Arrivederci - Lucia, I'm Home!

Wait...We Are Back Already?!??

2011-07-16T05:53:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's true. We have returned to American soil. Here is the update post on our final days in Italy:

For the first 11 days in July, we rented a vacation apartment in Praiano, on the Amalfi Coast. What a beautiful place! We had a small balcony that looked out over the Mediterranean, and what a view it was; our apartment was several hundred feet up from sea level, allowing us to see pretty far in all directions. We spent our days relaxing, resting, enjoying the weather, savoring the local food (seafood and lemons especially) and trying to fight off the passage of time so we didn't have to leave.

Also while we were there, we spent a couple days on the island of Capri. This was a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary. We hired a local skipper to take us around the island. He showed us all of the neat little grottoes and towering cliffs. We even got to hop out and swim through the Green Grotto, which is a tunnel under a small peninsula where the light produces amazing blue-green colors underwater. One night we sat outside of a hotel and had a glass of wine while watching all of the people go by. It was peaceful and exciting at the same time.

After we left the Amalfi Coast we made our way up to Rome for our final two days. It was tough to do anything because it was 100 degrees outside during the day, but it was still amazing to see the city. On our last night, we took a cab ride around and saw the Colosseum, the Forum, and Castel Sant'Angelo all lit up. It was the perfect way to cap off our amazing trip.

More from Lucia on our final days coming up!

Arrivederci!

Spello and L'Infiorata

2011-07-02T06:38:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went down to Umbria for a special event. It was the Festa di Corpus Domini in the city of Spello. What makes this fesival so special is the corresponding celebration, L'Infiorata. More on that in a minute.

We arrived in Spello on a Friday afternoon, and found the locals to be very inviting and friendly. The town is like many other medieval towns, located atop the crest of a small hill so it would be easier to defend. Our hotel was right downtown, a perfect spot to witness what was about to unfold.

Saturday began the setup for L'Infiorata, which is a celebration of biblical and historical events through huge, elaborate "tapestries" of flower petals laid out on the streets of downtown Spello. Starting in the afternoon, the designs were laid out across the streets in the form of large paper sheets with 'paint-by-number' stencil designs. We could not believe how big (some were perhaps 40' x 10') and detailed these designs were. The designs were covered with large tents to shield the flowers from the wind. Then, starting around 7:00 PM, the teams began laying out the flower petals across the designs. Most of the flower petals were tiny, maybe half the size of a fingernail. Some people were putting them down with tweezers and aligning them with a credit card. It appeared to be exhausting work.

All through the night the teams worked, most finishing up the next morning. We actually got up at 3:00 AM to check on the progress, and found the town to be very active, with lots of people walking around and checking out the progress. In the morning, we got to see the finished products. Wow! They were even better than we ever thought they could be. After the Sunday mass, the priest led a procession through town, and walked over the flowers. All that work, and it gets ruined almost immediately.

We will post pictures of our favorite designs in a later post, because right now we have limited internet access.

Arrivederci!

Catching Up - Part 2

2011-06-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

I know, two posts in one day...can you handle it? We finally have a few days to catch up before heading south on Thursday.

Verona - 2 days

We met a couple from Colorado Springs a few months ago who come to Italy every year or two for a bike trip. They said we could not miss seeing an opera in the amphitheater in Verona. We looked at tickets and were able to find some for opening night. We had no idea if opening night would be as big of a deal in Italy as in the US, but the timing worked for us. It definitely was! The president of Italy showed up, thousands of people came, and we brushed arms with Italian celebrities (we had no idea who they were though). Everyone even sang the national anthem before the show started. We saw La Traviata and it was spectacular! It was even more impressive because we were in an historical city, in an ancient arena, and saw a full, red moon rise behind the "stage". We rented bikes the next day and saw more of Verona including Juliet's house and famous balcony and a large equestrian center just out of town.

Lake Como/Maggiore - 3 days

Wow! I am shocked Como isn't on more lists of the most beautiful places in the world. Picture this...the "foothills" of the Alps (which are still several thousand feet high) drop right into a clear, blue narrow but deep lake with small towns scattered around the lake filled with interesting architecture and neat shops and restaurants as well as the most beautiful villas all along the water. To top it off, there are very few tourists, especially Americans and virtually no boats on the water. We rented a boat one day and felt like we were the only ones on the lake. I'm sure in another month or two the place will be filled with Europeans on vacation, but we had the lake to ourselves. Here are some pictures I have to share so that everyone can experience the beauty of this area.

George Clooney's house

Bergamo - 2 days

We had a day of relaxation in the hotel spa one day with a sauna, steam room, pool, etc. We went to Citta Alta (the part of town up on a hill) via funicular for dinner and went back the next day to look in all the shops. A very quaint, neat town that we never would have seen had we only come to Italy for a short vacation.

Arrivederci!

Shifting Directions

2011-06-28T05:04:00.004-04:00

Last night we went into Florence for dinner. We headed out to take the bus into town like we normally do, but when we got to the bus stop we noticed that the schedule was different. And then we noticed that the stop listing was different. Nonetheless, we got on, since we knew it was still going to go downtown.

Once we crossed the river into the downtown area, it was like entering the backwards world. All of a sudden, half the streets we knew like the back of our hands by this point had changed, with one-ways flipping directions, and others being closed to auto traffic completely. Confused as we were, we still managed to get off at the correct stop and make our way to dinner.

Imagine if they did this in New York City. "No news to report this morning, but oh, hey, 5th Avenue now goes north, and 57th street is now pedestrian only." Maybe it's just because we were travelling last week, but we never saw any notice that this was going to happen.

It's an interesting parallel to our Italian adventure. One goal we had in coming here was to push ourselves a bit, to break out of our comfort zone. We knew the directions of all the streets back home, and taking this journey turned everything backwards. But, of course, soon enough we'll be familiar with the new directions our lives are taking, and everything will be familiar again.

Only two more weeks until we head home.

Arrivederci!

Ricardo

Catching Up - Part 1

2011-06-24T05:53:00.004-04:00

Ok, ok, we haven't posted a whole lot lately. It's only because we've been traveling a bunch, so we haven't had time to blog. Here's a quick recap of where we've been recently:

ROME - 3 days
Rome wasn't built in a day (don't you just hate cliches?), and it was hard enough to see all of it in 3 days. Nevertheless, we tried, as we got to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Baths at Caracalla, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, and everything in between. My favorite was the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums. It's hard to express how impressive the Sistine Chapel is, especially given how much Italian and Renaissance art we've seen on this trip; the works in the chapel blow pretty much everything else out of the water.

MILAN - 2 days
Milan was an impressive city. It's certainly newer and more modern than most of the cities that we've been to in Italy, but it still retains a lot of old-world feel and charm. The main cathedral was especially memorable. The facade and exterior walls were incredibly detailed and artistic, and the interior is lined with a wealth of awesome stained glass windows. We also did plenty of window shopping in Milan, as it's the fashion capital of Italy. Plus, as Lucia mentioned, we had martinis at the Four Seasons and managed to talk our way into a private Tom Ford event. Plenty of memories from Milan!

More to come soon about Verona, the Lakes, and Bergamo.

Arrivederci!

The Plug List is Getting Longer

2011-06-23T15:22:00.000-04:00

We have been adding to our "Plug List" over the past year, so I wanted to list all of the Plug List experiences we've had in Italy so far. As you might remember, a Plug List is a list of things that you do in life before someone "pulls the plug" that you can't plan or expect to happen but make your life all the better. In essence, they "plug the gaps" of your Bucket List.

- Sitting in beanbag chairs on a bridge in Florence watching the Arno River below and stars above
- Getting a private tour of a balsamic vinegar shop by a fourth generation family member
- Watching a street band perform traditional Neapolitan songs with Ricardo's relative and seeing how much he appreciated the songs
- Attending La Traviata on opening night at an outdoor amphitheater (think Colosseum) in Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet, watching the full moon rise behind the performance
- Learning to cook from real Italians, not by taking cooking classes
- Renting a boat on Lake Como and just taking in the beautiful mountains, amazing villas and sweet lakeside towns
- Talking our way into a Tom Ford private event in Milan, drinking champagne and trying on $1,500 shoes
- Meeting distant relatives whom Ricardo never knew existed but now feeling much more connected to his family tree and heritage
- Witnessing a Liberation Day reenactment and celebration and feeling like we were a part of it
- Learning how to order martinis and get a haircut in a foreign country and language

I am sure there are many more but these are some of the ones that stick out most in my mind. We'll post more on our recent Rome, Milan, Verona, Lake Como/Maggiore, and Bergamo adventures tomorrow. Until then...

Arrivederci!

A Brief Culinary History of Our Trip

2011-06-13T15:35:00.002-04:00

Since we have mentioned in the past that we are foodies, I thought I should write a bit about some of the food that we have encountered over the past two months. (Two months already?? Wow.)

First off, the cuisines are very regional here. More meat and cheese here in Tuscany, more fish by the coasts, lots of great sweet treats down south, and the pizza is different in every city. I wouldn't say that we have had a favorite cuisine, but that we have liked certain aspects of each one very much.

Second, it cannot be described how good some of the fresh produce is. We have had some of the best fruit we have ever had here; the strawberries are fantastic, and the cherries are easily the best we have ever tried. Both are far juicier than the types we are used to.

Lastly, Lucia and I have been discussing Italian cuisine in general. We came to the conclusion that it's not really that the food here is that much better than in the US, it's that the ingredients they use are so much fresher, which in turn makes the meals taste that much better.

We have been trying to learn some new recipes to take home with us, too. Only one month more to find some more tasty dishes!

Arrivederci!

Halftime Report

2011-06-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that we are more than halfway through our Italian adventure. Last night at dinner, Ricardo and I were using football halftime as an analogy for where we are. It is time to take a break, relax, recharge, and decide how we want to "play" the rest of the game.

We have loved every minute of this adventure and have already made so many wonderful memories. However, I think we both realized that we want to do a little less sightseeing (our future trip to Rome excluded) and a lot more of what we do best (people-watching, walking the less-traveled streets, eating, hiking, renting a vespa, taking a sailing lesson, taking cooking classes,etc.). Don't get us wrong. We have loved the sightseeing and we cannot spend time in Italy without understanding the history. We are just getting a little run down and want to spend more time relaxing and making our remaining 5 1/2 weeks count. Before long, we will be back to work with a million things on our plate so we want to make sure we are not only enjoying Italy, but also enjoying each other.

Ricardo and I both feel that this trip has helped our states of mind (NYC was starting to wear on both of us more than we probably realized), life goals and, most importantly, our love for each other. I know it sounds sappy but we really have fallen even more in love with each other on this trip. You would think spending 24 hours a day together for the past two months would have the opposite effect, but it has brought us closer together. On the agenda for this week- Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Bergamo. Italy on 3 1....2....3....Italy!!

Arrivederci!

The Power of History

2011-06-02T12:23:00.003-04:00

I described in my last post how we were going to meet up with some of my distant relatives, and get to see the areas where my great-grandparents grew up before emigrating to the US. We were excited to finally get to meet up with someone who (unfortunately, unsuccessfully) helped us through the visa process.

The weekend could not have gone any better. The people we stayed with went way past being hospitable, with the typical Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" attitude that you'd expect. I think we left the south of Italy a little heavier than when we arrived.

On Sunday, we visited Taurasi, where my great-grandmother (bisnonna in Italian) was from, and then Frigento, where my great-grandfather (bisnonno) grew up. It was more of a moving experience than I realized it would be. To stand in the same spot where 100 years ago, my bisnonno might have stood and watched the cattle drink from the town fountain (Fontana della Madonna) and have the fountain still be there...it had an effect on me. It made me want to research my family history, to update the family tree that we got from our hosts in Avellino, and to try to connect everyone and convince more of my family to visit these places.

We live in an age where most everyone in the world is reachable with a few strokes of a keyboard. I think it would be interesting if we could put that power to use and bring together people that may not have known they were even family.

Arrivederci!

Off on Another Journey!

2011-05-27T05:09:00.003-04:00

As I write this, Lucia and I are zooming along the western coastline of Italy, on the Frecciarossa train down to Naples. From there, we will take a bus to the town of Avellino, where we will meet up with my grandfather's cousin. We will be staying with him and his family for a few days. It is going to be special for me, as we get to reconnect with distant relatives, and we get to thank someone who has helped us immensely with planning our trip to Italy.

We spoke the other day with the people we will be staying with, and they mentioned that on Sunday, they had set up a gathering of family and friends to take place in Frigento. I suppose it will take the place of a Memorial day barbecue that we may have had this weekend back in the US That will undoubtedly be special, because Frigento is where my ancestors came from, where they lived before my great-grandparents emigrated to America. I hope our Italian is good enough to communicate with everyone!

Also on this trip, we hope to explore Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi coast. It is our first foray into southern Italy, and it will be interesting to see how life differs from the Florentine days and nights that we are now used to.

Arrivederci!

Italy in Pictures

2011-05-22T17:08:00.000-04:00

We wanted to share some of the fantastic sights we've taken in over the past couple weeks.

Our apartment in Florence:

We're staying at a fashion designer's apartment, so as you can see, color is pretty prominent. Also, Tosca likes it here.

Boboli Gardens:

Lucia at a meeting of the minds

Palazzo Pitti from atop the hill

Ricardo, playing it cool in the gardens

San Marino:

Guaita Tower. Every view from atop this city is just breathtaking.

Cinque Terre:

Ricardo and Lucia on the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Can you see how tired this hike is making us?

Later in the hike. Almost to Vernazza!

An alleyway in Vernazza

Still life in Vernazza

One very enterprising gatto in Vernazza. I hope he got some pesce.

On the "Lover's Walk" from Manarola to Riomaggiore

Lucca:

The Palazzo Pfanner from atop the city walls

Arrivederci!

Wishing we were with our family

2011-05-16T15:08:00.000-04:00

The past couple of days have been very hard. We received some terrible news and wanted, more than anything, to be with our family. We had actually just said last week how we don't feel that far away from friends and family because of Skype, email, Facebook, etc. However, we could not have felt farther away this weekend. We really had to lean on each other for support. Luckily, we were able to Skype with our entire family last night, which made the distance (and pain) a little easier to bear. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers now in this tough time.

We went to Rimini this weekend, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. The weather Saturday was gorgeous and we were even able to lay at the beach for a while. Yesterday, we felt like we were in the midst of a mild hurricane though. It poured and the winds were gusting all day....a perfect day for sitting at a restaurant talking all day. Today, we left Italy...for San Marino! This is a small, landlocked country in Italy that doesn't even have border control. We took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain and saw a few ancient fortresses before paying €5 each to get an official San Marino passport stamp. It was worth it to prove that we were there and it is a neat stamp. We took a scenic, but very long drive home tonight and are happy to be relaxing for a bit.

Arrivederci!

Time is flying!

2011-05-13T12:36:00.002-04:00

Looking at the calendar today, I realized that we have already been in Italy for four weeks. How did that happen so quickly? Lucia and I counted yesterday, we have visited 12 cities already. And we haven't even been south of Rome yet! It's strange how comfortable we are starting to feel here. Tasks which we would consider routine back in the US, and which we found challenging at first here, are starting to feel routine again, in a good way. If that makes sense.

For example, yesterday I got my hair cut. In the US, this is something I wouldn't think twice about. Here, I was a touch nervous about it, and put it off for a few days. It got to the point where the hair was just unacceptably long so in I went to the barber yesterday. I was able to get my intended haircut style across to the barber in broken Italian and hand gestures. We got to talking, and he actually complimented my Italian, and another guy in the store joked that I spoke better than some Italians. The barber recommended some places in Puglia to visit, because that's where he was from. It turned out to be a fun half an hour.

Not to say that any of the above means that we now intend to stay here forever. America will always be home, and we would miss our families way too much if we stayed here. But, for the moment, we feel comfortable and at home here. This weekend we are going on another trip to Rimini, and perhaps next week we will make a bigger trip to Sicily. Stay tuned!
Arrivederci!
Ricardo

Leaning ways

2011-05-10T16:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we headed over to Pisa for a day trip. We saw the Leaning Tower and of course did some cheesy pictures of us holding it up like everyone else there. The tower is beautiful but wow, they really needed better architects and structural engineers back then. We also saw the cathedral (Ricardo's favorite so far), the Camposanto (an old burial ground), and did some people-watching whilst sitting in the lawn. Pisa is a cute town but you really only need to go for a day.

Today, we tackled my grandmother's dare to climb up to the top of the Duomo in Florence, 463 steps. I was a bit nervous about this but couldn't turn down a dare. If she did it, I was going to too! The first 100 steps were the hardest. Our hearts were racing and there were people behind us so we couldn't stop. After that, there were places to stop or step aside and I guess our adrenaline kicked in too. We could walk along the inside of the cupola and see the beautifully painted ceiling up close before continuing our climb. We made it to the top and the view made it all worthwhile. We both felt a little dizzy though after all the twists and turns so today, we were the ones who felt like we were leaning.

Mother's Day, and a New Friend

2011-05-08T08:46:00.003-04:00

First off, I wanted to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. It's tough not being able to be with either of our mothers today, but hopefully they know how much we miss them.

Next, last night Lucia and I made a friend last night. We had previously learned about a wine bar from a ristorante that we had visited in Florence and it came very highly recommended, so we had to try it out. We had randomly walked by it the other day when we were at the Boboli Gardens, and so at that time we made a reservation for a wine tasting/dinner. Little did we know what we had in store.

The owner of the enoteca sat us down and fed us unbelievable Tuscan food, and kept pouring us tastes of many good Italian wines. It was incredibly fun to talk with him about wine, and we asked him plenty of questions to pick his brain. We asked him about any courses or classes that we could take on wine while we are in Italy, but his recommendation was that we just taste our way through Italy and form our own palate and opinions. Sounds like a plan to me!

As the night went on, and I kept raving about the food, I finally asked him if I could come in some time and learn how to make Italian dishes like the ones they served, and he was more than happy to oblige! So, we'll be going back there from time to time, and learning about food and wine. Very exciting!

Arrivederci!

Some takeaways from Italy

2011-05-05T13:41:00.000-04:00

Since Ricardo explained some of our frustrations in a previous post, I thought I'd talk about the cool things we wish the US would adopt.

The first three involve grocery stores:
-The Esselunga (Italy's version of Wal-Mart) has parking below the store. To get your cart up a floor, you go on a moving sidewalk ramp. The grocery cart magnetizes to the ramp so that doesn't slide around. Ricardo and I were both pretty amused by this.
-You put a Euro in to get your cart that you then get back when you return your cart (kind of like the luggage carts at an airport). This encourages people to put their carts back in the proper place and not leave them all over the parking lot.
-Third, you have to pay for your grocery bags. You can buy reusable bags (which we did), so you aren't buying bags every time. I bet this encourages people to be more green.

-Instead of putting your own trash out once a week in front of your casa, you put your trash in a dumpster on the road. They also have recycling "dumpsters" separated by plastic, paper, and even organics for composting. I'm sure this saves the city time and money picking up garbage and sorting recyclables.

-At a bar in Bologna, each person receives a tab card. When you order something, it gets marked on your individual card. You have to pay the bill and get your card stamped before you can leave. This is nice because you don't have to leave your credit card with the bartender and worry about forgetting it or getting someone else's drink charged to it. It is also beneficial when someone wants to leave early; they just pay their individual bill rather than leaving money and possibly leaving the others stuck if they don't leave enough.

I'm sure there are others, but for now...

Arrivederci!

Random Notes From Florence

2011-05-04T10:06:00.002-04:00

I don't have any specific topic in mind to write about today so here are a few random bullet points:

~ We are now moved into our apartment in Florence, where we will be for the next two months. It's nice to not have to live out of a suit case any more, over two weeks of that was plenty. Our apartment is just a few miles outside the center of town, near a smaller town called Scandicci. We have found that we can take the bus and be downtown in 10-15 minutes, which is nice.

~ The first night we were here, Sunday night, we headed downtown for dinner to a place called Trattoria Garga. It turned out to be really good. The staff was friendly, the food was amazing, and we just had a great time. Lucia had pasta with artichokes and bottarga (fish roe) which was very different but good. While we ate we chatted with the couple next to us, who were from Colorado Springs. It was nice to have Americans to talk to for an hour or so.

~ On our way home from the restaurant, we walked. It took us about 40 minutes, and it was a perfect night for walking. Along the way, we encountered another Plug List item. If you don't remember the plug list, just click the plug list tag at the bottom of this post for a reminder. Anyways, this time, we somehow ended up sitting in beanbags on a bridge above the Arno river, staring up at the clearest night sky. It was quite a feeling, being in a city with such life and romance, and amidst it all this tranquil moment. A great way to start off our time in Florence!

Arrivederci!

Venice, the Las Vegas of Italy

2011-05-02T16:10:00.000-04:00

We headed up to Venezia on Thursday to celebrate Ricardo's 30th birthday. We got up very early and took the first train from Bologna. We got there around 10AM and took the vaporetto to our hotel. We dropped our bags off and took off. Our hotel is right near Piazza San Marco so it didn't take long for us to find a delicious lunch and see the famous structures in the Piazza. At my grandmother's suggestion, we got gelato and watched all of the tourists and pigeons in the square before walking around a bit. We didn't really have an agenda and did not feel like waiting for hours to do some of the touristy stuff. Sometimes we enjoy just walking around and getting a feel for the area. As the title of this post implies, we concluded that Venice is a bit like Las Vegas. It is touristy, expensive, but you can't help but be invigorated by it all. The romance, gondaliers, beautiful architecture, and meandering paths over bridges and through narrow walkways...it is just breathtaking! Pictures just cannot do justice to this city. After a while, we headed to dinner at Fiaschetteria Toscana to celebrate. The food was delicious, mostly local seafood which hit the spot after two weeks of mostly meats, cheeses, and pasta. It ended up being a late night of celebrating and meeting new people.

The next day, we had brunch and then headed over to Murano to see the beautiful glass and watch the glassmakers in action. We ended up walking away a bit poorer but with a beautiful piece of artwork that will remind us of this spectacular trip. We had to name our piece of artwork that will go on the Certificate of Authenticity. We decided on "Il Dolce Far Niente", again meaning "the sweetness of doing nothing", which has been our motto and outlook for this trip. We wandered around a bit more once we got back to Venice before we had to get the train back home. All in all, a fantastic trip!

Balsamic Vinegar and Parmigiano, yum!

2011-04-29T17:19:00.001-04:00

As we have mentioned before, we get kind of geeked out when it comes to food. It's no wonder we chose Italy for our journey, as it has so many culinary treats and traditions to explore and enjoy. We got to experience two of them this week.

On Tuesday, we drove up to Modena, home of the world's best balsamic vinegar. We started off by wandering around the center of the city (as has become our M.O.) to see the sights. We grabbed a pizza for lunch near this huge old military building, and after that pointed the Fiat south to Castelvetro. There we got an amazing private tour at La Dispensa Vecchia, a small producer of several types of vinegar. Our extremely nice tour guide showed us all of their production rooms and walked us through the processes and strict regulations in order for their vinegar to be classified an Aceto Balsamico di Modena Tradizionale. It was interesting for us both because we knew nothing about the process and because our guide (a member of the family that runs the business) seemed so proud of their products and business. And then we got to try some! It was just amazing. Quite a treat.

On Wednesday we drove even farther away, to the small village of Varsi, to a small farm called Caseificio Val Ceno. There they produce Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses. Again we got a great private tour, but this time it was a little harder to understand because the tour guide did not speak English. We were able to understand almost all of it, but he had to be a little patient with us. At the end, he let us try all kinds of cheeses they made on the farm, all fantastic. We ended that days trip with a beautiful drive through the countryside and up into the mountainside. What a great two days!

Things we are lacking here in Italia

2011-04-26T14:35:00.002-04:00

Over the 11 days we have been here so far, we have come across a couple of glitches. Mainly things that we have been looking for and for one reason or another couldn't find. Here is a list of those items:

-Peanut butter. Apparently doesn't exist in this country, but they have Nutella by the truckload.
-Spinach. They have something called spinaccio, which you would assume is spinach, but it's more like less bitter broccoli rabe.
-Clothes dryers. No easy 45 minute dry cycle for us! Let's see if we can get these jeans dry by next month, shall we?
-120 volts. Am I right, engineers? (nerd joke)
-Orange juice. The orange juice here is weird, like they took regular orange juice and blended in a bunch of SweeTarts. They do have arance rosse, or blood orange juice, but it is cursed with the same affliction as its less-sanguine brother.
-Easy-to-see street signs. Did I just miss another turn? I sure did!
-Sour cream. Couldn't find this anywhere in the grocery store today, but they do have a surprising amount of yogurt. Also, the yogurt here seems a little off, but I haven't made a formal opinion on that yet so let's move on.
-Starbucks, and that is actually a good thing. I like Starbucks back home, but the coffee here is fantastic, and I am kind of obsessed with all the coffee bars that are all over the place. I am more than addicted.

More to come as our journey continues...

Arrivederci!

Buona Pasqua

2011-04-25T17:56:00.000-04:00

The past three days have been wonderful. Saturday, we walked all around Bologna and found the neatest shops and sites. There are two towers in the center of town, one of which is severely leaning. We found a neat enoteca and stopped for a glass of wine and Ricardo had his first (and maybe last) grappa of the trip...boy is that stuff pungent! Then we went to the supermercato to stock up on food for the next few days as we figured most restaurants and stores would be closed Sunday for Easter and Monday for Liberation Day. We made dinner and enjoyed the night in our apartment.

Sunday, we slept in and planned our trips for the rest of the week. We decided to go to Ferrara Monday, Modena Tuesday, Parma Wednesday and Venezia Thursday and Friday. We then went for a walk around Bologna and went to a restaurant for dinner. The food was fantastic but the service left a lot to be desired. The manager kept coming by and looking at our tab. Typically in Italy, you have to ask for the bill and you have the table for as long as you want it so we were surprised that he seemed so anxious to get rid of us, especially with several other open tables. He then took our tab and brought the actual bill. We paid right away and asked our server why the manager was trying to get rid of us. He apologized profusely and even gave us some complimentary limoncello. We didn't let him rush us as we were enjoying the nice weather.

Today, we headed to Ferrara and decided to rent bikes to explore the town. It was such a great way to see the city. We saw the Este Castle which is surrounded by a moat right in the center of town. We also saw one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen. They were even holding mass when we went in and it was interesting to hear service in Italian. We also biked around a peaceful park and stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch.

The best part was that it was Liberation Day and they did a reenactment of the end of German-Fascist control that occurred on April 25, 1945. It seemed all of the local residents came to town to celebrate and watch. We'll try to post a video of the festivities later.

Arrivederci!

A Setback, and Then a New City

2011-04-23T06:52:00.003-04:00

Buon giorno from Bologna! We are now staying in a studio apartment on the outskirts of the city here for the next week. This was not the original plan.

We had been staying in the hills outside Florence. While this was a pretty location, and fun for a little while, it had its drawbacks. For one, it was not very easy to get to. We had to drive for 20 minutes up into the hills, including a long drive up a windy dirt driveway, just to get to our farmhouse lodging. Also, it had some problems that generally come with living in a farmhouse. The hot water was spotty at best (you had to run the hot water in the sink for a couple minutes before you could even try the hot water in the shower, and we didn't figure this trick out for a couple days so we had some cold showers...not fun). And then came the final straw...a scorpion in our bathroom! Not having ever encountered one before, we were both sufficiently freaked out to want to switch apartments. That's how we decided to come to Bologna.

Last night was our first night in this new city, and we decided to check out the nightlife, a first for us in Italy. We wandered around the center of the city until we found a bar that seemed to be near the university. The beer was cold, the fried mozzarella was excellent, and the people watching was fantastic. On our way out we noticed a waffle and crepe shop next door, and we just had to try that. Waffles are a favorite of mine, and adding a huge scoop of chocolate gelato did nothing but make the waffle even more delicious. All in all, a fun first night in Bologna!

The Love Affair with Italy has Begun

2011-04-21T16:40:00.000-04:00

Ricardo and I have finally been able to tour around a bit. Tuesday we went to Arezzo, yesterday we went to Fiesole (just north of Florence) and today we went to Scandicci and Firenze centro (downtown Florence). In Fiesole yesterday we found the most unbelievable gelato, watched the church bells ring to call the locals to mass, and I saw my first ancient Roman ruins. We also climbed up a large hill to see the most beautiful view of Florence.

This picture doesn't even do the view justice.

We went to a restaurant last night near our casa that served horse as a meal. Needless to say, we quickly left that place as soon as we saw that and it was hard for me to regain an appetite. Let's hope that was an anomaly and not customary in Italy. Luckily, we found a great substitute restaurant and had a tasty meal.

Today, we drove to Scandicci (right over the Arno River from Florence) to see an apartment owned by Ricardo's relative's friend, Barbara. She was so nice and the apartment is so cool. Every room is painted in a bright color and the apartment is very modern. It is funny because we pictured living out in the hills of Tuscany in some villa before we came here. Now that we're here, we realize this is very different than what you'd imagine. It is hard to get anywhere in Tuscany and the roads are very, very narrow (to the point where you have to pull off the road if another car comes along). We realized we would rather live a little closer to a big city so that we can easily travel around Italy. We were impressed that we were able to hold a 30 minute conversation with Barbara strictly in Italian with little to no trouble. I guess we know more than we think we do.

After we checked out the apartment we went over the river to Florence. We found a small restaurant for dinner. We drove along the Arno River to get back home afterwards. I had heard/read of so many people having a "love affair" with Italy and was curious if it would happen to me. It finally happened tonight when we were driving home. Florence has a heartbeat just like New York. I had the same feeling I did when I first went to New York and am anxious to explore more of Florence. We are also finally feeling more comfortable and at home here. Until the next adventure...

Arrivederci!

Arezzo, una Città Meravigliosa

2011-04-20T17:00:00.002-04:00

Lucia and I drove down to the city of Arezzo yesterday for our first real day of sightseeing in Italy. As the title of this post notes, we found it to be a marvelous city. The minute we parked our car and started walking around, Lucia noted, "This is exactly what I pictured Italy to be like!" We wandered around the strade pedonale (pedestrian streets) for several hours just looking at shops, people watching, and of course, having gelato. The only problem with Arezzo, as we had read beforehand, is that the city is built into quite a hill, and everywhere you walked felt like you were walking uphill. Not that we let that dampen our enthusiasm.

Two stores we visited in Arezzo stood out in our mind. The first was a small enoteca and formaggeria (wine and cheese bar - no way to go wrong there!) Eliana, the store owner and seemingly only employee, recommended to us a fantastic Rosso di Montalcino, and brought us the best fresh pecorino cheese. Not a bad way to spend an, afternoon! Since we were the only customers in the store, we got to talking with Eliana, and she was kind enough to write down some of her favorite Tuscan wineries for tasting. We are going to take her up on the recommendations, because after yesterday, we definitely trust her judgment.

The other place we visited was a coffee bar, where a very animated man poured espresso and other refreshments with gusto. He was a sight to watch, a blur of movement behind the bar, with every order seeming to arrive within seconds, and each looking like it had taken an hour to prepare. We couldn't help ourselves and had to ask about a couple of the drinks he was pouring and though his English was minimal, he tried explaining them to us, and seemed happy to inform us on the Italian way of life.

More to come about today's travels in another post, probably tomorrow.

Arrivederci!
Ricardo

Initial Impressions

2011-04-17T07:07:00.000-04:00

Ricardo and I drove up to Tuscany yesterday and are now staying in a beautiful house up in the hills near a small town called Molino del Piano. We are now well rested, settled and better able to take it all in.

My first impressions are:
-The motorcyclists are crazy and weave all around you. This was a little unnerving when we were trying to navigate around Rome.
-It must be pretty obvious that we are not Italians because everyone in Rome spoke English to us at first. However, as soon as we responded in Italian, most of them spoke to us in Italian. We aren't quite conversational but can understand what most people are saying.
-Deodorant usage is minimal, at least in Rome.
-We are the talk of Molino del Piano. We went to the macelleria (butcher shop) and mercato (market) last night and found out that everyone already knew about us.

The countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We are loving the small town atmosphere and have even cooked our first meal in our small kitchen while enjoying a little local wine. Life is good!

Arrivederci!
Lucia