Italia!
Now that I've been back for a week, I can finally say something about Italy.
In short, good food, good wine, good company and good times.
Day 1
We arrived in Roma late in the afternoon and got to the little B&B where we were staying. It was obviously someone's converted apartment, since there were only 3 rooms total and a kitchen. I really liked it and it was right behind the Castel de San Angelo. At night we walked along the Tiber and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, all beautifully lit up.
walking along the Tiber at dusk.
Day 2
We managed to see the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill(Circus Maximus!), the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and St. Peters. it was really hot and we kept guzzling water form Rome's public fountains until we broke down and bought a bottle of water and refilled it instead of sticking our faces under the fountain. And gelato tastes soooo good on a hot day.
For lunch we had trouble finding a cheap, decent place. We only saw touristy places. i told Oliver I just wanted a small pizzeria where they served pizza by slice. Oliver said that they didn't exist. Then the next corner we turned, bam! A small pizzeria filled with delicious pizza and flirtatious Italian men. It was the best pizza we had the whole trip.
Colosseum-Emperor's Box. Die!
We stuffed ourselves for dinner at a nice little place and went to the Spanish Steps. We were a little drunk off all the wine we had with dinner and it was really fun hanging out on the Spanish Steps with lots of other slightly drunk people our age.
Look at me, I'm Oliver and I'm on the Spanish Steps
Day 3
Oliver and I left Roma and took a train to Orvieto, which is an hour away from Roma. We met Oliver's parents at the train station and they took us to the house they were renting with two of their family friends. The place was huge! It really wasn't a house, it was a villa nestled in the rolling hills of Umbria. It had a pool and lots of rooms, which was good because Oliver's sister and her boyfriend were there are well.
We had a delicious lunch(I had truffle gnochi) and then explored this little hilltop town called Civita di Bagnoregio. It's used to be connected to a larger town, but the land bridge between the two eroded and now the town is like an island in the middle of the valley.
While in Civita we had lemon ice pops. Oliver asked the most ridiculous question of whether or not one could eat the stick. I teased him for a while. It turns out you could indeed eat the stick. The wrapper said "Limon con stick de licorice."
We went back to the villa and cooked a really nice dinner of veal and mushroom risotto. I think that one of my favorite parts of the trip was just eating long dinners with Oliver's family out on the porch overlooking the valley.
Civita di Bagnoregio, population 15 or so.
Bruchetta and wine shop in Civita di Bagnoregio.
Day 4
We visited two more cute hilltop towns, had more really good food. Oliver bought an Italian shirt and jacket. I didn't like the jacket so much, but I picked out the shirt. But everyone else liked the jacket.
Another really good dinner on the porch.
Todi
If you look closely, there is a Mac sticker on the Vespa.
Day 5
Oliver and I drove around Umbria. Yes, Oliver drove in Italy. And well! Throughout the whole trip every time we needed directions, Oliver had the uncanny ability to always pick the right route. I had an uncanny ability to always pick the wrong route.
We visited Perugia, Assisi, and the site where Oliver was supposed to take pictures for CyArk. The site was an Etruscan tomb and we were supposed to take panos but the guy running the place was a bit of a jerk and didn't let Oliver bring his tripod into the tomb. It was really dark and we didn't get panos, but Oliver got some good shots.
We went swimming in the pool afterwards. Work hard, play hard.
Unreal shot of horses frolicking underneath the monastery at Assisi.
Day 6
We visited yet another really cute hilltop town. The hilltop towns Umbria are so amazing.
All we did in the afternoon was sit by the pool, read, sleep, and swim and tan. I got 80% of my Italian tan this day. It was glorious.
We had one more nice, long dinner on the porch overlooking a full moon. This night we had risotto with peas and some sausages and stayed up late talking into the night.
Still white
Long candle-lit dinners under a full moon.
Day 6
Oliver and I said goodbye to his parents and hopped a train to Pisa. It was Saturday and the the town was praticaly shut down, especially in the afternoon. We went to a museum in Pisa, but it was pretty boring since it only had Christian art. I like the Roman stuff. But we were able to find a nice little place open at night and had one of the best meals we had in Italy. The food was delicious and the waiter looked like Antonio Banderas.
At night we slightly drunkenly walked by the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I insisted to Oliver that the other buildings were leaning too.
Day 7
I actually forgot it was my birthday but Oliver wished me a happy birthday right when iIwoke up. For some reason I kept thinking it was the next day.
We spent most of the day taking panos in the Leaning Tower plaza. It was really hot just standing around taking panos. We actually attracted the attention of the police, which made us a little nervous. We were unsure if they were suspicious of the tripod or if they were simply photography enthusiasts.
We had to do it
Day 8
We headed out from Pisa to Cinque Terra on the coast. It was so gorgeous! They are five coastal town on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We decided to stay in Vernazza. We didn't have any reservations, but instead we just walked around town looking for signs for rooms for rent. I picked a random sign and we rang the woman's buzzer. A minute later the woman appeared, looking like a stereotypical land lady in a nightgown and her bra showing. But she was very nice, spoke some English and the room was great! It was on the main street and overlooking the ocean. It was a nice little apartment with a bedroom, small living room, kitchen and bathroom. It was perfect and not too expensive.
The view from our room
That day we hiked around to the next town and went swimming. For dinner we had fresh anchovies in a lemon and wine sauce and they were SO good.
We also bought a bottle of limoncello and at night we people-watched from our window while sipping limoncello.
Day 9
More hiking. More beautiful views. More pizza.
We were really tired after all that hiking but we had one short, easy hike left. Oliver wanted to quit but I insisted that we do it since it was called the Via del Amore. Hehe.
We went swimming again and had more seafood for dinner. At night, Oliver wanted to take a night pano, which caught the interest of this one woman. I took a picture of Oliver and she insisted on taking a picture of the two of us.
"Now kiss him!" she said when she had the camera. "Unless he's your brother!"
Day 10
We left Cinque Terra and headed off to Milano to visit the Italian team Oliver worked with in Egypt. We saw some sights and then visited the guy while he was laser scanning this giant old building with 1,000 rooms. They had a ridiculous deadline that makes my head hurt. I also helped them carry around a laser scanner tripod. I can never escape (nor do I fully want to =p )
We had Milanese style aprevitos, which is wine spritzers with a little buffet of delicious snack food. Why don't they do that in the US?
The guys were really nice but only one of them spoke English and he just kept wanting to talk to Oliver about the CyArk point cloud viewer or reminisce about Egypt. It was fun, but sometimes I really had no idea to say to the other guy who only spoke Italian. I've been learning Italian off a podcast for a month, but nothing seeing to be quite conversational. "How much is it? How do I get to the Colosseum? What is your girlfriend like?"
The guys actually didn't know Milan that well since they had just moved their for the job a few days ago. But we did accidentally stumble upon the new "it" place in Milan. We went to this plaza and there was this one bar with over a hundred of people spilling out into the plaza. They were all dressed very stylishly and having drinks so we figured we'd do the same. Except un-stylishly.
Day 11
We spent some more time in Milano and then jumped a high speed train back to Roma. We were staying in a hotel close to the airport since we had an 10 am flight the next day.
We got directions from the hotel's website. Since they were only in Italian, we wrote the train directions down in Italian and had the Italian friends translate it. According to the directions, "It should only be 800 meters from the train station."
Oliver and I walked with our bags. We walked and we walked on a small, dusty road. It was hot. We kept walking. And we walked for at least 2 or 3 kilometers. It was pretty awful. I was so tired, i just collapsed on the bed when we finally got there, hating that website.
Actually, we think that it must have been 800 meters to the bus stop. Opps.
Too tired to walk anywhere else, we had our last dinner in Italy in the hotel restaurant, which was surprising good.
Day 12
Ciao, Italy. Such good times. It may sound cheesey, but one of the best parts was getting to spend every day with Oliver. But seeing all the sights was fun too =)
In short, good food, good wine, good company and good times.
Day 1
We arrived in Roma late in the afternoon and got to the little B&B where we were staying. It was obviously someone's converted apartment, since there were only 3 rooms total and a kitchen. I really liked it and it was right behind the Castel de San Angelo. At night we walked along the Tiber and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, all beautifully lit up.
walking along the Tiber at dusk.
Day 2
We managed to see the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill(Circus Maximus!), the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and St. Peters. it was really hot and we kept guzzling water form Rome's public fountains until we broke down and bought a bottle of water and refilled it instead of sticking our faces under the fountain. And gelato tastes soooo good on a hot day.
For lunch we had trouble finding a cheap, decent place. We only saw touristy places. i told Oliver I just wanted a small pizzeria where they served pizza by slice. Oliver said that they didn't exist. Then the next corner we turned, bam! A small pizzeria filled with delicious pizza and flirtatious Italian men. It was the best pizza we had the whole trip.
Colosseum-Emperor's Box. Die!
We stuffed ourselves for dinner at a nice little place and went to the Spanish Steps. We were a little drunk off all the wine we had with dinner and it was really fun hanging out on the Spanish Steps with lots of other slightly drunk people our age.
Look at me, I'm Oliver and I'm on the Spanish Steps
Day 3
Oliver and I left Roma and took a train to Orvieto, which is an hour away from Roma. We met Oliver's parents at the train station and they took us to the house they were renting with two of their family friends. The place was huge! It really wasn't a house, it was a villa nestled in the rolling hills of Umbria. It had a pool and lots of rooms, which was good because Oliver's sister and her boyfriend were there are well.
We had a delicious lunch(I had truffle gnochi) and then explored this little hilltop town called Civita di Bagnoregio. It's used to be connected to a larger town, but the land bridge between the two eroded and now the town is like an island in the middle of the valley.
While in Civita we had lemon ice pops. Oliver asked the most ridiculous question of whether or not one could eat the stick. I teased him for a while. It turns out you could indeed eat the stick. The wrapper said "Limon con stick de licorice."
We went back to the villa and cooked a really nice dinner of veal and mushroom risotto. I think that one of my favorite parts of the trip was just eating long dinners with Oliver's family out on the porch overlooking the valley.
Civita di Bagnoregio, population 15 or so.
Bruchetta and wine shop in Civita di Bagnoregio.
Day 4
We visited two more cute hilltop towns, had more really good food. Oliver bought an Italian shirt and jacket. I didn't like the jacket so much, but I picked out the shirt. But everyone else liked the jacket.
Another really good dinner on the porch.
Todi
If you look closely, there is a Mac sticker on the Vespa.
Day 5
Oliver and I drove around Umbria. Yes, Oliver drove in Italy. And well! Throughout the whole trip every time we needed directions, Oliver had the uncanny ability to always pick the right route. I had an uncanny ability to always pick the wrong route.
We visited Perugia, Assisi, and the site where Oliver was supposed to take pictures for CyArk. The site was an Etruscan tomb and we were supposed to take panos but the guy running the place was a bit of a jerk and didn't let Oliver bring his tripod into the tomb. It was really dark and we didn't get panos, but Oliver got some good shots.
We went swimming in the pool afterwards. Work hard, play hard.
Unreal shot of horses frolicking underneath the monastery at Assisi.
Day 6
We visited yet another really cute hilltop town. The hilltop towns Umbria are so amazing.
All we did in the afternoon was sit by the pool, read, sleep, and swim and tan. I got 80% of my Italian tan this day. It was glorious.
We had one more nice, long dinner on the porch overlooking a full moon. This night we had risotto with peas and some sausages and stayed up late talking into the night.
Still white
Long candle-lit dinners under a full moon.
Day 6
Oliver and I said goodbye to his parents and hopped a train to Pisa. It was Saturday and the the town was praticaly shut down, especially in the afternoon. We went to a museum in Pisa, but it was pretty boring since it only had Christian art. I like the Roman stuff. But we were able to find a nice little place open at night and had one of the best meals we had in Italy. The food was delicious and the waiter looked like Antonio Banderas.
At night we slightly drunkenly walked by the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I insisted to Oliver that the other buildings were leaning too.
Day 7
I actually forgot it was my birthday but Oliver wished me a happy birthday right when iIwoke up. For some reason I kept thinking it was the next day.
We spent most of the day taking panos in the Leaning Tower plaza. It was really hot just standing around taking panos. We actually attracted the attention of the police, which made us a little nervous. We were unsure if they were suspicious of the tripod or if they were simply photography enthusiasts.
We had to do it
Day 8
We headed out from Pisa to Cinque Terra on the coast. It was so gorgeous! They are five coastal town on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We decided to stay in Vernazza. We didn't have any reservations, but instead we just walked around town looking for signs for rooms for rent. I picked a random sign and we rang the woman's buzzer. A minute later the woman appeared, looking like a stereotypical land lady in a nightgown and her bra showing. But she was very nice, spoke some English and the room was great! It was on the main street and overlooking the ocean. It was a nice little apartment with a bedroom, small living room, kitchen and bathroom. It was perfect and not too expensive.
The view from our room
That day we hiked around to the next town and went swimming. For dinner we had fresh anchovies in a lemon and wine sauce and they were SO good.
We also bought a bottle of limoncello and at night we people-watched from our window while sipping limoncello.
Day 9
More hiking. More beautiful views. More pizza.
We were really tired after all that hiking but we had one short, easy hike left. Oliver wanted to quit but I insisted that we do it since it was called the Via del Amore. Hehe.
We went swimming again and had more seafood for dinner. At night, Oliver wanted to take a night pano, which caught the interest of this one woman. I took a picture of Oliver and she insisted on taking a picture of the two of us.
"Now kiss him!" she said when she had the camera. "Unless he's your brother!"
Day 10
We left Cinque Terra and headed off to Milano to visit the Italian team Oliver worked with in Egypt. We saw some sights and then visited the guy while he was laser scanning this giant old building with 1,000 rooms. They had a ridiculous deadline that makes my head hurt. I also helped them carry around a laser scanner tripod. I can never escape (nor do I fully want to =p )
We had Milanese style aprevitos, which is wine spritzers with a little buffet of delicious snack food. Why don't they do that in the US?
The guys were really nice but only one of them spoke English and he just kept wanting to talk to Oliver about the CyArk point cloud viewer or reminisce about Egypt. It was fun, but sometimes I really had no idea to say to the other guy who only spoke Italian. I've been learning Italian off a podcast for a month, but nothing seeing to be quite conversational. "How much is it? How do I get to the Colosseum? What is your girlfriend like?"
The guys actually didn't know Milan that well since they had just moved their for the job a few days ago. But we did accidentally stumble upon the new "it" place in Milan. We went to this plaza and there was this one bar with over a hundred of people spilling out into the plaza. They were all dressed very stylishly and having drinks so we figured we'd do the same. Except un-stylishly.
Day 11
We spent some more time in Milano and then jumped a high speed train back to Roma. We were staying in a hotel close to the airport since we had an 10 am flight the next day.
We got directions from the hotel's website. Since they were only in Italian, we wrote the train directions down in Italian and had the Italian friends translate it. According to the directions, "It should only be 800 meters from the train station."
Oliver and I walked with our bags. We walked and we walked on a small, dusty road. It was hot. We kept walking. And we walked for at least 2 or 3 kilometers. It was pretty awful. I was so tired, i just collapsed on the bed when we finally got there, hating that website.
Actually, we think that it must have been 800 meters to the bus stop. Opps.
Too tired to walk anywhere else, we had our last dinner in Italy in the hotel restaurant, which was surprising good.
Day 12
Ciao, Italy. Such good times. It may sound cheesey, but one of the best parts was getting to spend every day with Oliver. But seeing all the sights was fun too =)