. This past fall both Monterosso and Vernazza were hit with heavy rain and had flooding with mud slides. I couldn't see a whole lot of evidence of any damage in Monterosso except for some debris on the beach. However, the damage in Vernazza was aparent. A lot of the streets are in disarray. Many stores/homes were actually boarded up and looked abandoned. You could see a clear line where the water/mud had been. It was kind of sad to see the town in this state. It was still beautiful, despite the damage, so I can only wonder what it looked like prior to the flooding. There were work crews working to fix/re-build when we were there, so I hope the town can return to "normal" as soon as possible. The damage in Vernazza actually made our stop there quite short. We enjoyed the beautiful harbor it has, but then took the next train on as the hiking trail was closed.
The third town of Cinque Terre is Corniglia. There wasn't much written about Corniglia when I was researching... and I can see why. Of the towns it is the only one not directly on the water. From the train station you have to hike up a long street to the town. The town itself is charming, but it lacks some of the views and splendor of the other towns.
The fourth town, Manarola, offered us some beautiful sites again. The streets are narrow and very steep. It is easy to walk all through the town, but walking through the town is a bit of a hike in itself. However, you get some stunning views. It was late afternoon, and we were starving. We found a cafe that was open, probably the only thing in town that was open. We had the most amazing minestrone soup with focaccia bread on the side. My focaccia bread had sun dried tomatoes on it, while Josh's had onions. They were delicious, and it was a wonderful way to be warmed from the inside out. After lunch, we hiked from Manarola to the first (our last) town of Riomaggiore. I say hike, but it's really more of a pleasant stroll. The path between those towns is called Via Dell 'Amore, or the pathway of love. The path is pretty wide, and it is paved. Maps and tour books say the hike takes 20 minutes, but I think we did it in under 10, and we were taking our time. The hike, though cold with the wind, offered some breathtaking views of the ocean.
Some of you may be asking, why February? Why go anywhere that isn't wonderfully sunny, warm, and tropical in February? As I said before, this was the first time Josh was able to take time off since we've been here. There are places in Italy I have been wanting to see (Josh too) and have been thinking a lot about since I got here. This was the first chance we were going to have to take some time to actually go. I had looked into weather conditions in Italy in February, and was told in the northern parts it should be in the high 40s and in Rome it would be in the low 50s. Not hot, but not really cold either. With the exception of going to a hot climate in the dead of winter (which I find to be a wonderful break), I'm not really a hot weather sort of person. Yes, I like summers in Montana, but I'm not a heat person. I also am not a crowds person. For the most part crowds (especially anywhere in Europe) are hard to avoid, but if I can avoid them, I try to. I want to go to Italy, but the idea of going in the heat of summer when it was hot and the streets were packed with other tourists just did not appeal to me. In fact just thinking of that scenario makes me want to pull my hair out. So yes, February would definitely be an "off" time to go. It may be a bit cold, there may be some winter conditions, some attractions may be closed or have reduced hours... but I'd still rather go now than in the summer. I also made this decision before Italy was hit with the worst winter weather it has had in 30 years....
I did a lot of online research before I planned our trip - and actually a fair amount of what I used was reading other people's blogs. It gave me some ideas of places to go that I probably would not have thought of or considered before. I also got some great ideas from patients and co-workers. A hygienist who fills in at our office when we leave (so she's worked for me a lot in the past month) recommended a place for us to visit. Armed with all of my suggestions and my trusty Rick Steves travel book, I made an itinerary for our trip. The plan was this:
February 1st Day #1 - Fly into Milan
Feb 2nd Day #2 - Train to Cinque Terre (pronounced Chink-ah Tar-ah)
Feb 3rd Day #3 - Cinque Terre
Feb 4th Day #4 - Train to Pisa, then onto Florence
Feb 5th Day #5 - FlorenceFeb 6th Day #6 - Siena
Feb 7th Day #7 - Siena
Feb 8th Day #8 - Rome
Feb 9th Day #9 - Rome
Feb 10th Day #10 - Rome
Feb 11th Day #11 - Verona
Feb 12th Day #12 - Venice
Feb 13th Day #13 - Verona and make our way back to Milan
Feb 14th Day #14 - Fly home out of Milan
Surprisingly, we actually stuck to our plan. Here is a very silly map so that you can at least see where we went, because I will be honest I wasn't quite sure where some of these places were before I started looking into it.
The night before we left we were running around doing last minute things to get ready for the trip. We had our cat sitter come over one last time to remind her of where everything was and to make sure she felt comfortable finding our house. We also packed. Josh surprised me with an early birthday present. He bought me a new pack (and a matching one for himself) for this trip... and for all of our future trips. It worked out really well. I was surprised by how much stuff I could fit into it, and it was lightweight even when I had it fully packed. And for the record, the flower came with the backpack. I love Josh, but it is not his style to pick that out or add it.
Day #1
Our flight left early in the morning at 6:30, and although the airport we were departing out of isn't extremely busy, we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time. We planned to leave our house at 3, which would put us at the airport around 4 am. Let me tell you, even though we were excited, it was hard when that alarm went off at 2 am. I think we each got less than four hours of sleep. When we woke up we were surprised to see snow on the ground. We've had a mild winter without much snow. Whatever snow we have gotten hasn't stuck. When we woke up there was snow on the ground and it was much colder than it has been in a long time. It made me glad we had over-planned for our time in getting to the airport. The drive was fine, but I get paranoid about being on time for important things like flights. As it turns out we truly did over plan because when we got inside of the airport there was nobody there. None of the workers had shown up for work yet. As soon as security opened up we were through and waiting at our gate.
One funny thing about Ryan Air is that it is a cheaper airline, and if you've ever flown a cheaper airline like Allegiance or Southwest, then you've experienced how they do some things differently. The differences are some of the ways in which they are able to offer cheaper prices. Anyway, Josh and I were huddled up with our fellow passengers in a small area, and then we were released to make our way to the plane like cattle. We walked outside for a couple of hundred yards across snowy/icy ground, and then climbed inside the plane. The plane had been parked outside all night long and it was extremely cold. We couldn't help but laugh thinking if this happened in the states people would be freaking out about having to walk outside and then get inside a plane that was seriously below comfort levels.
We went to find our hotel, and then took hot showers and settled in for a nap. We were chilled to the bone and exhausted from our early morning. After our nap we went back out and went to Sforza Castle. It made me smile simply because it is a castle that is now in the middle of a busy intersection of a large city. We wandered around the inner and outer walls over the castles (which houses many museums, none of which we were very interested in) and then strolled along the streets to make our way back to the cathedral. For our first dinner in Italy we went to a local pizzeria and had calzones. They were amazing... and huge. We each ordered a calzone, and the calzone took up half of a large plate. But no worries, we each polished ours off and then topped it off with red wine. It. Was. Amazing. Hands down the best calzone I have ever had in my life. But what did I expect? We were in Italy
Day #2
We woke up in the morning and made our way to the train station. Our next destination was Cinque Terre, which is a series of five towns along the coast. Cinque Terre is a destination I had never heard of until a few months ago. A girl I know wrote a blog post about going there, and she had some amazing pictures posted of it. I did more research on Cinque Terre and found that no one had anything bad to say about it. After being there, I can see why. We took the train from Milan to Genoa, then the train followed the coast through Cinque Terre to La Spezia, which is where we were staying. The train we took was not a direct train, and it added about an hour and a half to our trip, but I'm glad we went the way we did. It was the most beautiful train ride! The Italian coastline in that area is beautiful, even in winter. It was a bright sunny day, so we had crystal clear skies and sunshine reflecting off bright waters as we whizzed along. We arrived in La Spezia and wandered through the town to our hotel. There is a large pedestrian zone where narrow streets are lined with shops and restaurants. It made for some great sightseeing and people watching. After settling in and dropping off our bags, we went off on a hunt for dinner. This is where we first encountered our first trouble with Italian meal times. We usually eat dinner sometime between 5 and 6:30, depending on how hungry we are and when the cooking is done. In Italy most restaurants close around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and open back up for dinner around 7 or 8. In fact if a restaurant is open before 7 you should question how good of a place it is, because it may serve terrible, high priced food to tourists (which was excellent advice I got from my Rick Steves book). Although I read all of this beforehand, I had forgotten... and we were starving at 5. We wandered all around La Spezia trying to find a place to eat with no luck. Finally we found a doner shop. A doner is something you can find all over Europe, and there are a lot of doner shops around Germany. I describe a doner as being similar to a gyro - it is similar meat in a pita-type bread with a white sauce (not tzatziki sauce like a gyro, something else, not sure what it is) with onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. A doner isn't exactly traditional Italian food, but it was delicious. It was also a surprise because this particular shop used focaccia bread instead of pita bread. This area of Italy is known for focaccia bread, and it was an amazing addition to the doner. We were a little early for dinner by Italian standards, but we still found something great to eat.
Day #3
We went off to explore the five towns of Cinque Terre (which is what Cinque Terre means, five towns). You can reach the towns by car (which we didn't have), boat (too cold and not tourist season), train, or by hiking along paths with connect the towns. We bought a special pass to be able to hike between the towns. As it turns out due to the weather only one of the hiking trails was open. We started out in the fifth town, Monterosso, which was the farthest away from La Spezia where we were staying. Monterosso is considered the most touristy of the towns and is the one with sandy beaches. And yes, that is snow on the sand. It was another bitterly cold day, and there was a constant wind blowing off the ocean. However, it was easy to imagine what an amazing place this would be to visit in warmer weather. I didn't have to do much imagining at all with the beautiful sunshine we had. I just tried to ignore the cold.We started to hike from Monterosso to the next town and then found out the trail was closed when the trail head was chained off. I was bummed out, but it made for some amazing pictures.
The third town of Cinque Terre is Corniglia. There wasn't much written about Corniglia when I was researching... and I can see why. Of the towns it is the only one not directly on the water. From the train station you have to hike up a long street to the town. The town itself is charming, but it lacks some of the views and splendor of the other towns.
The fourth town, Manarola, offered us some beautiful sites again. The streets are narrow and very steep. It is easy to walk all through the town, but walking through the town is a bit of a hike in itself. However, you get some stunning views. It was late afternoon, and we were starving. We found a cafe that was open, probably the only thing in town that was open. We had the most amazing minestrone soup with focaccia bread on the side. My focaccia bread had sun dried tomatoes on it, while Josh's had onions. They were delicious, and it was a wonderful way to be warmed from the inside out. After lunch, we hiked from Manarola to the first (our last) town of Riomaggiore. I say hike, but it's really more of a pleasant stroll. The path between those towns is called Via Dell 'Amore, or the pathway of love. The path is pretty wide, and it is paved. Maps and tour books say the hike takes 20 minutes, but I think we did it in under 10, and we were taking our time. The hike, though cold with the wind, offered some breathtaking views of the ocean. 
The last town of Riomaggiore looks very similar, I think, to Manarola... but I don't care. It is still beautiful. There are colorful murals painted along different walls and buildings in the town.
Josh and I agreed Cinque Terre is beautiful, and it is a place we want to go back to. I especially look forward to going back at a time when it is warmer so I can enjoy the ocean and beaches, rather than just look at them.
That evening Josh and I went to a brick oven pizza place. We had the most amazing pizza I have ever eaten in my life, and I have eaten my fair share of pizza. The crust is thin, and unlike most American pizzas the crust is not greasy. It is crispy and still has some flour on the underside of it. I ordered a pizza with mozzarella and pesto. Pesto is another local thing that this area is known for. It was, hands down, delicious pesto. I topped off my fantastic pizza with some red wine, and the evening was complete.
Day #4
In the morning we woke up and took the train to Pisa. Pisa is, as you could guess, where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is located. It is something I wanted to see - mainly to "check off the bucket list" - but I wanted to see it nonetheless. Anybody I talked to said yes, go see it, but don't spend a lot of time there. We planned to just to a "fly-by" of Pisa. It was a quick hour long train ride to Pisa, and it took us another half hour to walk from the train station to where the Leaning Tower is. It was a great way to see the town so I can say I actually went to Pisa, I didn't just hop off to see the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower is in an area called the Field of Miracles. There is a beautiful cathedral, baptistry, museum, and the Leaning Tower. We weren't sure if we were walking the right way... until we saw the Tower peaking out over the top of a building. It made for an easy landmark to follow. We walked into the Field of Miracles and circled around each building a few times. It is impressive to see three buildings of that stature clumped so closely together.
I don't mean to sound calloused, or ungrateful... but I thought the Leaning Tower would be bigger. I feel like I have had that reaction a lot when seeing things in Europe. However, I'm glad I saw it. You can go up inside of the tower, but it costs 15 euro... and I guess I just didn't have the desire to climb up it that badly. I took plenty of pictures as it was.
After wandering around the Field of Miracles we made our way back to the train station and hopped on a train for Florence. It was another quick hour long train ride into Florence. We walked from the train station in the direction of our hotel. All of the hotels I booked for us I tried to book close to the train station - as trains were our main form of transportation. Before we left I used Google map to get step by step walking directions from the train stations to our hotels. I'm glad I did this, but at times we got turned around and lost trying to find our hotel. However, in Florence we lucked out and found our hotel quickly, and had time to spare before we checked in. We walked down the block and had lunch at a local cafe. We had focaccia pizza, which as you could guess is pizza on focaccia bread. I ordered a veggie pizza, which had cheese, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, rosemary, and basil on it. It was heaven. They heated the piece up, and then drizzled olive oil over the top of it. Josh ordered a piece which had potatoes and cheese on it, and he ordered a slice of "pie" (for lack of a better word) which had loads of ham and cheese inside of it. I was stuffed, but I would have happily chowed down on more. I have come to the realization that anything on top of focaccia bread is magic. The cafe had a large barrel of red wine, and a plastic cup of red wine was only a euro. At first I chuckled at this, but it was actually some dang good red wine... despite being undescriptive red wine that was served in a clear solo cup. On top of all this,our whole lunch was unbelievably cheap.
After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags, we went to the Uffizi Gallery, which is a museum full of works by Leonardo DaVinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Botticellis. I would by no means say I am an art person. However, I do enjoy seeing it, and I can appreciate the significance of viewing specific pieces or artists.
We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around Florence. There is a beautiful cathedral, and the buildings along the river are photo worthy. It is easy to imagine, though crazy to think that hundreds of years ago a lot of these same buildings and streets were in place... and to think of the famous people who had strolled up and down these streets.
We ended our first night in Florence with some amazing Italian food. I had tortellini rose, which is a fancy way of saying pink sauce (as my good friend Erin calls it). Pink sauce is a mixture of marinara (or some other tomato based sauce) and alfredo sauce. If you haven't had it before, try it. It is literally the best of both worlds. It goes without saying the tortellini was the freshest pasta I had ever had. I also had chicken which was cooked in a lemon rosemary sauce, and just thinking about that chicken makes my mouth water. Josh had ravioli with butter and fresh basil. He let me try some of his, and it was also amazing, fresh pasta. He also ordered caprese salad, which is mozzarella cheese and fresh tomatoes with olive oil drizzled over top and he was kind enough to share. This is one of my favorite things to make/order in the states, but having it fresh made in Italy is easily a thousand times better. Easily. In fact I'm not sure anything I make will ever compare. And our meal was, of course, topped off with copious amounts of red wine. Delicious wine.
Cheers! Part two to come...
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