M- saturday morning (the 7th) we left (somewhat sadly because the b&b was so great) ravenna. we had a mellow and quick morning of travel on 2 different fast trains (no busses!) planned with an entire afternoon and night in venice to follow.

however, when we arrived at the train station we saw “S.O.P.P.” next to our train on the schedule. we found out that it meant that our train was cancelled. how does that happen? we had a connecting train in ferrara that was supposed to get us into venice at 11:30. 

the tellers at the station said we could take a bus which sounded like a horrible idea. so we decided to completely reschedule our morning. the bummer is that we already purchased our tickets and had to get new ones and i think we will have to call to get a refund. the tellers weren’t much help on that front. 

we ended up on equally fast trains which got us into venice just an hour after we were originally scheduled to arrive. 

(have i mentioned how much i love dining cars on trains?! well i do. here i am snacking on a cornetto and a macchiato.)

vencie is surreal. as soon as we exited the train station we saw water right in front of our feet. we bought our tickets for the water taxi. they are rather pricey, slow, and very very un-fancy but you can ride them as much as you want which is excellent.

A- you purchase tickets by the hour instead of by the ride. so, we each bought a 24 hour ticket that allowed us unlimited rides for that time. it turned out to be a good way to sell the tickets. it made it easier to accommodate the spontaneity of our day in venice.  

(on the taxi!)

M- we decided to take advantage of that option and used the water taxi as a way to ride through the entire city since we had a limited amount of time to see a lot of pretty. 

we came to venice just to see venice. because of our very short stay (it’s an expensive place to hang out!) we decided early on to plan on walking and boating around the city just to sort of take it in. the second plan was to put good seafood in our bellies. 

we were very successful at achieving both of these goals! 

first we checked into our 900ish year old hotel/b&b and got directions to a place for lunch. 

A- this is the type of hotel that requires you to leave your room key at the front desk. I liked it - kinda james bond feeling.

M- i like not carrying around a 10 pound tassel with a tiny key attached to it. we made our way down the narrow streets (no more than 2 people wide at several points) and found our recommend restaurant and immediately left. using what we had gradually learned over the past several weeks (expensive = not as good as cheap) we went on a menu hunt and settled on a place that offered a menu in less than 3 languages (multiple language menus are another red flag it seems). 

i went straight for one of the daily specials, sardines (fresh with bones but without faces-not canned) marinated in onions and raisins with polenta. apparently it’s a local sort of dish because i saw it on menus just about everywhere.

aaron got pizza.

my lunch won. venice pizza < florence pizza.

A- venice pizza was still very tasty.

M- not one bit tasty. 

A- (sigh)

M-ha!

A- and was only 5eu for a very generous serving. not that I’m judging my pizza by the “value.” it’s just a shame when you overpay for a lesser pie.

M- our waiter thought it was funny that i was the only one ordering and sort of gave aaron a hard time (not mean just funny) for not speaking italian. 

A- i liked being in a rather “macho” culture and sitting there while my wife took charge. we’re multicultural stereotype shatterers. 

M- take that italy! on the way back we got one of these.

i hadn’t seen them anywhere else in italy so i figure it’s some regional thing but i am mostly sure that i am wrong. it’s like a fancy version of a cows tail. ours was watermelon flavored. i just got it because it was a cool color really. 

A- kinda tasted like bubble-yum, except more plastic-ey.

M- after a brief nap and shower we headed back out into the heat for a long boat ride. to get from one end of the grand canal to the other is a 45 minute ride by taxi. so we sun-screened up and went out. 

but first we got sidetracked and bought some cool local art (more etchings!), checked out another recommend restaurant for our dinner later, promptly decided not to go there

A- ($$$!)

M- and decided to find another place, and found our way back to the taxi. 

the taxi itself is somewhat entertaining. you have people going about their daily business, hauling luggage, and using it as a way to see the city.

A- ooo! remember the venetian “u-haul?” it was a small boat with a bunch of furniture and a mattress on top going down the river. that did NOT look like fun. however, the trash boats were very cool. they had mini-cranes on them to pick up the mini-dumpsters.

M- i completely forgot about all of that. i was not at all jealous of the movers. can you imagine packing a little boat full of furniture?! the taxi is a very active boat. on the canal we passed gondolas, water limos (nope not stretch limos… just ultra pretty smaller boats), cruise ships, tug boats, you name it and it was out there… actually i would describe what we were on more as a water bus. 

here are some of the hundreds of photos from our ride. 

venice is exactly what you expect/want it to look like. at some point i want to go back and explore more of the architecture.

after our long ride we hopped off at one of the ends and walked back to the hotel. there isn’t exactly any sort of reason to the streets… or consistent marking of the streets for that matter.

you sort of walk towards an area (like the rialto bridge) and just get there eventually. we enjoyed getting to wander around the tight streets and got plenty of surprise views.

some were dead ends that brought us to a courtyard and some opened up to the water while others came out in another maze that we didn’t expect to find. 

when we got back to pensione guerrato we studied our travel guide in hopes of finding a good non-touristy restaurant (reasonably priced!) for dinner. 

we totally nailed it. after a walk over the rialto bridge, through several different squares, and under a tunnel we found our place, osteria al mascaron.

A- i’m proud to say that i navigated that entire walk. not a feat i usually take upon myself when i have mary and her crazy brain that is genetically engineered to remember the layout of towns and the routes to get from “A” to “B.” 

M- you did a great job! our restaurant had a good hand written italian menu with lots of seafood!

A- it was so nice to be able to go to a restaurant with a menu that changes so often, because of available ingredients, that it’s hand written. totally cool!

M- i don’t know how people find this restaurant if they aren’t specifically looking for it. it’s located off the beaten path for sure. 

A- and tiny, tiny, tiny. they probably fit in 30-40 people in the space, but it was a cozy fit. perfectly comfortable though. 

M- my goal for venice was to get squid ink risotto. but no one seemed to have it. there was plenty of squid ink pasta but i think it was dried and i wanted the fresh stuff. so we got the scoglio and a mezzo litro of house red wine. 

aaron and i were giddy when it came out. it was served family style which i love and you could smell it as they carried it out from the kitchen. this was an excellent meal. it ranks right up there with the meal i had in rome. i don’t think we stopped smiling all night because it was just perfect.

A- this was a very simple dish, but was super fresh and cooked very well. spaghetti, clams, mussels, shrimps, tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. i’ve had mussels a few times, and have enjoyed them, but this was a totally different type of experience. this was, like, crazy good! nice textures, aroma, and flavors. :)

M- i think i want to go back and hug that plate of food. for dessert we had one of my favorite new things. biscotti with some “sweet” wine. in florence it’s called cantucci e vin santo. here its biscotti di burano con vino passito dolce. this one was an assortment of dryish cookie like things with a less whiskey like liquid than what i had in florence… it was a little more sweet but still very strong. 

i think we were 1 of 2 tables in the restaurant that spoke english. it was fun listening in on all the other tables. the whole place was packed full by the time we left and the staff were very calm and mellow.

A- super mellow. this was very impressive. the food was top, top notch, the service was quick, but the staff was walking at a leisurely pace and took time to talk to the customers. these guys really had their act together. also, there’s no rush for turning tables. we could’ve stayed there for another hour after we were done and wouldn’t even have been given the check unless we specifically asked for it. that’s an aspect of Italian culture that I really like. take your time with your meals.

M- it was a festive place. if (nope when!) i go back to venice, i am going back here for a meal. 

on our walk home we came across possibly the best street musicians we have ever heard. very folksy and energetic. it was like a concert!

A- 4 dudes in their mid 20’s. 2 of them played the violin and 2 played the accordion. they were playing really upbeat stuff and had gathered a big semi-circle of people. 

M- we hung out on the rialto bridge…

(view from the bridge)

and had some of the worst photos taken of us out of all of the photos from the entire trip. multiple times. it was hilarious!

A- there were so many tourists that as soon as we got out our camera, people would offer to take our picture (and then we would take theirs in return).

then we got on the taxi to go to st. marks square. this was a HUGE open space surrounded by super decorated churches and buildings. like, the entire fronts of churches were plastered with sculptures. very cool. we got our picture taken again,

attempted to dance to 1 of the 4 bands, and wandered around a bit. mary, make this sound fancier… what did we look at? 

M- ultra venetian decorated churches and buildings. with lots of sculptures. oh it was at night time. :)

here! have a photo!

then we walked over to ponte dell’accademia because it was mentioned in a book that we are reading and we thought it would be fun to see it. 

(view from the accademia bridge)

A- 20 points to anyone who can guess the book.

M- afterwards we waited for a good while for the night vaporetto. it was packed full of people trying to catch a ride home (walking takes a really very long time here!… ahem crazy streets!). it was a fun ride at midnight 30. everyone was awake and festive, some people were all prettied up too. 

(ok these people aren’t smiling…but they just were!)

i forgot to mention! lots of tiny dogs in venice. and they ride the taxi!

after our day of walking and riding around in the venetian sun we were wiped out. we packed our bags to prepare for our day of travel to switzerland and passed out. 

that was a cool day. 

M- this morning (thursday) we left civita di bagnoregio for ravenna.  i

(so tall!)

woke up feeling ill. we had a pretty full day of traveling ahead of us, a shuttle from the base of the pedestrian bridge into bagnoregio, an hour bus ride from bagnoregio to the orvieto train station, a 3 hour train ride into bologna, and finally a 1.5 hour ride from bologna to ravenna.

our b&b sent us off with another bready breakfast which neither of us ate much off because we were both a little anxious about our day. we made it into bagnoregio and caught our bus. going down the mountain was far more worse that going up it.

A- ugh… I’m really glad that I don’t get car sick as easily as I did when I was a kid. I was slightly nauseous for an hour…

 M- aaron and i were exhausted from the roller coaster ride (and we even like roller coasters!). our train was delayed a bit so we had a chance to sit still but we were cranky! (picture of cranky below.)

this train was cool because it was divided into compartments. after a while we found one that was empty and pulled all the curtains closed to catch a nap.

A- these were totally like in Harry Potter. I made sure to act like I was asleep, with my hat over my face (like professor Lupin) to discourage any other compartment guests.

 M- there weren’t any dementors though. we were also hungry so we grabbed some really awful food from the trolley that passed by. the only things that exist on the smaller trains are white bread with mayo and one of the following: ham, salami, tuna.

our next train looked like a space shuttle and had awesome AC which helped with our upset stomachs.

when we arrived in ravenna we felt like we had found a normal city. nothing too extreme. it was a good change of pace i think. we found our next b&b which is this stunning “house” (or really a mansion in the city) run by nonna oride and her family. it was an oasis of eclectic rooms with tons of space. the bed was awesome. and there were dogs! tolomeo and cichi.

this house had a library (which now that i think of it… we never went to find) where you could borrow a book and take it with you and just mail it back when you were finished.

nonna oride greeted us and had to put up with my terrible italian. she did not speak any english at all but she took us all the way upstairs, set up our bathroom towels, showed us how to work the air conditioning, and spent a great deal of time going back and forth with me about the various keys that we needed to get into the building and our room. 

do you know what this is?! it is my favorite thing in our room. it blew my mind when we figured it out.

of course we should have known what it was. doesn’t every good house come with an egg fridge? when we were walking around later that day we noticed a café that had a human sized egg fridge.

A- no, no, no… dog sized.

M- i think you mean giant dog sized. what’s the deal with these? i have to look into this egg fridge.

A- then we walked to the “in-coop” (nice supermarket)

M- it’s the whole foods of italy.

A- to get some picnic supplies (this is really the best way to eat on the cheap when you want food NOW!) and to the farmacia (pharmacy) to get mary some Italian style Alka-Seltzer (that was a fun conversation to watch. a lot of stomach grabbing and fizzy-noise making).

M- i think that woman thought i was insane. but it worked!

A- then, we sat in the city park and ate our bread, cheese, veggies/couscous, peaches, and yogurt (mmmmm).  then, back to the room for a nap (afternoon naps have become a standard activity).

M- “have become” for you! i love to take naps. welcome to the sleepy side!

A- later, we went out to explore (we forgot to mention that ravenna just happened to be in the middle of a huge music festival – good timing!) and stumbled across a concert by Tibetan monks. so, we listened to some nice throat singing (mary’s got a recording if you’re interested)

M- maybe i will make it my new ringtone.

 A- and then proceeded to choose a very bad place for dinner (sigh). 

M- we have at this point finally figured out the trick to finding good food in italy. i wonder actually if it applies to all of Europe.  if the price seems a few euros higher than other places, or more than you really want to pay, it’s a disaster. if it is cheap, it’s perfection. my excellent meal in rome (wine, soup, sides of veg, dessert) cost 12 euro 50 all together.

A- 12 euro 50.

M- if a single plate of food costs that much it’s basically crap and not the homemade feeling food that you want to have. so far this is true. this meal that we had was 10 euro a plate….for 3 slices of eggplant with excessive cheese and skewers that severed no function sticking out of the middle, towering over the plate. so when i got back to casa masoli i ate some yogurt.

A- then… shower, cold sleep, and GOOD BREAKFAST!

M- best breakfast we have had since leaving florence. fresh fruit, yogurt, something like 10 different pasteries (which weren’t too sweet), mixed nuts and dried fruit, cheese, and ham. and coffee… and juice and cereal. ok that’s it. mmm snarf!

then we had to do some more laundry. 

(graffiti that was meant for the two of us!)

and then we got another picnic lunch from the in-coop. except this time we ate at the room because the lavanderia was incredibly hot. 

A- we spent the next day staring at friggin’ amazing mosaics! 

M- ok, these deserve a little bit more of a description than friggin’ amazing. i agree that they are that though. they are byzantine mosaics and in such good condition. we went to the basilica of san vitale-

and the mausoleum of gallia placidia.

(it’s hard to get out the camera when it is raining!)

i loved how close they let us get. you could see each individual tessera that made up the mosaic.

when we got home it started to storm. it cooled everything off and was nice and cloudy. it was great to have a break from the heat.

A- we managed to find a good place for dinner (thanks to our rick steve’s guide) complete with small, energetic, old Italian waiters. i had a very simple yet yummy spaghetti with garlic, oil, and peppers.

mary had a bowl of pasta in broth (which she claims doesn’t count as zuppa).

M- that’s because it isn’t zuppa!

A- we also had some yummy desserts (mine was a chocolate ice cream thingy floating in whiskey – mary’s was this firm custard thing with cherries).

M- you forgot the excellent artichokes! we got them before our meal. there was a lot of stem still attached which you don’t usually see. they were so smooth… i wanted about 10 more orders.

A- then… shower, cold sleep, and GOOD BREAKFAST!

…and then a very fast walk to the train station to leave for venezia (via Ferrara). oops, our train to Ferrara is cancelled….crap…OK,

M- they wanted us to take a bus… which did not sound good.

A- so, we’ll take this next train that goes to Bologna instead. now we’ll trade our Ferrara to Venice ticket for a Bologna to Venice ticket.

next…

“VENICE IS A CRAZY ISLAND TOWN FULL OF OLD BUILDINGS!!! and really good seafood”

our internet connection this week has been either very slow or just nonexistent. so here is what we have been up to this week! also aaron and i are joint blogging now which is more fun! our comments are marked by M and A.

M- tuesday morning we woke up as the tiny main square in civita was coming alive for the day. only about 15 people live here so the employees that work at the few places open for business come and go each day.

we had a very simple breakfast of toast (it’s very hard and more like a cracker than bread), oj, and a cornetto each with butter and jelly

A- and 2 espressos ZING!

M- after breakfast we went out to explore. we had walked around a little bit on monday and had found some old caves under the town so we decided to take our walk a little further today. 

this is a chapel that also functioned as a jail at one point (not at the same time…)

we were not expecting to find this tunnel…

after a little research we found out that it is an original etruscan tunnel that was later widened in WWII. it was so nice and cold. the city is sort of an oval and the tunnel runs perpendicular on one of the short sides. we popped out the other end and found a rough looking trail so we followed it for a bit.

if we had been more prepared…

A- read: first aid kit, long pants, food, and water…

M- we would have gone for a hike in the mountains. but we were not at all so we headed back up the steep inclines to civita.

we stopped in at a sort of museum (if you can call it that…collection of old stuff in a cave might be a better description). you can find old olive oil presses all over the town. this one might be the biggest that we saw.

A- we also found out that this town was the location where they filmed a Pinocchio movie back in 2008.  This cave was used as Gepetto’s workshop.

M- next we grabbed a bruschetta snack in another cave. so far the bread in italy has been a bit dull… there isn’t much flavor and the texture of the crust is something like a dry sponge. however, i think this bread was meant for bruschetta.

A- advertized as “toast bread.”

M- after it was thrown on a fire and toasted it turned into something totally different.

 A- a magical unicorn. 

M-  bwa! we ordered ours with eggplant and oil.

after a rest from the sun we went across the street to the geological museum. it wasn’t quite what we expected (which was more rock) but it showed how the shape of the landscape has changed over time which gave us a better understanding of why civita looks like it does.

(this is actually a sign that isn’t in the museum- it is outside somewhere but i didn’t have a good image of the museum)

we went for lunch at a tourist trap (not knowing that it was one) which i didn’t really expect to find in civita since it is so small and not many people come through. it tasted like it had come out of a bag and the tomatoes in our salad were white (in italy…. in the middle of the summer!).  so the hunt was on for something excellent for dinner.

for a few hours we hung out on the square just people and pigeon watching. we found a great italian beer (!!!) which was perfect during the hot afternoon. civita is fantastically cool and breezy in the evening but the afternoon is very warm.

before dinner aaron and I walked around to take pictures. here are just a few.

we had an excellent dinner! i have become a huge fan of simple zuppa during the past 5 weeks. believe it or not… pasta and pizza get to be rather old sometimes because you don’t always get something fresh or innovative

A- pizza never gets old. Mary is delirious.

M- are you telling me that pizza in Venice didn’t taste like an old cracker?!

A- you’re an old cracker.

M- pfh. your nickname is old cracker! anyways, so things taste a little tired. but if you can manage to find a good local family restaurant you might strike gold (which is a little more difficult than i expected it to be).

we ate at this place:

for dinner i had zuppa farro e fagoli-

and aaron had pici al pesto pistachio.

and a side of potatoes.

I could have eaten 3 bowls of that soup. it was so excellent.  the sad thing about eating outside though is you are usually bombarded by people smoking like they would never get another cigarette.

A-literally, like 8 cigarettes for one women. the rest of her family only had about  3-4 each

M- and it puts a major bummer on the meal. all you can smell and taste is smoke. i find it to be horribly rude and disgusting. I want to taste this beautiful soup! so we waited through the smoking storm to savor our yummy bites.

we were greeted by begging cats as well. which was to us, pretty cute. they sat on the ground and squinted and meowed. but, sadly for them I didn’t share.

for dessert we had lemon tiramisu and something else that was chocolaty.

before we went to sleep a spider visited us in our room and managed to fall into one of our bags. so we packed it up and took everything outside to dump it out and rid ourselves of the spider. 

wednesday morning we had our bready breakfast downstairs and took off for bagnoregio.

first we were waved into a garden by one of civitas oldest citizens- and she had this in her yard. the object on the far left is extremely old. i can’t believe it is just sitting in her back yard. 

(this is civita’s sole vehicle… it was scary to watch it go down the bridge!)

bagnoregio is the town on the other side of civita. it was a little bit of a hike but we came up on these stairs.

A- read: a bit creepy and run down at the bottom, but really pretty at the top

M- yeah it was creepy… but an adventure! which led us to an awesome overlook.

we chatted for a bit with this group of women-

A-from Belgium. they said we should visit and that “they speak English in Belgium.”

(this is aaron taking their photo)

M- who are bicycling from pisa to rome (woah…) and then strolled through town. like civita, there isn’t a lot going on in bagnoregio (more, but not much). we stopped into a café and had a couple of great macchiatti and learned the word for foam (“schiuma”), chatted with the man behind the counter, ran into a nun and talked with her for a bit (people in this part of italy are ultra friendly), and made our way back for lunch.

(here aaron is trying to figure out the angle of the bridge leading back into civita)

we had planned on eating at the place we were at for last nights dinner, but they were closed and this other place that we had our eyes on finally opened up so we went there.

best lunch ever.  the owner was really happy that we ordered wine with our lunch (side note, house wine in italy is the greatest. you can order bottles and glasses if you want  of other stuff but I love to get the mezzo littro of whatever they are serving in house. it’s cheap… usually like 3-4 euro and is always good. in this case it was incredibly strong and put us out for a 2 hour nap after we ate!) we were given a fried squash blossom (picked fresh that morning…ahhhh!!!), and an olive and some bread. our lunch was fresh and clean tasting. we had a farro salad with citrus and zucchini, roasted tomates (red ones!), and tagliatelle with tomato and basil.  the owner took us down to the cave under the building where they store their wine and it was freezing! i want a cave under my house!

A- this is also the place where we met an older man who was from Chattanooga. Over the years I’ve learned to not be too surprised when I meet strangers in distant places who say “oh, I know Cookeville.”

M- after our nap we went out for a stroll, packed a little-

(see our awesome laundry system?!)

and spent some time reading on a stone bench under the arch that leads into the city. the tunnel makes a perfect breeze there.

then back out for more photos. here aaron is doing his best steve zissou impression.

for dinner we had gnocchi al pomodoro e basilico and fusili al 4 fromaggi (no wine! just lots and lots of water). this fusili reminded me of the pasta that some of my classmates had while we were in rome (looks like a yellow string bean) and i was so glad to see it again because i am going to work on recreating it.

it was the fourth of july and we needed fireworks so we found some videos online

A- of the fireworks in Montpelier

M- which are the best ever. and watched them go off in our room in civita before we went to sleep.

happy fourth!

this morning (that is monday morning) we left florence for our next stop… civita di bagnoregio. 

we managed to get as little sleep as possible and were exhausted when we woke up. so off to patrizio cosi for breakfast and espresso. 

breakfasts in italy consist of sugar. i cannot seem to get used to it. tasty yes but not sustaining. they had a buttery flakey dough with ricotta e spinaci which was nice and hot. we got that along with brioche and a bomboloncini. 

with our giant bags on our backs we walked across florence and managed to snag some excellent seats on an air conditioned (!) train. we had a 2 hour ride to orvieto ahead of us with an hour bus ride and a 10 minute shuttle afterwards followed by the hike up a pedestrian bridge into the tiny practically extinct town of civita. 

our train ride was fantastically uneventful and we snoozed on and off, snacked on yogurt and later tomatoes. at the train station we bought our bus tickets and had planned on getting lunch either there or nearby. 

first we found a “self cleaning toilet.” aaron describes it as an automatic outhouse. you pay 50 cents, and the door comes open. you push a button for toilet paper (max of 10 sheets!), soap is dispensed automatically followed by water for hand washing. you have to push a button to exit but there are signs that warn that the door will come open after a specific amount of time.

then the whole place washes itself. 

for lunch we ended up with the most horrendous spinach in dough type thing that tasted like it had been rolled in salt and then cured in salt.

so for lunch aaron had a granola bar he had brought from the states and i got some juice and managed to find some sort of equivalent to terra chips. 

they were surprisingly soggy. 

we waited only a little bit for our bus. like all other buses i had been on so far in the past month there were luggage compartments underneath. so when the bus pulled up we went to put our bags in the compartment. 

we were yelled at and the bus driver said something outloud to the bus about americani. (there seems to be on occasion a great deal of disdain for americans.) between aaron and i and our luggage that we had to squeeze onto the bus we took up 6 seats. i would think you would want to save those for actual bodies…

the bus ride was beautiful through the countryside. it was full of tight hairpin curves which our rather crabby driver was taking at a shocking speed. perhaps it was good that we didn’t eat much of a lunch! when we arrived in bagnoregio we found our next shuttle stop, discovered that we had just under 2 hours to wait, and aaron found a cool little hut that served beer.

it was exactly what we needed with the hot weather. but where is the good italian beer? is artisan beer something that exists only in the states? so far we have run into beer flavored water. the hunt is on.

there were chips too!

we had a fast and friendly ride through bangnoregio and were dropped off at the base of the bridge leading up to civita. 

we began our assent and were a little caught off guard at the incline of the bridge (i felt like i was going to fall backwards and roll back down to the base). it was a really breathtaking view though, especially after being in the compact city for a month. 

civita is oh so very tiny!

it takes less than 5 minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other. it is an etruscan town which has gone through a lot of restoration to keep it from crumbling into the canyon. there are flowers and fruit trees everywhere, a handful of cats that roam the streets, and two dogs that we have decided are named sanje (who is so cranky!) and riccardo (who is very nice and has great ears).

(that’s sanje. watch out though, he will yell at you!)

we really stand out in this town. our bright blue patagonia duffles are like giant traveler banners. 

the b&b we are staying at is right on the main square in town. after a very refreshing cold glass of water we showered and napped. 

we woke up in time to take a nice stroll around town but first we had to deal with some train ticket issues for our trip to geneva next week. it is all solved now… i have learned a great deal in the past month about trains. fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly from here on out!

then we discovered that we had a tv in our room. i haven’t watched tv in a month… and haven’t exactly missed it (i think because we don’t have cable at home) but it is still odd to just not be around it.

spongebob squarepants in italian is just about as funny as it is in english. 

we ate dinner downstairs and filled ourselves with gnocchi with pesto and pici with black truffle and oil and house wine. 

we walked back across the bridge to get gelato and to see the town with its lights on from a distance.

civita gets nice and cool at night and there doesn’t seem to be a mosquito in sight (unlike mosquito infested florence) so we were able to sleep with our window open to let in the cooler air. 

we are looking forward to several days of relaxing!

this morning (sunday) aaron and i decided to take it easy after our chocked full day of activities yesterday. 

(view out of our window/door into the garden)

i hadn’t been out much on sunday mornings during the past month. and i have had the luxury of living in an apartment with a kitchen. 

a great deal of the city is closed on sunday… and i did not know that or plan for it. whoops! (i did sort of a crummy job planning for the past weekend in general. how do you pick what to see in just 3 days!)

we needed breakfast and a lot of it. after walking around and discovering that my top choices for breakfast were not available we decided to go to the supermarket across the ponte vecchio and pick up a smattering of things for breakfast.

we crammed our breakfast goodies (rosemary focaccia, cream filled coronetto, smoked salmon, cherries, and a carton of blood orange juice) into our bags along with some pastries for a snack later that afternoon. you aren’t supposed to take a picnic into the boboli gardens… but i think it’s a great idea, so we did. 

we brunched at one of my favorite study spots and set off around the garden. i don’t think we left a path unwalked really. here are some photos from the morning.

(we are being niche sculptures here)

that afternoon we ducked from the heat into the baldovino bar (remember that pizza from one of my first nights in florence… the one with french fries on it? this is right next door… the same kitchen, just different room) for sandwiches and pellegrino then espresso to give us a boost for the afternoon. 

(they were really good… aaron is making a funny face… or is about to sneeze…)

after lunch we went to vivoli for gelato. i wanted to try the rice (riso) flavor. there was actually rice in it! aaron had green fig which tasted just like you were eating a fresh one and chocolate. 

now, vivoli and perche noi were both recommend to me and said to be the best gelaterias in florence. 

i have to go with perche noi. they were both great but perche noi wins it for me. 

then we took care of the laundry. 

after some window shopping we decided to grab pizza from i tarochi to take to watch the soccer match. italy vs. spain!

what a crowded sea of people. it was so loud with noise makers and people cheering. fireworks and sparklers were being set off along with smoke bombs, flags were being waved and worn. the town was both dead in the streets and then alive in front of stores and bars. lots of people crowded in front of tiny screens to watch the game. we managed to finally grab a view at the same place i watched some of the last game. 

sadly italy lost. 

we didn’t stay for all of the game so that we could get home and pack and get a full night of sleep before going to civita di bagnoregio in the morning. 

but first we stopped off at the fotoautomatica to get a good dose of blinding in for the night. flash! so bright!

for dessert… baba al rum!

living in florence was excellent. although now i feel like i have finally started to learn the city and fall into the rhythm of each day i am ready for our next adventure!

ciao firenze! 

today was a marathon italy day. 

it began with a climb up 463 steps to the top of the dome of the duomo in florence.

aaron, lauren, and i took off after breakfast to beat the crowd. it was amazing. we did a lot of turning left… and then a lot of turning right up tiny stairs. 

this space was not created for the masses of tourists that go through it everyday. there is one way up and one way down.

so there is a lot of squeezing and shuffling. i totally loved it! 

but we were a little woozy when we got back down. however, the views were excellent. 

after we checked into hotel orchidea aaron and i decided to catch a train to pisa. but we didn’t leave enough time for lunch. so i had a flurry from mcdonalds. yep. i did that. so much shame! it did have fun european candy in it though. but it made me sick. 

the train ride was a little bit miserable. i have been on several trains by this point but this was aaron’s first one here so i felt bad. it was packed full and not air conditioned. we all had the windows open but the heat has been intense lately. 

when we arrived in pisa we promptly found ice cold water. 

we went to the baptistry to hear the singing that i described back in my first post.

when i went the first time it was this lengthy sort of melody. today though the singer must have been in a hurry because the song was very fast.

(view from the baptistry)

you could still hear a little bit of that self harmonization that i described though. 

aaron i and take the best photos with the leaning tower.

when we got back into florence we were desperate for food so we grabbed a falafel. 

we had decided to go up to san minato to hear the monks gregorian chants but we were short on time… so we practically ran.

(darn italian pebbles)

i think it took the 2 of us well over an hour to cool down but it was worth it. 

on the way back we stopped at each over look to enjoy the land/cityscape.

(that was my apartment!… really. my finger is touching it.)

needless to say we took our time coming back down the mountain. 

for dinner we dragged ourselves to aqua al due. i really wanted to go there because we have been to their DC location (the one in firenze is the original though). it felt like home inside. no wait for a table, we were seated immiatedly even though we didn’t have a reservation. this aqua al due had an extra cool feature. a tv screen with video streaming of the kitchen! 

aaron had strozzapretti al radicchio rosso and i had riso fragole. 

(worst food photos below)

we had amari for a digestive. it tasted like cinnamon. i love it. 

for dessert we had a very refined menu. candy bars (ritter sport… my favorite), blueberries, and wine with the movie ratatouille.

great exhausting day! 

we stayed up so late last night and decided to sleep in a little bit friday morning. i woke up to discover that a pigeon killed my basil plant by throwing it off the window ledge. 

first, we ate a giant breakfast and then went to patrizio cosi for an espresso. 

aaron and i walked through town and across the river to buy some prints from the shop i keep talking about. it was fun there because i ended up meeting the entire family and we ended up with some great things to hang in our house. 

we had pizza at i tarochi. best. pizza. ever. (we are going back there for dinner tonight for our last dinner in florence.) one had tomato, buffalo mozzarella, and basil. the other, cheese, anchovies, capers, basil, and olive oil. they were both so balanced- the tomato and mozz were actually put on after the pizza was cooked so it had a great fresh taste and the anchovy and caper pizza was rich and not too salty. i wanted to lay down on the bench  and take a nap afterward. 

that afternoon i took aaron on a marathon tour of the palazzo vecchio. it was just as fascinating as the first time i went and we got to experience some great italian aggravation with dealing with americans (insert crabby moment here). i really liked getting to walk around with aaron because he liked to look at things that i was just as excited about the first time i went. 

around 5pm our professors and class met up to toast to the end of a great month. we enjoyed sitting outside in the breeze to drink and chat. 

dr. jenkens got aaron and i a reservation at quattro leoni (thanks dr. jenkens!) which is usually rather crowded. 

we had a beautiful dinner! (and dessert…)

(fiocchetti- monks purses with pear, asparagus, and taleggio)

(gnocchi pomodoro)

(cantucci e vin santo)

that night i had to pack to move to our hotel down the street in the morning. it was a little odd… it had really started to feel familiar and homey. but i am ready for a new adventure!

i am behind on blogging about the past several days because things have been so busy! 

thursday was the last official day of class. we went to the pitti palace.

there the art is displayed salon style. i liked that set up, partially because i hadn’t seen it yet since i arrived in florence. 

after class i booked it home because i had to eat lunch, take a final, and pick up aaron from the airport. 

but first i promptly fell on my face on the sidewalk after picking up some groceries at the market. i sort of slid in front of several people as everything i was carrying and that was in my pockets went flying through the air. nothing was broken (thankfully) but i was a little embarrassed and more concerned that i had shattered the eggs i had just purchased. 

after lunch i made this awesome banner to wave around at the airport. this is one of my roommates lauren (sorry lauren! posted your picture without permission) who painted the symbol of florence in each corner.  (water colors donated by sam). 

i practically ran across town and the river to go take my oral final exam which i stumbled through like someone who forgot how to speak english. 

then i went and learned yet another florence bus system (3 down!) to get to the airport. 

the florence airport is rather tiny. but easily twice the size of the one in bologna. 

my banner for aaron totally beat out everyone else’s which just had peoples names on an 8x11 piece of paper. (ok well they were businessmen picking people up but i am a big fan of being festive).

italy felt totally different after aaron arrived. so much fun!

we went to dinner at borgo antico.

(dessert and limoncello)

we loved on the bronze boar for some luck so that we could come back to florence.

and saw the neptune fountain (fulfilling first night tradition).

dinner was just as excellent as my first dinner in florence. then we decided to go nuts and get gelato on top of everything else. 

on the way home we saw the italy vs germany soccer match. italy won and now we are in the final! 

i couldn’t be happier that aaron and i now get to travel together. i am ready to get going!

first the day starts with a bomboloncini and an espresso.

this morning i walked back to my favorite florentine store (the print shop that i mentioned several posts back) to watch them work for a little bit. i found an image of a fish and also a map of italy that i think i will buy. 

after i ran by the bancomat i decided to stop inside of orsanmichele (which is free!) since i hadn’t seen the inside. but here is a photo of the outside. 

as i walked home on the nice back streets i passed a fruit and veggie stand that was especially appealing and bought a plum for 20 cents. 

i found the hotel that aaron and i will be staying at this weekend and decided to go in to see if they could watch our bags saturday morning since our room won’t be ready yet. they had to buzz me in these giant doors and i couldn’t find the desk. i heard this voice and finally figured out that i had to go upstairs to see them. it will be so odd (but awesome!) to stay in a new place in florence. it is about 2 blocks from my apartment. 

i browsed around this fancy pants art store across the street and then walked to the mercato st. ambrogio to grab some lunch. i had heard that there was this little place in the central part of the market that had good real italian food for great prices. 

rocco’s is great. i was there too early by italian standards but i had time to kill and i was hungry. i got this plate of panzanella for 3 euros 50. i also watched the staff crowd around this tiny table to eat their family meal before the rush hit. 

this afternoon i have been studying for my final exam that will be tomorrow. 

our apartment had to take a break so we went out for pizza that was “the size of a plate.” the plates were platter sized. 

i ate the whole thing. i think this is the most food i have had in a month. 

now i am back to some late night studying and will be so glad to go to sleep.

but none of that really matters. because tomorrow is the day that aaron arrives and it will be the best day in italy so far! 

our class today was held in pistoia, about an hour bus ride from florence. it started out as a pretty mellow day. we had a late bedtime last night because of the feast day activities, so much espresso was needed by all. 

(i do not recommend the marmalade filled bombolone… )

we had a private bus all to ourselves today. tiny little alterini bus! complete with cup holders. 

first we went to the church of st. andrea. the main thing to see here was a marble pulpit. this is the 4th one i have seen since arriving in italy (each by one of the pisanos) and this pulpit was by far my favorite. i also really liked the church it was in, so that may have added to it being my favorite. 

the church was dark would light up if you put a euro or 2 in the box on the wall. i have seen this for individual chapels several times but not for an entire church. 

then we went on a walk to go see the duomo of pistoia. first we ended up at this church which had the oddest floor plan.

when we made it to the cathedral you could see a connection between the baptistry in florence and the one here. the inside wasn’t as full of things i recognized which in a way was nice to be able to just wander around and look. 

the group split up for a few hours in the afternoon. i was determined to get more than a dry sandwich for lunch (not exactly a strong food group here in italy… ). i asked a group of locals where we could eat and after a lot of hand gesturing and debating one of them walked us around to a little cafe. we had a decent conversation on our walk even though i spoke rather terrible italian. this lunch was incredibly cheap and tasted just fine. 

we were scheduled to go to a sculpture park that afternoon to look at some modern art.  i had imagined this place that was sort of open and flat with a few trees and a bunch of sculptures that would be aesthetically pleasing but relatively uninteresting. (i tend to not get as excited about modern art these days).

i couldn’t have been more wrong. great surprise! we ended up driving up a winding road  in the countryside and at a villa with amazing views. 

i don’t think anyone was really prepared for what we ended up doing. we ended up going on an art hike through the mountains. 

the art that we encountered was site specific. it had to interact with its surroundings and there were several instances in which we as viewers interacted with the art itself by walking through it. below is a picture of a labyrinth. it is made of two colors of marble (very much like several cathedrals we have seen). when we got inside we were surprised to find that the floor tilted one way and then another. it felt like we were on a boat. 

this piece started out on the other side of the hill and we sort of walked into the hill and snaked our way underground before coming up into this box!

shade.

i was constantly surprised by the views and the objects we saw. one minute we were in the woods walking over streams and the next we were in the mountains looking out at vineyards.

everyone was exhausted when we got back onto the bus. we celebrated the fun afternoon with bottles of water that our professors bought at a gas station because we were all rather parched. 

it was a cool unexpected sort of day. 

sunday was the feast day of san giovanni (the patron saint of florence). there are all sorts of events that go on around the city in relation to the feast day. last night on our walk home we ran into the florence marathon that happens every year at night. i wish i was a runner. i would have done this! what a cool place to have a marathon.  

sunday morning a group of us went to see mass at the duomo. we figured it would be a big deal since it was the feast day and we got more than we expected. a huge processional went from the baptistry in front of the duomo down the nave and into the apse before the service. there were massive flags, candles, trumpets, people in period dress… it was a really cool sight. most everything was in latin and there was a full symphony and massive choir who played various songs by mozart. you really got a good sense for how this space is used when it isn’t functioning as a sort of historic museum.

when we left there were hoards of people outside. (that’s the baptistry behind the crowd)

later that day was the parade which started with dancing. 

this is essentially the same parade that we saw before the calcio storico game. there is one before each game and this one made its way through the city on the way to the finals. this time however, we got to watch the parade without being surrounded by a heated mob of calcio storico fans. 

i am a huge fan of their matching shoes.

we decided to grab some dinner and watch the final match at a bar. that plan sort of fell through so plan B was to get a falafel  (on a tortilla…?).

we stood outside of the bar and watched the game from the alley. it was even more brutal than the one i saw in person. 

italy was playing england that night in a soccer match. after yet another failed attempt to get into a bar to watch the game we found this.

i sat up on a ledge on the street and watched some of the game down below on a big screen. this concept needs to be adopted in the states. people had so much fun having picnics and watching the game. this was happening all over the city. when italy scored you could hear massive cheers erupting from all around. across the street behind us was another giant group watching the game. (those are my feet to give some perspective).

we ran over to the santa trinita bridge to watch the fireworks over the ponte vecchio. i thought i had set my camera level on the ledge but apparently it was rather crooked. it was a good show and almost immediately after everyone was done cheering for the fireworks the streets filled with cheering fans from the soccer match. italy must have won. 

the streets are usually pretty empty by then but tonight everyone seemed very excited on their late night walk home around 11:30.  i think it was a good feast day for florence. 

saturday morning sam, suzi, and i decided to brave the florence bus system (well one of them anyways) and head out to castello which is a whopping 6 miles away. 

we were up early and needed a good jolt to get going. 

we still had some sleuthing to do about the bus… where it was going to pick us up for example. we found the help desk and i had another hilarious conversation with the people behind the counter. i don’t know what it is with the public transportation staff- i always end up laughing when i am done talking with them.

it was a bit of a mystery about when exactly we should get off the bus… but we ended up getting off at the right stop, found a bar to ask for directions, and made it to the villa. 

or what we thought was the villa. it was so run down. had graffiti on the walls, and really very few signs. we found this one on the right side of the building facade.

i knew that the building was shut down and that we would only be able to get into the gardens but i expected it to be a little more obvious than a gate that was open around the side of the building. 

we found a few people sitting in what i assume was a security office and they gave us a quick greeting and sent us off to explore. here is some of the garden at castello.

(that is a grafted lemon and lime tree. did cosimo the 1st invent sprite?!)

the grotto of animals was full of scaffolding. i have started to expect everything to be covered in scaffolding. 

(i love the shivering apennine mountain fountain)

then we got a little of track… whoops. 

we turned around and ended up in a spot that felt like we were in the wizard of oz.

and then we found an abandoned looking building that surprised us with a vending machine inside that made hot chocolate. yes i had hot chocolate in 90+ degree weather. 

suzi remembered that the medici villa at petraia was nearby so we decided to walk over. we weren’t exactly equipped for a long day outside… little water. no lunch. light breakfast and a serious lack of sunscreen. 2nd whoops for the day. 

on our way to petraia we ran into this place. 

we sped through in a half hour. it’s mostly a museum now.

they have some formal gardens out back. 

on our way up the hill or mountain…? hmm. not sure. well we came across an olive grove. 

these are just practically in everyones back yard it seems. i stole a tiny olive with a leaf attached. 

then we got to petraia. this is probably one of the best full medici villa experiences you can get close to florence. meaning we saw both gardens and the inside. which doesn’t seem to usually happen. 

you could see the duomo of florence from the gardens of petraia. no wonder the medici felt like they owned everything. 

i am building one of these when i own a house/property. these little greenhouses are fascinating. maybe i will do a blog just on those. 

here is some excellent green slime from petraia. 

this is prettier though. 

we ended up getting a tour of the inside. we were in the right place at the right time. a thin italian man with a broken hand in a cast with a pink scarf for a sling who spoke three languages gave us the quirkiest tour. the three of us went through the building with a french couple. we got details about odd things like where the clocks were made. 

photos were prohibited. so this is the best i could do. 

here i am on the walk back to the bus stop trying not to get burned by the harsh afternoon sun. apparently i was punished for taking illegal photos because i did in fact get a sunburn. whoops number 3. 

it was worth it. 

we magically made it back to the bus stop without a map. a minute later the bus picked us up and we successfully made it home. florence bus victory! 

i guzzled 2 liters of water when i got home. 

my original plan for today (friday) was to go see the gardens at the medici villa at castello. but there was word of a public transportation strike, and i still hadn’t figured out the bus system so i decided just to wait until saturday.

i spent the majority of my day on the other side of the arno river (hence the title to this post).

i needed to get a lot of homework done but at the same time i had to get out of the apartment. it feels like such a waste to sit inside when you are in italy! so i decided to go to the boboli gardens for most of the day. 

i grabbed lunch at this shop that apparently has great food and is cheap… well, it was cheap! (however, my sandwich did have a nice flaky dough)

over next to a fountain down cypress alley is a great shaded section with benches so i had lunch there and read some.

after a while i made my way to a clearing and sat under a tree to finish up.

this was the most solitude i have had in the past month. in an hour i saw only 1 person. and it smelled green and sounded like birds. 

it was so nice that i accidentally fell asleep for about 20 minutes. 

afterwards i went back to the train station for the second time this week to see what i could find out about buses. i finally found that you purchase tickets at a newsstand. i couldn’t get a straight answer about when the bus left but i did discover that the strike was for the trains and not the busses. going to have to brush up on my italian so i can understand all of the signs posted that say “strike!” and what mode of transportation they are for. 

that evening we hiked up to san minato al monte to hear the gregorian chants from the monks. this church is cool because of its high location over florence and because it is so small. 

when we came outside we went down to the piazzale michelangelo to eat dinner, drink some wine out of italian mason jars, and watch the sun set over the city.

you can’t really escape the massive effects of tourism int this spot (terrible music, crummy food, illegal street vendors) but it was really beautiful to watch it get dark and see all of the monuments light up. 

i forgot- i ran into this cat at the gardens.