so i know its been a while. ive been remiss and there's not much of an excuse.
oh.
except for the 2000 pages of reading assigned
and the swine flu.
but other than that, you know, ive just been kickin it.
:]
so i know i still owe you a blog about italy. and i want to tell you about my life since. so i suppose thats going to make this the most epic blog of your life.
hold onto your hats and glasses,
this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness.
italia!
our italian adventure was made possible by the glorious weeklong break after the end of our british history and culture survey class and before the start of michaelmas term, the real start of crazy oxford work. i planned my trip along with katie scroggs, bethany gibson, and ariel bartlett, three beautiful, hysterical, kindred souls ive gotten to know well since our arrival in oxford. after a smooth few evenings of planning, we'd booked our flights, our hostels, and decided on venice-florence-rome as our itinerary. we were ready to go!
oh yeah. except for that giant, nervewrecking, 80% of your final grade paper/presentation for which we were unprepared, misinformed, and scared out of our brains.
i stayed up all night writing it, gave my presentation to our incredibly brilliant, know it all of a sexy-voiced oxford invigilator, and sat through the rest of the day waiting waiting waiting to get back to my flat, rush to pack, and trek to the bus stop at 1 in the am to catch our bus to the airport.
one sleep-filled 3 hour bus ride and 2.5 hour plane ride later, we found ourselves blinkingly stepping off the easyjet plane in MILAN, dahling!
i double-cheek-kissed the air, proclaiming ridiculous, sleep-deprived stereotypical phrases like 'ciao, italia' and 'ciao, bella'
before we were finally able to make it through milan-malpensa with our passports stamped, our currency in euros, and our hopes to make it to venezia high.
we nervously used our slight knowledge of spanish to decipher our way onto the train, eurail passes in hand, with expectations of arriving in venezia within 4 hours.
our mistake.
by not taking the stupid fast eurostar train, it took us 6 sleepy, nervous hours to make it to venezia, only to find ourselves confused about the location of our hotel, NICE HOTEL. seriously. it was called Nice Hotel. how funny is that?
anyways, once we finally arrived at nice hotel, and discovered that it actually was really nice, we jumped on the N2 bus to take us into the actual venezia. you know, the one they show in the italian job with canals and gondolas and all that.
so we anxiously board the bus and find ourselves crowded in among the 'european' smelling regulars, ready to pay our fare and begin the adventure. except that the driver isnt collecting money. and theres no little automated ticket machine. so we bobbed along laughing ridiculously loud on our free bus ride into venezia.
venezia!
okay. can i just tell you how amazing it is to step off the bus and walk on down to one of the most beautiful waterways youve ever seen?
we ended up arriving after dark, which wasnt what we had anticipated, but it actually ended up making the arrival so much more romantic, spectacular, and breathtaking.
golden lights danced on the dark water.
guitars played in the distance.
the white stone of bridges and churches shining in the dark
the tinkling of wine glasses
the smell of tomato sauce
the glimmer of candles
the lapping of waves on cool concrete.
stunning.
we excitedly skipped around the canal, hugging one another in excitement and disbelief. and whether you can believe it or not, it was at that moment that i realized what a great gift i had been given. my parents' work, mine, providential blessing, they all culminated here at the canal in a heavenly experience. this is what it means to be a child of privilege. to work hard and enjoy the blessings. here i am, barely 20 years old, seeing the world. there are people who will go their entire lives without that kind of joy, and i hurt for them. there are people who will never see these wonders, and i wish i could be their eyes. it gave my trip a fresh wind, it gave me a fresh start. venezia is a place of wonder.
our first night in venezia was fantastic. full of music and laughter and a super giant bill for our sit down meal, in which we ended up paying 8 euro for a bottle of water. the equivalent of which, if you are global-currency challenged, as i was before europe, is $11.99.
yeah, italy rips you off.
BUT i had AMAZING gnocchi, so thick with cream and cheese that it was sinfully decadent. really. it was so good i felt like i needed to repent afterwards.
we topped it off with gelato, and an obsession quickly formed. i first had cioccolato.
rich and creamy and a definite religious experience.
theres something about licking up dripping chocolate heaven while youre strolling down cobblestoned streets, listening to robust italian men sing to you while they play the accordian or guitar that makes you feel like a goddess.
well, it was that or the cat calls. :]
we browsed around looking at masquerade masks and other ornate and silly souvenirs before heading back to nice hotel for a nice night of nice sleep.
we were comin back in the morning. and i was excited!
we walked to the bus, still unsure of how to pay, and i managed to convince my lovely girls to let me grab a cafe (espresso in english) at the local patisserie. pure magic medicine molto bene in a demitasse. the owners were super sweet, and they even teased me about how americans always expect gigantic cups. they were concerned that i had ordered the wrong thing. and i basically mimed to them how freaking much i loved my drink. they seemed happy. we took the bus back across the mediterranean into venezia just in time to watch the beautiful place wake up.
we ambled happily along the azure canal, dazzled by sparkling waves and the warm quiet of the early morning. we ended up picking our destination, and charting the course of our day in venezia, based on our wish to check out the bridge of sighs, where italian prisoners headed for execution would sigh their last whims away as they headed for the pillars. seemed tragically beautiful enough, so off we went down a little side alley, unsure but willing to be daring.
i couldnt be more thankful for the adventure that day. we weaved in and out of alleyways, searching for the vague signs that pointed us in the direction of piazza san marco. we saw the beautiful, hodgepodge heart of venezia- clotheslines hung with everything from boxing gloves to negligees, my favorite line in particular containing both. we found shops stuffed with slices of pizza cooling in the window, fresh baked loaves of bread, meringues, biscotti, masks, murano glass, feather quills, and every sort of delight imaginable. we heard italians calling out to one another, window to window. bouquets of chili peppers and garlic. and the best was the aroma. sea air and basily, garlicky tomato sauce mingled together in a fragrant intoxication. pure bliss.
when we finally made it out of the labyrinth of venezia and into piazza san marco, we were greeted with a vast expanse of tourists, pigeons, and vendors set against a brilliant turquoise mediterranean. slather on the sunshine. it was exquisite.
arriving at the bridge of sighs elicited some sighs all on its own.
here we were, expecting to see a beautiful monument to death, justice, and history, and what we got was a face full of chopard advertising. i couldnt stop laughing. it was definitely a highlight.
we walked back towards the bus and grabbed some lunch.
and even though i ate some amazing things in italy, the panini i had in venezia was the top of the heap. for sure.
big chunks of fat olives baked into the ciabatta gave my caprese regular a veggie-meaty, complex and divine kick that had me literally saying things like "YUM" and "ohmygodicoulddierightnow" with every bite. yes, i was animated. and yes, this sandwich deserved it. plump, crisp tomatoes still cool coupled with fat slices of fresh mozarella, melted to perfection. god i wish i had another.
limon sorbetto for dessert, and a bottle full of venezian fountain water got me and my friends back to the train station, where we wisely chose the fast train to firenze. a nice nap and a bit of journaling, sightseeing, and music-listening on the train got us to firenze in the best of spirits.
firenze!
we got a little lost looking for our hostel, mostly because it was a slightly sketch operation in a fabulous location that made all of the panic (over being killed in a dark, unmarked apartment building in a strange city) worth it. we were directly above a fantastic open-air leather and souvenir market, two seconds from the uffizzi gallery, and a short stroll from the breathtaking, ritzy old piazza complete with merry-go-round and fancy restaurants. and of course, the north star of firenze, il duomo, was calling out to us.
we had two days in firenza, so we spent our first night exploring for food and soaking up the atmosphere of the vastly different venezia. we ended up dining at a little pizza place near the duomo, my linguisa and black olive pizza cruncy and saucy and smothered in cheese, then cut up into little manageable bite sized triangles by our overly-hospitable host. bethany hated hers, which is understandable because it was covered in bleu cheese, blech, and katie is gluten intolerant so we all headed out to find them some more appetizing food. unfortunately, in the land of flour and pasta, this is easier said than done. we landed ourselves at our first international mcdonalds, where fries and hamburger patties abounded. but we laughed at our american tendencies and katie and ariel enjoyed their mcflurries.
our stroll around firenze resulted in delightfully cool and fruity 'fruite de bosci' sorbetto, simply stuffed with berries of every single kind. delightful! more water from a fountain that had like 6 faces spitting it and we gravitated, almost magnetically, to the steps of the duomo.
let me just say this: italians love steps.
they congregate in piazzas and sip wine, tell stories, and socialize. they stare and interrupt and laugh deep, guttural laughs. and they make me so happy.
the steps of the duomo quickly became home. the ornate stripes of emerald and creme stone that cover the facade contribute to the magnificence of such a beautiful cathedral and bascilica, the one which actually inspired the design for st peters in roma.
but what was so special for me, was the way in which the four of us really became friends on those steps. we shared life experiences, ambitions, fears, relationships. we laughed and nearly cried and bared our souls. we avoided the attentions of adoring italian men and talked about the kinds we wanted in our lives. we were vulnerable, content, and adventurous. and in that way, i got to feel truly italian. in that way, i will always have italia in my heart. mi cuore. mi anima.
the next day, a bright sunday morning, we woke up early to the sounds of the opening market. we intended to spend the day at the uffizzi, browsing and admiring for 12 worthwhile euros. but when we got out onto the street we found it packed, the stirrings of a marathon getting ready to begin clogging the piazzas and the avenidas. on the bright side, we found out that the uffizzi was free because of all the festivities for european heritage weekend, so we walked around enjoying the excitement. i made a beeline for a cafe on the corner, ordered a cappuccino and an apricot brioche, and found myself in heaven. it was perfect. sweet and light, perfect milk, plenty strong, and made by a single barista handling at least 8 shots pulling at a time. i feel newly inspired to make the barista thing work after watching her. yummmmmmcafe.
so, after a long debate over spending our entire day waiting in line, we instead decided to pay for a reservation and come back after meeting up with katie's friend. we got kebab (in italy, i know!) and melon gelato (so sweet and unexpectedly creamy and only 1 euro!) and then headed to see how long the line was to see the david. too long! so it was back to the uffizzi.
the gallery was a vast expanse of art housed in a spacious palace.
we saw the birth of venus, la primavera, the seven virtues and countless genres of italian artistry. it was moving.
unfortunately i deleted all of my pictures of venezia and our first night/morning in firenza on the roof of the uffizi, nearly ruining the experience for me. but i quickly remembered, with the help of my friends, that pictures are easily restored and replaced (with theirs). what ill never lose are the memories, as cliche as that sounds. but theyre dear girls, and i wouldve been miserable at that point without them.
our long sojourn in the uffizi tired us out, but instead of sleeping the day away we weaved around firenze, destined for the boboli gardens. instead we found DE-licious pistacchio and cioccolato gelato and a smaller, more intimate garden to play in. we had a photo shoot, pretending to be statues, fairies, and wood nymphs. we laughed contagious laughter and felt five again. oh the simple delights of a garden!
we found the boboli gardens unfortunately closed, so we headed back across the ponte vecchio and sat down, crispy toscani pizza in hand. MOLTO BUONO! artichoke hearts and black olives, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and still warm from the ovens. i wanted it to last FOREVER. as i kept eating, each bite was filled with exaltation of praise to the baker and disappointment that it was one less bite i had left. my god it was good.
we met katie's friend jessie at the duomo and headed with her to get some more gelato. i know, more gelato. we thought we were being ridiculous too. gelato three times in one day?! just wait till i get to rome, itll get better.
but anyways, i had pera gelato from this really gourmet gelatteri. it was pretty fun, actually. it was seriously like eating a creamy, icy pear on a cone. delish.
another stroll around firenze and a stop in at jessies flat and we were down for the count.
i had really wanted to go inside the duomo, so we left super early before check out to try and squeeze it in. unfortunately, it didnt open until the time we had to be back to hostel veronique for check out. so itll stay on my list of things to do on my next trip to italia. ;]
instead, and a glorious trade off it was, i indulged in a buttery and rustic leather bag from the open market outside our hostel. i was so nervous that i would buy a fake that i made the girls touch it and compare it to katies legit leather bag before i began my haggling. marked for 150 euros, i only even had 100 because i borrowed some from bethany. but, being the bargain shopper that i am, i chalked the purchase up to investment and posterity (it could be an heirloom one day!) and got the vendor down to 100 euros. $150 US. but you should see the purse. it even smells fabulous. i love it dearly. and i still need to name it
we had lunch with jessie at her favorite deli, and the toscani meatball panini i had truly gave me a taste for the difference in cooking style. it was peppery and cheesy and spicy but wonderful. one more gelato stop in firenze for plum sorbetto and we were off on the fast train, headed for roma.
roma!
we got off the train in roma, followed our map, and miraculously made it directly to our hostel without getting lost. what we did get, though, was a whole lot of attention.
now, i need to explain italian men. yeah, yeah. i know you think you know. theyre flirtacious and they like to have fun, right? right. but they also like to look at you. stare at you. and if they like what they see, they let you know. whistles, attempts to get you to stop and talk, adjectives, qualitative adjectives, even the cliche 'ciao, bella'. italian men used them all with us. they loved us. in fact, it became quite the joke, each of us competing to shrug off the advances of the lusty italians. but it was such fun!
we got all checked in at our hostel and decided to jump right into roma. our first stop, the colosseo!
we took the steamy metro, and while we exited we were trying to figure out which way we needed to walk to get there. we pretty much stopped midsentence. there it was, looming before us basking in afternoon sunlight. you dont realize how truly great the romans were until you see their accomplishments up close. i mean, you look at maps in which they pretty much owned that half of the world, but it doesnt really do it for you. youve gotta see the structural genius of the colosseum. you have to marvel at the roman forum (which we did next). and you have to pay your tribute to italia at the fontana de trevi.
two coins flew from my right hand over my left shoulder, eyes closed and wishing. the first, a eurocent, to come back to italia quickly. the second, a us penny. now, the superstition is that you toss a second coin to fall in love in italia. and while i want to fall in love with chris all over again in italian sunshine, i wasnt about to take any chances that the fountain would think i wanted to fall in love brand new with an italian. so instead i tossed an american coin, to ensure that the fountain knew i meant chris. im sure it did.
we got some inconsequential fuel-food, and then spent the rest of the night trudging around our area looking for gelato. we ended up the first place we started and got gelato from a rude, rude man with an offensively large mustache. tiramisu and zambione, a cup full of liquored-up sweet cream. yummmmmy.
we had decided to do the vatican and the bascilica the next morning, early, so a good nights rest was essential for our beauty sleep. we made it back to the hostel and in the middle of our shower, a guest happened to fill our fifth bed. foti, a greek-american grad student travelling europe on his own. his appearance in our room ended up being awkward and cute and funny. he primped and preened while we journaled, and when he headed out to the clubs we hit the sack.
which brings me to st peters. but there's no way that i could encompass this accurately in such a long blog already.
so i start fresh tomorrow.
kudos to you if you made it this far. and i love you for it.
snogs and snuggles,
carina serena
(my name in italian. or so the proprietor in venezia told me it was.)
