Tales of an Italia Spring Break, Part IV: A Weekend in Ruins

Prego! 

Thursday, April 21 - Monday, April 25 : Rome

Thursday morning we got onto our train from Mestre station to Roma.  Abbey and I took an earlier train than Christy and Gina, so we took advantage of the time to get settled in and familiar with the area, without seeing any major monuments that they wouldn't want to miss.

We got to our hostel, "When In Rome" (teeheehee), and got all checked in with the funny little 28-year-old man working there, Emil.  He wouldn't let us leave until we listened to him sing along to Michael Jackson on YouTube.  Very entertaining.


So then, Abbey and I ventured out.  We had a bit of time to kill until we wanted to get something to eat, so we figured we would make a really long walk of it.  Neither of us really knew much of what to expect from Rome, so when we encountered the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, our jaws dropped and left us actually speechless.  This was where we got our first glimpse of the Colosseum and a bunch of other ancient ruins.  We were simply blown away.  Here’s a summary of the walk we took:
- through Piazza del Repubblica
- first gelato in Rome at a random pizzeria (amazing)
- past Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- past Mercanti Traianei
- to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II
- through Campidoglio
- over Ponte Fabricio, Isola, and Ponte Cestio
- to S. Maria Trastevere

Finally, we were in Trastevere, the location where we would be eating dinner.  On the recommendation of several different people, my roommate from school, Lianne, included, we chose a place called Hostaria del Moro da Tony.  I do have to say that this was the best meal we had in Rome.  We ordered pesto pasta and penne alla vodka to share.  We expected that then we would also split veal scaloppini; however, once we had wolfed down our outstanding pastas, we realized there was no way we would have room for veal.  So we canceled that order, but instead somehow got Tiramisu on the house for dessert.  Don't worry, even though we were full, we didn't let it go to waste. Finally, we went back to the hostel to meet the other girls and get ready for our first full day in Rome.  

Friday morning, we awoke very early in order to get over to the Vatican City.  We had pre-booked a tour, which was a bit expensive, but definitely worth it: we got to skip every line and actually learned a bit about what we were looking at.  We went into the Sistine Chapel, but unfortunately, St. Peter’s Basilica was closed for their Easter ceremony preparations.  Standing inside the actual Sistine Chapel was very surreal.  It was crazy to picture Michelangelo standing there (no, he did not lie down, we learned) creating the masterpiece above us and on the wall in front of us.  I learned some very interesting things I didn’t know before about frescoes.  I never knew that they had to be painted directly into the plaster to make them last longer.  This meant the painters had to work very fast, before the plaster dried.  Artists would have to work on small patches at a time, and this explains why these frescoes, though stunning, lack much detail.

After this morning-long visit, we stopped for a quick lunch and then headed out to do more sight seeing.  On our way to the Trevi Foundain, we passed another fountain, Fontana del Tritone.  We were confused for a moment.  We thought the fountain was supposed to be huge.  Where were all the crowds of people?  That was when we noticed a sign labeled, "Fontana di Trevi", pointing down the street.  Oops.

So we ended up finding the real Trevi Fountain, and yes, it was about twenty times bigger and better.  We each threw in a coin over our shoulder and made a wish (don't ask! I'll never tell!).  Then we congratulated ourselves on our excellent coin-tossing abilities with two big scoops of stracciatella and café flavored gelato. 

Next, Abbey and I wanted to go to a museum, while Christy and Gina chose to entertain themselves doing other things.  We took a look at a list of plenty of places that all seemed interesting, but the one that won us over was the Musei Capitolini.  We learned that it is the "most ancient public museum in the world" and holds archaeological as well as significant mediaeval and modern works.  We spent about an hour in the museum.  There were a ton of paintings, but our favorite exhibition was the sculptures.  I especially got a kick out of photographing Abbey next to supersized-men statues.  She looks so tiny!

That night for dinner, Gina and Christy didn't want to break their budgets and stuck to street-food while Abbey and I met our friend, Amanda.  Amanda is also studying with us in Paris and had just happened to be in Rome at the same time as us.  She brought along her camp friend, Katie, and together we chose another place in Trastevere called il DuCa.  We stuffed out faces with (surprise!) pizza and pasta and generally poked fun at Amanda all evening.  The night ended up being so much fun-- we exhausted ourselves from laughing so hard.

Saturday morning we woke up early again to go to the Colosseum.  On our walk over, we passed Santa Maria Maggiore and S. Pietro in Vincoli, but didn’t have time to walk into either of them.  We also saw tons of interesting looking people.  My favorite was a woman who dressed her dog in a trendy striped shirt and overalls.  Poor thing.

When we finally arrived at the Colosseo, we were thrilled that we had learned our lesson from the David and purchased tickets beforehand: the lines had to be hours long!  The Colosseum itself blew our minds.  I simply cannot wrap my mind around how long ago these places were built.  Thinking about how ahead of their times the Romans were and the activities that went on in this place is simply mind-boggling.

Fortunately, the tickets we had purchased online also allowed us access to the Palatine Gardens.  For me, this was a real highlight.  We got to see Casa di Augusto, and I kept asking Abbey, "can you believe who actually stood in this same exact place so many years ago?"  These kinds of sentiments really made me feel like I was connected to a completely different time.  In Palatino, we also saw Criptoportico Neroniano, Arco di Tito, Tempio di Romolo, and of course, the Roman Forum.  Again, walking through the Forum was completely surreal.  I simply could not understand the magnitude of these buildings, what they must have once looked like, and the work that was put into making them stand so mighty and tall.

Then, Abbey and I grabbed a pizza/gelato lunch and decided to do more sightseeing on our own.  First, we tried to go the synagogue.  Well, apparently we are just brilliant and the best Jews ever.  Why is that, you ask?  It was Passover and a Saturday.  Obviously: fail.

Lame as we felt, we still had some time to kill in our afternoon, so we bussed up to a different area in the city.  We walked past Palazzo Monteclitorio, Palazzo Chigi, and Piazza Colonna before we stumbled across the Pantheon.  I put it this way because this ancient building is positioned in such a way that one really can just fall right into it.  It sits right in the middle of such modern stores and restaurants: it's easy to come out of a an alleyway or around a corner and trip right over it!  Anyway, the Pantheon is-- what else?-- magnificent.  Our jaws dropped for what felt like the hundredth time in three days as we took in the inside of this place, which we had only ever seen in our history textbooks.

After the Pantheon, we walked over to the Spanish Steps.  I'm sure they're very beautiful, but as they were swarming with people like a colony of ants, we didn’t want to stay long.  We snapped a few pictures before hauling butt out of there.

Again, Abbey and I went to dinner in Trastevere.  We picked a place at random, called Cacio & Pepe.  The house white wine we ordered was warm and awful, and the waiter would not serve me my bruschetta until I pronounced it right.  (“It’s broo-SKEH-tah, not broo-SHEH-tah.”  And if he were French, “stupide Americans!”)  But in spite of those things, we had some delicious gnocchi and spaghetti.  What do I really have to complain about?  If Italy is going to let me eat its mind-blowing food for a week, I suppose I can pronounce it's words however it wants me to.  More cah-PREH-zeh, please!

On Sunday, Gina left very early in the morning to return to Paris, and Christy went back to the Vatican to tr to get in to the Easter services.  So on such a holy Christian day, what did Abbey and I decide to do?  Go back to the Synagogue, of course.

The very first thing we noticed when we walked inside the building was that familiar, powerful scent that we associate with our own temples back home.  From this moment, we felt a sort of nostalgia and special connection with the building.  The synagogue itself was stunningly beautiful inside, and the museum downstairs was very moving as well.  On the short tour we were given, we learned that Italian Jews are a sort of mix between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, and actually practice their own Italian Jewish traditions.  Currently, there are 14,000 Jews living in Italy.  Seeing such a fantastic Jewish structure and being reminded of the troublesome history of Jews in this overwhelmingly Catholic area was really something that reminded us how proud we should be of our religious heritage.

After this activity, Abbey and I headed up to Piazza Navona, where we met my roommate from school, Lianne, and another friend from school, Rachel.  The two of them are studying together in Rome this semester, and it was really nice to see some familiar faces.  We stood around for about an hour, just catching up and realizing that although we are sad to be leaving Europe so soon, our senior year back in Ithaca is really going to be something special.

Ultimately, Abbey and I went off to get something to eat for lunch and decided it was time to find Christy again.  We walked through the Piazza del Popolo and up to the Villa Borghese park, where we found Christy, mesmerized by a group of rollerbladers.  We hung around for a while and watched them perform some amazing tricks.  One man had to be at least in his 70’s and was performing twirls, jumps and splits.  I can’t even do any of that now, at twenty!

For our last dinner in Rome that night, we knew we needed to eat something truly delicious.  We thought about trying someplace new, but we felt this nagging pull back towards Tony’s-- the place we had eaten on our first night in Rome.  Christy hadn’t been there with us, and we explained that it would be a cheap but delicious meal.  It took very little time to convince her, and so we went back for Tony’s part II, wolfing down more penne alla vodka and trying to remember a time before we had experienced something so amazing.  Once again, we topped it all off with some free tiramisu and walked out wearing full bellies and tired grins on our faces.

Finally, we had made it to Monday, our last day of spring break.  Christy left early, and Abbey and I decided to pack in one last museum before heading for the airport.  We chose one of the most random interesting ones we could find, the Museo Degli Strumenti Musicali—a museum of musical instruments.

The place was tiny, but absolutely worth our time.  My favorite room was one full of pianos.  I learned that the first was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1722, and this room housed one of only three of his remaining pianos.  I was able to get pretty close to the instrument, without touching it of course, and was able to take in that familiar, emotion-filled scent of the wood and materials it was made of.  What I also really loved about the pianos is that they were the first major instruments of the time to be completely undecorated, created for the sole purpose of producing beautiful music.  This was completely new compared to the existing organs and such of the time.

We also learned about the brass "baton" instruments, which were made in the 19th century for the purpose of romantic walks.  We got to see a glass harmonica, created by Benjamin Franklin.  The musician would wet his fingers and touch these glass cylinders, which rotated as he pressed the pedals.  After that, we saw ancient Chinese military percussion instruments, which were decorated fantastically.  Finally, we saw the prized possession of this museum: the Arpa Barberini.  This is the tallest and only original surviving Baroque-Triple-Harp in Italy, made originally for the Barberini family in Rome around 1635.  It was lush and magnificent, protected by several inches of bullet-proof glass.


Finally, we left the museum, taking the long way back to the train station.  On our way, we walked through the Giardini Piazza Vittorio and past Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II.  We stopped into the stunning church, Santa Maria Maggiore, and we walked to the Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma, only to find it was closed.

Worn out, with our heads full of new experiences, we agreed that Rome had been spectacular.  Between the food, the sights, and the people we were exposed to, Italy altogether had exceeded out expectations.  We reflected once more on how fortunate we are to be in this situation right now and that we have each other as friends to share it with.

In spite of everything, however, as you can guess by how my blog posts usually end, we could not wait to get back to our home in Paris.  Everywhere we have been in our travels is fantastic in it’s own way, but there’s simply no place like home... especially when home means baguettes, pain au chocolat, and cheap, but high-quality, wine along the Seine.

Ruins in the middle of city

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

Abbey and I (with my super cool new hat) in front of Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

Trevi Fountain

Gina, Christy, Abbey, and Me in front of the Trevi Fountain

Making my wish!

Statue of the Capitoline Wolf, the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus

Abbey and the Giant Head of Constantine

Colosseo

Inside the Colosseum

Colosseum

Palatino

Roman Forum

More Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Inside the Pantheon

Outside the Synagogue

Doors of the Synagogue (photos inside are not allowed)

Piazza Navona

Me, Rachel, and Lianna in Piazza Navona!

View of Piazza del Popolo from Villa Borghese

Old man doing a split on roller blades!

Santa Maria Maggiore

Tales of an Italia Spring Break, Part III: GamGam, Glassware, and Gondolas

Allora... Part III!


Wednesday, April 20 - Thursday, April 21 : Venice

Our train from Florence got in to Mestre station around noon, so we hurriedly check into our hostel and made our way to the actual island of Venice.  Gina and Abbey went to meet Christy, who came in on a later train, and then to find Gina's friend who is studying in Venice.  Brian and I decided instead to head over to the Jewish Ghetto.


After getting a little bit lost, we finally found the area we were looking for.  Of course, none of the museums were open since it was Passover, but it was still so interesting to see this tiny area in an already small city devoted to Judaism.  I snapped some pictures of the synagogue and the Yeshiva (one of the only buildings in the area that seemed full of life during this holiday time).  Interestingly, I tried to take a picture of the old barbed wire fence that still remains in one part of the original ghetto, and some security guards intervened.


We had been told that if we were to go to the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, we had to go to the restaurant GamGam and taste their Matzoh Ball soup.  What with Brian's cold and my inability to refuse such a thing, we decided it would be worth our while to see if this place was open.  So, after some hunting, we were able to find GamGam... and lo and behold... it was open!  

Seeing that it was packed with people, we walked right in... only to realize too-late that these were not customers from the ordinary public but a group of Hasidic Jews-- payot, tzitzis, sheitel, and all!  Immediately recognizing our mistake, we tried to back out without attracting too much attention, but it was too late.  We felt as though we had entered a Woody Allen movie.  All eyes in the room turned to us, and I'm certain you could hear a pin drop in this utterly Chametz-less room.  It was in that moment that a Hassid in the center of the room stood up and asked, "you are Jewish?"  

Brian knew the only way to save ourselves was to deny our religion and make a run for it, but something in the back of my throat and in the pit of my stomach would simply not let that kind of a lie slip out.  So, yes, I admitted we were Jewish, upon which point the room seemed to come back to life.  One boy, clearly a member of Yeshiva and trying to get in his mitzvah for the day, walked up to us and insisted that we stay, for they were about to have their Kiddush.  It would only take a few minutes, and the kosher for Passover food and wine would of course be free.  Now, I know it is a sin to walk away from this kind of thing, but we had less than one full day in Venice, and I have taken enough psychology classes to know a foot-in-the-door tactic when I see one.  

At this point, it was time to ask ourselves: what would Larry David do?  The answer was probably something along the lines of: awkwardly and obviously flooded with guilt, turn down the invitation, take five tries to get the door open to leave, get chased down the street by one of the Hassids, and be forced to refuse the offer fifteen more times... before finally being free to sit down at a good old-fashioned Italian restaurant to eat a plate of spaghetti bolognese... which, when sprinkled with guilt, simply would not end up tasting as good as it should.


And, yes, that is what happened.  At least now I have something to think about the next time I'm sitting in temple all day for Yom Kippur.


So after our lunch, we went for a long stroll, exploring the streets and wandering into shops.  The city of Venice is simply so unique, and it was a marvel to finally be able to see it with our own eyes. We had an especially great time looking at all of the Murano glass.  I bought myself two beautiful and very different necklaces, and Brian picked out a few really nice gifts for his family members.


After about an hour or two, we decided it was time to take our gondola ride.  This was not something I cared so much about, but Brian really wanted to do it.  It wasn't a terribly busy hour for the gondoliers, so we were offered a reasonable price and took it.  I'm glad that Brian convinced me because the ride was well worth it.  The relaxing sound of the water as we peacefully navigated our way from one waterway to the next was just perfect.  Plus, our gondolier pointed out some very interesting landmarks: the homes of Cassanova, Marco Polo, and Vivaldi, as well as the modern art museum.  I think, though, that the best part of the ride was simply the perspective we had of the city.  Although we walked around plenty, it wasn't until we were physically in this boat that we got to see those streets that cannot be reached by foot at all.  We saw the doors to peoples homes, completely inaccessible without the use of a boat.  I can only imagine living my life this way.


Following our pleasant gondola ride, we explored the streets some more and made our way to Piazza San Marco.  The square was teeming with people, but it was pretty to see nonetheless.  We took a few pictures of the Campanile of St. Mark's church, and sat down at a café for a few minutes (until we realized there would be a twelve euro charge "for the music"), and went off to find someplace to eat dinner.


We picked a place called Falciani, where I had more spaghetti (stop judging me!) and Brian had gnocchi with crab and shrimp.  By the end of our meal, we were fully satisfied, but really worn out from the day of walking around, sitting in the sun, and getting chased by Hassidim.


With that, we got back on the shuttle boat, saw some final pretty views of the city at night, got ourselves momentarily stranded (thanks to the horrible guidance of the front-desk woman at our hostel), used our wits to find our way back... and finally fell into bed.


Brian left in the early morning to meet his friends, with whom he would be continuing on to Greece for the rest of his break.  Abbey, Gina, Christy, and I, however, had a different stop up next on our agenda.  We got on our train Thursday morning and headed out...


Next stop: Roma!

We're really in Venezia!

Synagogue

Venetian Yeshiva

Chametz bolognese

Imagine: a footbridge to your front door!

First view from the gondola

From the gondola

more gondola

Us in the gondola

Tales of an Italia Spring Break, Part II: Leather Me Up

Ciao, readers!

I hope you haven't tuned out just yet because here comes Part II:


Sunday, April 17 - Wednesday, April 20 : Florence

The Bus2Alps bus left us in Florence with about enough time that evening to find our hostels and get ourselves dinner.  Interestingly, the group of us had selected a place to stay that is actually an apartment.  A little Italian woman owns it and allows travelers to stay for a reasonable fee.  It was quaint and homey, exactly the way we liked it.  In a way, it reminded me of the apartments we have in Paris and helped me see to an extent what students studying abroad in Florence probably experience.

Once we were all settled in, we headed out for our first meal in Florence.  Based upon several different recommendations we were given, we decided to try Acqua al 2.  We were told to try the pasta sampler, in which we would be brought five separate tastes of pastas served here, selected at random by the chef.  Unfortunately, we must have gone about it all wrong because just wound up generally confused about who had ordered what and who got how much from each plate.  We were also unsatisfied with how long it took for the plates to come out of the kitchen.  Those complaints in mind, the pastas we tasted were actually very good.  Notably, one had an interesting pumpkin flavoring to it-- very unique.  Brian also really liked his dish: he had a steak sampler in which he tried the famous blueberry steak and a balsamic steak.  I tasted them both as well, and we agreed that although the blueberry was very interesting, the balsamic was our favorite.

Come Monday morning, our best intentions to get out early were for naught.  We ended up spending a confusing hour with our landlady who, as sweet as she was, could simply not understand a bit of what we tried to communicate to her, and vice versa.  Once we finally got all of our minor issues and questions settled, we got ourselves lunch at a pizza place that advertised "free wine".  The wine, of course, was free because it was not very good, but we enjoyed our pizzas regardless.


Freshly fueled by this pizza, we were prepared to face a tremendous challenge: the leather market.  Entering the leather market is like walking onto a battlefield.  Vendors are calling at you left and right, sometimes even grabbing at your arms.  Bargaining requires a delicate balance of obstinacy and accommodation in order to escape explosions of sorts.  But the biggest battle of all comes from within: the fight for decisiveness and self-control.  

So lets just say we spent way more hours than I care to admit getting lost between stands, haggling ourselves into oblivion, and questioning whether our hearts would ache tomorrow after walking away from that last pair of leather gloves.  Ultimately, however, Abbey, Christy and I all purchased leather jackets at reasonable prices.  Unfortunately, Brian had a big struggle.  He found two jackets that were just perfect, and when it comes to these things, you cannot just walk away with both.  Alas, after all of these hours, Brian remained leather jacket-less.


That night, Gina wanted to take the girls to meet her friends who are studying in Florence, so Brian and I decided to go out for a nice dinner on our own.  We picked a place called La Giostra, which we had heard many people rave about.  Of course, we showed up at a quarter to ten and realized very quickly that this was, in fact, a very well-known restaurant, and there was no way we would be getting in without a reservation.  Disappointed, I tried to think of alternative restaurants, but Brian put on his game face and marched right up to the woman taking reservations.  I knew he wouldn't steal a stranger's reservation, so I didn't know what to expect.  He surprised me, however, by stating very simply and confidently, "two, please.  It's under Brian.  I called earlier."  Flustered by the fact that she had "obviously" made some kind of a mistake, the woman hastily added us to the middle of her list and had us seated in no time.  I think I'll keep Brian around.


Anyway, once we were faced with the menu, we tried to remember the advice we had been given about which dishes to order.  We knew that at this restaurant, we were meant to order a little of everything, and so it went as follows: 
- caprese salad, to share
- shrimp pasta in white sauce, to share
- veal scaloppini in lemon sauce, for me
- goat chops, for Brian
After ordering all of this, we quickly found out that there was an enormous appetizer platter on the house.  (I suppose the caprese salad was unnecessary.)  Regardless, we ate until we practically burst, and every bite was worth it.  The shrimp came out prepared as I have never seen it, claws and all, and the veal practically melted in my mouth.  We sat at our table and watched the entire place clear out before we felt it was time for us to leave.


We woke up Tuesday with a day full of plans, but were met with a minor setback: Brian had contracted something ugly and had just broken out of a fever.  But after medicating him thoroughly and listening to him insist he'd be fine, we marched out to see Florence.


First stop: the David.
Fail.
- Unfortunately, the line to see the David literally wrapped around three blocks.  We were frustrated and disappointed that we had not thought to purchase tickets to get in beforehand, but at the same time, we felt that with such a short time to spare in Florence, it would not be in our best interest to wait in line the entire day.  The plus side?  Now I have a very specific reason why I must return to Florence one day.


Next up: Duomo. 
Success!
- Somehow, we got very lucky in the moment we passed the Duomo because the line was temporarily very short.  After only about a ten minute wait, we were able to get inside.  It really is a beautiful church, but I think the real appeal is in climbing to the top and seeing the views of the city.  Again, we simply did not have time to wait on that separate line (much like the line for the David) and decided to move on to our next location.


Third: Museo di Palazzo Vecchio / Uffizzi Gallery. 
Success!
- We didn't actually go in to the museum, but we took a bunch of photos of the statues outside.  Some of these sculptures were truly remarkable, and getting to see the fake David made us feel a little bit better about missing the real one.  Sadly for me, however, this is the moment that my camera died for the day.  (Don't worry, we stopped for huge cones of gelato to make me feel better.)


Fourth: Ponte Vecchio. 
Wishful thinking.
- The bridge was nothing too special to walk across because it was covered with tourists, but I suppose I could see the appeal.  Through a window, Brian saw the watch of his dreams, so we stopped inside for him to try it on.  It was beautiful, with a mix of white and yellow gold, a sharp black face, and classy but understated detail.  Priced at only 3,000 euros, it was a real steal.  (All the more reason to return to Florence when we are billionaires.)


Finally: Giardino di Boboli. 
Takes the prize!
- After all the walking and sight-seeing along the way, we finally reached the ultimate destination we had been going for.  The Palazzo Pitti is where the Medici family lived in the middle ages during the peak of their major influence.  The palace itself was tremendous, but we really came to spend the afternoon soaking in the beautiful weather and strolling about the park.  We were well-rewarded for skipping the line at the Duomo because the views we saw from this location had to be just as splendid.  We walked around and laid in the grass for several hours, and although we covered quite a bit of ground, I still don't think we touched upon the majority of the lands included in the property.


Eventually we left the park, satisfied with our day's adventure, but something was still tearing up Brian inside.  How could he leave Florence without one of the leather coats he had found the day before?  And how could he pick just one?  Well, we made our way back to the shop, and as it turns out, the answers to those questions are: "he couldn't" and "by switching back and forth for about two hours until we were all about to collapse from exhaustion".  (I'm only mocking-- it is a very hard decision-making process.)  I know you're on the edge of your seats now wondering what happened, and the answer is, yes, he did end up picking just one.  It's a beautiful long black piece that I'm sure will prove to be well worth the time put into the decision.


Finally, we returned to our little apartment, napped, medicated Brian, and split up again for dinner as Brian and I chose to meet a couple we know from school and the girls went to find Gina's friends again.  

We went to Tredici Gobbi, which the two we went out with suggested.  They have been studying in Florence this semester, and they said that it would be a tremendous shame if we left without tasting the rigatoni dish at this restaurant.  We each ordered this starter, and I can tell you that it did not disappoint.  This was the kind of cheese sauce that had us cleaning the bottoms of our bowls with our bread, even after we were about to explode from all the pasta.  Finally, full again and trying to catch Brian's next fever before it started, we returned to the apartment to go to sleep.  

Early in the morning, we awoke to catch our next train.  Our stay had been short, but Florence had proven to be wonderful.


Next stop: Venezia!

A view to the outside gardens at our apartment in Florence

First Florence pizza!

A typical stand in the market

Leather in every shape and color!

Of course.

Inside the Duomo

Boboli Gardens

Tales of an Italia Spring Break, Part I: A Pasta Rebirth

Dry your eyes, my readers!

I have finally returned to update you on my European whereabouts.  I know you are probably leaning over your keyboard, falling into your computer monitor, completely on edge as you await my spring break update, so here it comes.   But first please wipe away that anxious drool that is dribbling down your chin, it's not a good look.

Now before we get truly into it, I'm going to give you the general itinerary of my past week in Italy:

- Thursday, April 14 - Sunday, April 17 : Amalfi Coast 

- Sunday, April 17 - Wednesday, April 20 : Florence

- Wednesday, April 20 - Thursday, April 21 : Venice

- Thursday, April 21 - Monday, April 25 : Rome

So in order to make this both easier for me to write and for you to read, I'm going to separate these posts into four individual ones for each leg of my trip.  Now, we can begin:

Thursday, April 14 - Sunday, April 17 : Amalfi Coast

Several of my friends and I had agreed to reserve all of our Italy travels of this semester for our spring break.  We all knew that we wanted to visit Florence, Venice, and Rome-- but those are the easy ones.  How would we manage to get down to the splendid smaller cities along the coast of Italy without any sort of guidance?  It would take a lot of frustration and aggravation to do on our own, so we conveniently found a trip pre-organized by a college-student travel company called Bus2Alps.  Four friends and I from Paris signed up to go as well as Brian and his friends, who were also on their spring break from Barcelona.

The Bus2Alps crew met us on Thursday in Rome's Ciampino airport.  We were told we had to arrive by 11:30 pm, so Abbey and I flew in on the only flight that could get us there before that time, which landed, of course, at 2:20 pm.  Ciampino is a tiny, tiny airport and actually a bit outside of Rome.  Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I re-read the same two magazines about ten times each to fill the 9 hours of down time we had.  Finally, however, it was time to go, and we shuffled onto the coach buses which drove us down to the coast.

We woke up early Friday morning (I mean, 6:30 am, early) to catch a ferry to the island Capri. Once we reached the island, we got off the ferry and onto smaller boats of ten people or so, which took us on a tour around the outside of the island.  Unfortunately for us, the weather was less than ideal, so we were a bit chilly and even felt some rain.  This did not, however, put a damper on seeing this beautiful place.  At one point, we got into even tinier boats of four people and had to duck down as the man rowing took us through a small opening in a chunk of rock.  When we came out on the other side, we were in the cave Grotta Azzurra, or the Blue Grotto.  This is a small sea cave that allows just enough light in to illuminate the brilliant blue water.  It creates a breathtaking effect in which it seems like the water in the boat around you is literally glowing on its own.

After we had changed back into to our bigger boats and returned to the island, we took a walk up towards the city center.  This was an exhausting 15 minute hike uphill, which felt much more like an hour-long, perfectly vertical climb after the three hours of sleep we'd had the night before.  We remained troopers, however, and snapped some pictures along the way in the beautiful gardens overlooking the water and the rest of Italy.

From the city center, we took a shuttle bus up to Anacapri, the locale of my first ever true Italian pizza.  I will tell you that the pizza did not disappoint me, but at the same time did not impress me all that much.  Of course it tasted very good, but I remained unconvinced that this pizza was any better than my Vincent's or Positano pizza back home on Long Island.

Following lunch, we took some time to wander around Anacapri.  I tasted my first ever limoncello at a local shop.  To be perfectly honest, I could hardly stomach the stuff.  I did, however, absolutely love the lemon-flavored chocolates and candies.  I actually couldn't get enough and kept popping into every shop we passed for more free samples.  I even pulled a "grandpa" and filled my pockets with whatever extra wrapped lemon sucking candies I could get my hands on along the way.

Finally, several hours later, we ventured back down to the water's edge where the ferry took us back to the mainland and we returned to our hostel.  Exhausted from the day and on so little sleep, our eyes were shut before our heads hit the pillows that night.

Saturday was the day that we took a bus to Positano.  I was excited to visit the city that was named after my favorite pizza place back home.  (What came first, the chicken or the egg?)  Fortunately, the day started out unlike the day before, with a blazing sun and a pleasant breeze.  We walked down the winding streets to the black-sand beach below where we set up camp for several hours.  Unfortunately, in the early afternoon, the sun began to disappear behind the clouds.   Brian and I decided it was a perfect time to sit inside for a nice long lunch.

We picked a random restaurant along the beachside called Chez Black.  We decided that since we had not yet had the opportunity to eat most of the foods we wanted to be eating in Italy, that this was a good time to try them all at once.  So, we proceeded to share a plate of pesto pasta, a breaded veal dish, and cheese pizza with mushrooms.  (If you're judging me, you're just jealous.)  I don't know how we got so lucky in choosing Chez Black, but from that first bite of pasta, I knew I would forevermore struggle trying to feel satisfied with anything else.  

I was practically brought to tears by this pasta.  Brian and I hardly looked up from our plates, except to ask each other questions like, "what will my life be after this plate is finished?" "how did I live before this pasta?" and "will I ever be able to eat again?"  Eventually we learned that our reactions to this first plate of Italian pasta is normal as foreigners, and that we should not be concerned about our lives being substantially or permanently altered.  Regardless, we couldn't help but sigh with relief at the fact that we still had a week of this in Italy to go.  

After the long beach day, we returned to the hostel, napped and showered, and headed to dinner at Il LeoneRosso.  Here I had another very good plate of spaghetti (this time with clams) and enjoyed some Italian wine.  Wine in Italy is actually very good, and interestingly, many of their wineries are structured very similarly to those in certain regions of France.  That said, you can call me a snob, but I'll still take French wines any day.

Sunday morning, we checked out of the hostel and took a bus ride to Pompeii.  I had always heard this was a great place to visit, but I wasn't exactly sure what to anticipate.  As it turns out, Pompeii is amazing.  We saw ruins of a city that to me seemed advanced beyond it's time.  We got to walk through a brothel and learned quickly that the people living in Pompeii had a good sense of business.  The hard stone beds would not be covered with anything that would render them more comfortable.  The logic behind this was that the pain induced by this would influence the clients and workers to "get the job done faster" so as to have the time to invite in more customers and more money.  We also saw some incredible artifacts, like old pots and other similar objects that remained preserved.  Most disturbing were the humans' and dogs' bodies that were frozen in time, distorted as they tried to escape after the volcanic eruption.  They had been excavated and preserved in plaster, but we could still see detailed facial expressions and the like.

We returned to the bus, which would be taking us directly to our next spring break Italy location.  This marked the end of an activity-packed but very fun-filled few days in the Amalfi Coast.  

Next up: Firenze!

Glowing blue water in the Grotta Azzurra

View of the lighthouse from our boat

First Italian pizza!

Pre-descent to Positano's black sand beach...

...half-way down...

...finally on the beach!

A bed in the brothel in Pompeii. It was used exactly as you see it. (ouch)

Street in Pompeii

Pompeii

Brian and me

Pompeii