Italy 2014: Pisa

This famous place requires few words... and a ton of pictures.

Long story short - one of my new favorite places in the world! Way beyond expectations - don's miss Pisa!

Italy 2014: Siena

The only thing I knew of Siena prior to arriving was that it hosted the Palio - perhaps the most famous horse race in the world - and that it had a famous Duomo. So...not much. However, based on my visit I feel that perhaps those are the two things Siena is known for from a tourist perspective. The town seemed much more about a relaxed way of living versus crazy sightseeing.

That being said, Joe and I were ready to sightsee! After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we headed straight towards the Piazza del Campo in search of food. Realizing we didn't want an overpriced, long sit-down meal, we instead bought some slices of pizza at a grocery store (I viewed the mobs of locals a good sign), stopped off for an espresso, and finally purchased some gelato to enjoy while sitting in Il Campo. 

Pizza pizza!

In addition to being the civic and social center, Il Campo is where the Palio takes place. It is hard to believe that this sloping, huge Piazza is at times jam-packed with spectators and horses - but it makes me want to return to see it in person!

While enjoying our gelato, Joe and I decided that we should climb the main tower (Torre del Mangia) and get a better view of Siena. I'm happy to say that the 500 or so steps were much easier than the Duomo and Bell Tower! However, things got way too scary for me at the top, so I stayed at the top of the tower while Joe kept climbing to snap some gorgeous panoramic shots of the city. (I figured my view was good enough not to risk falling off the tower!) There were only a few other people on the tower, and for the most part we had it to ourselves. (A highlight of traveling during off season, of course.) I was so glad to see Siena and Tuscany from this vantage point - I know why art of this area is so popular, because it really is stunning scenery.

Another tower to climb? Yes please!

Don't look down!

Okay, look down now!

After the tower, we headed to the Duomo and visited the church, baptistery, crypts, and museum. It was yet again another very impressive church, but I wasn't quite as enthralled as I've been at previous churches. (Maybe I was reaching the point of church overload? I hate saying that because they are all so impressive, but it does happen after a while. Still very glad to have seen it in person, though!

For dinner, we headed to Trattoria del Torre based on a review of a restaurant that said we could watch the chefs make and prepare pasta right in front of the table. (Side note: So glad Yelp is catching on in Europe!) There was no menu - the waiter/owner said "what type of pasta do you want? how do you want it prepared?" and within a minute our dishes were sitting in front of us. Next we got "what meat do you want? what sides?" and before we knew it we had plates of chicken (or lamb for Joe) and vegetables in front of us. All the while we watched the owner's wife prepare everything. Once again, dinner was a delicious success and a meal I hope not to forget. If only I could figure out to get such good chianti back at home, at such a cheap price too... alas...

As we walked back through Il Campo toward our hotel, I realized that one day in Siena was the right amount of time for me. I am so glad we went, and as I said I would love to see the Palio!

Next stop: Pisa + Lucca!

Italy 2014: Florence

This was actually my second trip to Florence. During my Eurotrip 2013, Angie and I stopped in Florence for a few hours, I think between Naples and the Cinque Terra. By that point in our trip, we were too tired to find a place to stash our backpacks and wander around - instead we purchased a bottle of wine and 2 cups, and proceeded to sit in the train station drinking wine and waiting for our train. To be honest, if I thought I wouldn't be back to Florence, I would have manned up and gone exploring. But... I knew I'd be back!

Fast forward to this past Thursday, when Joe and I arrived at the same train station. This time, instead of grabbing a bottle of wine and camping out, we headed to our B&B and walked right past the Duomo. So... I've got to say that I have seem some pretty spectacular churches throughout my travels. But this one still took my breath away. As we walked toward it, I kept telling Joe it looked two-dimensional.... followed by the question of "how is this church even possible?!"

The magnificent Duomo in Christmastime

Frankly, I think that question sums up my views of Florence. How is this town even possible? I now know why Joe has been so anxious and excited to bring me here. It is such a lovely city, with incredible architecture, art, history, and character. It's small enough to navigate by foot, but big enough to ensure there is plenty to do/see. And plenty of do/see we did!

Thursday: As soon as we dropped off our things, we walked back to the Duomo and purchased tickets to visit the Baptistry and crypts and to allow us to climb the Dome and the Bell Tower. I don't really have words right now to describe how incredible this whole experience was, but hopefully my pictures will do it some type of justice. We spent the full afternoon exploring, admiring, climbing (nearly 1,000 steps in total), and shaking our heads in admiration.

Inside the Baptistry, in the same position I took for most of the trip

Inside the Duomo... little did I know I would soon be up there!

Fresh legs pre-climb

Made it!

Hard to do a selfie in the sun!

Climbing between the two domes

I wasn't expecting this!

Note to self: Being afraid of heights as you are, don't look down!

View from the Bell Tower was even better than atop the Duomo!

After descending the Bell Tower, Joe and I purchased a fantastic little drawing of a T-Rex and the Duomo (I had to, come on!) and headed to a clearly overpriced and touristy, but well-worth-the-view restaurant to rest and enjoy a well earned beer. 

For dinner, we headed to a delicious restaurant for Bistecca Florentina (for Joe) and an amazing chicken dish for me. It was followed by one of the most amazing deserts I have ever tasted... I wish I knew what it was called, but we only ordered it because I saw it on someone else's table and pointed. I should also add that the wine was significantly better in Florence - not surprising - but much appreciated.

Friday: Joe and I had reserved 10:00am tickets to the Uffizi. I loved exploring the museum and seeing so many pieces I've learned about. The museum was perfectly sized - not too big, but still plenty of incredible artwork and history. For me, the highlights were the Boticelli's, but I honestly enjoyed the whole museum. We spent about 3 hours walking around, only resting twice. However, we did experience something strange during our first rest stop, paused on a bench looking up at the crazy Grotesques on the ceiling. The bench started shaking as if there was a subway beneath us. Joe and I looked at each other in confusion, and then tried to figure out why no one else thought it was weird because there definitely was not a subway beneath us. Joe later found out that Tuscany was hit with over 80 earthquakes that morning, and what shook our bench was a 4.1 quake. Luckily there was no damage but we were glad that our confusion wasn't in our heads.

Looking at the Ponte Vecchio from inside the Uffizi

After the Uffizi, we decided upon a traditional Florentinian feat of a lunch at Acquacotta, knowing we'd have a light meal later and also the lunch special was too good to pass up. From there Joe headed back to the room, and I went to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. I assumed it would be impressive, but I was blown away by how magnificent it is in person. I also really enjoyed some of Michelangelo's half finished works, as it was fascinating to see his forms take shape out of marble.

Later that evening, Joe and I headed off to wander the Christmas Market in front of Santa Croce. While somehow I managed to get by without mulled wine or a gingerbread cookie, Joe got a bratwurst - which is basically a given at any Christmas market. Afterwards we headed to a bar for drinks and an appetizer buffet. At this point, we were both happy for a relaxed (and somewhat cheap) evening.

Joe's "christmas market" pose

Translation is funny

Saturday: Things finally started feeling touristy on Saturday - likely because most people weren't working and the crowds hit the street. After breakfast, Joe and I purchased our Siena tickets at the bus station, wandered around a bit, and then headed back to the Duomo for another look. It was very cool to see the dome frescos from below now that we had essentially walked around them during our earlier climb up the tower.

Next we headed to Santa Croce, not really knowing what to expect. This church turned out to be a highlight, as Joe and I were both enamored with the paintings and sculptures and architecture. Santa Croce is also home to Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo - and it was really cool to see their respective monuments. There was also a statue called "Freedom of Poetry" that very clearly was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty. Overall we spent over an hour wandering the church and neighboring grounds.

Michelangelo's tomb

Freedom of Poetry

View from the courtyard

After Santa Croce, Joe and I walked along the Arno towards the Oltrarno neighborhood. We crossed the Ponte Vecchio, checked out the multitude of jewelry shops, and then headed to the Basilica di Santo Spirito - the third of our Brunelleschi church tour. It was yet again a beautiful church, with the main attraction being a crucifixion sculpture by Michelangelo. After leaving, we tried to visit a recommended microbrewerey, but it was closed. However, since we decided to head back towards our hotel, we got to see a flash mob on the Ponte Vecchio of about 50 dancers doing the "Shim Sham." It was so awesome!!! (I wish I knew how to dance so much!!)

ShimSham!

That evening, we opted for a nice dinner at Gustavino. I had one of the best meals of my life! Artichoke puff pastry, pumpkin ravioli, and chocolate and port covered pear. I want to relive this dinner over and over again! It was a great way to end our trip to Florence and celebrate finally seeing this incredible city.

Hopefully my love for the city is obvious - it was exactly what I was hoping for: art, architecture, history, food, and some great memories.

Next stop: Siena!

Italy 2014: When in Rome...

I first visited Rome in summer 2000. After spending ~1 week in Paris, my parents and I spent another week in Rome, and they pulled out all the stops! We stayed in a fancy hotel, took guided tours, ate lavishly, and saw everything I wanted, from the Vatican to the Catacombs to all of the museums . I remember very much enjoying the city - especially since all of my art history knowledge was still so fresh - but also thinking it was incredibly dirty, busy, and full of smoke. I felt at the time that I had seen what I needed to see in Rome and didn't need to return.

Fast forward 14 years: Joe and I found ourselves flying into Rome, and trying to decide if we would stay for a day or two or move on to Florence. We ended up deciding to spend three nights in Rome, allowing ourselves time to recover from jetlag and provide time to explore the city once again. I'm so glad we decided to devote some time to Rome. While we spent some time doing the usual sites, we spent more time wandering around backstreets and searching for the lesser known sites.

Monday: We arrived mid morning, and after taking a train to city center and finding our hotel (Hotel Raffaelo, an inexpensive but good location option) - figured we would nap for 1-2 hours. More than 6 hours later we woke up hungry and disoriented. Oops. We wandered out of our hotel and down to the Roman Forum area. We ended up at a non-memorable restaurant (Minestrone + salmon for me, Spagetti carbonara for Joe), walked to the much more memorable Pantheon, and then called it a night. I'm glad we accounted for a travel day here, because we were out of it!

Tuesday: Our goal was to take a bus to the Appian Way and visit the catacombs. However, as we walked toward the bus we passed a near empty Colosseum and decided to visit, because how often is there no wait at the Colosseum?! We spent an hour or so walking around, and I was reminded of how gruesome and violent the Romans were during this time. The whole concept of gladiators and animal hunts is just crazy to me... So sad, really - but obviously a completely different way of life. Anyway, it was so great to see the Colosseum without crowds. I don't remember seeing it so extensively last time, so this was definitely something I was happy to repeat.

The Colloseum... not overcrowded with tourists!

From there, we walked by the Arch of Constantine and explored the Roman Forum. At one point Joe and I were going to stop to figure out where Cesar's memorial was, and as we got out our guidebook we realized we were standing in front of it. A random Forum fact - cow manure was one of the main things that helped "bury" the ruins!

This picture of the Roman Forum does not account for the couple who took pictures of a cat (!!??) for 5 minutes and blocked our nice shot. 

After wandering the Forum, we stopped for lunch and sadly learned that the Catacombs were closed on Wednesday! Planning fail. We also planned to visit the Jewish Synagogue that afternoon, only to learn that it was closing in 15 minutes. Another planning fail. Oh well, there was still much to see. We walked over Tiber Island and headed to the Trastevere neighborhood to visit the Church of Santa Cecilia and the Church of Santa Maria. The Church of Santa Cecilia was beautiful, and her legend is fascinating. But my favorite part was exploring the excavations below (a former Roman nobleman's house) and finding a stunning mosiac-filled chapel in the back of the crypt area. We had the whole place to ourselves, which again is amazing for Rome! 

Secret chapel under the church

After the walk through Trastevere, we headed back over the Tiber and walked along the river before wandering through the Jewish Ghetto and then heading back to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon, as expected, was incredible. It was amazing to me how I felt like I had been inside just a year or so ago. There just isn't anything like it, and looking up at the dome and oculus is just mind-blowing. 

After spending ~30 minutes inside, we headed outside to look for our last church of the day - Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This church is considered the only Gothic church in Rome, and the differences were quite obvious. I loved the Gothic arches and blue ceiling, and a Michelangelo statue was a nice surprise. I also loved the Bernini elephant statue located in the center of the Piazza.

At this point, we were starving and found a friendly restaurant were we dined on bruschetta, seafood gnocchi, and seafood risotto. With renewed energy, we headed off to find the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately it was covered in scaffolding (granted the Romans still created a spot to throw coins!); fortunately we drowned our disappointment with some delicious gelato before heading back to the hotel.

Bruschetta tasting

Wednesday: As I mentioned earlier, we had to come up with an alternate plan to visiting the catacombs. Joe took it upon himself to find some replacement sites. More on that in a minute.... First, we headed to Campo de Fiori and Piazza Navona to wander around. It was only at this point that we started to feel the touristy Rome I had expected. We headed back to the Pantheon to grab some pizza and sit on the fountain. The pizza was exactly what I had remembered - delicious, cheesy awesomeness. Joe and I loved it so much that we are taking it with us in the form of giant grease marks down our jeans. Oops! From there we sought after the "Best Gelato in Rome" where I enjoyed some caramelized fig + oreo cookie madness. 

Not happy at all. Not one bit.

Properly fueled, we headed to what is perhaps the strangest place I have ever been in Europe... Upon entering Il Convento de Cappucini, I wasn't expecting much. As we wandered through the museum, I learned about the Franciscan monks, their history, their dress, etc.... But then we entered 6 rooms that was half memorial/half art display that included arrangements of 3,000 dead bodies. I'm talking skulls, hip bones, vertebrae, jaws, mummification.... It still gives me the creeps thinking about it. The legend goes that a monk build these shrines in exchange for decided where his body would go. I'm glad they didn't allow photos because I prefer to forget what I saw there! (Not sure I ever will though - so creepy! If you want to check it out, google it or look here.)

In order to fill my mind with something less creepy, we headed to Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa. I remember making a special visit to this church back in 2000 because we had studied the sculpture so extensively. Back then it was completely empty, but now the tourists have caught on.  Understandably so - the sculpture is gorgeous and well worth a second visit.

Lastly we headed to the Basilica di San Clemente, located near the Colosseum. This church was incredible! The current church is the third building ("known" building at least) on this site. We were able to visit the church, but also visit an early Christian basilica located 4 meters under the existing church. It dated from the mid 4th to early 5th century. But even more impressive was an archeological site located 10 meters below ground. The site included a Mithraeum and buildings built in the 1st century! Joe and I were in awe of how preserved the rooms were, and how similar the building methods are to today's methods. This was definitely a well worth-it stop, and served as the perfect representation of Rome's varied history.

That evening we grabbed dinner near the hotel (Minestrone and calamari for me, Carbonara for Joe) and called it a night. I wish I had my fitbit so I could tell how far we've been walking - though I expect based on my soreness that it is a lot.

In summary, I'm really glad we decided to devote some time to Rome. It was fantastic to see the city without the summertime crowds or heat, and also to venture to some off-the-beaten-path spots.

Next stop: Florence!

Catching Up...

Hello World! After a year+ break of blogging, I'm picking back up to document my current European adventure.

But first, some background in a Q&A format:

Q. Did you and Joe almost go an entire year without getting to Europe?

A. Yes! Terrible, right? 

Q. But surely you both have been traveling this year?

A. Yes indeed. While Joe took a 2 month road trip (i.e. brewery tour) to the Pacific Northwest, I was able to meet him in Napa/San Francisco, and Seattle/Vancouver. Additionally, we went to New Orleans, Chicago, Birmingham, Boston/Provincetown, and Mexico. (I've spent quite a bit of time in some other cities, but I'm not counting work travel here.)

Q. Haven't you guys been to Italy before?

A. Yes, but this time I'm visiting some places I've never been before. (Joe has been to most, and has wanted to bring me to Florence since we met, but he's kind enough to revisit the cities.) Our itinerary includes: Rome, Florence, Sienna, Lucca, Bologna, and Venice.

Q. So how did you pick Italy vs. somewhere new?

A. This was tough. I was pushing for South America... but we were sad thinking that our Europe x 1/year streak would end. Plus, and perhaps more importantly, it didn't take many miles to make our way over here. So... free flight? That was a win.

Q. Will you get on with the travel blog already?

A. Yes, yes. Sorry! My apologies that I'm not including pictures at this point. Last trip I used Angie's ipad/camera thing, and I'm just not that sophisticated this trip. I will add my camera pictures later.

How to Gain Five Pounds in Three Hours, State Fair Edition

Save for a few TX/OU games, this was my first time going to the fair as an adult. It was also the first time Joe, James, and Kristin went to the fair. Overall we had a fantastic time. Great weather, great transportation (the DART), great food, and great company. I will let the pictures do most of the explaining.

Our friendship has survived Austin, Spain, and now the State Fair of Texas!

First order of business: fried avocado fries. (Yes that is redundant.) Beer too!

Official winner of best fried food: Fried Thanksgiving Dinner

Somehow we did not fall victim to the red velvet funnel cake. There's always next year!

Fried "Awesome Nutella." Sadly, not as awesome as it sounded. 

James and I love ferris wheels so so so much! Joe and Kristin? Yeah, they totallly love them too...

View of the Midway from the Texas Star

Someone loved the Ferris Wheel!

Fried cakeballs. Good, but nowhere near the awesomeness that Meredith can produce.

Pig Races! My money was on Forrest Grunt and Elvis Hogsly. Oink Oink. 

Fried red velvet cupcakes are near! And giant tractors!

This happened. Hands down the best thing we ate.

And with that, I am now in a complete sugar-fried coma. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

I think I need a juice detox now. Fried smoothie anyone?