Post number one... something like day 11??
Yeah - I totally meant to be a good little blogger on this trip and just haven't. In thinking about why, it seems that most of the people that I know have been or plan to be in Italy. It's the consummate tourist destination. Why should I blog about something that practically everyone will experience in their lives? Japan was a different experience - most people are fascinated by the culture, but really have no plans to go. One thing that I heard over and over when we were planning our trip to Japan was: 'What about the language barrier?' ... so my response is... how is it different being in Italy? I still don't speak Italian. After almost 2 weeks here, I can say that the real difference is that there are SO MANY tourists visiting Venice, Rome and Florence that most Italians have to speak English (as well as various other languages) as part of their jobs. Not so in many of the places that we visited in Japan.
Back to it though... I do have a few thoughts on the matter... first up, it's interesting to watch all of the students on the trains and in the alleys running about with their art supplies. I feel deficient. If I were a painter, I think I'd paint various mounds of Gelato. That's pretty much the inspiration right now. If I sculpted, I might do naked forms. In Gelato. Why doesn't any Gelato shop have an in house sculpter?? Why, for that matter, does NO ONE market to the masses here? Maybe it's just the past few years at my job having altered the manner in which my poor brain is wired, but when I see a shirt selling for 150 Euro (Or about 230 USD) just laid out in a window or tacked to a board, it makes my skin crawl. WTF Italy? You have Milan and Rome as centers of fashion and you expect that selling high fashion to the public in this manner is acceptable? I may be a young woman and certainly not in the know as far as fashion, but even *I* know this.
We're staying in an apartment that's in a building that's 500 years old. There are certain laws about renovations in ancient buildings - one of the reasons that people don't like to buy property in the hopes of building something new... if the foundations disturb something ancient it can be months or years until the excavations prove that it's nothing or... in the worst cases, everything is preserved. Anyhow, our apartment is older than our country. Since most buildings are in the same state, grocery shopping is like a treasure hunt. You think you're at the end of the aisle when... Viola!! ... you see steps leading down into another vault where the oils, anchovies and cereals are stored, between which is another alley leading to the pasta. Eggs? Stored on the shelves instead of in the refrigerated cases. I'm not that brave yet.
How is it that everyone is so stunningly beautiful here? It's actually been a chore trying to find vegetables here. Last night we found a great Spanish Tapas place and ordered blanched spinach with pine nuts. GLORIOUS!!! Potatoes in Mint. OMGOMG! After weeks of trying to avoid carbs in droves by cooking in the apartments we've rented, I was thrilled to get some veggies that I didn't cook myself on the plate. And the mojitos were awesome. How is it that all of the women are olive skinned, bright eyed, zero percent body fat, Armani clad, stiletto wearing, Vespa driving goddesses? What demons do they owe their souls to? Yes, there's more walking to be done and a different culture to steep in, but everywhere I turn these women are drinking wine, smoking and stuffing their freaking faces. NOT FAIR, GENES. Take me back to the drawing board, please.
To be fair, it's not all roses (although the rose vendors that plague your dinner table at the sidewalk cafe would love it to be...). We've discovered that, even for it's flaws, Seattle is pretty hep. Space, for example... the room that we had in Venice was SMALLER (yeah, you read that right) than many of the rooms we occupied while in Japan. I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, didn't think that possible. We literally had just enough room to lay out a yoga mat... if all of our luggage was put away. There was a 4 inch space between the bed and the wall through which you could squeeze if you really wanted to get to the window and lean WAAAYYYY out to see the Grand Canal view that we were promised. The romanticized idea of being on the grand canal was certainly invented before motorized engines.... and American tourists drunk at 3 am. To sum it up - Venice was nice, but my desire to return = 0.
Florence was EXCELLENT. Again. Alana, you hit the nail on the head. I could live there (when the weather is humane, that is). On the last full day, we met Ada Palmer (http://adapalmer.com/historian/index.html and http://exurbe.com/), a Harvard Historian who focused on Florennce history... she joined us for the afternoon at the Uffizi and took us around Florence to some of the better places to eat, commenting constantly on the buildings (and their histories) around us. We found some of the most AMAZING food (think: pasta with truffles, gnocchi and gorgonzola, gelato to die for!), and really had a chance to dig into the political structure of Florence from before the Medicis. Further, she was just an interesting character - well educated and as geeky as both of us!
Erik hit the Accedemia, and will probably have more interesting things to say about the Uffizi, so I leave those topics for that brilliant man. Instead... I went wine tasting in Chianti. I can only describe the wine bar that I visited as a 'vault' with over 150 wines on tap for the choosing... and more to purchase. I don't seem to have saved any of the paraphernalia and was a little tipsy at the time, but when I figure out the exact spot, I'll post that as well.
So now we're in Rome and I'm going to make dinner... more thoughts on Rome, our trip to the Vatican, St. Peter's, Ostia Antica and various other spots later! xoxo G
Back to it though... I do have a few thoughts on the matter... first up, it's interesting to watch all of the students on the trains and in the alleys running about with their art supplies. I feel deficient. If I were a painter, I think I'd paint various mounds of Gelato. That's pretty much the inspiration right now. If I sculpted, I might do naked forms. In Gelato. Why doesn't any Gelato shop have an in house sculpter?? Why, for that matter, does NO ONE market to the masses here? Maybe it's just the past few years at my job having altered the manner in which my poor brain is wired, but when I see a shirt selling for 150 Euro (Or about 230 USD) just laid out in a window or tacked to a board, it makes my skin crawl. WTF Italy? You have Milan and Rome as centers of fashion and you expect that selling high fashion to the public in this manner is acceptable? I may be a young woman and certainly not in the know as far as fashion, but even *I* know this.
We're staying in an apartment that's in a building that's 500 years old. There are certain laws about renovations in ancient buildings - one of the reasons that people don't like to buy property in the hopes of building something new... if the foundations disturb something ancient it can be months or years until the excavations prove that it's nothing or... in the worst cases, everything is preserved. Anyhow, our apartment is older than our country. Since most buildings are in the same state, grocery shopping is like a treasure hunt. You think you're at the end of the aisle when... Viola!! ... you see steps leading down into another vault where the oils, anchovies and cereals are stored, between which is another alley leading to the pasta. Eggs? Stored on the shelves instead of in the refrigerated cases. I'm not that brave yet.
How is it that everyone is so stunningly beautiful here? It's actually been a chore trying to find vegetables here. Last night we found a great Spanish Tapas place and ordered blanched spinach with pine nuts. GLORIOUS!!! Potatoes in Mint. OMGOMG! After weeks of trying to avoid carbs in droves by cooking in the apartments we've rented, I was thrilled to get some veggies that I didn't cook myself on the plate. And the mojitos were awesome. How is it that all of the women are olive skinned, bright eyed, zero percent body fat, Armani clad, stiletto wearing, Vespa driving goddesses? What demons do they owe their souls to? Yes, there's more walking to be done and a different culture to steep in, but everywhere I turn these women are drinking wine, smoking and stuffing their freaking faces. NOT FAIR, GENES. Take me back to the drawing board, please.
To be fair, it's not all roses (although the rose vendors that plague your dinner table at the sidewalk cafe would love it to be...). We've discovered that, even for it's flaws, Seattle is pretty hep. Space, for example... the room that we had in Venice was SMALLER (yeah, you read that right) than many of the rooms we occupied while in Japan. I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, didn't think that possible. We literally had just enough room to lay out a yoga mat... if all of our luggage was put away. There was a 4 inch space between the bed and the wall through which you could squeeze if you really wanted to get to the window and lean WAAAYYYY out to see the Grand Canal view that we were promised. The romanticized idea of being on the grand canal was certainly invented before motorized engines.... and American tourists drunk at 3 am. To sum it up - Venice was nice, but my desire to return = 0.
Florence was EXCELLENT. Again. Alana, you hit the nail on the head. I could live there (when the weather is humane, that is). On the last full day, we met Ada Palmer (http://adapalmer.com/historian/index.html and http://exurbe.com/), a Harvard Historian who focused on Florennce history... she joined us for the afternoon at the Uffizi and took us around Florence to some of the better places to eat, commenting constantly on the buildings (and their histories) around us. We found some of the most AMAZING food (think: pasta with truffles, gnocchi and gorgonzola, gelato to die for!), and really had a chance to dig into the political structure of Florence from before the Medicis. Further, she was just an interesting character - well educated and as geeky as both of us!
Erik hit the Accedemia, and will probably have more interesting things to say about the Uffizi, so I leave those topics for that brilliant man. Instead... I went wine tasting in Chianti. I can only describe the wine bar that I visited as a 'vault' with over 150 wines on tap for the choosing... and more to purchase. I don't seem to have saved any of the paraphernalia and was a little tipsy at the time, but when I figure out the exact spot, I'll post that as well.
So now we're in Rome and I'm going to make dinner... more thoughts on Rome, our trip to the Vatican, St. Peter's, Ostia Antica and various other spots later! xoxo G