Thanksgiving Italiano

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which means that in Italy it was Thursday! Truly an American holiday that was hard to feel over here. Given the day off from school and the lack of any Italian holiday we decided to do a day trip to the town of Orvieto. Daniel, (my brother for those of you that may not know), has friends that lived in Rome for a couple of years and recommended Orvieto and Spoleto as two relatively close and easily accessible hill towns to visit. So based on the forecast, we decided to do Orvieto on Thanksgiving and Spoleto on Saturday (tomorrow).

After a long week and day yesterday, we opted for a lazy morning today, so I am catching up on my blogging and laundry (now that our washing machine is finally working again - hoorah!!), before heading down to the B&B.

I'm not entirely sure what all to say about yesterday though, so I'll keep it brief and let you explore the pictures. Orvieto is divided between the new town, where the train arrives, and old town, the real attraction up on the hill. Once off the train you actually have to take the Funicular up to the top of the hill - kind of cool. We really just strolled through town on our way to the Duomo, the town's main attraction.

It is a very cute, little hill town and I am grateful to have been able to spend the day there with my parents, but I do have to say that it had a very similar feel and look to just about every other small town I've been to in Italy so far. I don't say this as necessarily a bad thing, but a mere observation that, so far, I have not seen a whole lot of distinction between rural landscapes.

But I digress. The Duomo was incredible! Crazy impressive. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside, so you'll just have to take my word for the fact that the interior is, maybe not quite as grand as the facade, but a sight to see nonetheless.

After a brief stop for lunch, Mom and I wanted to shop, so we really just poked around town exploring the streets and myriad of ceramic shops. Apparently, in conjunction with the Duomo and Classico wine, Orvieto is known for its ceramics. Mom made a few purchases along the way, and I almost bought her Christmas present, but alas the shop was unable to supply the gift in its entirety - oh well.





















We made it back to Roma by about 5p and headed back to the B&B before walking to my apartment for dinner. After a brief stop at Dem, the grocery store across the street from my apartment, I made a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner of my pasta specialty - like I said before, not terribly Thanksgiving-y. With that said, it was delicious. And to make the holiday complete, we were able to Skype with D after dinner and revel in the dreary PNW weather - don't envy that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, whatever form it may have taken. Mine may have been far from traditional, but it will definitely be one to remember. While I try to keep focus and take stock regularly, yesterday was after all about giving thanks. So I will reiterate my immense love and gratitude for all of my family and friends, whether newly found in Italy or the oldest of friends back home - I hope you know how much I love you all, what you mean to me, and that I would not be where or who I am without each and every one of you. And, of course, I cannot let this year pass without expressing my thanks for the opportunities that it has afforded me - kicking off my senior year in Italy, don't think it gets much better!!

I can't wait to see everyone when I get home next month, but in the meantime...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Roman Holiday

The parentals came in last Friday, the 18th, for a 10-day vacation and we've been pretty busy ever since. Sadly, their flight from Amsterdam to Rome was less than ideal and their baggage was lost somewhere along the way, but it did manage to show up at their B&B by the end of the next day. 

So the first night, we took a leisurely stroll through Trastevere, ran into Camille by school, and had some quintessential Italian dinner. The pizza was delicious, as always, but more than anything, Mom loved the bruschetta, fiori di zucca, and wine - I think she enjoyed the proof that wine really is cheaper than water!!

The next day we hit the ground running with the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. The weather was great and the Colosseum often closes when it rains due to flooding, so I wanted to make sure that we were able to get that in. There were, of course, lots of people, but it was really cool to be able to see the inside of the Colosseum with my own eyes - it is indeed quite massive.







Having spent a good 2 hours being touristy, we decided it was time to take a break and find some lunch. This time Mom and Dad were introduced to Italian pasta. It was all very tasty and provided some much needed fuel.

Next we made our way to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum by way of the Arch of Constantine.





We took a leisurely, although somewhat abbreviated, stroll through the Palatine before making our way to the Forum. Mom was, going in, just about ready to call it day, but upon entering was very happy see a much more natural setting. Excavations date settlements back to about 1000 B.C., and, perhaps even more significantly, Palatine Hill is believed to be the site where Remus and Romulus were found with the she-wolf. (INSERT LINK TO LEGEND HERE??) And, of course, being 1 of the 7 hills of Rome, there are some pretty good views. 











Having taken in the city views, we made our way back down the hill and into the Roman Forum. What was, at one time, the center of Roman life, is now, in places, not much more than piles of granite that used to be columns and buildings. Nonetheless, with the Arch of Titus and the Basilica of Constantine, it is not difficult to imagine what the Roman Forum once was. A literal walk through centuries old history - very cool!











Sunday, we made the mandatory reservation and visited the Borghese Gallery - this was on the top of Mom's list of things to do in Rome. They only allow 200 people in at a time in 2-hour windows. We saw a lot of Caravaggio and Bernini, but most of all we walked away with the sense that Borghese had way too much money - even in his day.



 Finally, on our way back to Trastevere, Dad wanted gelato, so I figured that I should start them out right and let their first gelato experience be at Giolitti's. Being the most famous gelateria in all of Rome, it was, as it so often is, crazy busy. A little experience will go a long way though. With that amount of people it is fairly similar to Ivar's (for those that will understand the reference) - no real line, make your way to the counter, tell them what you want, and they'll get you out of there in a snap. While I will say that Giolitti's is not really superior to any other gelato I've had, it is worth it for the experience, and it definitely never disappoints. So, with our gelato in hand, we slowly made our way back to Trastevere.

Monday, I had class and a presentation, so we decided to meet up around lunch time in Piazza Santa Maria - an easy to find mid-way point with one of the oldest churches in all of Rome. From there we decided to walk to Vatican City, have lunch, and go in Saint Peter's Basilica. I've done the entire Vatican experience myself, but Saint Peter's in absolutely incredible and wanted to go back, so I was happy to lead the way.











To wrap up the week, I had class all day Tuesday, so I sent Mom and Dad to the Vatican Museum - definitely an all day thing. They said they were exhausted by the time they made it back to their B&B, as they should be, but were glad they were able to see it all. I met them for dinner and we decided to stay in and watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. 

Wednesday was another somewhat lazy day, I was to meet them at their B&B following class, but ran into them in Piazza S. Maria. They'd been out exploring the Jewish Ghetto and found an Irish Pub of all things, so we made our way back for lunch. As unexciting as it may be, we then headed back to the B&B to relax for a little while. Eventually we decided to do a night walk across Rome. We took the bus to the Spanish Steps (they had yet to see them), walked over to Trevi Fountain, and planned on making our way back to Campo de Fiori for dinner at La Carbonara - the restaurant that invented Carbonara. However, we ran into a fellow SMC student and Seattlite at Trevi with her parents and decided to have dinner with them instead. I think Jillian and I both found it somewhat funny, but all in all it was a lot of fun - a little PNW time in the heart of Roma!!





Thanksgiving I will save for a separate blog. So far, busy busy busy in Rome, but it's fun to see the parentals and be able to show them around. And low and behold, even though she thought otherwise, Mom is getting her bearings in the city and is learning her way around - BENE!!

Ciao, ciao!!

Praha

Friday night Megan, Tom, & I, along with Tom's roommate Jack, headed for FCO (also known as Fiumicino) to catch our flight to the Czech. In typical Italian style our flight left late and we got in at least a half an hour later than anticipated. Beyond the hunger though, it was no biggie, our hotel was already expecting us to arrive in the middle of the night. We knew it was going to be cold, but none of us really planned on -4 degrees celsius. All three of us told Jack in Rome that the shorts and t-shirt probably weren't the best idea - he promptly put a pair of jeans on once inside the airport.

Once making our way through the terminal and taking out thousands of koruny (yes, thousands - the current exchange rate is about 18 koruny to the USD and 25 to the EUR), we finally made it outside to buy our bus tickets - did I mention how cold it was?!! 

As we attempted to keep warm while waiting for the bus, a rather sketchy looking guy walked up to a man standing not 10' away from us and decided that he was going to take the magazine that the guy was clutching. At first we thought that maybe he was attempting to pick pocket the guy, in a very obvious way, but no, he just wanted the magazine. It got even better when the guy with the magazine starts all out fighting the would-be thief and attempts to punch him in the face. Luckily, the bus then shows up. Now, you'd think it would have ended there. Nope. The guy with the magazine gets on the bus towing his so-called attacker who is still trying to steal said magazine. I kid you not, the two kept fighting it out, both physically and in Czech, for a good 10 minutes. Nobody really knew what was going on, but the people sitting next to us assured us that this was definitely not normal. Finally, after a couple of stops and a passenger from the back said something, the bus driver got up and kicked the failed thief off. 

Welcome to Prague!! (Suffice it to say, despite the entertainment, Megan and I were glad to have Tom around.)

We finally made it to our hotel around 2a. Normally we would have crashed immediately, but we were all starving by this point. So after dropping off our gear and bundling up a bit more, we ventured back out to the only place that was open - McDonald's. Definitely not our first choice, or proudest moment, but we were starving and beggars can't be choosers, so we didn't complain, for the most part. Having refueled, we parted ways with Jack, he was staying at a hostel nearby, and went back to the hotel to sleep. 

Saturday morning we all got up around 9a following about 6 short hours of sleep. The three of us got ready and went upstairs for breakfast (nice perk of our hotel was the complimentary breakfast - good, hearty way to start the day and save a bunch of money, relatively speaking anyway) before meeting Jack in the lobby at 10a. 

A brief side note, three of my roommates had been to Prague the weekend before with Bus2Alps (1 of the many tour companies around hawking their wares), so they had shared their new found knowledge and we were more than happy to take the free advice. 

With that being said, we decided to take advantage of one of Jasmine's recommendations and made reservations for a free tour (yep, free - the best price!!) of the city at 10:30a. We rolled into Old Town Square fashionably late only to find that we were early. In other words, we still had to wait another 10 minutes or so. No worries, Old Town Square is rather captivating. 









Oh and, of course, there is a Starbucks. (Italian coffee far surpasses Starbucks. I know that's pretty sacrilegious for a Washingtonian and former partner - too bad, its true. I will admit that I miss the size of Starbucks coffee though, there is something to be said for a big cup of coffee - yep, definitely miss that.)



We were all quite impressed by the tour - the guide seemed to know his stuff, helped that he is clearly quite interested in all of it. From Prague's bloody history (and more broadly, the Czech's) to Kafka, we all agreed that we left with a far greater understanding and appreciation for the city. Good advice, Jasmine, thanks!!





























After the tour we decided to head back to Old Town Square for some food. It was Saint Martin's Day on Friday (don't ask me about him, because I don't know), and there were a bunch of vendors set-up as a festival of sorts apparently. Tom and Jack both got some more hot wine (we all had one on our tour - warm & yummy!!) along with potatoes with lots of meat and sauerkraut, and a cheese sampler. Megan and I both got a Trdelnik, a pastry with sugar and walnuts that's wrapped around a 2-3' long skewer and cooked over coals - delicious!! We also decided to share a grill cheese, cheese wrapped in some sort of dough that is then grilled and served on a slice of bread - it looked kind of like a baked Brie. I think we both agreed that the Trdelnik was better, but the grill cheese was good too, tasty smoked flavor.















Having satisfied ourselves enough to be able to wait for dinner, we decided to go exploring - Tom had a building he wanted to find, which turned out to be Milunic and Gehry's Dancing House. But first, Jack discovered his intrigue for all things Kafka on the tour, so we stopped in at the Kafka Bookshop so that he could pick up The Metamorphosis. We poked along on our walk ducking in wherever we wanted and just enjoyed the city. We tried on silly hats, found the Museum of Torture, and the Chocolate Museum, all before finding Tom's elusive building. Success!!















At this point we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for little while before dinner. I'll admit, I totally passed out (with the constant sounds of CNN in the background). Eventually we ventured back out into the cold and found our way back to a place that we had scoped out on our walk earlier. Tom and I both had a beer (Pilsner Urquell, of course), we were, after all, in Prague - they take their beer very seriously. We all wanted to try the local cuisine, which turns out to be a lot of meat, so Tom had the Pork Neck, Megan and I split the Beef Goulash and the Old Czech Plate (more meat, dumplings, & sauerkraut), and Jack also got the Old Czech Plate. All in all it was quite tasty!!













After dinner we sought out this place called The Beer Factory in Wenceslas Square. It is a bar where all the tables have beer taps in the middle of them so that you can pour your own drinks. Of course, your only option is Pilsner Urquell, but that's ok, it's a pretty cool idea for a bar. 





Sunday, our last full day in the city, we decided to go to Prague Castle. It boasts amazing views of the city and, I believe, currently houses the head of state. Within the castle complex is Saint Vitus' Cathedral - an absolutely incredible gothic cathedral.

































The one major mishap of the trip was when Megan and I went into the cathedral and proceeded to lose both Tom and Jack. We searched for them for a good 30-45 minutes before we finally decided to call it a draw. None of us were going to use our cells as we get charged an arm and a leg when we're out of country, so we figured that since we're all adults we'd just head back to the hotel and leave them a note. 

We headed back down the hill towards Charles Bridge and, succumbing to the urge, stopped at Starbucks. Given how cold it was outside, let me tell you, that chai tasted amazing!! 





Megan and I finally made our way, with our Starbucks, to the Charles Bridge - the final thing we were told was on the top of the list of things to see in Prague. It spans the Vltava river and was built under King Charles IV. Currently it hosts numerous artists, vendors, and too many tourists. Too bad we added to it, but we had to see it. The bridge is rather impressive and also hosts some pretty impressive views.







Having conquered the main sights, we decided to head to U Fleku, a restaurant that Tom had patronized last year and couldn't wait to go back to - we figured there might be a slight chance we'd find them there. Alas, they were not there, but we were successful in finding the restaurant and figured we'd probably come back for dinner (we were right!). 

We managed to make it back to the hotel and by this time were in pretty dire need of an afternoon snack, so we quickly dropped them a note and headed back to Old Town Square where we picked up some food. We did a little bit of shopping on our way back and then decided to stop in at Starbucks again as we had a bit of time to kill until we told the boys we would be back and our hotel didn't have wifi. If nothing else, Starbucks is good for free wifi!!

When we finally managed to make it back to the hotel Tom was already there relaxing in front of CNN. So we hung out until Jack showed up and then headed out to U Fleku for dinner. Another traditional Czech meal, but this one seemed a little cooler. Not only is the setting really cool, but as soon as they seat you there are two waiters that come by: one is carrying a tray of full beer steins and the other is carrying a tray full of shots - as I said before, they take their beer seriously (and apparently their liquor, too). This time Tom had the Pork Knuckle (he was all about he pork) along with the Beer Cheese that he'd been telling us all about for a couple months. Megan and I split a bowl of soup  and another plate of meat and dumplings. (I don't remember what Jack had.) A successful, tasty meal and we managed to fulfill Tom's request for U Fleku. Winning!!













After having satisfied Tom's U Fleku desires, we decided to go back to the hotel and play card games. Sounds boring, I know, but when you throw in a bottle of absinthe things get a little more interesting. Tom had purchased a spoon earlier in the day and we stopped on the way back for the necessary liquor and sugar cubes. I will admit that I was the quote unquote stick in the mud and didn't play along (I'd tasted it on Halloween so I wasn't at all curious and just wasn't in the mood), I played photographer instead, but it was fun to watch and we did have fun playing games. The shots were accepted with varying degrees of distaste, but all in all had little side effects - with one exception.









Tom got a little messy with his first pour (can't blame it on the absinthe) and spilled, but Jack was more than happy to clean it up!











We were lucky enough to have a lazy morning on Monday as our flight didn't leave for Rome until 2:45p. Uneventful trip home, but as always it was good to be home.

Thankful for a great weekend in Prague with even better friends!! Trying to soak it all in, I know these experiences and times with friends are what I need to remember and hold on to. 

Parents come in tomorrow - very excited to see them!! It's been a rather trying month, so it'll be good to get some family time. Looking forward to showing them around and seeing Rome through yet another lens. So here's to a safe flight for my parents and that everything is going well back in the States.

I love and miss you all!!

Ciao, ciao!!