Food. Wine. Food. Churches covered in art. Food. Wine. Thus far, these, in addition to some evolving friendships, are the components of my trip to Italy.
While I pride myself on being an grown woman, fully independent and able, traveling abroad for the first time alone was intimidating. Days before I left, my head was swimming in anxiety. What if I miss one of my two connecting flights? What if I don't understand the signage in Paris? What if my baggage gets lost? Luckily, the worst that happened was lack of sleep. I arrived safely in Italy around 3:00 (9:00 am in the U.S.). I had slept about an hour and a half in nearly 30 hours. I was exhausted.
My first glimpse of Florence was through a taxi window. A taxi that felt like a roller coaster. Though his driving was a little crazy, I was impressed by the taxi driver's genial remarks and attempts to communicate with us, telling us his favorite gelato shop, etc. After all, service charges are built in in Italy- he had no need to shmooze us. Maybe he thought we would be unaware of that custom as ignorant American tourists. Heck no buddy! We know our stuff! I'd like to think he was just being nice to be nice- but it seems pretty hit or miss so far. Some people seem keen on conversing with us, patient about the language barrier when ordering food and calling "buongiorno!" on the street. Others seem annoyed by these loud, silly Americans looking at their maps or unsure of what they want to order. Maybe there's a divide amongst natives between anti-tourists and those who appreciate what they bring to the city as far as life and economy. Or maybe some people are just having a good days and others are not- like Americans. Hey what do you know? Maybe we're not so different after all.
Well, its getting late and despite my successful acclimation to the time change, I'm tired. So I'm just going to try to list some highlights...and by that I mean everything I have done so far, because let's face it- when in Italy, everything's a highlight.
Food: Monday dinner of MANY courses- YUM.. it seems that everything is more local, less mass-produced. The meat is more savory, the produce fresher. Gelato on the bridge over the Arno that night= amazing. breakfast in the Istituto Guold (where we're staying every morning): it's different, but good- not crazy special like the lunches and dinners. Tues lunch: pizza-ish thing covered in all kinds of meat. I love eating lunch on the steps of nearby churches- the piazzas, where everyone congregates. Tues dinner: at Restaurante Dante- again, MANY courses and really great company- got to know one of the professor couples better while dining on the best pesto ever! that was probably my favorite part though the brushetta and liver paste on bread, the red pasta, the chicken, french fries and dessert were all also good. Yeah, I'm telling you- a TON of food. We felt like the waitresses there were giving us some stink eyes, but were later told it may have been because we left some food on the serving dishes uneaten seeming ungrateful-- I think we would have all burst trying to make the food disapear! Today's lunch: a spinach pastryish sandwich and a small nutella filled desert! Dinner- cafe/dinner place with 13 of the group members- Most of us got yummy pasta and we shared a liter of white wine and a liter of red.
Sites: CRAP I need to go to bed. Basically everything is gorgeous, like you see in movies and postcards but the amazing part is the integration of historical, ancient artistic buildings and everyday life. These are not sites to be preserved by fencing off but loved through experience and utilization. I love the giant windows with shutters- we have one to open wide in our room :) We've been on a walking tour that was a quick glimpse of everything including the giant duomo as well as two cathedrals today! WOOO okay bedtime. Love to all- Arrivederci! Pictures to come. Promise.
While I pride myself on being an grown woman, fully independent and able, traveling abroad for the first time alone was intimidating. Days before I left, my head was swimming in anxiety. What if I miss one of my two connecting flights? What if I don't understand the signage in Paris? What if my baggage gets lost? Luckily, the worst that happened was lack of sleep. I arrived safely in Italy around 3:00 (9:00 am in the U.S.). I had slept about an hour and a half in nearly 30 hours. I was exhausted.
My first glimpse of Florence was through a taxi window. A taxi that felt like a roller coaster. Though his driving was a little crazy, I was impressed by the taxi driver's genial remarks and attempts to communicate with us, telling us his favorite gelato shop, etc. After all, service charges are built in in Italy- he had no need to shmooze us. Maybe he thought we would be unaware of that custom as ignorant American tourists. Heck no buddy! We know our stuff! I'd like to think he was just being nice to be nice- but it seems pretty hit or miss so far. Some people seem keen on conversing with us, patient about the language barrier when ordering food and calling "buongiorno!" on the street. Others seem annoyed by these loud, silly Americans looking at their maps or unsure of what they want to order. Maybe there's a divide amongst natives between anti-tourists and those who appreciate what they bring to the city as far as life and economy. Or maybe some people are just having a good days and others are not- like Americans. Hey what do you know? Maybe we're not so different after all.
Well, its getting late and despite my successful acclimation to the time change, I'm tired. So I'm just going to try to list some highlights...and by that I mean everything I have done so far, because let's face it- when in Italy, everything's a highlight.
Food: Monday dinner of MANY courses- YUM.. it seems that everything is more local, less mass-produced. The meat is more savory, the produce fresher. Gelato on the bridge over the Arno that night= amazing. breakfast in the Istituto Guold (where we're staying every morning): it's different, but good- not crazy special like the lunches and dinners. Tues lunch: pizza-ish thing covered in all kinds of meat. I love eating lunch on the steps of nearby churches- the piazzas, where everyone congregates. Tues dinner: at Restaurante Dante- again, MANY courses and really great company- got to know one of the professor couples better while dining on the best pesto ever! that was probably my favorite part though the brushetta and liver paste on bread, the red pasta, the chicken, french fries and dessert were all also good. Yeah, I'm telling you- a TON of food. We felt like the waitresses there were giving us some stink eyes, but were later told it may have been because we left some food on the serving dishes uneaten seeming ungrateful-- I think we would have all burst trying to make the food disapear! Today's lunch: a spinach pastryish sandwich and a small nutella filled desert! Dinner- cafe/dinner place with 13 of the group members- Most of us got yummy pasta and we shared a liter of white wine and a liter of red.
Sites: CRAP I need to go to bed. Basically everything is gorgeous, like you see in movies and postcards but the amazing part is the integration of historical, ancient artistic buildings and everyday life. These are not sites to be preserved by fencing off but loved through experience and utilization. I love the giant windows with shutters- we have one to open wide in our room :) We've been on a walking tour that was a quick glimpse of everything including the giant duomo as well as two cathedrals today! WOOO okay bedtime. Love to all- Arrivederci! Pictures to come. Promise.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment