Bus, Boat, Plane and Train

Buon giorno!

I just spent Easter weekend in Italy. And while my favorite Easter memories have been of searching for my hidden Easter basket with my brothers, and getting a head’s start on the egg hunt because I’m the baby and the only girl, Easter ’09 might be the most memorable yet.

Two nights in Florence (Firenze), two nights in Venice (Venezia), and one night in Pisa. My favorite city was Florence. The art, the people, the city itself were just amazing to me. Venice was beautiful too, and it seemed that around every twist in the streets, you would stumble upon a palazzo (palace) or another chiesa (church).

The sights:
Of course, in Florence the main structure that immediately draws us tourists was the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo. Only disappointing occasion was that because it was Holy Weekend, the Duomo was closed, but está bien because I climbed up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the plaza where yet another copy of David stands tall. It was sunset and the views of the city were beautiful. I could see the Duomo clearly and plus, it was free compared to the 10 euro view from the Duomo.

Okay, if you are a lover of Renaissance art-picture Birth of Venus or Spring by Botticelli, then go to the Uffizi. If not, please do not stand in line for 2 and ½ hours like I did. By the time I made it into the museum, I couldn’t even appreciate the art because I was so tired and hungry. Whatever, I can still say I went…

My favorite visit in Florence was actually a photography museum, Fratelli Alinari Museum of the History of Photography. There was NO line, NO other tourists, and TONS of beautiful photographs.

I made my way via train to Venice on Saturday and was greeted with crowds of tourists and um, strangely, Indian dancers in front of the train station… I was a bit confused because I am in Italy, not New Mexico…

I went first to Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square) and easily found my way there even though it is very easy to get lost in Venice. Other than because I have inherited great directional skills, thanks Dad!, I just followed all the other tourists and kept a look out for the yellow signs that pointed the way to all the major plazas and bridges in the city.

Easter I climbed (lie: they made us take an elevator) the campanile that is in Piazzo San Marco to see great bird’s eye views of Venice and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and. The tower was really awesome and I got some great pictures (that I’m sure every other person there has too). Because I got there early, the line wasn’t too long. And I loved the Guggenheim art collection and saw my first Jackson Pollock and Rothko! I’m now in love with Pollock’s stuff.

When I went to Pisa, it totally disappointed me because it was so small and boring! The only thing really to see there was the Leaning Tower and Basilica, but that really doesn’t take long.

The food:
Hmm, my first pizza in Italy totally lacked flavor, and my first gelato (peach) did too. I was not a happy camper. After searching and searching and taste-testing and taste-testing, I found the best gelato in Florence/Venice. It was by the River Arno in Florence and was yougurt with nutella swirls. And funny enough it was also the cheapest to be found in Florence (Venice’s gelaterias were all cheaper than Florence’s; you think it would be switched…)

But alas, all the pizzas I tried still left me thinking/knowing that I could make it better back home. So I can’t wait to expirement with pizza in Texas!
I did eat gnocchi (pasta made from potatoes) one night and then some cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach. The pasta of the cannelonni was so light and airy and made me wonder how they made it that way, I mean, it wasn’t even as if they just rolled it really thin, it was a different texture than pasta that I am used to but nonetheless delicious.

The people:
Everyone in my hostels that I met were so nice and mostly from Spanish speaking countries! How ironic, I go to Italy, yet I mostly spoke Spanish while I was there!
I met a really nice girl from Peru who just finished her Master’s in English. She has been studying in France…confusing a little. But she is headed back home next week I think after having been in France since fall 2007. She didn’t seem too happy about going back to Lima because she was going to have to move back in with her parents as is traditional there.
We saw the sights in Florence together and ate supper my last night in Florence.

Suprisingly, most of the people in my hostels were girls traveling alone too. And it was so easy to travel by myself, I never got lonely or in sticky situations, and I communicated with so many new and nice people in Italy.

The only time that an Italian man actually hit on me was in Pisa while I was sitting in the greeeen grass beneath the tower waiting for good lighting so I could get a picture of myself. He wasn’t creepy or anything, we just talked in a combination of English, Spanish, and Italian for over an hour about the most random stuff. I finally told him I was tired and was going back to my hotel. I think he called me beautiful or something, I really don’t know, but I got a kick out of it but no great picture because the lighting never improved.

Oh yeah, and the weather was absouletly gorgeous. It was forcasted to rain everyday in every city, but it didn’t, and I had the most amazing time. I know where I will be moving if America ever goes belly up. There is so much that I didn’t get to see/do in those cities, and now so many more places in Italy that I want to visit, like Rome, Naples, Verona, Siena, Sicily, Capri, and Milan. Okay, that is a lot…

So long, and hopefully one day we can go to Italy together! Or you come visit me when I’m living in my little country house there and cooking biscotti and lasagna.

Ciao!