Thoughts and observations after Italy

Here are a few general thoughts and observations from our trip. Things we wish we would have known and things we did or didnt love

First of all , Italian street signs blow. They really only even put signs on about 50% of the streets so it's half guess work anyways. It's always super special when what looks like two straight roads completely connected (on a map) is actually two streets connected with a slight left onto another street and then a slight right on to the actual street. If there are no street signs it becomes even more fun.

Italians aren't like Americans when they give directions. When we asked an Italian how to get to our hotel in Milan (showing him on a map even) he quite literally gave us the opposite directions of the hotel ("down a couple lights and take a left" ... It was a right, and it was 3 lights.) . We asked an American in Florence how to find something, she gave us directions we understood (" down this road, through the piazza, cross by the carousel, on your right" ) . When we were at a restaurant and the hotel was full, they gave us directions to another restaurant, " walk straight and it's by the Trevi fountain" ...we just ignored those, there was no way in hell it was happening.

Pre-book everything. Dinner? Museum? Pre book. We missed out on one restaurant and two museums because we had no idea that in Italy you have to book everything in advance. I didn't do this in Germany or London and it was fine but I would not recommend it for Italy. We still did 95% of everything we wanted to do but we paid more than average for a couple things to get a tour to skip the 3hour lines or so. This I recommend. Some tours are ok but not always worth the price.

It's hot. The Roman sun is intense!

There are a lot more gypsies and beggars here. Getting on the train a woman will help you with your luggage and then demand a euro. Sorry lady, you weren't that helpful and I didn't need the helps you offered. Stay away from the guys dressed like ancient roman soldiers unless you want to argue or pay for the picture you thought was free. Nothing is free.

"ciao Bella" does not work on me. I was called "Barbie Princess." I don't know if that works on Italian women but I gave the guy one of my nastiest looks. If he was closer I would have hit him. Ugh. Being pushy and calling me pet names will not get me into your restaurant.

Speaking of restaurants, the menus are very similar in all of them. This is good because you can trust they are standard Italian but it's kind of hard to tell which is the best when they are all lined up in a row... We liked to look to see if the menu had at least one creative item that caught our eye or we would look places up online and read reviews and then find the restaurant. We found our favorite coffee and gelato place this way.

Drink coffee standing up. If you sit at a table the price of your espresso/cappuccino/ any drink doubles. Literally. Same drink, twice the price. You are paying to "use the table". Same if you just want a snack in the bar/cafe.

The subway and bus system is not nearly as efficient or clean as in Germany. Germany may have been a fluke in how impressive their transportation system is but it's pretty incredible. We only used the metro 3 times in Italy and were not thrilled any of those times. Luckily we were able to walk everywhere which brings me to another point - bring good walking shoes. If you want cute shoes, make sure they have support and a good sole. I had incredible rainbow brand sandals that had amazing support and cushion and then reebok easy tone shoes. I pretty much only wore those and I was fine. Lilly however was not so lucky, there were several times she seriously considered paying for new shoes...the price was the main deterrent.

Oh speaking of prices, in case you didn't know, Europe is expensive. A lot of things may be similar in numerical price to American things except it's euro. So take the number and multiply by 1.6 and that's how much you are really spending. It's not bad if you trick your brain to thinking euro and dollar are the same...but it's not nice to your bank account...we stuck to only buying one meal a day with gelato, coffee, maybe a snack on some days and the. Everything else was museum tickets and souvenirs.

Italians don't listen. They talk but they don't listen really. I can't tell you how many places I would say "pasta senza glutine?" which is asking if they have gluten free pasta. I would ask in a clear voice so my words wouldn't blend and they would all be like "si si of COURSE we have pasta" looking at me like I'm an idiot. I would repeat myself "senza glutine??" and would generally get a "ah, no no." sometimes it feels like they will say "no" so they don't have to think about your question, ie ticket questions or direction questions.

Do not interpret this blog in a negative way. We enjoyed every moment of our trip in Italy and would change very few things if we did it over. We accept the above blog as parts of the Italian culture that set it apart from America and other places. They are merely our observations and thoughts that may prove either useful or humorous to anyone reading this now or in the future.

A rose in Rome , the perfect end.

Ciao.

So today was wonderful. It started a little iffy but ended on a high note. We started with breakfast. Delicious as always. I can't wait to get Greek yogurt back home though, I miss it. But I love the muesli. And cheese. We had looked up the borghese Galleria online and it said you could only get in through reservations if you called or online. However, since today was a holiday we couldn't call because the ticket office was closed. All the same we decided to give it a try and got there at 815 before it opened and waited in line. When we got in we asked the guy if we could make a later reservation or wait to see if no on else fulfilled theirs that we could take. He said "no is not possible" but really I think he just didn't want to listen or put in any extra work. We feel like that happens a lot here and definitely more than it did in Germany. So we decided to go for a walk through the Borghese Gardens which were absolutely stunning. It is too bad we just discovered them on our last day because it was literally what we had been trying to find, a perfect shady garden of trees and statues and benches for picnics or just relaxing. Then we headed to the national gallery museum of the Barberini Palace. It was only 5euro each and no line. This was a hidden gem, kind of like the Bavarian national gallery museum I went to with my dad in Munich. It had 35 rooms that went through almost every stage of art in Italy. It was really quite incredible. There were also two Carravagio paintings in the gallery. He is one of lilly's favorite artists so she got very happy! One painting, Judith slaying Holfernes (check spelling) was one that is often compared to the same named painting by Genteleski (spelling again) which we saw at the Uffizi in Florence. It was really cool that we were able to see both in person and compare them and the facial expressions in both. We both agreed we liked the one in the Uffizi better because of the strength of woman is portrayed.

Then we headed to the room for some lunch of Luna bars, almond cookies, and the little plums we had bought before. Then headed to Sant Eustachio for a cappuccino. Best. Cappuccino. Ever. Pococ zuchero though (little sugar) and it's perfect. That was our third time there lol. Then we headed back to our favorite gelato place, San Crispini. The worker (one of the owner / brothers I think) recognized us from yesterday! We both got the same flavors which is a testament to how good the gelato is because we NEVER get the same flavors (so we can try as many as possible) we had the honey gelato ( so light and refreshing, not heavy or super sweet like you may be thinking) and zagabione (spelling...) which is made with 20year old Marsala wine. Such unique flavors with so much depth. We ate them in the shade so they wouldn't melt and we could savor them longer.


A little more walking and then back to our room to pack and take a quick nap. All the walking in the super hot roman sun really drains us!

Dinner started a little stressful but ended up just great. We walked around forever to find a restaurant because not many places have gluten free pasta. We found a restaurant online that had crazy good reviews but we went there and they didn't have gluten free pasta. We went on a search asking every restaurant if they did and we got about 6 or so "no's" before deciding to go back to the first place and I would get something else. Well, the other place was booked with no open spaces. Great. By now Lilly was super hungry because she didn't have a snack like I did in the hotel. We continued back on our search. This time it only took us 4 restaurants to find one with gluten free pasta but there was something about it that just wasn't right. Nothing bad, it just didn't feel like "yes, this is where I want my last meal in Italy " so we kept on walking and walking.... We ended up going to the area we know best, the piazza and streets around the Pantheon.

We came across a restaurant down the side street where Sant Eustachio was and yay! Gluten free pasta! We had prosciutto and melon and grilled vegetables (zucchini and eggplant) to start. Delicious. Lilly really loves prosciutto and it's like the only thing cheaper in italy than america (and wine maybe). We shared our .5 l of wine and liter of water as well. I had pasta bolognase (tomato and meat sauce) and Lilly had spinach and ricotta ravioli with a walnut cream sauce and homemade pasta. I think we were both very happy with our selections and it was not a let down for our final meal.

While we were sitting enjoying dinner, the host started playing the accordion and this group of boys at another table started to sing! They sounded like the "In the Stairwell" guys at the academy. It was really pretty singing. A bit later, we were sitting enjoying our wine and two boys (I guess they were similar in age to us so maybe boys isnt super accurate) came up to us and handed us each a single rose (white for me, red for Lilly) and told us that they had enjoyed having their meal and being able to look at how beautiful we were and that they hoped we enjoyed their singing and if we would like they would be singing at some church (don't remember the name) tomorrow afternoon. We were completely shocked and very flattered and told them we very much appreciated it but unfortunately we were leaving for home. They had been in the same restaurant so we could have walked up to our table but instead they walked around to the other side of the little gate surrounding the restaurant (about wait high with some plants) I think to respect our personal space. They DEFINITELY were not Italian boys. I think they were German actually. But we let them down nicely and we both felt bad of course since they were the first non annoying/aggressive/obnoxious boys we had met since going out with Alessia and her friends. We were then given a free panna cotta with walnuts for dessert. Were not sure if it came from the restaurant or the guys but we really didn't want it since we were saving up for gelato but we force fed ourselves about half of it so we wouldn't be rude.

We slowly made our way back towards the hotel stopping at the two sites so dear to our time in Rome. The Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. We have passed these two glorious locations 2-4 times a day since we have been in Rome and they never look less magnificent. We stood In from of the Pantheon for at least 15 minutes again tonight just staring in awe of the history and everything it represented.

 We touched the marble columns on last time and sadly said good bye, knowing we will be back again some day even if it won't be for 20 or more years. Then the Trevi Fountain. I still think it is my favorite at day but night is incredible too. We took a couple more pictures with our roses and then sat on the steps and stared some more until the people got overwhelming and we left.

Then the final stop in saying good bye to Rome. San Crispino. One. Last. Gelato. This time I had banana and hazelnut with meringue. So incredible. (except there may have been gluten in it because as I write this I am feeling those horrible pains that I have avoided this entire trip. Damn. I think it was in the banana...it tasted like the best banana pushing in the world so I'm probably being punished for it being so good) Lilly got whiskey and raspberry. They were so fresh and true flavors! Together they were even better than alone! The raspberry she had was 10times better than the raspberry she had at the other gelato place with the champagne flavor. We felt sad we had wasted so much time on inferior gelato. At least we had it while we could.

Now we are all packed up and ready to head back home. I hate long plane rides, thank goodness I fall asleep almost immediately.

We have our cheese ready for breakfast tomorrow. Next time I post I will be back in the USA!
Xoxo

Oh good lord.

So today we woke up 655 am and we both felt like we had JUST fallen asleep when we woke up. I definitely will appreciate a nice American bed when I get back! Breakfast was yummy as every morning and we had the super good cheese again...still don't know what kind it is! We are stockpiling cheese in our fridge for the morning we leave too so we have yummy breakfast of crackers and cheese and jam and gluten free plum cakes and nutella. Or something like that!

We took the metro to the Vatican so we would get there before it opened at 830. Best decision ever since a 30/40 minute walk was cut to 10minutes and 2 euro! We walked straight to the Vatican and were approached by a guy selling tours to the Vatican for 40 euro each. The ticket for the Vatican is only like 15/20 euro so we were like uhhhh no because we were there early like all the other things so we figured not much of a line. We were wrong. It was already around the corner. Ugh. People start lining up at like 730am and oh p.s. No one told us the Vatican is closed tomorrow for like a huge Roman Holiday  We went on one of the busiest days of the year! So we said screw it and bought the tour tickets. Our guide was an air force brat from Boston and she really knew what she was talking about. It was very worth the money to have her explain the super important things about the Vatican. Unfortunately there were so many people there in the museum that we really couldn't appreciate what we saw.

The museum is the third largest in the world and so you could spend a day or more and not see everything. The tour did like main things in the main hallways but even if Lilly and I were by ourselves we wouldn't have gone to see much more because of how hard it was to move in the museum. It really sucked to be honest...

But we DID go to the Sistine chapel. Sigh. Gorgeous . Absolutely stunning.

Worth every euro, even with the stupid rude crowds who sit. On the floor and eat sandwiches in the Sistine chapel. I may not appreciate the chapel part but the art alone should be worshipped an adored. Oh and I stepped on the circle that the pope kneels on every morning. The Sistine Chapel is the only place in the Vatican where pictures are NOT allowed. So, of course, I took about 20.

 I was super sneaky, not like the Asians who were holding their cameras and iPhones up and then getting yelled at o r kicked out by the guards. Lilly and I were quite pleased with my sneaky photos. Yay!!! Oh Michaelangelo, you rock my world.

Then we took the side entrance to St Peters Bascilica. The largest church in Italy. In the Vatican of course. We got to skip the 30minutes line too! And here we saw THE Pieta.

 Michaelangelo did a couple and I posted about seeing the one in Florence which was incredible but this was even MORE beautiful!!! Unfortunately it was behind 3inch bulletproof glass because of some crazy who tried to chop of her hand like 10 years ago or something. Idiots ruining it for everyone else. T

here was also a piece of metal in the church that everyone was taking pictures touching. We followed suit. Still don't know what it was but we will google it tonight. Lol. So the church was amazing. One of my favorites because instead of paintings everywhere there were sculptures everywhere in their little cut outs in the wall. There were also a lot of dead popes and cardinals.

 I'm not all about that but the sculptures were amazing. Sigh. But by then we had been in the Vatican from about 815-115 and we wanted to get food!!

They assured me this was clean water....

We headed back towards the hotel area. We ended up going towards campo di fire again which is a nice marketplace and cheaper than piazza Navona. We found a organic store and I nought almond cookies. Basically almonds, sugar, egg whites. Delicious. As we nibbled, our navigational prowess improved as did our overall appreciation for everything Rome. Amazing how that works. We shopped around the cafes until we found one with acceptable prices and we shared a caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil), a side of baked potatoes (like amazing. Best potatoes ever) and a .5l of a white wine. Perfecto. Just the right amount of food for a light lunch.

Then we headed to the gelato place I found online as "best gelato in all Rome, some say the world" on timeout.com/Rome. I had caramel with meringue gelato with chocolate and rum. Lilly had honey gelato (house specialty) and cinnamon ginger gelato. The website didn't lie. We were enjoying the most amazing gelato and reading thought their book of all the newspaper/magazine/online reviews they had had. They only use all natural ingredients and some flavors like banana took them over a month to perfect. They have a Marsala wine flavor and they only use 20year old Marsala. There was also an excerpt from the book EAT PRAY LOVE where the author (who spent 3 months in rome) basically said that gelatin di San crispino (the name) was the best gelato in all Rome.seriously, if anyone ever goes to Rome, this is where they need to buy gelato. And it's not obvious either,it's down a side street, it's not flashy, and we almost missed it twice trying to find it! I think aleot of people who find it probably don't even know what a gem they have found!!

So then finally back to the room for a quick hour nap and then Lilly did some packing and I munched on rice cakes with olive oil and rosemary. I wish they sold that flavor in the states! So good and light! Then we headed out for dinner. First a stop at Sant Eustachio for offer again. We had coffee granites con panna (with whipped cream) the whipped cream here isn't sweet like back home but the granita sure was. Neither of us could finish them but the coffee flavor itself was divine. We agreed to get cappuccinos there tomorrow. Then we walked around a lot, past the Trevi fountain again and the pantheon. We made a quick stop inside the Pantheon again...just because we could.

 I think it is my favorite church besides St Peters Bascilica because it is just so open and free. I wish I knew what it was like in Ancient Roman times when it was still Pagan.

Before they came and made it a Bascilica... It's just so pretty. It's also where Rafael is buried. Then we just walked the streets. We found a cute chocolate shop and bought some different Italian chocolates to try and then finally settled on a restaurant in a back alley away from the touristy things. We ordered .5l of the house red but apparently they only served it by the bottle so we shared a bottle of the house Chianti that was brought out. More than normal but we did just fine since we had been pacing ourselves with wine this trip. We had grilled vegetables (zucchini and eggplant) for a started which was divine. Fresh herbs and olive oil. Yum. Then Lilly had pumpkin gnocchi and I had risotto with tomatoes and eggplant. My risotto improved considerably when I covered it in the delicious Parmesan cheese. It wasnt bad before, it just wasn't like super super spectacular. It's hard to compete in Italy with so much amazing food. Lilly finished her gnocchi though and I was a bit jealous I couldn't try it but I will make all of these things gluten free to try in the upcoming year for sure.

We meant to buy gelato again on our way back but we didn't go to the bathroom in the restaurant and so we practically ran back to the hotel. It's amazing how the street vendors don't even bother to harass you when you move with a purpose. Plus I had my bitch face on and I have been working with Lilly on hers which has improved quite considerably. So no people trying to talk to us and we made it safely and dryly back to the room. Once we were here we pretty much decided to stay in and watch a movie and finish our cherries and chocolate bar we bought the day we arrived. All in all a wonderful roman night.

Can't believe tomorrow is our last day in Rome and my last day in Europe. I'm ready to be back though, there is nothing that I didn't do that I wanted to do which is really quite an accomplishment I think!

Xoxo

A fight till death

So today we went where the gladiators liked to play. The Colloseum. It's colossal, yup. We walked there from our hotel after breakfast (same as yesterday but we had a different better cheese today and I put it on my gluten free biscuits that I still have with some ham and jam. Love. I have most of my voice back but now we are pretty sure the bites on my legs, all six of them, are spider bites, not mosquito bites. Exciting.

Well we did the walk to the colosseum and I displayed my great navigating prowess. No big deal. No wrong turns and the most efficient route. We got there 15 minutes after it opened so there were no lines. We bought our tickets and a guided tour and were off! We had 45 minutes before the tour so we walked around and took pictures. It's really quite incredible, even if a lot of it is gone :( the tour was useful though and I think it helped us try to picture what went on there a little better.

We walked around about three times or so and then went to the Palatine hill and archaeological site /ruins. The ruins were actually really beautiful and extremely expansive but it actually became overwhelming. After about four hours at the colloseum and palatine we really felt like we were just going through the motions and not able to really appreciate what we were in the presence of.

Trying to get your money to take a picture

We went to the casa de Augustus and looked at the frescos which are pretty amazing to still exist in any sense at all after all this time. We headed to a church that also had ruins but we weren't actually allowed in ( not just us, visitors in general) so we headed back. It was beyond hot today and we were exhausted and getting less and less happy and appreciative by the moment so we knew we needed water ASAP. We walked past the coloseum and quickly found a supermarket thank god and bought liters of water. Then we went for a gelato search. We thought we wouldn't find any which is weird since gelato is every other store and we almost gave up and there it was! I got vanilla with chocolate chips and cherry and Lilly got spaniole and watermelon. It's amazing how fast we cheered up. We were even giggling in a matter of minutes and what once seemed like a daunting walk back to the hotel now seemed quite easy

And it was easy, we got back just as easily as when we left. We even stopped at a church for our viewing pleasure. Back at the hotel we recouped a bit from the obnoxious heat and searched places to eat. I found a recommended coffee place and restaurant both down by the Pantheon and so we decided to head down. Restaurants don't open till 7 So we did some browsing which became shopping which finished all of our gifts for everyone! We went to this awesome coffee shop, Sant Eustachio il cafe and got the gran cafe poco zucchino which means light sugar which is what the website told me to order.

 Excellent choice. It was super yummy and we plan to go back tomorrow for a different drink. Then we walked some more and headed to the restaurant. It wasn't open but the worker bee was outside so we asked if they had senza glutino. He said no and seemed annoyed so we said forget them and walked on. We didn't want to eat right in the piazza of the pantheon because that's where they trap you and you spend too much money so we went down a side street and asked all the waiters at the first three or four restaurants if they had any senza glutino pasta or pizza. One didn't, one had pasta but the dishes didnt sound great and then the last one we went to had gluten free pizza!! I was very excited a out this and so we immediately said yes. We ordered our usual .5 l of house red wine and water and Lilly got pasta la amerita so something that had tomatoes and pancetta and Parmesan. And I had pizza with eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and cheese. It was very good. Light thin crust and fresh tasty vegetables, Lilly said she wouldn't know the difference with or without gluten. We sat there for about thirty minutes after our meal just relaxing and listening to the Italian street music. Then we decided it was time for dessert.

Earlier before dinner we found a gelato place with like 40different gelati and 10 different mousse. Before dinner we shared a creme baileys mousse (small) which was light and refreshing and this time we ordered our own. I had champagne and strawberry and Lilly had champagne and raspberries. It was wonderful, we both agreed it was one of the best gelatos we have had in Italy. It was so fresh and light because they weren't creme based and it was the perfect t dessert combination. We walked back towards the hotel just appreciating life and even made a quick stop at the Trevi Fountain since it was night time. It's very pretty at night and almost takes a different feel to it but I honestly like it better at day when I can appreciate every little detail to it's fullest. We stopped at a liquor store and they gave us samples of anything we wanted to try. We sampled limoncello, strawberries and creme liquor, pistachio creme liquor, and melon creme liquor. We bought several small ones as gifts and I bought a small grappa for us to share and try since it is everywhere. Then the supermarket for water and back to the hotel before 10pm. Very good.

We tried the grappa. Good thing we had the chocolate bar for a chaser because between the two of us we didn't even finish the 1.3oz bottle. Ew ew ew. It was horrible! Idk if it was cheap or just how it is but I never want grappa again. Give me wine please, thank you.

Next stop, Vatican City.

Xoxo

A Roman Holiday

Bonjourno

So today was our first day in Rome. You may want to prepare yourself. Sit down as you read this quick run through of the day and then I will do a bit more detail if you are up to it.
We woke up at 7 and had breakfast at the hotel- muesli and yogurt, meats, mozzarella cheese with honey, and tea and orange juice. Then we went to the Tritan fountain, Santa Maria de la Vittoria, San Carlo Quatro Fontane, back to the hotel for a bathroom break, the Spanish steps, Quarinale, Trevi Fountain, two other churches, Temple Adriana, Pantheon, Piazza Navano, another church , Palazzo die Tribunali, Castel San Angelo, the Vatican, another church, Campo di Fiori, back to the Pantheon, back to the Trevi Fountain and then finally back to the hotel. About 8 hours of sigh seeing. needless to say when we got back we took a quick na and re grouped and then had dinner, super market run, movie in the room and bed.

Now for more detail. The Santa Maria de la Vittoria church has famous Bernini sculptures with gold behind them so when the light hits them a certain way they look like they are on fire. We weren't there at this perfect time of day but they were very beautiful all the same.

The San Carlo QuTro Fontana is a church with 4 fountains , one on each corner for the intersection where the street is.The Triton Fountain was pretty and close to our hotel so it was just another check on the list.

Top of the Spanish Steps

The Spanish steps were very tall..the church on top was dark and ornate. We ended up going down the steps...that hurt my knee a bit. We saw a guy dressed like a roman soldier who tried to get us to take a picture of him but we said no thank you. The couple behind us however fell for it and took the picture and then were surprised when the "soldier" told them it would be 10 euro now. They deleted that picture and got kind of upset. Lol. We walked past the Quirinale which is apparently their version of the White House. I asked a lady what it was since there were guards there and I think she was bait annoyed that I didn't know. No offense people, it's not like it's famous like the white house...the building was uglier than most of the pretty old buildings in the rest of Europe. My bad. Not like we could go in anyways. Boo.

Bottom of the Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain. Sigh. So beautiful. We did the obligatory coin toss with pictures, just like the 9 million Asian tourists all around us.

Maybe I will get my wish.....

We even got a picture together by a family who spoke English. We only let other people who speak English use our cameras to take pictures of us together. Maybe that's racist, maybe that's safe. I don't want my 600$ camera walking away from me. Too many pictures!

Then the Pantheon and the Temple Adriano. The temple was more like 4 pillars with a modern building around it to support it. Historically significant but not super catching on the eye. Then the Pantheon. A little piece of Roman history tucked in between buildings so much newer and surrounded by cafes and bars. It made me happy being under that roof. We touched the columns. Think how many like "Romans" touched those pillars! I feel stronger already! But there was mass going on so we couldn't go inside of it until after 12. It wasnt even 11 yet.

We made our way to Piazza Navano which is really just a "square" with people selling items in a market and lots of restaurants and a pretty church as well. (maybe two churches but we only went into one) we had lunch at a restaurant there.

We had prosecco to drink and shared a four cheese risotto with strawberries. It sounds heavy but I assure you it was so light and fresh.

The cheese was not overpowering and there wasn't a lot of cheese either. It was perfect. We also had gelato. I had black chocolate truffle and Lilly had amaretto truffle. Both were divine but we ended up paying twice as much for them because we had eaten them in the restaurant as opposed to the cafe. Annoying. We felt a little agitated with ourselves for spending more than we wanted on lunch but consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we were not paying for any of the other sites we were seeing today.

Then we headed down the road and ended up crossing the river to the Palazzo Giustizia. The was a free museum there so we went into it but we couldn't actually get into the palace and the museum was on all the different cities in Italy and what they produce but it was all in italian. The air conditioner was nice though. We could see the Vatican from the bridge and Lilly didn't believe me when I said that's what it was. She thought it would be more lik "HELLO I am the Vatican!!!" but it really wasn't. We walked through a market and bought some fun dried fruit like lime and kiwi and green pepper and whole oranges and other fruit we didn't know what it was... Nd then some candy. Then we walked past the Castel/fortress that is supposed to have a beautiful view of the city but it was 8.50euro each and we didn't feel like that was really worth it considering all the free art we could see and the other things we actually wanted to pay for. Then we mosied on over to the Vatican. No museum and church today because the line was wrapped around like we knew it would be and everything closes at 2 there. We will head there on Tuesday. But we took some pictures and headed back.

At 2 on Sunday's all the churches close apparently...this kind of stinks because 80% of things to see in Italy are churches. If I were to do a one week trip in Italy I would fly out on a Monday and then fly back on Sunday because those are the most inefficient days to be a tourist.

We went to Campo di Fiori because we thought it was famous for something but it was just another open square and market... Then we passed the church of Saint Ignozio de Loyola. It was open! Yay! Very pretty , overwhelming, lots of gold... We realized it was open because they were setting up for a wedding and putting flowers out. We both agreed we would NOT want to be married in a church, especially one like this, no matter how pretty! We saw a statue with the woman holding the mirror and the snake. We had seen this before and tried to remember the story...I told Lilly it was like the basilisk in Harry Potter, you can't look into it's eyes! She said we were going to he'll because we related a saint to Harry Potter. I think that god probably laughed at the people who built these obscene and ornate churches because they are so unnecessary and should have no impact on whether you go to heaven or not. They can keep their gold.

Then we went back the the Pantheon. The inside is just so gorgeous. I love the roundness of it, such a contrast to the other churches. And so much light too! It was lovely being in there. We then walked back to the Trevi Fountain and got gelato and sat and stared. I had kiwi and orange and Lilly had mango and blackberry. Yum!

The n finally back to the hotel. Phew! Quick nap, recoup. Dinner. We were too tired to really go out so we just went down our street to a hotel we saw earlier. The prices for entrees other than pasta and pizza seemed more than I wanted to pay and so we were about to walk away when the owner came out to invite us to sit. I asked him if he had pasta sense glutino and he. Said yes! So we decided to eat there and I had pasta alla carbonara which spaghetti with parmesan and bacon and Lilly had an amazing pizza with artichokes, olives, mushrooms, ham, and maybe something else yummy. We shared 1/2l of wine as well. All of that was less that lunch by 2 euro and we were quite pleased. I'm so very happy I finally had pasta in Italy. We went to the supermarket and brought some fruit and water and a chocolate bar to share and headed back to the room to watch a movie and relax. Now off to bed so we can get an early morning in tomorrow as well!

Xoxo

Good morning Florence, good night Rome

Well today was the next part of our adventure. We woke up early to have our free breakfast of muesli and yogurt and headed straigh to the gallery de Academia to see the "David" and more art. We got there 15minutes after it opened and only waited about 15minutes to get in. Success. We bought the audio guides which were somewhat interesting but more so for the rooms as a whole than individual pieces of art. Most of the art was early renaissance by Florentine painters. We mostly just cared about David. We sat and stared at him for a long time, it was just incredible..we were so in awe. I don't think I could describe the feeling looking at such a monumental piece of art. It's like we expected him to move at any second! A lot of the sculpture was like that, the detailing is so incredible that it makes something as hard as marble look like it has as much movement as silk or gauze. Amazing. After that we went to the Annunciata which was a church and there was even mass going on. It was very beautiful with lots of gold and several little rooms for us to look at.

The fake David they keep outside in the garden of statues

From there we didn't really have anything else we were dying to see so we thought we would just walk and not worry about the map. This was really quite fun and relaxing as well. We came upon a supermarket and bought some gifts for family/friends and then some snacks for us. We then came across an organic/natural/vegetarian restaurant but it wasn't gluten free so we kept on. Then we found a fair trade store. Haha we would. I bought jon a shirt there that was made from organic cotton in an Italian jail. Score. Doesn't get much more authentic than that!

Then we went towards the Church of Santa Croce which has the tombs of Dante, Michaelangelo, Macchiavelli, Galileo, Charlotte Bonaparte, and other wealthy Italians. The tombs were so gorgeous with the sculptures on them and it was kinda cool thinking how close we were to the bodies of these extremely brilliant and famous men and artists. The people in that church played a huge role in forming culture and science and thought and everything!

We stopped in a cafe for a cappuccino and shared a gluten free plum cake with chocolate that I bought at the supermarket. Sounds better than it tastes...I don't know how gluten free Italians live...I can deal with it in America, or bread isn't famous or like beyond amazing good...but to eat such inferior bread in Italy for your whole life? Devastating.

We walked around by the water and the Uffizi one last time and got our daily gelato. I had panna cotta and cafe, Lilly had pineapple and coconut. Yum...as always (except I hate coconut lol ) and then we meandered back towards the hostel to collect our things.

On the way back we passed by the huge street market and Lilly bought a pair of sunglasses that she bargained for from 6euro to 4 euro. I was very proud of her. 4 euro is still too much by our standards but she did well and I doubt she could get them cheaper in Italy. She needed sunglasses since hers broke.

On the way back to the hotel we made one last stop at a supermarket to buy food for dinner since our train was from 610-745 and we wanted to be there way early so there would be no rush like the other train ride lol We bought yummy cheese and pancetta and grapes and cherries and water to eat on the train with the gluten free biscuits I still had from Alessia's house. Excellent idea for while we watched Marie Antoinette on the ride.

We got to our hotel in Rome easily taking the metro. Unfortunately we feel kinda scammed on the hotel for the amount we paid...we really are not getting what we paid for. The room is very safe, we have like three locked doors just to get to our room and we do get free breakfast and wifi but the wifi is really iffy and selective when it works...the bathroom is small and the water goes hot cold warm... It has a fridge which is ok but all in all...we should have stayed somewhere else. We are trying to be positive about that since in 10years (or maybe even 1) we won't remember the prices, just the experiences...but right now it stings. Speaking of stings, I also have bug bites all over my legs. Like big ones and we have no idea why or how...my feet, calves, thighs, ridiculous. The only place I have been that Lilly hasn't (she has no bites) is my bed at the hostel. So probably some sort of bug there last night. Lovely. Hopefully they don't get worse.

We had planned on the Vatican to tomorrow because it is free on Sunday but all the sites we read tonight said it was horrible with a crazy long wait...so we may put that off until Tuesday now and do the Spanish steps/pantheon tomorrow...

Wish us luck and that I don't get any sicker/more injuries/maladies/bites.

Xoxo

Why is that tower leaning?

So last night Lilly and I met our hostel roommates -two Korean girls.We thought they seemed alright but they were packing to leave today and so they kept the light on and packed until one am even with Lilly and I sleeping. I was able to sleep but the light kept Lilly awake. Even after they went to bed they were noisy! At one point I was woken up by crazy loud snoring. I got out of bed to wake Lilly up if it was her but it wasn't ! It was hard to fall asleep with the noisy snoring Asian. I found out this morning Lilly had thought it was me until she saw too. Then the other one started grinding her teeth and it was way loud too!ridiculous . Lilly and I woke up @ 0655 and went for a 35/40 minute run around Florence. It was very nice and cool to run past the Duomo and we didn't get lost at all.

After our run, we went to eat the free breakfast at our hostel. They have a menu and a kitchen and you order one entree and one drink and they make it and call u when it is ready. If you want extra then you have to pay but we didn't need anything else. They had cornflakes, French toast, omlettes, ham and eggs and muesli. Lilly and I both had yogurt and muesli and I had tea and she had watered down orange juice. Not bad for a free hostel breakfast. Then we went back to our room and our roommates had already left so we however and got ready for our day in Pisa.

The hostel wasn't super helpful with how to get to Pisa so we went to the train station and asked someone in line there and she helped us. It was 11.60 euro for the two of us each way for the one hour train ride.  Ok, not bad I guess. We grabbed an espresso and bought the ticket 4 minutes before the train took off and made it on the train. Unfortunately it was packed and we had to stand the entire ride. I thought this was ok but when I got off the train I thought my knee was going to break in half. I think maybe my knee hasn't healed completely since I fell on it before I left and this was the first time I have run on it since before I left for Europe. It was crazy painful and I could barely walk up and down stairs. That meant no climbing the tower of Pisa which was kind of sad.... There was really no way though. So we walked through and made our way to the piazza where the tower, church, baptistry, cemetery and museum were. We took the obligatory tower picture holding it up like everyone else around us. We even walked over the chain that said stay off the grass in order to take a better picture on the grass. I got yelled at in Italian so I ignored him and followed everyone else who was on the grass already.

We had a to buy and ticket for everything we wanted to do so we decided on the church, baptistry, and cemetery for 8euro each. The Cathedral was very beautiful, gold and blue ceilings and huge paintings lined the walls. Its hard to describe ever church but just know they are all pretty impressive. The baptistry was just a two story round building. We walked up the stairs which absolutely destroyed my knee and looked from up top which was very pretty.
Then the cemetery. It had been rebuilt and renovated since world war one or two, not sure which but the floors were covered in marble graves. Most of the dates were in roman numerals so I didn't try and figure it our. They had a special room that was preserving some original frescos from the cemetery that were very detailed. Lilly and I particularly enjoyed the one depicting people being sorted for heaven and hell (at least we think that's what it was ) there were all sorts of demons painted everywhere eating and killing people. No wonder everyone paid the church to send them to heaven!

Then we went for our gelato of the day. I had caramel and banana and Lilly had yogurt with berries and limone. Excellent choices. We took them back to look at that leaning tower one more time. From there we decided to look at the botanical gardens that have been there since the 1500s. That was one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. It was the worst botanical garden we had ever been to. It was 3euro for both of us. We first saw lavender when we walked in which got us so excited because it smelled so good but everything was downhill from there. Nothing was kept up, there were weeds everywhere, it was hard to tell which was the weed and which was the plant in some places. The trees were not maintained, ivy was growing all over the trees, it was just depressing. Lilly went to the bathroom there and was swarmed by Mosquitos! We were pretty upset. Then we started heading back to the train station and stopped at a cafe for two cappuccinos and a pannacotta with raspberry fruit sauce to share. I thought it was pretty good but I'm not sure if it's because I loved the sauce so much or because i loved the whole thing. Doesn't really matter I guess lol. We made it back to the train station at 1523 and bought the ticket back for the 1532 train and we were off to Florence.

We headed back to our hotel to plan our next attack. We decided to walk towards the piazza Santa Croce  where there was a festival going on in order to find dinner. We found a trattoria that looked good but it didn't open for another thirty minutes so we tried to walk around to get in to the festival. We kept hearing cheering in the stadium and seeing men in tights and costumes so I think it was some sort of jousting or time period sport. It was completely full and we couldn't get in so we headed back to the trattoria and entered at the exact moment the were "open" . We started with tris Italian cheese with truffles honey. We're not sure what types of cheese they were, one was in the Swiss family, one was a harder cheese and one was a softer cheese. The truffles honey was amazing. We shared 1/4 l of the house red wine which turned out to be about a glass each and then 1 l of water. For my entree I had an Italian salad with fresh homemade mozzarella  ( the kind that melts in your mouth... Real Italian mozzarella ) , sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, arugala, and pesto.

 It was very good. I would have liked something else but the entrees I was sure were gluten free were a lot more expensive than I wanted to pay. Lilly had a spinach pasta in a cream sauce with walnuts and apples. It looked good. I was mostly jealous of her being able to put olive oil and fresh Parmesan cheese on the bread. We were pretty full but decided that if something on the dessert menu jumped at us that we would get it. Well, creme brûlée jumped at us and I'm sure glad it did. Best creme brûlée of my life. Perfect combination of custard and crunchy sugar and everything.

We then headed towards the water and the Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge with lots of old stores so we could get one extra sight in for the day. After that, we stayed at the bridge because it was about 9pm and there were supposed to be fireworks over the river at 10. We sat on the wall by the river to wait. There were so many people which neither of us particularly liked the idea of but how many chances to you get to watch fireworks in Florence, Italy right? Well the show lasted an HOUR!! It was one of those "moments" you know? When it's all very surreal and you think about life and all sorts of stuff. They were incredible fireworks and we had prime seats. Fourth of July has a lot to live up to now... As much as I'm loving this experience with Lilly, I may have wished she was Jon tonight, and I bet she wished I was Chris. There was a wedding down below on the water and I wouldn't be surprised if like 100 people got engaged. It was beautiful. Walking back to the hostel we really wished we had boys. It was dark and the streets looked different and it's so easy to get turned around...we were nervous cause were good American girls and paranoid so we stuck to people and only went where we saw lights. We made it back with no problems but we both agreed no night adventures in Rome . It's just not us. Lol.

Tomorrow last day in Florence and then train to Rome!

Ciao!

Firenze

Ciao!

So somewhere along the line Lilly and I should have failed elementary school math because her iPad was set for Florida time and we wanted to wake up at 645 to have time to get ready and have espresso at the train station before getting on our train. So there is a 6 hour time difference right? Well we decided that 645 am minus a 6 hour time difference clearly meant set the alarm for 145 am. If you passed elementary school math then you should notice right about now that the math doesn't add up and that the alarm would instead go off at 745am in Milan . Yup.  Luckily we had packed mostly last night because I think we were out of the room in 5 minutes and walking into the train station at 755. We asked a lady for help where our train was since we didn't see it on the board and then quickly hopped on platform 15 and onto our train. 15 minutes to spare! Lol it's an adventure .

We got to the station just fine and then using the directions on our hostel reservation we were able to find it quite easily. We put our things in the storage room there and then set off on our adventure for the day. We asked the receptionist for directions to the galleria degli Uffizi (super famous museum) and figured a stop at the Piazza Duomo would be in order. We followed the directions given and ended up at the train station...aka the complete wrong way...but we got help and slowly made our way around Florence . We went to th church of Santa Maria Novella which was gorgeous and famous for the symmetric architecture. Then we headed towards the Piazza Duomo. We may have made a wrong turn or two but we found it in the end. It was so huge! That is one of florence's oldest buildings and quite impressive. Even more impressive than the church was the museum for it...which had Michaelangelo's Pieta.

It was so amazing seeing it!! The museum was a hidden gem, not too many people were there and it was really nice and clean and had some cool sculptures and paintings. We the. Headoed to lunch which we meant to get gelato but stopped by a small cafe because of these huge dessert type things in the display. We went back and asked and the man said it was a meringue. We had to have one! We got a meringue with chocolate drizzle and to cafe macchiato's for lunch. We couldn't even finish the meringue. It was so sweet but delicious and crunchy on the outside but almost like marshmallow consistency in the inside. We were full and continued on. O th e way we passed by the Church of Orsanmichele which was done in the gothic style and very old. A beautiful alter with gold and a beautiful painiting from the 1300s I think, no pictures allowed though. And then finally the Uffizi!! We didn't have reservations for tickets so we got in a long line after the Plaza of Statues (where the replica of David is) and were going to wait but the family in front of us found this deal where you sign up for a museum club thing and you get free tickets to the Uffizi. It's 20euro for the club and 15euro for the museum anyways so we decided to join the club. The extra 5 euro was worth it because we skipped right past a 2 hour line basically. The museum was almost overwhelming...there was so much art!! We saw a lot of famous art, the kind in history and humanities book...and we saw.
The Birth of Venus.

Pictures are NOT allowed...I tried to be sneaky

Omg Lilly and I got goosebumps. We went back to see it three times we were just so in awe...I would list all the beautiful famous things we saw but it would take too much lol. It was just awesome , we spent over two hours there and that was because we didn't stop at a lot of works if we didn't really know the artist very well. It was kind of like the London National Gallery museum for me. So amazing. Then we decided to try and find the restaurant that lilly's cousin was super insisstant that we go to, il Cibreo.

 I was able to find it and we found out it didn't open till 650 and we didn't need reservations for the trattoria, just the restaurant , and they had the exact same menu and price so the trattoria was the perfect choice. We had 30minutes to kill so we walked around the market and bought some comfy pants we have seen so many people wearing! We finally found them after two days of looking and it was completely by chance! Yay. Then back to the restaurant, we were the first ones there. The waiter was so helpful, he went through the whole menu with us in English and told me what did and didn't have gluten. The menu was hand written because it changes with the seasons and what's fresh . Awesome. Lilly and I both had the ricotta and potato flan for our first course.

It was the consistency of whipped cream cheese but shaped like a log of tofu and had fresh Parmesan and olive oil and also an incredible basil pesto, the waiter put a bit of each on my fork to show me how to eat it. It was amazing. The ricotta was so smooth and the flavors went so perfectly together. Oh I can't even describe it! Then for my main course I had beef cheek in a tomato sauce with rosemary and some other herbs etc. It practically melted in my mouth it was so tender!

 The waiter recommended it and said it was a very traditional dish for Florence ...i figured I couldn't go wrong! And finally for dessert I had a flour less chocolate cake.

It was very very good and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think I was a little disappointed after how amazing dinner had been and how different from what I normally eat. Anywhere else it would have been perfect but I almost expected beyond perfect by the time dessert came! All the same, an incredible meal that her cousin paid for us,def the most expensive meal of my euro trip for sure. It was easy to find our way back to the hotel after dinner and now off to bed so we can go for a run in the morning and then Pisa for the day!

Xoxo