Florence - Day 1

This morning we left our hotel and got a ride to the train station in Rome where we took a bullet train to Florence. The train was really cool and really fast. Getting on the right car was a bit of a challenge, but we made it to our first class compartment. Full time fancy.

At the train station in Florence, we met our local concierge. We gave our suitcases to a guy with a truck and Patrizia walked with us to our hotel. Our hotel is very modern and almost Scandinavian in appearance. We didn’t have anything planned for today so after we settled in we went out to explore the neighborhood.

We started at the Mercato Centrale. It’s been recently renovated. The first floor is market stalls and the second floor is a food court. Half of the first floor was closed today because it’s a national holiday in Italy. We ended up getting another Trapizzino, because they were SO good. Afterwards, we got a crash course in finding the bus in Florence. We took two buses to Piazzale Michaelangelo. Piazzale Michaelangelo is across the river and up a big hill so the views of the city are AMAZING. We walked further up the hill to a church that is exactly 1000 years old to check out the architecture and frescos. It had really intricately designed ceiling beams which wasn’t something we had seen yet.

We made our way down the hill and through this really cute neighborhood. We made our way to Ponte Vecchio and walked around that neighborhood briefly before crossing the river again. The neighborhood between Ponte Vecchio and our neighborhood is super trendy and touristy. It was super crowded. We walked nearly back to our hotel before I selected a restaurant nearly at random: Ginnino de San Lorenzo. It serves traditional Florentine food. It was DELICIOUS and we got the last table outside before the dinner rush.

Before we finished dinner, we began researching where we should get after dinner gelato (we already had sorbet in Piazzale Michaelangelo). Since our food tour last night we were taught how to find “real” gelato. There are 3 guidelines: not too many flavors, it can’t look whipped and fluffy, the colors need to look natural. We settled on Gelateri Ettamo. It fit all of the criteria, but it had slightly atypical flavors. Hipster gelato? I had strawberry chocolate chip with balsamic vinegar because I like all those things.  The balsamic flavor was really subtle.

Another 8 mile day, so it’s bed time.

Rome Day 3

Today we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel again. After breakfast we made our way to the Jewish Quarter for our tour. On the way, we stopped at Piazza Navona. It was breathtaking space and it didn’t hurt that it was the morning and no one was around. From there, we wandered to the Pantheon. It’s very Roman: ancient Roman outside- several hundred year old church interior. The building was so cool and the dome is so famous, it was great to see in person.

We met up with a bunch of other people in front of The Great Synogue for the Jewish Roma tour. This was a really cool tour and a great palate cleanser after the Vatican. We spent some time I thr Jewish museum which has a lot of Judaica. The Jews in Rome would make Torah covers from discarded dresses from rich ladies so they were very impressive. Historically, the Jews were not treated well by the Catholic Church in Rome. The Church went to great lengths to coerce conversions and put them in a ghetto from 1555 to 1870 when Italy was united into one country. The conditions in the ghetto were not great and their homes would flood often. We spent some time in the synagogue and discussed the history (including more recent history). Afterwards, we walked around the neighborhood, which looks very different now. We finished up around 1pm when the Jewish Day School was getting out so the piazza had kids running everywhere.  We stopped at a kosher restaurant for falafel & fish before heading out of the area.

After the Jewish quarter, we stopped at the Trevi fountain and threw in an obligatory coin. It was crowded but not as crowded as we worried it would be. The neighborhood around this area was crazy and packed with tourists. We made our way over to the Spanish Steps and then walked back to our hotel.

After a quick regroup we walked to the Trastevere neighborhood and then continued on to Testaccio for our food stroll. Testaccio is a really cool neighborhood that isn’t very touristy and has a lot of really great food. Our guide took us to 5 shops. We started with Aperol Spritzes (big fan), then went to another restaurant where we ate fried vegetables and had prosecco. After that, we had charcuterie and more wine. Then we had “dinner”which consisted of pasta, tripe and oxtail. Tripe had a calamari texture and it was pretty good. The oxtail was really good and was almost like a short rib. From there, we walked to Trappizzino which is a series of fast food restaurants that serve pizza pockets. Ours had chicken in it and it was delicious! We finished the stroll with gelato....obviously.

We walked 11.5 miles today so after the stroll, we taxied home and got ready for bed. What a great day!

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Rome Day 2 Part 2

After touring the Vatican Museum, we went through the Sistine chapel. It was so cool. It was a holy day so we were supposed to be quiet. Our tour guide spoke to us at length in the garden before entering and they had set up pictures of the paintings so the tour guides could talk their tours through what they would see ahead of time.  We commented on how it was strange to be there after hearing about it forever. You have to keep moving around the room to get a good view of the ceiling and the side panels. We left the room from the side the Pope would enter through. 

After the Sistine Chapel, we went into St Peter’s Basilica. It was breath taking. I know I’ve been to a few large cathedrals and large mosques, but this was the largest church I can remember being in. It was HUGE. A lot of the tourist parts in the Vatican have one way foot traffic only so we ended up doing a few laps so we could see as much of the church as possible. On our way out to meet the group again, we got stuck waiting for a procession of altar boys and clergymen of increasing rank until the Arch Bishop came through and was followed by more altar boys. (I heard someone whisper it was the Arch Bishop, I am not sure). He made the sign of the cross at all of us, so maybe we got blessed too? 

As a group, we went out of the church to the big piazza where the Papal Masses are held. There was one the day before and the chairs were set up. People were lining up to get into the Basilica and our tour guide Cinthia said they would be waiting at least an hour and a half. We had a minute to shop at a store and I picked out a rosary to bring home to Grandma Eva. The store offered to bless your purchase in the church and deliver it to your hotel later. I took advantage of that and the bag came back sealed with tape, which I’m afraid to open.

After the Vatican, we drove over to the Roman Forum & Coliseum. The Coliseum was also super crowded but we bypassed some of the line by being with a tour. Mom & I climbed up to the second level via stairs that were not remotely level. 

After the Coliseum, we headed back to the hotel and found a restaurant to have late leisurely lunch. 

After regrouping after lunch, we walked to the Villa Borghese to see the museum. We took our time walking there and walked through the park where the museum is. There were SO many rules at the museum. We had to surrender our bags so they gave us little plastic bags to hold our valuables. The building is really cool. The top floor is mostly paintings and the first floor is mostly sculptures. A lot of the paintings got redundant so many Virgin Mary’s with Bambino. So many. The sculptures were really incredible. We opted out of the audio tour and there was very little for markings. 

At that point we had walked 8 miles so we hopped in a cab and came back to the hotel. We had a snack at the bar and went to bed early.  

Rome Day Two Part 1

First full day!

We woke up early for breakfast before meeting our tour guide at 7:30 for a 6 hour tour. 

Breakfast was amazing!  

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Anytime you can have brie and fresh mozzarella at breakfast is a good day. We had this “cheesecake cookie”that was like a dense Italian shortbread cookie with a thick cannoli filling shmear. That’s on the list of recipes to figure out now. 

We met up with a group of other people and our tour guide and boarded a bus for the Vatican. The Vatican museum opens at 9 to the public but is open at 8 if you are with an organized tour. It was great to be there before the big crowds.  

Blog fixed

I have been having technical challenges but I think I restored Rome: Day Un. The photos are out of order and uncaptioned for now. Thanks for telling me about the fake posts, Tess!

Rome: Day Un

We arrived in Rome late morning and made it to our hotel (about an hour ride) around noon. After checking in at our hotel, we met with the concierge from our tour company. The company we used (Monogram) arranged all our travel, hotel, and provides us a tour of each place. After settling in, I broke the first rule of overnight flights and took a nap while Mom wandered the neighborhood looking for a snack. Our room is like a small apartment without a kitchen. We have a separate living area and a bathroom off the front entry. 

We pulled ourselves together and took a taxi to another neighborhood for our cooking class. The title of the class was Meatballs & Ravioli. There were 8 people in the class, a chef, and an interpreter. We all hit it off right away. One couple was from the Albany area and one woman was born in Massachusetts. 

We started with meatballs. We used very simple recipes for both items. We took turns mixing and rolling meatballs and put them directly into the simple tomato sauce Caterina (our chef) made. All of us took some time to process that we didn’t fry or brown the meatballs first. Mateo (our interpreter) told us that it’s old school to make meatballs the way we were all used to. Cooking them directly in the sauce saves time and is less clean up. Minds blown! 

While the meatballs were simmering, we got to work making pasta dough. It was really cool to make it completely by hand. While we were making the dough, we were struggling to keep it from sticking to things but also once we were kneading it, we needed to move it around quickly for some chemical reaction with the gluten to happen. It completely changes the feeling of the dough. We rolled the dough out to be paper thin. While we were rolling the dough, Mateo came to check on me and my “Italian hands”.  A few people can tell I’m Italian- American and I have to explain that I’m learning to speak Italian but don’t know much yet. 

After rolling out the dough, we cut it to size and put little dollops of ricotta and spinach down before folding the dough over and sealing it up. Each pair in the class cooked their ravioli separately so we got to eat what we rolled out ourselves. Catarina finished off the ravioli with a butter & sage sauce. It was delicious. We sat around the table to eat everything and we were all stuffed. 

Most of us walked back to our respective neighborhoods together and discussed how ashamed we were the way we had been cooking with so many ingredients. We also talked about how great it is to travel. 

We went to bed early because we were TIRED.

(More than) Half way there!

We made it to Dublin! The flight from Boston was pretty good. I had really good pasta which was a pleasant surprise. (I can hear Fred saying “really?!”).   The airport here is a labrynth but there are a lot of signs and we’re still in an English speaking country with super friendly people.  Someone asked me what a cafe americano is and was surprised I answered with an American accent. Blending in already!  Boarding for Rome in a few and hoping for more than 20 minutes of sleep this time.