Don't Eat That.

While I usually give my best efforts to act as a fairly well-behaved, polite international traveler and not an obnoxious, imposing American, sometimes thing end up entirely out of anyone's control... For example, while in Genova we went to the aforementioned wonderful seafood restaurant. We arrived early to escape the pervasive dampness and chill, immediately identifying ourselves as tourists. The waiter sat us at our table and brought us our menu and drinks. He came back to see if we had decided, and then the madness began. Though by now we are fairly familiar with general food terms, none of us had any knowledge of sea food terms and proceeded to ask the waiter what nearly every item on the menu was. As you can imagine, there were quite a few items that simply were lost in translation, and we were all giggling and confused by the end of the clarification. He apparently decided that explanations were worthless as he opted to bring out a plate with a raw piece of each of the pastas on it to show us our choices. With much negotiating and confusion (on our part) and certain despair (on his as Rachel combined pesto with seafood), we finally ordered. After polishing off the provided basket of bread (decisively UN-Italian as they typically wait to eat their bread with their entrée), we then nibbled on the raw pastas and looked down to see we had eaten it all. When the waiter came back to bring our entrées, he glanced down at the empty pasta plate and asked snidely "may I take this now?" causing much laughter amongst our party. We sat there laughing at ourselves, joking that he probably though we would eat anything...
Dinner and dessert were finished without too many glitches, and he brought out our bill. He sat down the bill and a small plate with 4 white mints sitting on it, or so we though. The four of us made a move toward the "mints" and our waiter cried out (again in dismay), "Don't eat that!" Without a word of explanation, he proceeded to pour a little pitcher of steaming water over the "mints" and we watched in wonderment as they sprang up and grew into little columns of wet hand towels. He archly glanced at us and informed us they were orange blossom scented. In case you were wondering, yes, in fact we were still laughing. By this point we were laughing so hard we could hardly talk, except to point out that he must really think we would eat literally anything. So, if you ever wind up in a small seafood place in Genova, please note, the white tablets at the end are in fact to cleanse your hands, not your palate. And please remember, no matter how seasoned and refined a traveler you are, sometimes things are much more fun when they go a slight bit awry.

Weekend Trip- Genova/Genoa

After leaving the enchanting, charming, romantic town of Verona, we hopped back on a train and headed literally across the width of Italy over to the historic port city of Genova- home of Christopher Columbus (to clarify, called Genoa in any English guide book). Due to random stops in the middle of nowhere, we arrived in Milano in time to see our connection zipping out of the station. We bummed around the duldrums of Milano and caught the next train, therefore arriving in Genova much later than anticipated and just a tad too early for dinner. Once again though, the need for heat beat out our desire to be fashionably late for dinner and we happened upon a promising, hidden spot. Since of course, being "early", the restaurant was empty, our poor waiter had all the time in the world to figure out our bizarre questions and requests despite our very poor Italian. I ended up with the Genovese specialty- Pesto pasta- and the other girls got a chance to order the fresh seafood. Rachel even combined the two- despite the waiter confirming that "yes, yes that is a very weird request". Ha! Good thing we're so polite and cute and friendly, otherwise I think we wouldn't get away with nearly as much nonsense as we do!

Anyway, after a very satisfying dinner and dessert, we decided to start the trek up to the hostel. The man we purchased our map from had informed us that it was a 40 minute walk uphill, but due to youthful cockiness, we assumed we could easily make it in half the time up the "hill". As it turns out, he wasn't actually kidding or even slightly wrong, if anything he was downplaying it. Genova is built on a hill/cliff, and the youth hostel is at the very, very top. We ran into a woman and her daughter after about the first 10 minutes of straight stairs and verified that we were going the right way. She confirmed that yes, the hostel is up this staircase, but suggested we take the bus. We said we were walking and she chuckled and disappeared into her courtyard... Somehow we still didn't get it, though the chuckle should have been a clear sign. Almost another half hour later we took our last weary steps up to the hostel, only to notice there was in fact a bus stop not even 100 feet from the entrance. Good thing we are such happy campers and were able to appreciate the opportunity to work off at least some of dinner and dessert!

And what goes up, must come down. Unfortunately by that point, my legs were more than a little sore as we had by that point climbed every stair in Northern Italy (don't forget the colosseum, Roman ruins, and tower-of death in Verona), so I kind of hobbled downward as my muscles warmed back into submission.The very helpful lady at the hostel and circled the historic tour of the town on our map for us and pointed out all the must-see sights. So we meandered and admired the very ornate, prosperous old-town of Genova. As well as being a current and historically prosperous port-town, back in the day Genova was known an "the bank of Italy", and at some point or another, most of the big families built their own palaces or developed their own streets/piazzas, etc. Check out my "I'm going to live here when I grow up face".

This palace looks out over the port- which back in the day before the modern factory-esque buildings- must have been a lovely view of the water.
The sense/mix of prosperity and propriety and history strongly reminded me of the historic port-towns of the east coast of the United States (Mystic, Connecticut in particular). Very grand and impressive on the whole, which I think was the point.
Bonus- wedding party!
More grandness- this time banks. In Italy, the grandest building, especially when clustered in one piazza, are typically banks.
And Christopher Columbus's humble little residence, which we did not pay to go inside.
Right behind Chris' house was one of the three medieval city gates. These three gates make a triangle around the historic core of the city- allowing Genova to claim the largest ancient city center in Italy. Pretty cool, the layers and layers of prosperity and centuries.
We stumbled across a fabulous flea-market in one of the piazzas where I picked up a few antique postcards and the other girls got jewelry. By this point we were all chilled to the point where we couldn't care less about any magnanimous building and simply wanted a warm place to sit and eat lunch.
Naturally it was at this point we came across the Duomo, and it is an unspoken rule that you must at least momentarily stop and admire every city's Duomo, even though the best one is clearly in Milano... Though prejudiced, I still have to admit this Duomo was pretty unique and whimsical. If you look closely, the columns on either side of the main door are spiraled!
Our fabulous luck with restaruants continued and we found a great trattoria that met everyone's needs/desires. I ended up with this creativly patriotic pizza- Genovese pesto- Lombardian cheese- and classic tomato sauce.
All in all, it was an amazing weekend that met and exceeded all my expectations.

Ciao for now!

Weekend Trip- Verona Part II- Love Hub

For those of you that either can't remember back to high-school english or weren't paying attention at all, I would like to remind you that Verona is the home to two of the most famous fictional lovers of modern times- Shakespeare's star-crossed Romeo and Juliet. The guidebooks are quick to point out that the fact that since the infamous lovers are fictional their "houses" and "tomb" are nothing more than tourist traps. While yes, Mr. Steve's and other generally wise guides are technically correct, the city of Verona has this whimsical feeling of love and enchantment that overrides such realistic technicalities. Call me romantic, but love seems to be seeped into the very essence and fabric of Verona.

Having been warned by the guidebooks, we skeptically headed over to Juliet's house (it was included in the Verona Card, so no loss either way). To get to the house you have to go through an archway covered in love-notes. The entire original wall is covered in couple's indelible documentation of current loves, and therefore more recent lovers have taken to layering their promises on top. While Romeo and Juliet might be merely a fable, these couples and their love are not, and the truth of that added some layer of legitimacy to the whole situation.

A lovely statue of Juliet is placed in the courtyard below the balcony, and as legend goes you must give good old Juliet's boobie a rub in order not to be unlucky in love. Corny? Yes. Classy? Admittedly not. Superstitious? Certainly. But don't think for a minute I'm going to risk something like that! Note that poor Juliet's boobie is all polished and shiny from over-caressing.

After ensuring our love lives (or lack there of), we headed up to play Juliet. Here's Jenny and I ready to be swept away by our Romeos. Wherefore art thou Romeo? Seriously, anyone?

You cannot help but feel optimistic and charmed by the whole shebang. The love imagery does not end at the residences of R+J. All throughout the city, usually overlooking beautiful views or statues, were clusters of love-locks inscribed with various initials.

Filled with romantic sentiments, we couldn't help but notice the city seemed perfect for lovers- beautiful views, charming buildings, endless winding alleyways, intimate piazzas, and to top it off- the PERFECT proposal spot at the top of the roman ruins. Take note, men, this is how it's done.

So yes, practical realist of the Rick Steve's type, factually you are correct, but if you managed to make it through a trip to Verona without being touched by the spirit of love, you might want to look into chipping away at your cynicism. Life is more fun with a little bit of love.

XOXO and Ciao for now!

P.S. Photos by Ruthie and Rachel as previously noted.

Weekend Trip- Verona Part I- Pure enchantment

I get it, Shakespeare. Verona is an inspiringly magical city. This weekend I was so kindly invited to go along with my dear new friends Rachel, Ruthie and Jenny to go visit Verona and Genova. We left after class on Friday and arrived in Verona in time for lunch. Being sensible, travel savvy ladies, we followed Rick Steve's advice and bought "Verona Cards" which for 10 euros got us a 24 hour bus pass and free access to many of the highlights of the city. After a somewhat lengthy (aka we went the WRONG way) bus ride, we ended up in the city center, Piazza Bra (yes, we giggled). We quickly noticed there was some sort of little festival going on in the center of the piazza. The festival was obviously being hosted by these nice older gentlemen with fabulous green feathered caps. The gentlemen were as delighted with us friendly American girls as we were with them and their cute hats, and gave us samples of their local goodies- Champagne, candy, peppers, cheese, pickles, wine, more candy, and even an apple in a box!

We moseyed along up to the colosseum, apparently one of the best preserved arenas in Italy. They still host plays there in the summer months!

We scrambled up the massive steps- apparently they did things big back in the day...

And sat at the top and had a picnic lunch! We pulled out our groceries from the local supermarket and with chilled fingers and big grins enjoyed our lunch with a view.

Looking off the edge of the colosseum at Piazza Bra.

After lunch we decided to get through as many of the spots on the Verona card as we could before everything closed at 7:30. We wandered purposefully through the main piazzas and charming alleys, the entire time surrounded by entirely old, charming buildings and all sorts of breathtaking architecture.

We decided to go up the tower- aka tower of death- in order to get a panoramic view of the town. Instead of paying the 1 euro for the elevator, we decided to use our young, supposedly strong legs to climb the 500 or so stairs to the top. Let's just say we earned that view!!!

After that we headed to Juliet's house (I'm skipping that for now, see next post), took the requisite balcony pictures and headed to the Roman ruins. On the way we walked along the river that winds itself around Verona- the sight and even the smell of water made me feel so restored and somehow added to my growing love for Verona.

We made it to the ruins around dusk, and the softening light gave the place this wonderful glow, making an incredibly awesome spot even more magical. The feeling of being in such an ancient place was incredible, I really don't know how to describe it. It felt as though the ruins had this palpable energy that just filled me with a feeling of wonderment and fulfillment. Side note- by this point it was lightly snowing... maybe part of the reason we were the only ones there!

We of course proceeded to take a series of appropriately solemn pictures to document the mood of the place... Ha!

The ruins extended all the way up the hill, starting with an amphitheater, then a first "promenade," where the sculpture museum was located, then a second promenade, which we saved for the next morning.

Can I just take a second to say how much fun my travel buddies were? Seriously wonderful girls that I am so blessed to have met up with here in Milan. We were giggling and having a great time all weekend. Here's some proof, Rachel and I right after she jumped out of the shrubbery at the ruins and scared the crap out of me (notice my relieved expression).

We finally tore ourselves away and raced over to the castle museum on the other side of town. We walked through the paintings gallery and admired the Renaissance art. Ruthie and I felt very intelligent as we were able to identify some of the subjects/scenes from our Art History class. This is a picture of the castle bridge, which of course we walked across just for the heck of it. Bonus- the museum was heated!

Though it was a little early for dinner, we decided to be unfashionable tourist and start dinner at around 8 as were were absolutely freezing and had found a very cute looking local spot earlier with "live music". The live music turned out to be our old friend pictured below, who basically sang kareoke while making an electric key-board do as much of the instrumentation as possible. He thought we were just the cutest things- and especially loved my blue eyes. The food was fabulous, the other diners all local regulars, and the service very friendly and helpful.

We trekked up to our hostel, located up on the hill behind the ruins. We started the morning with a brisk climb up to the very top of the ruins and admired the panoramic view of the entire city (see picture at the very beginning of this very long post). Then we headed off to Genova!

Ciao for now!

Note: Photo credits from all of Verona and Genova goes to the fabulously talented Ruthie Leigh who so kindly dumped all her raw images onto facebook for me to steal!

Weekend Trip- THE ALPS!!!

I don't even know where to start. This was probably my favorite thing I've done so far in Italy, but it's one of those experiences that doesn't really have any funny stories or crazy adventures. I could try to explain, but it was the scenery that stole my heart and fulfilled my soul. So on that note, I'm going to keep things rather brief and let the pictures do the work for me.

We left Milano early Friday morning and after a very long bus ride arrived at our hotel, Regina e Fassa, settled into our room and rented out our gear. We bummed around the hotel and went to bed early to prepare for our full day of skiing!!!

After a quick breakfast we were out the door and off to Val di Fassa. We grabbed our gear and shoved our way onto the biggest gondola I've seen in my life- seriously- the size of my living room. We shuffled out through the crowd and found ourselves looking over the entire valley. It was breathtaking. I felt like I was literally on top of the world. See next photo for evidence of joy and elation.

My temporary roomies and I skied up and down both sides of the valley for the first half of the day, giggling and full of awe and disbelief the entire time.

How could you be about to ski down this and not be having absolutely the time of your life?!

Around lunch I somehow got separated from the girls and ended up on the opposite side of the valley. After a brief moment of panic after I exited the gondola and didn't see my group, I found my friend Jeff and skied with him the rest of the day. It ended up being a blessing in disguise, as the pair of us were able to explore down another whole section of the valley while the girls joined up with a verrryy large, verrry slow group of other IESers.

We ended the day sore, bruised, blistered (oh rental boots), and blissful. Suffice to say it was a very early and tame night. The next day we explored a "tipical" Alps town. It was a charming village with bizzare random Ice towers in the river, raindeer on the railings, and a cute little church. They also specialize in stinky cheese (which I skipped) and apple strudel (which I devoured).

It was a nearly perfect weekend (the only thing that could have made it better was having my favorite people there with me). I haven't felt so at home and "right" since being in Italy. The trees and snow and fresh air did wonders for my heart and soul. Honestly, this was one of the most memorable and amazing experiences of my life, it doesn't get much better than this!

Ciao for now!