Italy: Where I had fantastic food with fantastic friends...

Italy: I couldn’t have been more thrilled to spend ten days with four good friends exploring the land of beautiful cities and delicious food. With the trip coming to an end, with limited money in our pockets, we made smart decisions when it came to tourist attractions and meals. We normally would travel with just a back pack, but 10 days? I think not. So we had 2 bags checked on the plane and we shared. What wound up happening is that the bag weighed so much that we had about 2 shirts and a toothbrush in the suitcase. After we got off the plane, we shoved everything into that bag and lugged it around. And when I say lugged, I mean lugged. Most of our hostels were a close distance to the train station, airport, or bus terminal we needed to get to. So, there we went, five American girls, touring Italy, exploring the culture, and had the time of our lives.

Venice: For our first meal, we had our first of many pizzas to come. We toured the palace/jail, walked around, and toured the city. It’s an unbelievably gorgeous tiny, little city. Gondolas, painted houses, glass art work everywhere… Everything I imagined the city to look like. After our first day we spotted a really fresh crepe stand that was calling our names. I chose white chocolate and strawberries…. Boy did I choose wisely. This stuff was leaps and bounds over white chocolate. We couldn’t figure it out, but it was absolutely amazing. Kate loved it so much that it wound up on her shirt, her bag, her pants, and in her hair. Yep, her hair. We all stood in a circle around her, laughing our asses off at the mess she made. Well, I should not have laughed because for the rest of the trip, I managed to stain EVERY-SINGLE-PIECE of clothing I owned. Even the toothpaste got me. Moving on, we were all in bed by 9 on the first night. We woke up in the morning and wanted to enjoy the gorgeous view of the water so we decided to sit at a really expensive restaurant, order 1 bowl of ice cream between four of us, and enjoy the sun while Jordyn was off gallivanting on another island near Venice. The waiter wasn’t too pleased with our choice of ice cream, but hey, we beat the system. We toured the Basilica, did laps upon laps around the city, laid by the water, ate more pizza, and shopped a tiny bit. Venice is famous for their glass so I found some cute cheese knives for Pepi. I thought it would going away gift so she can think of me forever and ever when she eats her cheese every, single day.

Venice was so romantic and beautiful, but no one needs more than a day there when traveling. The gondolas were precious and I legitimately felt like I was in The Italian Job or Casino Royale. After 2 days in the lovely city of Venice, we dragged our bag to the bus station for Florence.

Florence: Now, I must say, this train ride was the most interesting train ride of my life. As we were getting the bag on the train, a nice man offered to help us. We shoved our bag into a corner and headed for our seats. Somehow Jordyn and I had assigned seats sitting across from each other. The others were behind us. Next to Jordyn happened to be the same man that helped with the bag. The man sitting next to me… was drunk. One guy was from Egypt, the other guy… not sure. But both were living in Dubai working for some kind of technology/computer/router/fancy lingo company and they were on a business trip. Nice guy was very embarrassed about drunk guy. The entire train could hear all the mumbo jumbo drunk guy was talking about. They got to go to the Ferrari factory and this guy bought a tiny red backpack. He looked ridiculous walking around with it. This story could go on and on and I won’t bore any of you, but just imagine the 3 of us vs. drunk guy trying to get him to sleep. By the end of the 3 hour trip, he was out cold and I climbed over the seat so I wouldn’t wake him. In his drunken stupor he told us we should have more earrings and longer hair and that women should make their husbands happen. Jordyn and I had enough after that comment. Thank goodness he passed out…

We arrived in Florence and checked into our hostel. We were starving at this point so we dropped everything and went to dinner. It was late and a lot of places seemed to be closed but the waiters were shouting to each other in the streets to see what restaurants were open for us. It was a very nice start of the Florence trip. We ate at a very nice restaurant that prided themselves on their lasagna. We were so excited to try everything so we all got a different dish and shared. We had lasagna, stuffed tortellini with spinach, risotto with mushrooms, a salad, and gnocchi. We divided up the dishes and conquered. Hands down, the tortellini was the winner. In Italy the pasta is much more al dente then in the US (to the tooth… cooked less and has more of a bite) but this pasta was perfect to me. It had the right texture, the right amount of salt… delicious.

The next day we went to the Cathedral and the Duomo, ate the “best” pizza in Florence at Gusto’s (not the best, but definitely delicious) and many friends took us around. My best friend Danielle was arriving home that night from Amsterdam so I did not see her until the next day. My friend Erin though had friends in the city as well so she took us around. We kept getting passed on from tour guide to tour guide. It was great because everyone has a different opinion about the best gelato, the best pizza, the best view of the city, etc. We got to experience it all.

bored waiting on a line to get into the church

We went and saw David, by Michelangelo… you know, the huge naked man. There was a special bench on the other side of the sculpture. Many, many women were checking out that ass. Hysterical J

Danielle’s best friend from home Nick was also coming to Florence at the same time we were there. I was so excited to meet him. We have been friends on Facebook for years, but never had the opportunity to meet. We picked a place to meet up, became friends instantly, and we adopted him into our circle of friends. He is probably one of the funniest, most entertaining people I have ever met and just added to the laughter of our group. We bought some wine and schlepped up a million steps to see an incredible view of the city at sunset. Que romantico!!! How romantic, yes, I do love my Spanish. The city was beyond gorgeous. The buildings, the river, everything was perfect. It was definitely my favorite city besides Sevilla. Just like how Danielle said Sevilla reminded her of Florence, the same went for me. There was a large difference though. There was way more tourism, way more Americans, and everyone spoke English. In Sevilla, no one speaks English in stores, restaurants, gelato places… no one. In Florence, lots and lots of English. Nick asked me about my life in Sevilla and with Pepi. He was shocked that I have hour-long conversations with her. He studies in London and clearly there is no language barrier there. Danielle lives with 8 other girls and she is the only one who can speak Italian. I definitely wouldn’t call myself wonderful at Spanish, but I definitely can hold my own. I’m glad we have that here, that culture factor to our city. It really, really makes all the difference.

my loves

dancing queen, Nicholas Spadaro

Monday rolled around and we headed back to climb the Duomo. I decided to save 8 Euro and sit that one out. I had already seen a great view of the city so I thought hey, not necessary. As I sat waiting for the kids to come down I ran into 6 people I knew. Go figure. I caught some rays and then we headed for some gelato. Now this place was supposedly the best. Miss I-Lack-A-Sweet-Tooth always goes for strawberry because it’s more refreshing than sweet. What should I pair that with? The dark chocolate….a chocolate covered strawberry! OH MY GOD WAS THIS GOOD! Of course I got it on my dress, my jacket, my hair and my hands, but it was totally worth it. We sat on the bridge… oh I forgot to mention I finally got to see my Danielle. So we sat all together enjoying the sun and the gelato. We then headed off to explore the famous leather market. I’m not into bags or purses at all, but this place was very intriguing. Bags, wallets, jackets.. you name it, they have it. I watched everyone else pick and choose gifts. I made one small purchase for a certain someone, but that was it. I already have bought small treasures for myself along the way. I didn’t need anything else.

For dinner we went to a famous restaurant where the food is served family style, the wine is unlimited, and you can’t breathe by the end of it. What was I thinking wearing a tight, high wasted belt? It was off by the end of the dinner. First course came with bread and oil, a platter of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, a platter of Italian meats, bruschetta, and mushroom crostinis. Then came three huge plates of pasta. One was gnocchi with broccoli, a tortellini with mushrooms in a cream sauce, and penna vodka. Oy, it was getting rough. The best part of the meal was this outrageous balsamic that they had on the table. It wasn’t exactly a reduction because it wasn’t that thick, but it wasn’t normal balsamic. It was somewhere in the middle. It was so out of this world that I thought about slipping the dripping bottle under my coat. The meal was fantastic and we shared a lot, a lot, a lot of laughs.

The next morning I found myself locked in our bathroom. The bathroom is public to the other people on the floor and I guess the guy at the front desk heard me rattling the key for 10 minutes. He had to come and save me. I felt like an idiot. There wasn’t even a window for me to attempt to escape. But, yeah, he got me out.

For our last day we met up with the rest of the gang and went to the Boboli Gardens. I wasn’t that impressed by the grounds, but we laid in the sun and enjoyed the weather. Afterwards we split up and Kate, Nick, and me went for a nice walk. What did we find? An archway consumed with lilacs. It took my breath away. I couldn’t stop taking pictures and thinking of my grandparents. We planted them in our house years ago and each year when they would bloom, we would cut some down and bring some to them. We saw another gorgeous view of the city, finished up our walk, and met up to get ready for dinner. This was Danielle’s big dinner for us. Danielle, a foodie like me, knows what good food is. She keeps a food blog, also. She took us to her favorite restaurant where we were treated so nicely. We started off the meal with a complimentary glass of champagne and then dug into our meal. Danielle suggested we start with the fried zucchini flowers and the caprese salad. So we did. Nick ate a very famous Italian soup stuffed with bread and vegetables. It was very, very good. For our main meal, I split my dish with Kate like we usually do. We had the lobster spaghetti and the ravioli with truffles. TO DIE FOR!!! I went to town on the lobster getting every little bit of meat out. The pasta itself was out of this world too. There was so much flavor and garlic in it. Really, probably the best pasta I’ve ever had in my entire life. The other dish was outrageous also. The truffles were used just right… not too much to kill us. Later in the trip I tried a honey truffle jam and almost died from how strong the taste was. But this pasta, this pasta was done well. Gnocchi with pesto and pumpkin ravioli were also on the table. For dessert we had one tiramisu and the server (who treats Danielle like family) gave us another dessert as well that reminded me of flan. After sitting for a while, trying to digest, we all were handed a shot of Limoncello. It’s a very strong liquor specific to Italy. I already had it last time I went to Italy, but I’m glad the girls got to try it. It’s kind of vile in my book, but hey, it’s a cultural thing.

THESE FLOWERS ARE FOR YOU NAN AND POP!

While saying our goodbyes, Danielle and I mom danced together… a special thing to witness… and we parted ways. The next day we headed for the train to Cinque Terre, a beautiful city full of 5 smalls towns.

We stopped in Pisa on the way just for some pictures...

If you notice, how could you not, is jumping at the exact moment Marissa snapped the picture. Cool right?

The towns in Cinque Terre are all slanted on the hill so of course our hostel was located at the top of the hill. Uphill, practically vertically, we dragged the massive suitcase upwards. When we got to the top we realized we couldn’t check into our hostel for another 2 hours and there also was no food of any kind up there. So, we dragged, actually, the bag dragged us down the hill to the beginning. Hey, at least we got some exercise in. So we got some lunch at a really cute restaurant. Kate and I split mussels. About 6 of them weren’t open and the server took them back. He came back with another heaping plate. He thinks we are stupid girls…. But we are not! I know what that chef did. Through the crappy ones back in the pan, with some new ones, forcefully shucked them open, and gave them back. They weren’t even cooked. Too much mussel membrane was staring at me. Well, that was that.

So as we schlepped upwards once again, I turned to look behind me at this man driving a tiny, how do you say.. not a car, or a truck, but a device that you can put some boxes in to get it up and down the mountain. So in his “device” he waved to me and motioned towards putting our big bags on top and he took it up the mountain for us. He was literally crawling. Marissa and I thought our bags broke this thing. But hey, at least we didn’t have to carry it. The man would accept no money from us. How nice…

We checked in and learned of the 180000 rules of this hostel:

1. “Must be in bed with lights off by 12”

2. “Showers only from 4-7 and 9-11”

3. “Lock out from 9-3”

4. “Wipe only from front to back”

Okay clearly that last one wasn’t in there, but that’s pretty much what it came down to. So many rules!!! We walked around, grabbed dinner, saw sunset, found some rocks to hang out on, and enjoyed.

Cinque Terre is famous for their hikes, but because of a landslide we were told they were closed. The hostel guy told us though that we can kind of hop the fence and do them anyway, it’s not dangerous. Now let me just say, out of many, many trips, hanging out with lots of different friends, traveling to many cities, this was one of my favorite days of being here. This hike was such an adventure, that I can really only summarize what happened. This is what I wrote in my phone after our day:

“Hiked up 400 steps, went through the Italian wilderness, climbed through a hole backwards, stripped layers of clothing off, convinced workers our parents were on the trail ahead of us, almost had a heart attack after a 30 minute vertical climb, 007-ed through private property, saved an Irish woman, saw breathtaking views, found a bamboo walking stick, went into the jungle, got chased by a dog, miraculously didn’t catch poison ivy, ran down a highway, survived the mosquito madness, became one with nature all while singing songs, playing memory games, while laughing and sweating uncontrollably all before 1 PM.”

Now does that not sound amazing!?!?!?! Well, it was!! We were out there all alone in nature so we had to occupy our time. What did we do? Went back to our childhood. We played I’m going on a picnic. You know, “I’m going on a picnic, and I’m bringing Apples” Then B, C, D…. remember? Here’s our list (this is more for my own personal memory):

Apple Pie, bleu cheese, chocolate, Dunkin Donuts, eggs, French fries, goats, hot chocolate, iguanas, jelly, kites, lunch boxes, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Napoleons, olive oil, Perroni 40 (a beer and Marissa’s last name is Perrone,) Rice Krispy treats, Shadow baby (Kate’s dog,) tambourine, ukulele, violinist, water chestnuts, xylophone, yoyo, zoo.

So at this picnic we’re eating well, drinking well, playing with our goat and dog, and have a band! Great time…

Then after that, we played a game where the first person says a word and then next person repeats and adds so you wind up making a ridiculously interesting story. We were walking in a straight line (clearly) through the trails. Marissa started. "I" then "I shit..." then "I shit yesterday..." Here’s ours:

“I shit yesterday twice in a Porta-Potty where 5 ogres were eating it. I left my socks around the third nipple where they were playing banjos and then peacocks, Shadow, and I saw a key that led around…”

Yes, this was a really dumb story, but hey, it kept us occupied. The part of my summary where I said that we saved an Irish woman… well, we were getting to the end of the first hike and saw this woman pressed against the rocks and she asked us if it’s steep anywhere because she’s afraid of heights… more like terrified. We made her turn back because it would be 2 hours of heights if she went on. She was so happy to see us. She said she’d follow us back. So I’m thinking, “Okay, we need to time out on our story because we can’t let anyone hear this story” but unfortunately, Jordyn didn’t realize this woman was following us. So there Jordyn went proudly being it her turn, “I SHIT YESTERDAY TWICE….” Idiot.

We had so many laughs. It really was the best time of my life. After the last trail there was a tiny beach that we laid on. We went to dinner that night at an unbelievable restaurant where I had the most delectable tuna tar tar. This was one of those moments I almost shed a tear again.

tuna tar tar :-)

the red/white stripe was the trail we followed the entire day

Next day: Rome. I’ve already been to Rome, but the 4 others hadn’t. We checked into our cool hostel called The Yellow and went outside for lunch. After realizing that our appointment at the Vatican was in an hour, and not 3 hours (stupid military time throwing us all off) we made a run for it. This was just another city of figuring out the metro in 20 seconds, and bam, you’re there. Oh, forgot to mention, this was Good Friday…. meaning Easter Weekend. Clearly a bunch of Jews planned this trip.

So we made it to the Vatican on time. Everyone ran into friends on the way, go figure. The Vatican was just as beautiful as I remembered. I walked around with my water bottle in the air so that the group could follow as if I was a real life tour guide. They all had fancy scarves or umbrellas to follow. I had a water bottle. But, it worked!

After the Vatican we went for coffee. No, not coffee. REALLY EXPENSIVE COFFEE! This was one of those moments that everyone was so livid, that we had to laugh. Stupid seating charge. Jordyn wound up paying about 13 Euro for a donut and a coffee. We were mad, but couldn’t change anything. For girls who were on a tight budget, that did not make us happy.

But we went to the square by the Vatican, saw some bishop guy singing with a choir. Interesting. We went back to the hostel and met our 6^th roommate, a girl named Swine??? I think it was Swine. So naturally I called her Swine Flu to our friends because I am a mean person with a sick sense of humor, but it caught on.  Swine Flu told us the Pope was speaking at the Colosseum so we went to see that with her. Swine was from Brazil, but was studying Spanish in Madrid so it was nice to hear Spanish again.

We ran over to see the Pope and luckily got to see his shoulder from really far away!!! Hahaha, really far away, but it was cool. How many of you out there can say that you saw the Pope? That’s what I thought…

It was early to bed for us. I slept like shit because I had the world’s squeakiest bed. In the morning we got an egg, bacon and cheese sandwich downstairs in our hostel. I was amazed. It was like America was sitting on my plate in front of me. I love Europe, but I do not love how Europe does breakfast. America just got it right with that. So with my happy tummy, we went off to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Cool, cool, cool, architecture, architecture, and architecture. I had already seen it, but it was nice seeing it 4 years later with different eyes. We also pre purchased all of our tickets so we got to cut the line everywhere. The ticket guy at the Colosseum thought I was Spanish. Yeahhhhhh J I don’t know why we get so excited when people think we’re Spanish. We play along until we don’t understand something they’re saying and ask for them to speak in English. But usually, we pass the test.

For lunch we were on a mission for the best pizza in Rome. It was delicious, but Federicci’s in Freehold, New Jersey…. You do Italy proud. Honestly, I wasn’t blown away. Fed’s is just as good.

After lunch we went to the Pantheon. I told the girl’s we would be in and out in less than 5 minutes. I was right. Jordyn always gets her hopes up for things we need to see. I inform her that things aren’t always as great as you think they are. This was one of those moments. Of course it’s amazing, it really is, but it’s not something you need to spend your day admiring at with a stiff neck.

Our next mission was for the best gelato in Rome. Our day revolves around our food and locations on a map. So next up was gelato. This place was a mad house, but we pushed through the madness. My favorites: dark chocolate and strawberry again.They even put a dash of whip cream on top. The guy serving me said I have beautiful eyes. So sir, does that mean I get a free scoop? Uh no.

more laughter

Colosseum

Outside we were all happily eating our cones. I almost got taken down by a bird and many Italians and tourists were witness to my spastic flailing. Kate said it was aiming for the bird’s nest on my head referring to my jungle curly hair bun. Hahaha such a mean joke, but a good one.

I thought it would be a good idea to take some family photos. 

Marissa volunteered to be the photographer.

Our last day in Rome we went to see some gardens by a square. Sorry, I don’t know the real names of anything. Please see Jordyn Siegel’s blog for reference. But yea, some garden, near some square. We met up with Jordyn’s friends who were studying in Israel and were in Rome at the same time we were. I asked one of them if they knew my friend because they were studying in Tel Aviv where my friend was. Of course, he was his roommate. Come on!!! I can’t get over how small this world is! Anyway, we went back for the same unbelievable gelato with the guys, walked down the Spanish steps, went back to the hostel to shower and pack and get ready for our last dinner of our Italian journey. Marissa and Kate had both bought sunglasses that day so we decided to be really weird and have a photoshoot since we all had similar glasses now. There was a tiny balcony outside of our room that led to a secret door to our bathroom so we all squished out there, all done up, ready for our last night, with our sunglasses on and took 12 photos with the camera automatically snapping the photos. These 12 photos are beyond fantastic. They are so candid and really show all of us dying of laughter and loving each other. We were trying to be serious and look like we were in the Mafia so we said the first 2 would be serious and then after that we would do silly poses. Well, of course we can’t be serious for the 5 seconds before the first picture so this collection of photos are of us dying of laughter and being complete whack jobs. I had to put them all up.. they're just too good.

I title this "The Evolution of Laughter"

On our way to dinner, Erin's shoe broke. We had to go on a search for a pair of cheap shoes on Easter Sunday. Well we saw a vendor and thought maybe we could find Italy flip flops or something. We found these really ugly flip flops. They were bright green and were kind of dirty. The guy wanted 10 Euro for them. We said 4. He said no way. I looked at the guy and said, "Sir, no one will ever buy these shoes. They are ugly and don't even say Italy on them. Come on!" We got them for 6. They were worth about 1 Euro, but we needed shoes so we were going to have to pay. Oh well....


For dinner we went to this popular restaurant that serves family style. Literally, family style, like an old mother serves you and there is no menu. We had lentils, meats, fennel, bread, and other goodies on the table first. Then we were served 2 different types of pasta. OH MY GOD delicious. Then after, meat with some veggies. And finally dessert with some orange drink. Well, I had to remove my belt for the second time on this trip in the middle of the meat and veggies course. We had unlimited wine again and I couldn’t even dare think to take another sip. I literally had zero room in my stomach. In the middle of our meal, some guy around our age came in and was sitting at a table next to us. He was a regular, as the waiter told us, and boy oh boy did he have entertainment from the 5 of us. Full stomachs, a little tipsy, and our last night were a great combination for a lot of laughter. The laughter became so ridiculous when Kate took a picture of me and Marissa, handed it to me, and showed me that she really took a picture of the guy behind us, and not of us so we can laugh about him forever. I don’t know why it was so funny at the time, but I thought I was going to vomit and pee in my pants I was laughing so hard. We had such a good time at that dinner.

my girls :)

After dinner we went to the Trevi Fountain. We tossed in our coins and made wishes. I told Marissa that one-day we would be back here with our husbands and we will laugh about how we were single for years and years and years. Though, who needed men when we had such a good group of girlfriends. We had our last coins in our hand, came in for a huddle, and Kate started saying how amazing this trip had been and how our time in Sevilla is coming to an end. I had to walk away. The tears started to creep up on me. I am so emotional about leaving. I can’t even listen to a sad song because some how I relate it to Sevilla and start to cry every single time.

So we threw in our last coins, snapped some pictures, and ventured home.

When I look back at these pictures I will always remember how much fun I had for those 10 days. By the time we were in Rome we couldn’t even think about how we were in Florence just a few days before. We did so much in such little time. There is still so much of Italy to see, but we made a great base. It was a truly phenomenal trip. We had unbelievable food, saw unbelievable things, and had unbelievable laughs. Italy, you will be missed.