ooo...ahhh...what a dump...

So Friday we were off to Sorrento around 2pm. We had to take the train to Naples in order to get to Sorrento. Let me just tell you this train to Naples...the A/C was broken and none of the windows opened. To make matters worse, this couple sat facing us with their two two (approximately) year old girls (yes, two of them) in their laps. They did not speak English (not that I am the American who expects everyone to speak English, but it added to the ridiculousness of this train ride). These two kids were throwing stuff, taking all their clothes off, crying, you name it. Talk about birth control...the mother decided to strip one of them completely down to a diaper. The girl was sweating so bad the mother proceeded to give her a "sponge bath" (I say this in quotes because I feel like a wipe down with a baby wipe every five minutes isn't exactly a sponge bath, is it?). The mom was also sweating like a pig along with the other two year old who kept touching all of my stuff on the table. Oh wait, the sweaty one cried for about 20% of the ride. Did I mention that? I began to get so hot and frustrated that I had some napkins and used them to wipe of my face and my legs. I think at this point the mother thought I wanted a sponge bath too because she handed me the pack of baby wipes...I kid you not!

We finally made it to Naples and had to switch to the Circumvesuviana line to get to Sorrento. Everyone and their mother were smoking cigs while we were waiting for the train (did I mention I was getting over a cold??) We finally get on the train and this thing was standing room only. This one did not have A/C, but at least their were windows. It was about an hour train ride. At the end of the ride this creepy old guy kept trying to talk to us in Italian. I kept saying, "no capiche, no capiche!" I pulled out my dictionary. Embarrassingly enough, it opened up to the (let's just call it) the "how to hook up in Italian" section of the book, which contains phrases like "I only practice safe sex" (seriously, who uses this?). So this creepy old man starts pointing to words like "amore" and then saying "love." So weird. We finally get to Sorrento (still sweating) and this guy follows us to buy bus tickets. Finally, Crystal just looks at him and says, "ciao!" and he walked away (thank God, what a creeper).

We walked into the center of town, Piazza Tasso. From there, we caught a bus uphill to our hotel, Pension Elios (located on Via Capo). The owner of the place was so sweet! She spoke great English and asked us about our weekend plans. She asked us "where'a are all'a your'a bags'a?" When we told her we came from Rome she said "ah...thats'a where'a they'a are!" We had an AWESOME view of the water from our room. Sorrento is absolutely beautiful! The pictures don't even do it justice. We had dinner at O'Parrucchiano dal 1868. I had the mixed pasta dish Cannelloni, stuffed shells and Ravioli. It was delish! Sorrento and this region near the Amalfi Coast is known for its huge lemons. We had Delizia Limone, which is a fluffy dome cake covered with lemon whipped cream. This was a yummy dessert and very light! After dinner we took a walk down the streets of Sorrento, where all the shops and street vendors stay open until 11. It was very cool to see everyone out at night strolling. One of the highlights of my trip to Sorrento was designing my own pair of sandals! I saw this store from the street and there were hundreds of shoes outside (clearly, they caught my eye). When I walked in to the store, to my surprise, there were two men making the shoes, right there on the spot. I picked a design and they fit them to my mini feet and they were done in about 15 minutes! So freaking cool!

The next morning we caught the bus to Positano. Positano is one of the towns along the Amalfi Coast. It's a very chic town filled with boutiques and beaches (think like St. Simons, but fancier). The town is basically up on a hill of winding roads and in order to get to the beach, you have to descend down the winding roads. We rented a beach chair and umbrella on Spaggia Grande for the day and relaxed on the beach for 3-4 hours. The sand was pebbles and rocks. Not the easiest thing to walk on barefoot, but very beautiful. Positano, like Sorrento, also had amazing views! While we were on the beach there was a mom there with her two kids. Her little girl looked to be around 7 and about 150 lbs. She was wearing a teeny bikini eating a cheeseburger. Her brother was also there. An hour or so went by and I turned around and this family caught my eye. The girl in the teeny bikini did at first, but this time it was the butt ass naked kid (apparently, all of the kids run around naked on the beach here. wth??). Wait, the mother was also breast feeding a baby. Where did that baby come from? Was it in her bag or something? So bizarre. But, no worries the scenery and the relaxing day at the beach definitely trumped this odd encounter. We took the bus back to Sorrento and made a stop at the gelateria nearby. This place was bumping. It had a disco ball and was playing club music. The gelato was pretty good, but I was so distracted by the "ambiance," I can barely remember what it tasted like!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to Pompeii. Pompeii was an ancient city that was buried under 30 feet of volcanic ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted. Pompeii was rediscovered in the 1600s. The city had about 20,o00 residents. We saw several remains of the buildings, the forum and a few frescoes. Hopefully my pics will give you a better understanding of what it was like there. We spent about 4 hours here exploring and taking picture, while listening to an audio tour (if you go, opt out of the audio tour. wasn't the greatest).

From Pompeii, we headed to Naples with plans to have pizza for dinner. This was a bust. Because it was 4:30 in the afternoon (most places in Italy, other than touristy joints, are closed from 3:30-7 and Naples isn't that touristy) on a Sunday, every single restaurant and shop was closed. Naples was a total dump. There was garbage piled high on every corner and sketchiness across the board. Graffiti on every wall. Not to mention, we saw a few rats and a million pigeons in the streets. We have been learning in class that because Naples is in Southern Italy, it has a high crime rate and is closely linked to the mafia. This would probably explain the state the city is in. I hate to say that though, because I was really hoping Naples would be my opportunity to really interact with native Italians on a non-tourist level. I think that if we would have come here on a different day, we would have had a better experience. Needless to say, we did not get any pizza since everything was closed. Total bummer.

All in all, it was a great weekend! I will definitely be going back to Sorrento and Positano. I have a presentation tomorrow and a final on Wednesday. Ciao Ciao for now!!

[Pictures (left to right, top to bottom): Frescoes from Pompeii located in Villa dei Misteri, Forum of Pompeii, view overlooking the bay in Positano, our beach spot in Positano, view of Positano from the bus ride on the winding roads (if you see the sea of orange, that is where our beach spot was), Delizia Limone dessert at O'Parrucchiano, shoes being made at Corcione, street view of Sorrento, view of Sorrento from Via Capo and view from Pension Elios in Sorrento]

The pope, the king, the president...

Today, we visited Basilica di San Clemente and Palazzo del Quirinale. Our professor decided to take us to San Clemente because it is considered one of Rome's "hidden treasures." The building is three tiers. On the street level, there is a basilica, below the basilica, there is another church and below that church there are ancient Roman houses. The church and the Roman houses are underground. Very cool. The tier of the Roman homes had a natural running spring. The buildings were all built on top of each other and one building supports the next. For example, the columns of the basilica of the first tier are supported by other columns below, and so on. Within the second tier there was also a worship area for Mithraeum. According to our professor, this was a cult like religion of the 2nd century and the worshiping was done in the pitch dark. Again, the reason I love Rome is because there is so much more history in this city than there is in the U.S.. The buildings were made out of such strong materials, such as stone and marble, that it was either impossible to demolish the structure or the structure was so sturdy it could support a whole additional structure on top of it! I was walking in a Roman's house today. NUTS! Afterward, our professor took us to get gelato on him. Score! I had amore e odio. Delish! That translates to "love and hate" (nutella with white chocolate. yum!)

The visit to Palazzo del Quirinale was also very cool. The judge we met at the Italian Constitutional Court got us a private tour. This was also awesome! Originally, this is where the pope sat during the Summer because it is located on one of the seven hills in Italy. Then the king took over this palace and the pope moved to the Vatican. Now, this is where the President of the Italian Republic lives. The art in this palace is very bizarre in a way because there are three different tones going on--pope, king and president. There was a chapel and several other rooms in the palace. Also, another neat tidbit was there were several so called, "hiding spots" for the pope. Where the pope could sit in the house and pray and not be seen. Everywhere you turned there was a secret room it seemed like. There was also a beautiful garden.

We returned to Trattoria Picchiapo for dinner. They have Gnocchi on Thursdays. Francesco is the best. (If you have been following my blog we ate there once before). Tomorrow we are headed to Sorrento with plans to visit Pompeii and Positano. Look for my blog about the weekend on Monday! Buonanotte!

[Pictures (left to right, top to bottom): Mithraeum worship area, ceiling of the Pope's mini "hidden" chapel (which also had a hidden room within it) in Palazzo di Quirinale, one of the rooms in Palazzo di Quirinale (obvi with chandeliers), "big" chapel (meant to resemble Sistine Chapel, without the artwork of Michelangelo, for the pope while here in the Summer), natural spring in the lower tier of San Clemente. The quality of my pics weren't so hot today because there are strict rules about photography in both of these places. They definitely don't do the actual locations justice!]

Which bus do we take again?

Today, after class we stopped by a little pizzeria and afterwards we went to Trastevere. You would think it would be easy to get to seeing how it's only a few miles away from our villa. But wait! The metro doesn't go out there. We had to take the bus and let's just say that was an adventure. We weren't sure what stop to get off at (tried 2 buses) and once we made it to where we were going and wanted to come back home, we didn't know what bus to get on (tried 3 buses). Don't worry, we obvi made it home. You live, you learn. Right?

While we were in Trastevere, we tried to go to this restaurant, but it was closed. We settled for one around the corner. Let's just say it wasn't "authentic" Italian...you win some, you lose some and even if it was stouffer's, I guess it wasn't terrible lasagna. The gelato afterwards made up for it since I haven't had gelato since Sunday! I had banana (just for you BF) and cinnamon. We also visited Santa Maria in Trastevere Church. It was beautiful. Like the other churches in Italy, it was very old and extravagant, even though it was small. Nothing like the churches in the U.S. There was a fountain in the front in Piazza Santa Maria. This is the biggest meeting area for Trastevere, being one of the smaller neighborhoods. I definitely will be going back and clearly will need to get some recommendations for restaurants (Claire and Robert, this means you). I'm still getting over my cold. My professor tells me I need to go to the beach. Apparently, that's how Italians get over a cold. I just might listen to that advice! Ciao!

P.S. Kelly, I didn't label these pics because I thought even you could tell the difference between lasagna, a church and a fountain. :)

Arancia, Flumucil Mucolitico and ActiFed

So, I seem to have caught a cold here in Rome. Grrr...I went to the pharmacists to ask for Mucinex-D. For those of you who don't know, this is a miracle drug, apparently not sold in Italy. The pharmacist couldn't understand a freaking thing I was saying. He proceeded to invite me behind the counter to "Google" what I needed and also pulled up "Google" translator. Finally, he realized I wanted some form of Guaifenesin. "No, no, no he said." They didn't have it. So he gave me some crap, Flumucil Mucolitico and ActiFed. If ever in Italy, stay away from the Flumucil Mucolitico, citrus chewables. YUCK! Arancia is orange juice...from a carton similar to what cooking wine is sold in from the U.S, I might add. Drinking that straight.

So today we also walked down to Piazza delle Repubblica because Crystal wanted to visit a restaurant in Rome that she went to when she was here with her fiance. She's obsessed with the risotto there. I had spaghetti cacio e pepe. Not bad. We basically walked around in circles until it opened because most restaurants do not open until at least 6:30 here, and some as late as 8. Alessio was the name of the place. It started to rain. The crazy umbrella guys then staged their attack once again and came running after us at every corner. Since I am sick, I decided that being in the rain wasn't the best idea ever. So, I haggled that crazy umbrella guy until I could haggle no more. 2 euros for a freaking umbrella! Even AFTER the haggling. Crap.

I have a presentation tomorrow, so we came back earlier than usual. Not to mention, the city is doing work on the metro until next year, so it closes at 9 Sunday-Friday. Boo. Well, not a crazy eventful day...Ciao!

The things I do for my friends...special request from KJ for picture labeling.

Pictures from left to right, top to bottom: View from San Gimignano of the countryside, View from Giotto's Tower in Florence, Constitutional Court's Private Library, outside view of Giotto's Tower in Florence, Il Duomo in Florence, inside of Duomo in Florence, Il Duomo in Siena, City Hall in Siena. I will do my best to label pics as I go along, but I haven't figured it out yet. Yes, I went to Tech. Bite me.

Our Villa...by popular demand

Siena, Florence, San Gimignano...

Sorry to all of you avid followers. It was a busy weekend, so I did not have time to blog much.

Friday, June 10, we left for Siena around 2pm (after class ran late and rushing to Termini. No one wants to participate in class until everyone needs to catch a train!) and our friend Kalpana joined us. The train ride was about 3 hours long with a transfer in Grosset. We got to the Siena train station and walked uphill to the center of town. We arrived to our hotel (Albergo La Perla) around 6pm. Our hotel looked sketch from the outside, but it was actually cute on the inside. It was a renovated medieval building with a great view. We informed the hotel staff that our friend decided to stay with us at the last minute. After putting our stuff down we tried to make it to see the Duomo, but we were too late and it had already closed. We did get some pictures of the outside, which you see here. We also walked around for a bit and visited Il Campo, which is Siena's main square. The square is shaped like a fan, almost like an amphitheater. This is also where Siena's city hall resides (we saw 3-4 couples getting married here). After we walked around we decided to do dinner at Ristorante Guidoriccio. I ate zucchini bruschetta, gnocchi with ragu biano e pecorino, white wine and pannacotta. The owner was super nice and I spent alot of time talking to him because his English was very good. He was from a town called Udine, which is a village outside of Venice to the North. He and his wife (I assume) were very hospitable. His wife took the time to explain the Sienese cookies to us. Since I had the pannacotta, I did not order them but I tried Kalpana's. There is one that is very similar to biscotti, which is cantucci. Another, powdered sugary one called ricciarelli that my family would probably recognize as a "snowball" without the nuts and also a type one called panpepato with a spicy, peppery crust.

After we were done eating we went back to the hotel for a sweater because it was a bit chilly. When we came back the front desk freaked out and basically accused us of trying to scam her. She misunderstood what we said about Kalpana being a last minute guest and started yelling "impossible, impossible, impossible!" Finally, we figured out that she would not allow 3 people to stay in our room and she insisted that we pay for the first night ahead of time (she also smelt like smelly dog farts--Claire and Robert, that one is for you). Kalpana ended up getting her own room. It all worked out in the end, but the lady was a little nuts.

We walked around a little more after that and also visited Enoteca Italiana, a recommendation from Bryan and Tara. It was a wine bar located in the cellar of the Fortezza (fortress) with a variety of wines and very cool atmosphere. I had a nice white there. It was kinda weird though, because there were 2o Italian teenagers there blasting Incubus' "Wish You Were Here."

We made it back to our hotel and woke up the next morning at 5:45 to catch a bus into Florence. The bus ride was only about 50 min, as opposed to the 2 hour train ride. First on our list was the Bargello, a sculpture museum that once was a police station and used to be a prison. There was a Bartolomeo Ammannati Sculpture exhibit there and we saw alot of Donatello and Michelangelo works. There were also lots of small artifacts of the Medici. My favorite Bartolomeo Ammannati statue was Fontana di Sala Grande. After finishing up at the Bargello, we grabbed lunch and headed over the the Duomo. It was absolutely gorgeous. I can't understand why the U.S. doesn't have churches/cathedrals like this. We had tickets to see the Uffizi and there were many paintings there, my favorites being the Boticelli's. After that we climbed Giotto's Tower, which is a 270 feet bell tower, made up of 414 steps, taken all the way up, then back down. The view was amazing, other than the metal bars at the top. It was pretty intense getting up and down these stairs, but it was worth it! After the tower, Kalpana and I took a trip to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. Very cool. It's so weird to think I am actually seeing these infamous pieces of art and these ancient buildings...unreal. We then had dinner in Piazza Repubblica and visited Ponte Vecchio (a famous bridge that use to be a district for meat butchers and then the Medici decided it was better suited for gold trading). The view was amazing and there was a man playing live music. Right before we left we made a stop at Festival del Gelato. This place had like 100 flavors! I had raspberry and mint. Pretty good. We caught the train back to Siena and it took about 2 hours to get back.

Sunday, we woke up to a marching band parade. Siena is know for what is called the Palio (a horse race more or less, but I hear it is really fun.) It starts at the beginning of next month. In the weeks leading up to it I guess each neighborhood in Siena (there are 17) begins to celebrate. We did not get to see the parade, but I later asked the front desk (not the crazy lady) about it. We walked around for a few hours after checking out and sat in Il Campo to do some people watching. We also took a walk down a residential street and saw some awesome views.

We met our tour guide for our Chianti wine tour at 2pm. We got on the bus and headed to a small town called Castellina in Chianti. It was only about 500 meters. On the tour we met a girl who is from LA and currently living in Scotland. The tour guide only gave us about 30 minutes because the town is that small. It was beautiful countryside view though.

After that, we visited San Gimignano, a town which is known for its towers. At one point, there were 60-70 towers here. Now, there are 14. Towers were a sign of power and money and each family tried to out build each other. Eventually, there was a code passed that would not allow private tours to exceed the height of the city government towers. We had a private tour guide for this town. Very cool. We were only here for about an hour. The next stop on the tour was Tenuta Torciano, a winery. The owner's family has owned the land since the 1700's and he was a cute, funny old man. The wine was to die for and we also had different oils and balsamic vinegar. The truffle oil was like the best thing I have ever eaten in my life! We finally made it back to Siena around 7:40. We were 2 seconds from missing the last train to Rome, but we did make it. We had a transfer in Chuisi and had to wait there for an hour and a half. We met a girl who was couch surfing from Taiwan. We didn't get home til 1:30, but it was well worth it.

Today, we visited the constitutional court and got to meet one of the judges. The court was beautiful. We also got to see the room which they decide the decisions and their private library, which is closed to the public. For all of you law nerds out there, this was also very cool.

Well, that is all for now! I am posting lots of pics today. I hope you enjoyed! Miss y'all! Ciao!