Wandering Aimlessly

So this week = crazy crazy busy. Yesterday we went to Assisi, which always has an amazing view and is such a quaint little town. Then today we went to Cortona. I've never seen Under the Tuscan Sun, but if you have then you may know that it was filmed there. It really just reminded me of my home away from home: Castiglion Fiorentino. The streets were narrow but they were full cute little stores. What I had most fun doing was ..well..absolutely nothing. Me & my roommate Hayley took on the town..meaning we walked down the winding streets of Cortona, gelato in hand (..to be precise a media caramel and a vanilla with chocolate chunks from Snoopy's Gelateria!)without a clue of where we were going. She had seen the movie so we could say we were exploring for sets, but really we would reach a fork in the road and say "left or right." It was nice to just stroll thru an unknown place. But no worries, you can't get lost in a tuscan town since A) they mostly only have one main street and B) all towns are on a hill so you just go up!

Stone Beaches and Bungalows

So after a train ride from Rome to Naples (ghetto-ville ITA), a tram from Naples to Sorrento, and a bus ride down a windy, narrow road we made it to PARADISE!! We stayed in the small town of Marina del Cantone in a hotel called the Villagio Resort Nettuno. It was the most amazing and beautiful place I have ever had the pleasure of staying. The was a main office higher up on the property with a restaurant above it, a small grocery store connected to it with all you would ever need (a gelato bar, a veno tap, and croissants), a pool, private beach front, ping pong, bar, canopy dining, chairs to layout in, plus our adorable colored bungalows AND IT WAS 14 EURO A NIGHT! What at deal! Our bungalow was lime green and it had two bunked rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, tv, patio with tables and chairs, lines to hang laundry, and a view of the gorgeous water and surrounding hills. You could tell the complete satisfaction on our faces and our body’s were just limp from contentment.
So the first night we got situated, then went to dinner at one of the restaurants overlooking the dock and the bay. I had ravioli and it made chef Boyardee taste like cat food- not like it doesn’t already… We got some gelato then hit the sack early because we had a big day in Capri ahead of us…
Our Capri adventure started at 8:45; we met at the front office and walked down to the dock where we got on a boat (yes, I was “on a boat” and we sang the snl skit song the whole time) They took us on a scenic tour around the first half of the island then we made stop at the blue grotto. If you haven’t heard of the blue grotto I am sure you have seen it before, imagine the bluest water you could ever seen in a cave on the Mediterranean. My camera pooped out about this time but I still got some decent pictures before it completely died. It was gorgeous.. Then we got back on the boat and saw a couple more landmarks until they dropped us off at Marina Picola on Capri for 5 hours to see the sights, lay at the beach and whatnot. We looked around down at the beach vendors then decided to trek up to the actual town. Once there we looking in shops again and decided to take a bus up even higher in the city. Up there we did possibly one of the greatest things ever, we took a chairlift up to the top of Capri. I know its not that hard core, but it was so insanely beautiful. The lift was 12 minutes up there and I had gotten my 8 euro worth right when it lifted me up. It was like getting a bird’s eye view of the most beautiful place in the world. Though I’ve never been to Greece, but REALLY want to go, I think it was close in comparison to the beautiful blue mixed with the white of the town and the green of the countryside flying by under me. BELLA! At the top there was an amazing garden plus trails to see all the sides of Capri’s beauty. After picture taking and Lewis & Clarking new paths we headed back down on the lift (amazing as well) and got some calzones at the town below. We shopped and chilled up there until we took a bus back down to the middle level of town, then walked down to the beach level. We went swimming in the gorgeous water and jumped from rocks and floated and took in the sun until it was time to go. On the boat (which left without me and Hayley so they had to come back!) they took us through the lovers arch thing that means you will be together forever (I am coming back for my honeymoon, its official) and then around the island some more. We finally said ciao ciao Capri and trucked on back to our resort. Back at the bungalow me and Sara went to the store and bought food to make dinner in our kitchen. We made a feast for 5 euro each, brushetta antipasta then marinara spiral pasta with olives tomatoes and mozzarella, and of course some wine from the vino tap. DELICIOUS! That night there was a festival for Saint Antonio in the town so there was a boat parade and a live band and fireworks! It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. We sat on the stone beach as the fireworks went off from a boat not that far away. It was so perfect and I am definitely going back again someday!

"Rome If You Want To"

Rome was a whirlwind! They say you cant see Rome in a day, but we did. ALL OF IT. But I’m getting ahead of myself. When we got in the first day we went to the Vatican, which is technically its own country with around 800 residents. I’d been to St. Peters and the Sistene Chapel before but they are both so breathtaking that I still feel like I didn’t see it all. The basilica is gorgeous and the giant alter-thing can’t be fathomed in words. This time in the Sistene Chapel I paid less attention to the ceiling (the creation of Adam by God’s finger) and was more interested in The Last Judgement (the huge painting behind the altar also done by Michelangelo). I could have sat there FOREVER taking it all in - I cant imagine the life of a pope or cardinal that spends days on end in there just looking up like, oh hey million year old fresco that is one of the most well known paintings in the world done by on of the most amazing painters in the entire world. I’m just a tad bitter… That night we went to Hard Rock Café. The wait was awful but the food was sooo worth it all! Hamburger, fries, FREE ketchup (you pay for ketchup here which is no bueno for me who slathers it on everything) and ...drumroll… ICED TEA!! We were most excited for the “iced” part since not many things have ice or are cold in general.
The next day was probably the busiest and most rushed day of my entire life. I mean, when in Rome might as well go big or go home, and since home is a bajillion miles away we went BIG. We started out at the Spanish steps, then on to Trevi Fountain (my all time favorite forever and always), Italian parliament, the Church of St. Ignasus (ask me about it’s dome), the Pantheon (which is HUGE by the way), Piazza Navona, Piazza Venecia, Capital Square, the entire expanse of the Roman Forum and finally the Colloseum.. PHEW… If you weren’t tired reading that then I suggest you pull out a road map of Rome and measure out the path we took. If you still aren’t tired after that then get your lazy butt over the pond and walk it yourself and YOU WILL BE TIRED! We had a 30 minute break in there for lunch and we found a gelato store with 100 flavors!!! Talk about heaven on earth…
Our next day in Rome wasn’t any less rushed. We got up and went to the Catacombs - creepy-, then walked to the Apian Way, which is the original rock road where Christians were persecuted and claimed to be the road Peter was killed on. Following that we had a 2 ½ ish hour break, which sounds like plenty of time for everything right? Ha, well my roomies and I planned to go back to the Vatican but we had to run to our hotel (Hotel Bled…ha) to get cover-ups and other stuff so we were slowly running out of time. By the time we got to the Vatican we had maybe 10 minutes to take pictures and do whatever before we had to leave again. It definitely wasn’t enough time for them but we still have another trip to Florence this week. After our break was over we took a forever tram ride to Fiesole, an ancient Etruscan ruin town. In a sentence, it was a forum of ruins and rocks and pillars and grass and headless sculptures. For some reason our tour out there lasted from 2 till 7…blah… and when we got back we were even more rushed because we signed up for the Coliseum Pub Crawl. Basically this is a function where you pay 10 or 15 euro for a free shirt, free pizza, free beer/wine, and then entry into several bars along the way. The majority of the maybe 150 people who went on the “crawl” spoke English so that was nice. I was really in it for the pizza and the sweet shirt (it says I CAME I SAW I CRAWLED on the back!). I played the watchful mom most of the time, but I had a lot of fun dancing at the random pubs/bars. They play fun American songs which is always nice to hear now and then when you can’t understand ANYTHING except for gelato flavors.
The next morning we got up and had time before our train left for Naples so me and my roomy went souvenir shopping and stopped by the Trevi Fountain to take it in one last time. We met up with another girl and went to the outside of the Vatican one last time before heading back to Roma Termini to catch our train. More of the weekend to come later!

My Stomach Speaks Italian Now..

So probably one of the most important topics i have yet to talk about is the food. Oh the food. At the center we get served lunch and dinner only. Breakfast for me usually consists of a croissant I bought at the Co-op with an orange that I got for dessert the night before. Lunch and dinner however are massive feasts of true Italian dishes. From spaghetti to risotto to prosciutto to pesto pasta to rigattoni to glazed salmon to the freshest mozzarella and tomatoes you will EVER encounter in your life, we've had them all. Never am I left wanting more.. well, except for the salmon and crusted cod we had at lunch today.

The way we get served is amazing as well. First comes bread.. this part i have started skipping though because A) i want to save room for the amazing dishes we get and B) because it is usually leftover from the day before so its seen better days. After 5 or so minutes we get served the antipasta, kindof like an appetizer, and that usually consists of any type of pasta to bean or lentil stews/soups. This course is ALWAYS amazing.. but what am I saying, the WHOLE MEAL is always amazing.. Next comes the main course which (for dinners) consists of a mean and side(s). Typically this includes a chicken, ham, or roast of some kind, glazed in all sorts of amazingness plus glorious vegetables or potato fries.

Lunches are generally lighter than dinners so the main course will be kindof snacky - a.k.a prosciutto slices, mozzarella and tomato trays, etc. I write down everything they serve us so when I come back I can try and recreate the amazingness. For dessert we most always get a bowl of fruit, which as I stated earlier, becomes my breakfast. HOWEVER, on a students birthday we get italian ice cream sandwiches (graham cracker instead of chocolate) and on some random days we will get pie or tarts or sliced watermelon... Those days are especially spectacular. So there you go. My taste buds have taken a turn in a different direction and I am 100% confidant that when I come home I will order very weird and different from my normal eateries. Hopefully I can find an english-italian cookbook while I am here so I can convert my family and roommates when I get back!! Arrivaderci!

Pictured: Cous cous and various antipasti (like bruschetta and toast with melone and spicy sausage)

GYPSIES FO LIFE! SMOOCH!

Phew what a weekend! .. you will understand the title later..

We got up at 5 to get to the train station Thursday morning and boy that was a doozy. In Florence we toured the Duomo, the Museo di Palazzo Davanzati (Paolo, our art teacher lived in the building when he was younger) and then the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. We were starving after that so we went to a nice restaurant and I got cheese lasagna...YUM. Before they served the food though they served us wine (it comes with every meal and is cheaper then water) ...and on an empty stomach, wine+nina=a tad wobbly. Ha, but it wasnt that bad since we went to a boring museum (harsh but true!). It kinda made it more interesting. So after that we were free for the rest of the evening. They gave us a train ticket back but the majority of the group stayed the night in Florence in hostels. My friend Sara and I were going to stay with a friend but (beginning the gypsy life) we crashed at our friends hostel instead. That night we got sandwiches and had plans to go to the biggest Discotheque in Rome but since it was so far away we just made the downstairs of a bar into a dance floor. It was probably one of the funnest nights of my life I must say!!

The next day we had the plan to go to Elba island (where napolean was exiled) and stay in a bungalow on the beach but that definately fell thru so instead me and the girls who I would have gone to Elba with decided to gypsy along and travel with a big group to Viareggio and stay in the same hotel. Talk about LIVIN ON THE EDGE! There are three of us in our gypsy gang and us three slept with 3 other girls in a room fit for 2. I slept on the floor but it wasnt too bad. It was intense because I dont exactly know what we would have done if we got caught since there were zero openings. At Viareggio we hung out at the beach most all day.. cloud, cold breeze, drizzle and all. We didnt exactly check the weather... but it was still a blast besides the whole gypsy aspect.

Today we made it back after some issues on the trains. First off, finding the right binario (platform) is like utterly impossible without asking someone and looking dumb. Besides knowing how to gelato nicely, the other phrase I am a master at is "Va bene per [insert destination]?" ..."Does this go to .." So we thought we found the right train, but at a random stop EVERYONE got off and then the lights cut out. Yeah, so that prooooobably wasnt the right one. Luckily the right one was on the next track over and it left in 5 minutes, so we raced to catch it. Then once we arrived in Florence we had to find our train home. Now this was a curiously long train ride. Basically if you think of the trains as like the highway, you can either take the Highway route or the Business route. The Highway route goes fast and barely ever stops. The Business route, however, stops at every little town. We evidently took the "Business" route train and it took a tad longer than normal since we made stops at stations in no mans land. There were literally 10 people on the train with us.. I counted. When we arrived in Castiglion it was raining.. of course.. so we trekked up to the center to be welcomed by clean laundry, new towels, and fresh sheets! Ahhh... home at last.

note:
the picture is of me sara and ryan (the gypsies fo life). The back story is that when we were outside the Duomo in Florence, there are gypsies asking for money.. BUT these gypsies are wearing all white head to toe, their faces are painted white, and they are holding a red posey. Also they creepily approach you by making a loud SMOOCH / kissing noise in your face. Honestly it is pretty disturbing because of how they look and the fact that they get in your face. SO throughout the weekend when we talked about how we felt like gypsies, we would stick out our hand and made loud smooching noises to everyone.

2nd note:
Even though we gypsied, we paid our fair share. Sure we mooched, but we all split the cost, so basically our gypsy-ing made it cheaper for everyone!

Just a Normal Run... in Tuscany!

So this past semester I have taken up running. My roommate and I started short distances and gradually made our way up to the 3 mile mark for 5k season. So for training, we ran past our house into Bryan. You are probably thinking, "What the heck does this have to do with Italy?" Well today I ran with some other girls, basically in hopes to stay in shape through all the gelato. But what was different about this run was that the scenery wasn't filled with foul smells and run down neighborhoods... it was the Tuscan countryside, the greenest grass, adobe houses, poppy flowers, a brilliant blue backdrop onto the rolling hills and vineyards up above. It was AMAZING. I felt like I was on a movie set, it was too beautiful for me to be running, sweating, panting, and smelling awful in. It made me want to take up extreme marathon running, which wouldnt last long since I am the slowest runner of all time... Thats probably why I saw so much of the scenery in the back of the pack ;)

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!

BLAHHHH RAIN! Supposedly today was the last rainy day and the rest of our stay should be hot and sunny, but they said that yesterday too! Hmm.... Its still just as beautiful here, but when its down pouring there is only a handful of things one can do in Santa Chaira. Watch movies, play games, sleep, catch up on work, OR listen to music and get intense cabin fever. Actually today we branched out and went to town to transfer money and get postcards and francobollos per stati uniti so that we can mail them. Tomorrow is basically Italy's republic day ( like memorial day) so most things will be closed for holiday, so its looking like tomorrow will be uneventful as well. However its a big day at the Medeival festival.. i hear there will be falconry and jousting!! WOOO!!