Long time no see

Buon giorno!!  It has been too long, which is obviously my fault, but I'm here to make amends!

When talking to my mom she mentioned how I hadn't posted in a while and I said, "Well, we haven't gone anywhere else...I would just be posting about everyday things" to which she responded, "Yea.  People want to read about that stuff, hun."  So here I am posting about our everyday life, hopefully it will be interesting!

The cold weather that first started creeping in a couple weeks ago has now settled in to stay.  This means that our apartment is FREEZING!  I think we are located in a shady area or something, but it is way more cold inside our apartment then it is outside of it...go figure.  Just yesterday we found some more blankets that we can throw on top of us at night, which has proven very helpful.  I would be more welcoming of this cold weather if it did one thing, just ONE thing and that is kill all of the mosquitos.  But no, they are still somehow making it into our apartment and I think my mosquito death toll today is about 7.  Arg.

The weather has been picture perfect for the past few days.  We have found ourselves just wanting to go outside and walk around or sit in a piazza and read because it is just that perfect.  The only thing missing is a nice warm fire and maybe some hot apple cider.

This week we made an itinerary of sorts based on when certain museums were open at a discounted rate/free and just decided to try out cafes or venture to places we haven't been to in the off time.  On Monday we went to the Alinari National Museum of Photography, named after the 3 brothers who founded the oldest photography firm in the world in 1852.   The museum walked you through the history of photography around the world.  It was a pretty packed exhibit filled with the oldest photographs created with a camera that needed an 8 hour exposure time, as well as pictures that looked like little paintings because of the process in which they were created.  Then the museum itinerary took you through the next stages of photography until you got to where we are now: the digital age.  I found it interesting that in a lot of portraits taken back when the exposure time was pretty lengthy the subjects had very solemn looks on their face.  Apparently, because of this long exposure time if you tried to smile and would change your expression at all during the course of the picture being taken it would mess up the picture completely.  So these people in the 1800's weren't just old sourpusses as I had come to believe, they just couldn't hold a smile for an hour or longer.  I mean, who can blame them?

The next day we decided to try out a couple cafes in our neighborhood that we hadn't tried before but had wanted to.  The first was this really hip cafe that during the day people will be lounging in and by night it's either packed with people listening to live music, or packed with people playing board games - both of which sound awesome.  At night though we get a little intimidated to try it out since it seems like a local place, so we decided to first try it out during the day.  It proved as hip as it looks and we grabbed a couple cappucini and talked about life before heading to the next cafe.  Hemingway's is literally right up our street on the corner.  I had been here once before, but the girls hadn't and Courtney was super excited to go.  They serve tons of different types of hot chocolate, coffee, tea, plus chocolates and pastries.  The drinks also have the option of being alcoholic or non alcoholic.  We of course went with alcoholic...when in Rome, err, Florence, right?  Courtney got the Montezuma, which kept making me think of Montezuma's revenge - ew, and it consisted of hot chocolate, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, rum and brandy.   Caroline went for a tea with honey, vodka, and lemon.  I got a coffee drink with cinnamon, blue caracao, and something else I can't remember - maybe rum?  My drink was definitely the most fascinating, which was also proven by the two women who stared and pointed when I got it.  It came in a little Irish coffee glass with a sprig of cinnamon floating around and as soon as you stirred it the black coffee color mixed with the blue caracao and turned an awesome shade of green.  I kept thinking about Kelley and how she would be SO jealous!  Courtney took pictures so I'm going to have to wait until she uploads them to show you the awesomeness, so for now you'll just have to imagine :)

A sidenote about why this place is named after Hemingway: For those of you who don't know much about this notable American author (including me), Hemingway volunteered to go to Italy and drive ambulances for the Red Cross during the first World War.  After delivering chocolates and cigarettes to troops one day he was severely wounded by shrapnel and passed out only to wake up and be wounded again by machine gun fire to his knee.  Despite all of this, he was still able to carry a wounded Italian soldier to safety.  He received a Silver medal of valor for this and the Italians still hold him in high esteem.  This cafe peaked our interest to learn more of Hemingway so Courtney did her research and presented us with a short life story.  The most important thing we learned is that somebody must of had it out for him because that man has been seriously injured more times then 3 normal humans collectively get injured in a lifetime.  Here is just a taste of his many injuries: a skylight falling on his head in Paris causing a huge scar, contracting amoebic dysentery in Africa, car accident in London, TWO plane crashes in Africa, 2nd degree burns from a bushfire, and then after all of this he committed suicide.  It's such a crazy, and sad, life story!

That night was free night at many of the main museums around Florence.  This is something Italy has started to do once a month and we decided to take advantage of it!  We headed over to the Academia to see the David and it was fantastic how there were not that many people there!  Apparently people either weren't "in the know" or the tourist season is finally winding down.  There were also 2 exhibits within the museum, which included a musical instrument exhibit with instruments from the Medici and Lorraine time periods (cool) and an exhibit of paintings that were reserved for rooms containing the marriage bed (I guess kinda cool?).  The music exhibit had computers where you could learn basically everything about the important musicians, instruments, scores, and uses of music back in that time.  We especially enjoyed the serpent instrument.

The other exhibit was kinda interesting.  It was just a huge collection of panels of mythological and/or religious stories that related to marriage.  I wasn't so fond of the panels depicting how a woman needs to know her place and obey her husband or she would be stripped and killed (yes, there was actually a panel of that).  So yea, it was ok?

The David is obviously the main show followed by Michelangelo's unfinished 4 prisoners, which were originally started for Pope Julius II's tomb.  The David is pure perfection - Courtney even lists him as one of three guys who would make up the perfect man.  I could literally just stare at the statue for hours.  The unfinished prisoners are also amazing because it is as if these men are trying to escape their marble trappings.  There is no clear reason why they were left unfinished because they were started earlier in Michelangelo's career, but the effect of them being unfinished is just as magnificent, if not more, than if they were finished.   

The next day was so gorgeous that we ventured to the small grassy area in front of Santa Maria Novella church and read, napped, ate a few hours away.  As the sun went behind the buildings it got freezing so we headed home to get ready for another aperitivo at our favorite place.  Afterwards we headed to a hip wine bar and sipped on prosecco and wine!  

Well, that pretty much gets you up to date on my life!  Tomorrow we are heading to Arezzo for the day and then the Halloween festivities start for the weekend.  Court and Caroline have little things that we bought from the dollar store to wear, but I am still without anything :(  Oh well, I will figure something out!

Miss you all and hope you have a wonderful Halloween weekend!!

Assisi

A week has passed since we went to Cinque Terre so we decided it was time for another day trip, this time: Assisi!  I have been there before, but it is such a cute city that I was excited to go back with the girls and explore more.  We decided to take a chance and go even though the weather was calling for some showers.  The weather here has been pretty spotty with rain and the worst part is that weather.com does not do a very good job at predicting the weather for Florence.  Case in point: right now it is pouring outside and yet the weather man says that it it should be sunny with 0% chance of precipitation...so weird!

Assisi is about 2 1/2 hours away so it is a bit of a trek for a day trip, but we were up for it!  The train ride was wonderfully quiet (no Italian teenagers this time) and we were able to get our morning naps in.  Right when we arrived in Assisi we realized that Fall is officially here - it was freezing and my wimpy cardigan is not going to cut it anymore!  I wish I realized this before we got there...

Now a little background on Assisi: It is a hill town first inhabited by Umbrians in 1000 BC, then taken over by the Etruscans, followed by the Romans.  You can still see some ancient Roman remains throughout the town, including an ancient temple to Minerva (Athena) that has since been converted to a church.  Most notably, Assisi is known as being the birthplace of Saint Francis.  Saint Francis is not only the patron saint of animals and the environment, but he is also one of two patron saints of Italy.  So yes, if you were wondering, he is a pretty big deal.

Our first stop was the Basilica di San Francesco, which houses the remains of St. Francis.  Francis was born in the late 12th century and apparently for the first part of his life he was a pretty rambunctious guy who liked to party with his friends.  It wasn't until he saw a vision from Christ asking him to "rebuild his church" that his lifestyle really started to change and he became a man of God.  He is also credited as the founder of the Franciscan order.

The church itself is actually 2 churches built on top of one another with a crypt located underneath containing St. Francis's remains.  It was pretty impressive that on a Tuesday in the middle of October there were still a ton of people in the crypt to pay their respects to the patron saint.  

Outside of the Basilica (under the arched pathways you can see to right and left of the picture above) there was an exhibit dedicated to Mother Teresa.  It is 100 years from her birth so they had a series of photographs of her and some of the many people she helped throughout her life.  The exhibit was extremely moving not only because of the amazing things Mother Teresa has done, but the photographs highlighted the extreme poverty and plight of humankind in underdeveloped areas especially in, but not limited to, India.  The exhibit was beautiful, yet very tragic at the same time.

Next we decided to grab some lunch (not great so I won't even go into it) and explore the town.  We originally thought we could just walk around, but since we were kind of on a time table and we weren't sure what we should see we finally gave in and bought a map.  We went into the old Temple of Minerva, now a church, then hiked up towards the Fortress.  We stumbled into San Rufino Cathedral, which happens to be where St. Francis was baptized.  Also, bishop Rufino, whose remains are interred in the Cathedral, was the one who converted the town of Assisi to Christianity in 238 AD.

Now off to to the fortress!

View of the fortress from San Rufino.  Long way up...

The fortress was my favorite part of Assisi.  Not only do you have spectacular views of the countryside and the town, but you also get to run around old tunnels and climb towers with no one hoovering around you thinking you are going to break something.  Courtney and Caroline definitely took advantage of this as they were both in a very goofy mood after the hike.  I came to find that this fortress was built for very small people as I ran into not one, but TWO doorways.

Owwwie

We had a very fun day and were able to make it back to Florence at a decent hour.  We also caught a gorgeous sunset on the train that was probably the best one I've ever seen.  It was hard to get pictures though because of the fast moving train, but here was my best shot:

Other news in our lives...We all booked our trip to Barcelona and Valencia in early November, followed by my and Caroline's trip to Malta!  The more I read up on Malta the more excited I get...hopefully the weather will be as nice as they say so we can get some much needed sun!  It will be a busy November, but I can't wait!

  

Cinque Terre!

Yesterday was a long, but wonderful, day.  We woke up at 5 am to make the 6:10 train to Cinque Terre - I kept repeating to myself that 1) it could be a lot worse and I could be getting up at 5 for work and 2) I'm going to the Italian Riviera for Christ's sake, but it was still a little hard.  The train ride was pretty uneventful and we were able to finally see a sunrise, but about 20 minutes outside of Pisa a gang of kids boarded the train and interrupted our naps.  All of these teenagers were headed to school in Pisa and our train car was literally packed.  One of the louder and bigger teenagers who, by the way, had bright green pants on with black stars all over them (they also did not adequately cover her backside) plopped down across from me and literally sat ON Courtney.  Court happened to be sleeping at the time so she shot up right away and we just counted the stops until they would get off.  After Pisa we had a relatively quiet ride into La Spezia.  To get to the towns of Cinque Terre you have to take another train from La Spezia and ours was unfortunately delayed for almost an hour.  We finally made it to the first town around 11:30 and began our trek through the towns!

Cinque Terre, literally meaning 5 lands, are 5 fishing towns that are relatively untouched by modern hands and make up part of the Italian Riviera.  They are known for their gorgeous views, which definitely did not disappoint.  The trail connecting all 5 towns is called Sentiero Azzurro, Light Blue Trail, and we started at the first town on our side: Riomaggiore.

View from Riomaggiore

The trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola was more like a stroll and it was on the Via dell'Amore.  On this trail you find tons of locks from lovers declaring their eternal love for one another.  Courtney was able to get a very romantical picture of Caroline and me on a bench on the walk of love...how appropriate!

The trail between Manarola and Corniglia was closed; I was assuming because of the rain the day before that they closed the trail in fear of landslides, which are apparently common on that trail.  Because of this, we had to take the train to Corniglia and start our real hike to Vernazza.  In my Italy book it described this hike as a steep ascent and then going almost immediately into a descent.  They were very, very right.

First climb up from the train station

view of Corniglia from the trail

Our descent into Vernazza!

The climb was pretty hard, but the views were breathtaking.  We also saw many vineyards and olive groves that are prevalent in that area.  After the hour and a half long hike we finally made it into Vernazza, arguably the most picturesque village of the 5.  We decided that we didn't have the energy to do the hike to Monterosso and wanted to spend a couple hours relaxing at the water.

While enjoying our pizza and cokes by the water we saw a few giant jellyfishes, which Court thought were cool and I thought were gross (to each his own).  We then just lounged around and enjoyed the gorgeousness of the day.  I loved it here and will definitely be coming back at least to finish that last hike :)

Giant jelly

At least it's a little different than the ol' "feet on the sand" pics

Yes, I realize there are a lot of pictures, but it was just so pretty I couldn't choose which pics to post!  

On to the next adventure!

  

Odds and ends plus Pisa/Lucca

Hello bloggles!  I don't know that what means, but I like the way it sounds :)

This past week has gone by pretty fast and Caroline is settling in very nicely as our 3rd roomie!  When she first got here it was right before the weekend so we of course wanted to introduce her to Florentine nightlife...which then made it hard to introduce her to Florentine daylife.  Oh well, we had a great weekend that included a wine festival and an international festival.  The wine festival was called Wine Town Firenze and it was really cool because they had wine tastings set up all over the city in almost all of the famous buildings (churches included).  You had to go buy a card to load credits on (1 euro = 1 wine tasting credit) and then find these different sights to have tastings.  We started at the Pitti Palace since we were already there to check out the Palatine Gallery, which houses many famous paintings from Italian artists that were collected by the Medici family.  We actually saw a ton of paintings by Caravaggio, way more than we saw at the actual Caravaggio exhibit in the Uffizi, which was strange but a nice surprise.  After we toured there was a tasting inside the palace with wines from the 8 major wine capitals (or so I was told) of the world: Portugal, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Napa Valley, Spain, Germany, and Argentina.  I tried a Rose from Portugal and it was only after I almost gagged that I realized it was a Rose PORT.  Yuck.  I actually couldn't finish it, which almost never happens.  My next wine was from South Africa, a Malbec I believe, which was able to wash out the taste from the port.  We then headed to an old church, Santo Spirito, for some Italian wines.  I can't remember the regions we tasted from, but it was a beautiful set up with candles, a lively Italian folk band (yea, it sounded weird to me too), and snacks to pair with the wine, which we definitely needed since we hadn't had dinner yet and didn't realize that most of the "tastes" were full glasses of wine.

At the Italian wine tasting area with the band in the background.  Perfect ambiance.  

After the wine tasting, we headed to a nice dinner and then a night out on the town where there were yak and copes (aka jack and coke and there was only one for the one and only Kate), tripping on the chains that block the street (me, but I didn't fall which was a miracle), secret bakeries with pizza and chocolate croissants (there may or may not have been some trying to eat pizza that had fallen on the ground, not me though!) and getting home around 5am...yea that will not be happening again anytime soon, but at least we were able to show Caroline some/most of the nightlife!  On Sunday we all met at the International Festival being held at Santa Croce.  It was so cool with food and goods from countries around Europe: Spain (giant pans of paella), Hungary, Belgium (chocolate!), Germany (beer and stinco di maiale, which is pig shin...weird), Holland (cheese, where I bought 3 different types, one that was pesto aka all green!!!), America (oldies CDs??), etc.  Hungary had these cinnamon sugar cylinder things that were AMAZING!  We all got one to split, yummy!  I wish the International Festival was there everyday :( or just that the cinnamon sugar things were there everyday, either one.

This past week we just did some more sightseeing around Florence since there are so many exhibits around.  We went to the Bronzino exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi - he was a painter who was commissioned by the Medici, but honestly, who wasn't commissioned by the Medici around here?  It was a huge exhibit and I had never heard of him before, but I really enjoyed it!  Also this week we finally made it inside the Duomo, the Bargello (sculpture museum) and the Casa Buonarroti where there were many works by Michelangelo along with works procured by his family.  In the Casa Buonarroti there was an extremely paranoid docent who found it necessary to hound everyone who came in to see the exhibit.  It was absolutely ridiculous.  She would literally run into a room after we left it to make sure we didn't break or steal the 2 ton marble statue created by Michelangelo...I mean, really?  She was definitely a negative to that museum.

On Saturday we headed to Pisa and Lucca.  It was another gorgeous fall day so we were excited to do some sightseeing!  Pisa was not what I expected in that there was graffiti everywhere.  And, as Kate put it, the graffiti wasn't even pretty it was just curse words and ugly scribbles.  At least in some other places where we've seen graffiti there has been some artistic quality in it.  The monuments in Pisa are a bit of a walk from the train station, but they are definitely worth it.  The buildings located in the Campo dei Miracoli (field of Miracles) are the Leaning Tower, the Cathedral, and the Baptistry.  The tower was started in 1173 as the bell tower for the Cathedral and it wasn't until 5 years later that the tower started to lean because of the unstable clay that it was being built upon.  There were only 3 floors completed by this point and the architect decided to leave it alone.  It wasn't until 100 years later that the project was picked back up by another architect.  He completed 4 more stories and finally in 1372 the bell tower was completed.  It wasn't until the 19th century that people started to mess around with the tower again and their meddling exacerbated the lean.  The tower was also almost destroyed during World War II by American troops, but thankfully wasn't.  It was also closed down for 10 years in 1990 to stabilize it and make it safe for the public.  It's really a beautiful building and has a very exaggerated lean (duh) but it was really cool to see in person.

You can see the tower poking out behind the cathedral

Caroline doing the obligatory pose

After Pisa we headed to Lucca, an old medieval town in Tuscany.  Lucca was founded by the Etruscans and in 180 BC it became a Roman colony.  The medieval walls that surround the city are still intact, which was one of the many charms of this small city for us.  Lucca was an independent republic for over 500 years and it had run ins with a few famous people you have heard of - Napoleon took it over in 1805 and had his sister rule the city and also Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.  It is also the birthplace of Puccini and I was excited to go into a Puccini opera museum.  The walls surrounding the fortified city are still in tact and on each side there is a different type of tree species planted.  It is also a really nice place to walk around and we spent some time hanging out up there.  There was one downside to the walls because apparently they are also a huge makeout spot for Italians...couples were everywhere.  And if you have been to Italy, or France...or Spain for that matter, you know that people get overly affectionate (understatement) in public so needless to say it was a little awkward.  Oh well, it was still a beautiful and charming city that I would love to go back to and explore more!

View of the walls

Ok well that's all for tonight!  Tomorrow Caroline, Courtney and I are heading off to Cinque Terre, aka the Italian Riviera to hike and enjoy the views!  It's going to be an early day (waking up at 5am...yikes), but we are set on hiking at least 4 towns and making it back to Florence in 1 day.  We'll see if that happens...

Miss you all!

Last day in Rome and other up to date stuff

Ok it's a week later and I'm finally summing up the rest of our trip!  Our last day in Rome started off early with a breakfast, Italian style with biscotti and jam/nutella, then we headed off to Piazza Risorgimento to meet up with Courtney's tour guide for the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel.  I was so excited to go because when we lived in Rome we would walk through St. Peter's everyday to Piazza Risorgimento to pick up one of the two buses we had to take to school.  So it brought back memories.  While waiting for everyone to arrive for the tour we grabbed a cappuccino at a place I had been many times before in 2007 - so, more memories :)

Since it was Wednesday the pope was giving his Papal Blessing to the masses in the piazza and you had to have a free ticket to go through security and get in.  This is where I dropped Courtney off and just wandered around.  I've seen the pope speak before so I opted to just wander around the city for the 4 hours Courtney would be touring.  It was a gorgeous day and I accidentally walked way too much on my already sore feet.  Oh well, it was really nice and I just can't get enough of that city.  I met Courtney around 2 and we were both exhausted and grabbed some lunch and decided that since we had already seen most of the BIG sights in Rome that we would venture to Testaccio to see the Protestant's cemetery with Keats's grave.  Courtney really wanted to go and I wasn't so keen on it, but I'm actually really happy we went.  It was probably the most beautiful and moving cemetery I have ever been to.  The graves were packed into a very small space and most had quotes on them (in English) and both Courtney and I decided that this was definitely a writer's cemetery.  I immediately thought of my mom and how she would love coming here.

Keats's grave: Keats's died of consumption at 25 and asked that only the phrase  "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water" be written on his tombstone.  However, his two friends Severn and Brown thought that he had been treated unfairly by critics so they added the phrase "This Grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone"
Apparently later both men regretted going against their friend's wishes.

The grave that was the most moving grave I've ever seen was for William Story, an American sculptor who was living in Rome in the 19th century.  He sculpted this Angel of Grief to be the tombstone for both himself and his wife.  The pictures don't do it justice and I would recommend to anyone, even if you don't usually like graveyards, like myself, to go if you come to Rome!  It's very easy to get to on the metro.

After the cemetery we headed back to our hotel, but first made a stop at the oldest and best gelato factory in Rome on the recommendations from Simona's cousin who lives in Rome and our B&B owner.  Luckily it was right next to our hotel so we didn't have to go too far!  The factory was called Fassi and you had to order what you wanted first before going to the ice cream part so you could get a receipt.  I only saw one option for a cup and it was called the Fassi Cup so Court and I ordered that.  It was a bit more expensive than the other options, but we were rushed so we just went with it.  Well, when we went to the front the server saw our receipt and got 2 metal bowls and asked for what 4 flavors we wanted.  4 flavors??  Well I guess if we are at the best and oldest geletaria in Rome we should do it right!  

Menta, cioccolato, crema e tiramisu - buonissimo!

We rested for a bit after the gelato before our fun dinner with Simona's cousin Fabi!!  She took us to her close friend's pizzeria.  He is from Caserta, the town outside of Naples where Fabi is from, so she promised real Neopolitan Pizza - none of this stuff we get in Florence!  The restaurant was super cute and her friend wasn't working, but he rushed in to meet us.  SO nice!  He apparently doesn't speak much english and as much as I like to think I can speak some Italian, I don't speak much so he was shy, but Fabi got him to feel more comfy by helping translate some.  He was so nice and it was an absolutely perfect night.  I finally got my Pizza Diavola done the right way (spicy peppers and salami) with fluffier crust - apparently the further south you go the fluffier the crust gets!  It was just a fabulous night and made my 3rd trip to Rome perfect as usual and I'm counting down the months til I go back!

The next day we picked up Caroline from the train station and took her back to Florence!!  We had a pretty quiet day and just made dinner for her and she settled in, but the next day we introduced her to our friends!  We had a fun weekend of wine festivals, international festivals, and secret bakeries!  I will update more in my next post, now it's time to go out and explore some more! :)

baci xo

Caput Mundi, La Citta' Eterna - ROMA!

Picking up from where I left off, we headed to Rome after 2 great days in Sorrento.  I was so excited for Courtney to see one of my favorite cities in the world and I was excited for me to be back since it's been a couple of years.  Lucky for us the weather was picture perfect gorgeous with that smell that makes you know Fall is finally here (my favorite season).

When we got off the train in Rome, the directions Google gave us to walk to the hotel had us literally walk in a giant square.  The walk was maybe 20 minutes, when in fact the hotel is maybe 5-7 minutes away from the train station...oh well we got there and when we did we saw how very cute the B&B was.  I of course broke stuff as soon as we got there when I tried to move the curtains and the whole rod fell down, but our host was quick to blame the old curtain rods and not me and exclaimed "You are on holiday, you should not be worrying about anything like this.  Go, go have fun!"  So we did.

We first headed to the Colosseum because that was the closest landmark to our hotel and were asked if we wanted to join in an english tour for both the Colosseum and the Palentine Hill/Forum.  I thought this might be a good choice for Court because we get to skip lines and hopefully get some good information. Our guide of the Colosseum was OK, I wouldn't say he was anything special.  He basically gave us a brief history and then let us explore.  The great thing about coming back to the Colosseum for me though was that there was an exhibit on gladiators and their history, the clothes they wore when fighting, the different types there were, etc.  It was actually a really cool exhibit.  We then headed out to meet our new tour guide for the Palentine Hill.  She was probably one of my most favorite tour guides ever.  She was a super bouncy Englishwoman from Liverpool (and by bouncy I mean she would give Tigger a run for his money).  She was just so excited about everything she was talking about and Courtney and I literally could not stop commenting on how cute she was, we loved her!

Ok let me take a sidebar for a minute: Our tour group was a bit odd.  We had a few Americans, but there was also this family from England that was probably the most bizarre family I've ever been in close contact with.  It was a father, mother, 2 kids about our age or a little younger with their significant others.  When we were in the Colosseum the kids were basically all over each other to the point where Courtney and I couldn't wait to get away, but of course they were all on our Palentine Hill tour as well.  Oh, they also chain smoked hand rolled ciggies the entire time and drank out of what looked like a big juicebox (well Court and I have juiceboxes like that at our apt so we assumed it was juice).  So anyways, we had a bit of break before our Palentine Hill tour and when we all came back together the 2 younger boys in the group were holding 40's of beer, everyone was chain smoking and the father would take turns smoking off his daughter's cigarettes or gulping out of the 40 or the "juicebox".  It wasn't until 10 minutes into the Palentine tour that we realized the girl was chugging red wine out of the juicebox and they were all just passing that around.  It was so BIZARRE!  I mean who gets drunk on a tour?  Really?  And what parents think that it's ok to have your kids (and sometimes you yourself) chugging beers big enough that they really should only be at college frat parties and wine out of a juicebox carton...I mean, really?? (For those of you who have seen the SNL weekend updates when they do the "REALLY??" segment, that is what I am channeling).

Ok sidebar over and we did have a great tour with Fe (short for Felicity, which she said only her mother is allowed to call her).  At the end she said she would be touring the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel the next morning if anyone was interested and it was perfect for Courtney.  I had already been and there was no way I wanted to go back into the mad house that is the Vatican Museums and we knew she'd love the tour guide and really should see it so of course Court jumped on it.  I was also excited to spend some alone time in Rome and just stroll around the city I've come to love so much.

After the tour we embarked on a whirlwind walking tour of Rome's sites.  WAY more than I had expected to get done in half a day.  We walked through the Forum then up the Capitoline hill to see the piazza designed by Michelangelo then to see the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument, also know as the Wedding Cake since it is a bright white behemoth completely out of place in the middle of ancient ruins.  While it isn't a favorite of the Italian people, it is still pretty darn impressive.

After that we headed up Via del Corso where all the major sites of Rome are with the exception of St. Peters.  It's actually pretty easy to do Rome in a couple days, but we did have some casualties in the foot department - I got my first real blisters since being here...sad.  Via del Corso is the main street that leads from the Wedding Cake all the way to Piazza del Popolo.  I would say maybe it's 3/4th's of a mile to a mile long.  In between these two major sites are the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon so we made sure to hit all of them.  The Trevi Fountain was a mad house so Courtney weaseled her way to the fountain while I stayed out and took pictures.  She did the obligatory coin toss into the fountain to ensure a return to Rome, and while I couldn't get a picture of that moment (a giant bald head got in the way) I did manage to get some good ones.

Once we got to Piazza del Popolo we were absolutely exhausted and our feet were dying.  We still had to see the Pantheon and Piazza Navona and on top of this, we had probably an hour walk back to our hotel.  So we sat and watched the sunset from the Piazza, got some gelato to reenergize, then headed to our last sights.  Piazza Navona was a tourist haven with tons of people everywhere, plus street artists and those guys selling annoying toys that I would be shocked if many people actually bought anything from them.

The Pantheon was as it always is: breathtaking.  It's one of my favorite buildings in the world so for those of you who haven't been, here is a little history.  The Pantheon was originally built under Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all of the gods of ancient Rome.  It burned down and it was rebuilt in 126 AD under Hadrian, but he left the original inscription to Marcus Agrippa on the new facade.  After almost 2,000 years the Pantheon's dome is still the largest unreinforced dome in the world.  Even though it was built as a temple to all gods (Pagan), Roman Catholics converted it into a church in the 7th century, which is probably one of the reasons why it is one of the best preserved ancient buildings in Rome.  The Pantheon is also the home of the tombs of Rafael, Vittorio Emannuele II, his wife, and his son.

Inside of the Pantheon - Rafael's tomb on the right

Oculus

After finishing our last sights we headed back to get dinner around our B&B.  We got Chinese food since our hotel was right in Chinatown and we were definitely looking forward to something different!  It was really good - we ate so fast and so much since we were exhausted and just headed back to rest up for our next big day!

...Which I will get to in another post since we are about head out on the town - a dopo!

Pompeii, Sorrento, and Rome....oh my!

So we are finally back from our first real adventure out of Florence and we came back with more than we left with...CAROLINE!  But first let's start with our trip...

We left for Sorrento on Sunday morning, with first a stop in Pompeii.  The weather was up and down in the south with large ominous clouds one minute and blue skies the next, but we managed to stay dry the whole time.  We first arrived in Naples where we had to pick up the Circumvesuviana (small metro train) to Pompeii.  Court and I were also pretty beat from the train ride down so when we got to Pompeii we stopped in one of the few cafe stands outside of the ruins.  I needed a good cappuccino and panino before walking around and it also gave Courtney the chance to try their freshly squeezed lemonade.  I was only sad that we weren't in the Spring and she couldn't see the humongous lemons and oranges that are usually hanging from the cafes.  We headed into the ruins and found out that it was Cultural Heritage Day and we got in for free!  We were so excited!  Since it was my third time going to Pompeii I opted to not get an audio guide and just walk around with Courtney.  It is always amazing going to Pompeii and seeing how well preserved it is after more than 2,000 years and just imagining the life that went on here.  To add to our experience, those ominous clouds I mentioned before were surrounding Vesuvius and could help you almost imagine what a dark cloud of ash coming at you could look like (on a much smaller scale of course).

View of Vesuvius from the forum

What is sad about many houses in Pompeii - well besides the giant eruption that wiped out everyone and everything - is that many of them were in the midst of being renovated.  Apparently Pompeii was booming at the time because of their port being a huge player in Mediterranean trade and many residents who were wealthy were expanding their properties, but of course many didn't have the chance to finish.  The renovations were also a result of the earthquake in 63 AD, just 16 years before the eruption, that caused extensive damage to Pompeii.  Both Courtney and I really enjoyed the House of the Gilded Cupids.  It seemed to be the best preserved house from what we saw and you could really imagine people living here.

Main garden in the House of the Gilded Cupids

Ok so now off to Sorrento, one of my favorite places on earth.  Our B&B was the opposite way from the train station as I have usually stayed and it turned out being a pretty good ways from the main square of Sorrento (about a 20 minute walk).  I think that's basically our thing though, since it's the same in Florence that we live further away from the center and it turned out to be the same in Rome...oh well, walking is good for us!  As soon as we finally found our place we set off for downtown so I could try and show Courtney why I loved it so much.  We reached the cafe my parents and I always go to when we come down - we would usually go every day...twice a day even - to see the end of the sunset.  The cafe overlooks the white cliffs of Sorrento with a view of Capri, Ischia, Vesuvius, the Bay of Naples and of course the Mediterranean.  There is no place like it.  Since we missed the sunset we vowed to come back the next day and set off to explore the small streets.  It was pretty crowded so soon we got hungry and settled on this cute little restaurant in the heart of the city (it's a small city so it's not so hard to find the heart!)  I finally got my Carbonara and couldn't believe it had taken me this long to get my favorite dish and Courtney finally got her seafood risotto!

MMmmmmMMM

Everything was delicious except that I accidentally ordered us a liter of wine (I was so used to it before when I lived with 4 other girls!) and halfway through the wine it started to taste soapy.  Court and I didn't want to leave so much left so we swallowed our disdain for it and drank down as much as we could - still leaving about a fourth left.  We went back to the hotel and got to bed, ready for our big day in Capri!

The next morning we had a fantastic breakfast at the B&B equipped with fried eggs, cappuccino, rolls and spreadable cheese.  It was fantastic!  We then headed off to the Marina to catch our ferry to Capri.  We had no way of knowing the weather besides what we saw outside and while it was cloudy, we didn't expect it to really rain so of course we left our umbrellas at home.  BIG mistake.  The ferry over was extremely choppy, so much so that the deckhands passed out barf bags and many people took them...thank god no one we saw actually used them.  Courtney and I were fine and enjoyed the bounciness, likening it to a roller coaster.  As soon as we arrived at Capri we got our tickets for the Funicular and headed up the mountain to the city.  And as soon as we got there the skies opened up and rain was pouring.  Not only did we not have umbrellas, but we also weren't really dressed for a torrential downpour - me in a skirt, sandals, and white tank top.  We tried in vain to find an umbrella stand, but ended up settling on a cafe to wait out the storm.  Thank goodness the weather broke up and it turned into a pretty nice day, with some later threats of storms as well though nothing major.  

We picked up our tour of the island by heading to Marina Piccola with the famous 3 rocks and the gorgeous blue water.  It is so pretty over there and it will be hard for me to pick just a couple pictures to post.

This is actually a view of the 3 rocks, aka Faraglione, from the highest point of the island

We then took a bus to Anacapri, which is a higher point on the island.  We did some exploring, but the best thing we found was a chair lift taking us to the absolute top of the island!!  It was one seat per person and it took about 15 minutes to get to the top.  The views were amazing!

chair lift!

view from the top

Once we made it back to Sorrento we rushed home to get ready for an aperitivo at the cafe for sunset and  then a traditional 4 course Italian meal (I have done this twice before, once with my sis and once with my parents at the same excellent restaurant - it's my thing now I guess!).  The sunset did not disappoint and we each had Prosecco to commemorate our time there (I also do this everytime).  I toasted to my parents because, at least for my dad, this is probably his all time favorite spot on earth.  

Cheers mom and dad!

After the sun finally set and it was getting pretty chilly we set off for our dinner.  It didn't disappoint again!  We started with an antipasto of frutti di mare with grilled octopus, squid, clams, and mussels.  I figured that we should do seafood since it's amazing here.  This was definitely not something I would typically order, but I really liked it and the octopus was actually really good (Simona, you should appreciate that!).  Then I got carbonara again for my first plate and mussels for my second (Kelley, can you believe I ordered mussels???).  Court got lasagna and mussels, very good!  I learned from my past experiences that you have to be very careful what you order for your second plate and mussels really are the best choice.  When I was here with Kel I ordered carbonara and chicken with potatoes, it was a disaster and I thought I was going to explode.  We skipped on a dessert because we were very full, but we did get a nice glass of limoncello - Court's first!  It was chilled perfectly and was the best I've ever had.  Our waiter was sad to see us go because Courtney had worn him down over the course of our dinner.  He seemed very surly in the beginning, but a few giggles later from Court and he was all ours! :)

After that we headed back to the hotel to pass out, but not after we had a glass of wine with some of the cooking class students who also reside at our hotel (there is a class offered through the B&B).  They were from Chicago and were perfectly nice, aside from some pompousness on one's part.  The next day we were off early for Roma!

I realize I wrote a lot and I'm only halfway through the trip so I think I'm going to leave Rome for another post! a domani!