"It is the journey not the arrival that matters."

                                                                 -T.S. Eliot

Checking off my Bucket List!

2. Hear the Gregorian chants at San Minato, check! hiked up there two days ago, it was an absolutely beautiful service.

3. Go to Italian mass, check! Little did I know that the San Minato chants were part of a service so I killed two birds with one stone.

6. Go to the vintage market in Lucca, check-ish! We went to Lucca, we looked for the vintage market but couldn't find it. But we had a great afternoon in Lucca!

7. Go the the beach at Viareggio, check-ish! We got on a train to go to the beach but it was still cloudy when the train go to Viareggio so we stayed on the train headed towards the sunshine and got off at Forte dei Marmi instead for a sunny beach day.

Dolci Tipica de Tosana

If you couldn’t tell, I am currently on a Italian food-writing binge and since food is a large part of travel and every day fulfillment for me  don’t see any problem incorporating it once and awhile…or regularly…to my travel blog.

On almost all Dolci (dessert) menus in Italy you will see “Dolci tipica de Toscana” or “Cantuccini di Prato con Vinsanto” which are one and the same. Cantuccini is an almond biscotti and considered the classic choice among biscotti lovers and Italians. This biscotti is traditionally served with vinsanto, or a sweet desert wine, and the cantuccini are dipped into the wine to absorb its sweet taste.

           

Recently, Apicius, the Culinary school under the International Association I intern for, hosted a biscotti workshop where we learned how to make Cantuccini di Prato. I wanted to share the recipie with you:

Ingredients:

400 gr. (2 and 2/3rds cup) of all purpose flour

200 gr. (1 cup) of sugar

200 gr. (2 cups) of shelled almonds

3 eggs

1 fresh vanilla

baking powder as needed

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F. mix the flour, sugar, vanilla, and baking powder, and then make a well in the middle of the mixture. Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl and add them to the well in the mixture, mix together by hand. When well combined, add the almonds and mix together by hand. Take the dough and make small loaves and place them on a cookie sheet. Do an egg wash over the loaves. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, cut into the typical diagonal biscotti shape as shown and return to the oven until they appear a light golden brown. Serve with vinsanto of your choice!

The Battle of the Pear Pastas

Pear Pasta at La Giostra

Students who come to Italy are frequently told by past students and even faculty of two amazing restaurants that have a specialty dish in common: Pear Pasta. A foreign taste of a savory cheese melted together inside freshly made pasta with a sweet slice of pear is a dish that 4 Leoni and La Giostra have mastered. But which is better? To decide I took myself, two of my friends, my notepad, and my camera to each of the restaurants and try each of their pear pastas while keeping an eye out for the quality of their service, the ambiance of each restaurant, the presentation of each dish, and of course, most importantly, the taste!

 

On a Saturday evening two of my friends and I sat down at 4 Leoni under one of the white umbrellas that litter the piazza that the restaurant spills out onto from its turquoise interior.  Immediately bringing a basket of freshly baked bread and glasses prosecco, the waiter began to speak to us in Italian until he realized that we could not understand him when he spoke so quickly and switched to excellent English. The fact that he assumed we were Italian made the place feel more authentic than I had thought previously but his, and all of the waiters, easy transition to English was very helpful. As we sat on the piazza, splitting an appetizer of mixed pecorino cheese with honey (12 euro) and a carafe of house red wine (12 euro) , we talked and laughed and watched the people who moved in and out of the piazza with their children leaping around at their legs or arm and arm with their lover. The waiter gave us the perfect amount of time to finish our appetizer without swooping in the second we had finished to take our order for a entrée. For our entrée we ordered three “Fiocchetti di pera in salsa di taleggio e asparagi”, essentially large tortellini stuffed with pear in a taleggio (a white, creamy, mild cheese) and asparagus sauce. The pasta came out quickly, all at once, and we sat in silence, overwhelmed with the delicate presentation and sweet aroma wafting up to our noses before we carefully cut a small bite, trying to get a little bit of every taste, the pasta, the pear inside, the small slices of asparagus, and the tallegio sauce onto one forkful. The blend of the tastes was exceptional, light, sweet yet savory, and incredibly satisfying. I cut each piece of pasta into four pieces in attempt to savor each bite. By the end, the small portion of pasta had not filled us up so we ordered their famous cheesecake topped with fresh berries, which was almost more delectable than the pasta dish. We were given time to talk and enjoy our meal and our conversation with the waiter appearing only when needed and leaving us to our night the rest of the time. The atmosphere in the Piazza was quaint and authentically Italian but still had an air of fine dining with a touch of rusticity.  The pasta itself was 10 euros, a bargain for the taste, and the entire meal including a 1.50 coperto, a liter of red wine split three ways, a mixed pecorino and honey and two pieces of cheesecake split three ways at 6 euro each cost me an alarmingly small amount of 23 euros for a mélange of wonderful tastes, the perfect amount of service, and a beautiful backdrop for a dinner with friends.

        

On Thursday evening I walked the short distance from my apartment to La Giostra to meet my two friends for their farewell dinner. We were welcomed by a warm atmosphere in a long cave-like room sparkling with twinkle lights and candles. Despite the Italian wine-celleresque atmosphere, one of the first things that I noticed were that the waiters spoke to us automatically in English, and everyone in the restaurant was American, mostly families I assumed because of how expensive I had heard the place was. We were greeted in English by our waiter and brought large glasses of prosecco that we were told were a welcoming gift from the princes who owned the restaurant. The waiter was very helpful with the menu and we asked for bread after we ordered since we had not been brought any. Instead of bread we were pleasantly surprised with an assortment of appetizers on the house, three of everything, one for each of us. We ordered the cheapest bottle of red wine at 28 euro, which they made a show of pouring into three different glasses, them emptying, and pouring into a special carafe, we were not sure why and they did not explain. The wine was exceptional though. Then our pastas came out, I had ordered the “Ravioli di Pecorino toscano e pere William's” (pear and pecorino ravioli), and my friends had ordered a gorgonzola, pear, and pistachio pennete, and an asparagus and zucchini risotto. There were four large ravioli, coated in a light sauce in the dish. The pasta was very good, but heavier than the pasta at 4 Leoni. The actual pasta at 4 Leoni had been a lot thinner and lighter, the pasta that surrounded the pecorino and pear here was much thicker and made it more difficult to taste the delicate flavors of the pear and cheese inside. The taste of the pecorino was also a lot stronger than the pear taste, which was also not the case at 4 Leoni. My friend who had ordered the pennete with gorgonzola, pears, and pisacchio could not even find the pears in her dish and it was far too salty for her to finish. The asparagus and zucchini risotto was good but nothing out of this world for the 14 euro we paid per plate. We decided against dessert because dinner had been expensive enough and we were asked if we would like some limoncello, tequila, vodka etc on the house. We said yes to limoncello thinking they would bring out the traditional shot per person to sip as an after-dinner drink but after 20 minutes had passed and we were wondering if we should leave or not we were brought an entire half liter of limoncello! We were shocked because we usually have a hard time finishing one small glass worths and do it more out of Italian tradition than an affinity for limoncello, but the waiter kept coming back and filling up our drinks while another waiter kept giving us looks like it was time to leave because people were waiting for our table. A lot of mixed messages. Even with all the free prosecco, appetizers, and limoncello, the 3 euro each coperto, bottle of their cheapest wine, and pasta dishes wound up costing us 28 euro each.

        

 If you could not tell already, I much preferred 4 Leoni to La Giostra. The atmosphere was much nicer on the piazza than in the sparkling cave and the service at 4 Leoni was authentic, without waiters trying to make you feel special by bringing you a large amount of things on the house, but doing it for everyone. And the fact that La Giostra brought us such large amount of limoncello and then insisted on making us drink it made me think that, 1. It is sad that they think that American girls our age will like their restaurant more by helping/forcing us get drunk for free and 2. That they are catering to Americans in the first place. Besides the superiority of the ambiance, service, cost, and dining experience, the pear pasta at 4 Leone was just plain better.

  Pear Pasta at 4 Leoni

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one hasn't eaten well."

                                                     - Virgina Woolf

Il Gelato di Filo

Upon arriving in Florence eager to soak up everything Italian, my days were governed by the driving quest for what Americans think of as Italian cuisine: pizza, pasta, paninos and gelato. It did not take me long to figure out that even in Italy, just like everywhere else in the world, quality food was not as easy to find as one would think. Most of the pizza slices sunbathing in the shop windows tasted more like cardboard than the cheesy, doughy heaven I had imagined and the paninos were inescapably bland, though the store keepers insisted that they were just semplice (simple). Temporarily giving up on my savory cravings, I turned to the sweet. Luckily, I learned quickly to avoid the gelaterias where the gelato was piled foot-high, sculpted into perfect towers, and adorned with fruit and chocolate drizzles. Although visually alluring, the gelato that looked perfectly untouched was a sign that the locals knew not to eat it because it was it was actually a low quality tourist trap. Instead, I was instructed by those more experienced than I to challenge my sweet-craving tastebuds and stray off the well traveled roads to find places where the Italians got their fix.

             

I discovered Il Gelato Di Filo on Via San Miniato tucked into the side of a building right before passing under the old city wall on the trek up to the view from Piazza Michelangelo. In fact, I debated publishing this because one of my favorite things about Il Gelato di Filo is its lack of notoriety and its local friendliness. The little shop only fits about five customers comfortably but the squeeze is well worth the decadent, smooth, perfectly creamy flavors being offered to you by their small, friendly staff. In my eight months of being in Florence, I have encountered only three staff members; one who speaks perfect English but will encouragingly speak Italian to you if you try, and the other two who speak broken English but seem to enjoy bantering in mixed dialects to figure out what I would like to have. I have come here more times than I could count to the point where the woman behind the counter knows exactly what I am having. As a chocolate enthusiast, I have not discovered a Cioccolata Fondente (dark chocolate) this satisfying anywhere else in the entire city. Not even the places the tour books rave about (I'm talking about you, Grom). Each time I am handed over my rich brown, almost black in decadence, piccolo copeta it is as if it is my first taste all over again and I walk out into the sunshine in a happy daze of delighted taste buds. Now that the summer has turned sweltering, even my chocoholic self cant always handle the richness of the Cioccolata Fondente so I've been opting for the light, creamy, and incredibly tangy Limone flavor (as pictured).

             

Il Gelato Di Filo opened two years ago in 2009 when Filipino Lorenzo (hence the name of the gelateria) backed Edmir Prenga to open the gelateria, design the flavors, and make them. Edmir, who quickly introduced himself as Eddy, attended Carpigiani University where he found his passion for the process of making ice cream. Every morning he makes at least twelve flavors from scratch. After showing my interest in the process of making gelato, he invited my friend and I to come in one morning before they opened to watch him make it. In broken yet enthusiastic English, we communicated back and forth about how the gelato is made, how the shop was opened, and the history of gelato. Listening to the history of gelato was like listening to an Italian folklore. The origins of ice cream are debated. Some say it originated in China, some in Arabia, but this far back in time ice cream was more of a sorbet being made up of ice, fruit, and honey. Arabians inhabited Sicily and brought sorbet making it Italy. It was in Florence though that the first creamy based gelato was created by an architect named Buontalenti who had an underground passion for cooking. Buontalenti combined eggs, milk, and honey to create the first La Crema (cream). Over time, ingredient experimentation, and industrial inventions, gelato as we know it was made individual to each country who adapted gelato making.

             

 Eddy began his morning with Fior di Latte, whose ingredients make up the base of all their gelato. In the batch he mixed mostly whole milk, a bit of cream, a bit of powdered milk for thickening, and five different kinds of sugar that each play a different part in the process. Because of the milk to cream ratio, gelato has much less fat that the ice cream in the United States. Even though he noted this, Eddy insisted that fat is healthy and a key part of a nutritious diet in moderation. He was quite convincing when he claimed that despite everyone wanting to be thin these days, gelato is actually great for the feminine figure. A promising thought!

The ingredients are then thoroughly whisked together, then put in the first machine to heat up until the mixture is pasteurized. Once pasteurized, the liquid filters into the cooling, rotating machine to make the ice cream. Finally the ice cream is put into tubs and then placed into an incredibly cold freezer and thermally shocked to reach negative -13º C very quickly, making it hold its form. Then the tubs are put into the glass case, which is kept somewhere between -12 and-13 degrees, ready to serve. I have tasted almost all of the flavors and you really cannot go wrong. Il Gelato Di Filo has something for every taste and craving weather it be Limone cone to keep you refreshed for the hike up to the Piazzale or a decadent Cioccolata Fondente to reward you on the way down. Find this gem before the tourists do and you will be rewarded.

early morning, Piazza Santa Croce

Do's and Don'ts

DO buy some of your produce from the fresh markets like San Ambrogio and Mercato Centrale, if not for the quality of the fruits and vegetables harvested from Italian farms then for the fun and cultural experience.

DO take a small Italian dictionary or phrasebook with you. If you are having trouble with a menu look up your questions in it first or if you’d like to say something in Italian teach yourself how to say it. Making an effort will separate you from the tourists who expect everyone to speak English and consider it an inconvenience when locals and staff don’t.

DO enjoy the long, slow, Italian style meal with family or friends. Pick a time when no one has to be anywhere anytime soon and order one thing at a time, try different wines with different courses, and really take the time to enjoy your food and your company.

DO explore the Oltrarno. The Oltrarno has far less tourists and none of the giant umbrella-led groups in single file, better restaurants, cheaper options, an amazing assortment of shops with hand-made goods, some beautiful churches like Santo Spirito and San Miniato, Piazzele Michelangelo for a beautiful view, and the Pitti Palace and the Boboli and Bardini gardens. Are you convinced yet?

DON’T travel every weekend. I know you’re in Europe for such a short amount of time and you want to see as much of it as you can but don’t forget about exploring the place you live.

DON’T eat out for every meal. Grocery shop in the local markets (see DO #1) or grocery stores to save some money each week and whip yourself up an easy meal at home or make a night of it with your friends and all cook together, have a glass of wine, and take part in a cheaper version of DO # 3

DON’T eat the gelato that is close to the main sights (Ponte Vecchio, Duomo etc) and is piled high in its containers and covered with old fruit and hardened chocolate drizzles. It may be convenient but you have not tasted true gelato until you find a tiny place where Italians, not tourists, buy their gelato. Try: Gelato di Filo before the steps to Michelangelo, Gelato di Neri on via di Neri close to FUA, or la Carraia on the other side of the Arno right across the Ponte la Carraia.

DON’T spend all your free time on your computer. I know you have TV shows to catch up on and you want to skype with your family, friends, and significant other but Hello? You’re in Florence, Italy. You can catch up when you get home. Get outside, now.

Piazza del Duomo

People around the world are familiar with the image of the facade of the Duomo but unless you have spent some time in Florence you might not know that the Duomo becomes a social gathering when the sun begins to sink into the sky and all the tourists who have had crowded around it earlier are off to some fancy tour-book-recommended dinner.

As the last light of the day leaves the sky, the lights within the Piazza glow orange against the cobalt sky. People gather on the steps to meet friends, share a bottle of wine, or even a small picnic. Friends walk side by side, motorcycle helmets in hand to a nearby restaurant, and strangers gather under white umbrellas to enjoy a drink with a view of the most spectacular and revolutionary church in all of Italy. 

Checking off my Bucket List!

1. Went to the Uffizi, check! I don't know if I'm a huge fan of Renaissance art but seeing Botticelli's Venus and Primavera was really amazing.

4. Went to Fiesole, check! My parents and I spent a lovely afternoon and evening walking around Fiesole, seeing the ancient Etruscan and Roman ruins and had an amazing dinner looking over the hills that tumble down to Florence's center.

8. Went to Palazzo Vecchio and saw the Medici rooms, check! Sadly Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted human skull left in May, but the Medici rooms were magnificent and really gave you a taste of the power the Medici family held over Florence for centuries.

9. Got the cheesecake from Tre Panche....twice. check! I went once with my friends and a second time with my parents, Tre Panche is really a must-go for incredible Italian food in a cozy, welcoming, authentic environment.

12. Went to the Galileo Museum, check! For some reason, although I clearly know the difference between the two inventors, when I went I was thinking of it as the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum so I was disappointing to not find any flying machines, but it was still really interesting.

My Old Friend in the Fountain

This is my favorite fountain in Florence. 

My first encounter with the fountain was on my first night in Florence way back in January, the shuttle that took us from the airport to our new apartments crashed into the fountain, luckily it was unharmed.

From then on it became a marker of the street to my best friend in Florence's apartment, the way to my favorite restaurant (4 Leoni), the halfway mark on the walk to school or to home, and just a friendly face when I was flustered from elbowing my way through tour groups, had too much on my plate for schoolwork, or was overwhelmed trying to plan some complicated weekend of travel.

So here's to you, my old whiskered man in the fountain, thanks for being there.

Pecorino, a Traditional Tuscan Cheese

One week after I was struck down by the stomach flu, I am finally seeming to make a full recovery. That being said, this past week has hardly given me the opportunity to write the article I intended about different aperitivo places around the city since my stomach refused to handle anything besides bananas, vegetable broth, and crackers, bleh. Despite my stomach pains, I found myself craving the things I knew they would not help my situation, particularly cheese. Unable to eat it, I could at least write about it. Coming from a foodie family that drives 45 minutes to do our grocery shopping at a traditional, fresh food, Italian market, I was familiar with Pecorino cheese before I arrived in Florence. I loved it sliced in my salads, grated into omelets with vegetables, on open-faced sandwiches with avocado and tomato, and just by itself maybe with a cracker or two. There really was no way to go wrong with pecorino since it comes in all different textures from almost spreadable to very hard and crumbly and varies in flavor from surprisingly mild to very sharp.  What I did not know is what a staple it is here in Tuscany. On almost every menu you can find “mixed pecorino cheese”, usually accompanied by honey (an amazing discovery!), and the only other time you see another cheese available is mozzarella in a salad, ricotta stuffed into your pasta, or parmesan sprinkled over. Every cheese has a role but pecorino is the only one that stands on its own. So since it’s such an important cheese to Tuscan cuisine I wanted to know more.

Looking into the history of pecorino cheese I found that it is a sheep’s milk cheese and gets its name from the Italian word pecore, which means, sheep. Pecorino began first in Rome which was then surrounded by countryside full of grazing sheep and their monopoly on salt after winning the Punic Wars, made the cost of making cheese in Rome low. Pecorino production remained native to Rome until 1884 when high taxes on salt caused law officials to ban the salting of cheeses in Rome. Thus, Pecorino production moved to the island of Sardinia.

            

After World War II, many Italians abandoned their homes, farms, and factories, moving away from the ravaged Tuscan land and others, notably Sardinians, moved to Tuscany to pick up the pieces. The Sardinians brought along their sheep and their cheese making methods and that is how pecorino cheese landed in Tuscany!

Happy San Giovanni Day!

San Giovanni, the Patron Saint of Florence, is celebrated on June 24th and it is a Florence-wide holiday which means no work, no school, no stress.

In celebration, Florence holds its annual Calcio in Costume, an ancient game held in the Piazza Santa Croce which had been transformed into a sand pit where a traditional yet violent game that is part soccer, part rugby, and part boxing is played in medieval attire. The four participating teams are from different parts of Florence: white is the team from Santo Spirito, green is the team from San Giovanne, red is the team from Santa Maria Novella, and blue is the team from Santa Croce.

At night the city celebrates in an hour-long display of fireworks set off from Piazzele Michelangelo. The city is almost entirely shut down to vehicles and the streets flood with people crowding to get the best view, wine in hand.

Happy Holidays!

My Florence Bucket List

Now that time is winding down and I have about three weeks left here in Florence, it is time I make a list of all the things I want to make sure I do before I leave this wonderful city. 

1. Go to the Uffizi
2. Hear the Gregorian Chants at San Minato
3. Go to an Italian mass one Sunday morning, or whenever they hold mass
4. Go to Fiesole for an afternoon
5. See the duomo in Siena
6. Go to the vintage market in Lucca
7. Go to the beach at Viareggio
8. See the diamond skull and the Medici rooms at Palazzo Vechio Museum
9. Get cheesecake from Tre Panche
10. Go to the Ferragamo Museum
11. Buy one piece of street art
12. Go to the Galileo Museum
13. Go back to Cinque Terre and hike the entire five towns

Pisa eh?

Now this is very unusual of me to say, but if you haven't been to Pisa, this picture is enough, there is no need to go. The leaning tower of Pisa is a bunch of tourists posing in the strangest positions to make it look like they are holding up the tower in various ways with their hands, their back, and their feet, it gets pretty crazy. Take your day trip somewhere else like the ancient walled city of Lucca which has an extravagant market on Saturdays including produce, clothes, chotckies, and vintage items or go to Siena and see the most beautiful, breathtaking church in Italy. 

If you're really dying to see the leaning tower, plan to get on an earlier train to the airport or some other destination so that you can stop for an hour or so to see it, no more time is needed, but be warned if you're tight on time: the walk from the train station to the tower is about 20 minutes.

Astonishing Voter Turn out in Italy's 2011 Referendum

On Sunday June 12^th until Monday June 13^th, polls opened in local schools across Italy for its citizens to vote on the 2011 referendum. A referendum of its type, abrogative, had not been passed since 1995 and any referendum had not passed here since 2006, because of lack of participation on the voter’s part. 

The votes will not be counted unless 50% + one of the citizens who have the right to vote go to the poll and vote, and if more than half the population votes then they will look at their votes.  More than 57% of the population voted and about 95% of them all voted to abolish the laws that had recently been set in place by the government and go back to the older, more traditional laws. The issues were privatization of water, use of nuclear energy, and the necessity of politician’s presence in court. 

Water, once a public commodity, but now about half and half owned by private owners and the nation, was voted to be only publicly owned because Italians believe that water is not a good, it is a basic human need and therefore everyone should receive it for the same cost, which does not always under private ownership. 

Nuclear energy in Italy was abolished by a referendum in 1987 after Chernobyl happened in 1986 but recently, as a way to revive the economy, Berlusconi (Italians Prime Minister) re-introduced nuclear energy. Those who voted in the referendum said that they had already voted no and had never decided that it was ok again, especially right after the crisis in Japan, and wanted Italy to take no part in nuclear energy. 

Finally, voters refuted the loosening of requirements for the necessity of politician’s presence in court during their trial and a return to the more strict rules. Opposers of Berlusconi made a strong point that they believed the loopholes in the attendance policy for politicians in court was working in his favor since he has had many court trials that he has not been present for. 

The best news is that with 57% of the population voting, this historical moment is the revival of social and political participation and pride for Italians at home and abroad!

"Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between [wo]man and the universe."

                                                 - Anatole France

A Trip to the San Ambrigio Market

With Florence’s ever shifty climate the way one knows when the warm weather has come to stay is when the markets fill themselves with the freshest fruit and vegetables of summertime.  Italian cuisine is known for its simple preparation and quality of flavor. This balance is achieved by letting the produce used in each dish speak for itself without masking the natural flavor of the ingredients with unnecessary amounts of butter, cream, and salt.  The key to having the natural flavor of the dish be more than enough to satisfy a palate is to cook with produce that is in season, and therefore at its most succulent, flavorful, and thankfully inexpensive state. A trip through the market was filled with dark red cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, watermelons, cantaloupe, white melon, lemons, oranges, tomatoes in all shapes and sizes, eggplant, and zucchini. In these early summer months, the market also had produce that was in its prime in the springtime but is still available in the markets like all sorts of beans, asparagus, leeks, artichokes, and strawberries.  Italian Chef’s swear by only using the ingredients that are in season to achieve the finest quality dishes. The grocery stores may have more variety of choices but the fresh air markets, like San Ambrosio and Mercato Centrale, have the highest quality of produce. 

Back in Florence

I arrived back in Florence late last night after a layover in Paris and one of the things that I am quickly reminded of as I put away my freshly-cleaned-by-mom laundry into my new cedar drawers is the absence of dryers and the acting up of washing machines. The washing machine in my old apartment was located under the sink in the kitchen...I suppose that's convenient if you spill something on yourself while your cooking?

The dryer makes a little more sense being located in a closet but the great thing is that this new apartment has drying ropes hanging outside the windows. In my old apartment my roommates and I would scramble to find a flat/clean space to dry our clothes and would usually have to leave our clothes hanging on all sorts of furniture inside for days until the clothes started to smell a bit like mildew. So the good news is that not only do my clothes get to smell like fresh air but I'll get to participate in the quaintness of the laundry-hanging-out-of-the-window look.

Paris, Biarritz, Nice, Paris, Home...but not for long.

After two weeks of traveling in France, I am back in my tiny hometown by the sea. After exams I flew to Paris to meet my traveling companion and stayed there for five days, wandering around the Louvre, eating nutella crepes, and drinking wine in Tuileries. From Paris, we flew to Nice in the south of France and enjoyed three days on the white stone beaches, in the flower, fruit, vegetable, and spice market in the heart of old Nice and some truly amazing boeuf bourguignon. We took an overnight train to Biarritz which is on the rocky coast of Bordeaux and celebrated his 22nd birthday by getting a terrible night of sleep on the compact train seats but made up for it later that day by going surfing at Côte des Basques. We spent our days in Biarritz surfing, eating Paella, exploring the ancient rock formations that stretched out into the open ocean, and tapas hopping along the seafront. We took the train back to Paris for one last night and I said my goodbye to the city from the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre, baguette and wine in hand. 

It is very nice to be home for the week, spending lazy days on the beach, enjoying long showers, my parents gourmet cooking, snuggling with my animals, and catching up with family and friends. I leave to go back to Florence on Monday where I will be interning for the summer working with communications and book publishing, so that's certainly something I am very excited about but for now I am thoroughly enjoying the simple life by the sea.

Ryanair

The cheapest way to fly in Europe but be warned:

1. It will drop you at the most inconveniently located airports so plan ahead of time how you're actually going to get to the city you thought you were going to.
2. bring earplugs or a good playlist unless you want to listen to them advertise scratch cards and smokeless cigarettes every five minutes
3. bring a sleeping mask/blindfold if you'd like to stand a chance of sleeping because the seats really are as bright as they look folks.

http://www.ryanair.com/en

http://www.skyscanner.it/  - a great fight/price comparison website

Antiquing in Europe.

This collection of antiques in the flea market in Athens show how varied, vibrant, and truly ancient the antiques are in Europe. If I had somewhere to put all the things I found I would have bought all of them but sadly I travel everywhere with a suitcase the size of a large shoe box. The antiques in Athens ranged everywhere from ornate candelabras and beautifully carved furniture to no longer working pocketwatches. The vintage shops in Florence have beautiful collections of clothing, brightly colored leather shoes, and worn but wearable designer purses. In Munich we accidentally found a flea market behind Springfest where we wandered, admiring ancient glass and hand-painted ceramic beer mugs, one which was dated 1490 on the bottom. If you happen to run into one of these jumbles of peoples collectibles, take the time to look around and ask the story behind things, the merchants usually tell wonderful tales of the history behind everything from a painting of a forgotten King to a doorknob.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, which literally translates to "Five Lands", is five seaside towns on the coast of northern Italy, linked together by hiking trails. Each of the five towns are different from one another, some more picturesque and some with more things to do.  I stayed in Vernazza, the slightly smaller but more picturesque version of Monterosso, the most northern town with sprawling beaches. We stayed in a lovely little hotel right on the port with an ocean view and spent our days hiking the trails, trying all the recommended restaurants and pizzerias, and laying around on the beach. It was incredibly relaxing. Most people do Cinque Terre in a day trip but you can definitely spend a whole weekend there. We really only saw two of the towns out of the five, and spent a whole day in Levanto, the town above Monterosso, which is not one of the five, because there were rumors that you could surf there. We found no waves so instead picked a beach-front cafe and burned the day away aimlessly. I hope to go back before I leave, at least for a day, to see the pastel buildings clumped together spilling into the sea.

Albergo Barbara  - Our hotel in Vernazza

It happened. This means I'm fluent in Italian now right?

Now you're probably thinking I had my first dream in Italian which language-teacher-legend tells is the first sign that you are fluent in a language. Sadly, this is not the case. It will take years for this to happen I am guessing, but today something extraordinary happened, marking at least a small progression of my Italian since I arrived in Florence until now.

I understood a conversation that was not directed to me and between two Italians who had no idea I understood what they were saying. Unfortunately, the conversation consisted of one older woman telling the woman we were buying flowers from how strange we looked. Give me a break, I had just gotten off a fourteen hour bus back from Croatia. When we started laughing she asked us in Italian if we understood what she was saying. And we answered in Italian that yes we did, and that we spoke a little Italian. She laughed, told the florist she would come back, and wandered off. The florist apologized but I was more excited that I actually understood the conversation than offended that she had said I looked strange... because honestly, I did.

Adventuring in Croatia

 white water rafting the Cetina river

Easter weekend in Croatia was a wonderful relief from the pressure to go see every castle, museum, and significant statue. Staying in the quaint yet elegant marble paved city of Split, we took a boat cruise to the islands, went white water rafting, and went hiking in the Krka National Park. The boat cruise took us several miniature islands, which we jumped off the deck of the boat to swim to. We explored the beaches and got gelato, then napped on the deck on the way home. The next day we went rafting down the Cetina river, which weaves through magnificent, lush, green mountains rising steeply up from either side of the clear water. 

 path through the marsh-like, waterfall-filled Kyrka national park

The last day we ventured to Kyrka where wooden ramped paths lead you through overgrown ponds and cascading waterfalls to an outdoor, picnic-benched restaurant serving up heavenly food and large mugs of beer. Though the fourteen hour bus ride home to Florence in traffic wasn't ideal, the undiscovered beauty of Croatia was well worth the travel time. 

marble paved square in Split

I traveled to Croatia with Bus2Alps program. They have many great trips and provide transportation, hotel/hostel, breakfast, and travel information and guides!

A Brief Thought on Why to Go Abroad

I have always called myself geographically challenged. And I do not wish to offend anyone by using that word, because I mean it seriously and about myself and how I used to imagine the world in my head. I'll prove it: I had the east coast down, and I knew where California and Texas were, and everything in the middle was just mushed together.

In Europe, I knew where the UK was, that France was on top of Spain, which was on next to Portugal (note: the original text of this blog read, "...Spain which was on top of Portugal", point made) and that Italy was somewhere east of all those, and that everything else was just mushed in between and above.

At this point I am seriously considering why I am about to publish this online...

A few months ago my most feared role on road trips was "navigator" but now it feels like I am always the one with the map and can always find my way. I had no idea what Prague was and now I have been there and would go back for an entire semester if I had the chance. I had no inkling of an urge to ever go to Croatia and I am dying to go back and be in the beautiful mountains again. In Florence, I can find my way home from anywhere and tell you the directions to the Arno, the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, San Lorenzo, the Uffizi, Academia, and Santa Croce.

       

I guess I am getting to the point where people keep asking me, should I go abroad? I just hope that this serves as a small example of just one of the ways you are forced to grow up by throwing yourself into another country for a semester. 

Memories of Prague

 Old Town Square, the center of the historic district of the city where the infamous planetary clock is.

From my first rooftop view of the city of Prague sprawled out before me, I am fascinated. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. The Gothic towers and Baroque Churches dominate the cityscape giving the city the feel of being ominously beautiful. The ancient stone buildings rise up from the cobblestoned streets and culminate in steely-grey, spiked roofs or ornately decorated domes. Cold, sleek buildings from the Communist era share walls with their earlier baroque survivors creating an incredibly rich portrait of the city's history right before ones eyes. It seems there is too much history to learn about the city in a weekend, I could find out new things about the cobblestones I am standing on every day for a semester and never hear enough. Part of me wants to follow around all the walking tours I can and shove as much into my head as possible and the other part of me just wants to get lost and find my own way. 

 roasted pork knees and neck are a specialty in Prague and Eastern Europe

Savory scents and smokey gusts drift from the multiple food vendors set up in cabin-like wood stations selling an array of traditional Eastern European delicacies. I stop for a delicious plate of roasted potatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, brats, and cheese for a cheap lunch and wander on through the streets sparkling with garnets and crystals from the shop window. I can’t seem to put my camera down, I just want to capture everything, but it never seems to look as good on my tiny screen, so eventually I give up and pay full attention to what is in front of me.

Charles Bridge

note: my profile picture to the right is also taken in Prague, in front of John Lennon's wall, a civilian-made memorial in honor of the assassinated Beatles singer.  It is constantly changing with new works of art and messages of love.

Hotel Sax, our slightly-more-upscale-than-usual hotel that we stayed in located in Old Town

rumor has it, Munich has the best pretzels in the world...

these are from Prague, so if they can get better than this I may never leave Munich.

A Lack of Color

a response to the question of "greenery in Florence"

Cream, yellow, burnt-orange, off-white, brown. Where is the green? I can’t find the green. Where are the trees? There are no trees. There are no lawns. There are no parks. I’ve heard of some parks. But I can’t find them. They must exist. Somewhere. I just want a place to sit and read my book or bring a sandwich or rest during a run that isn’t concrete or pavement or a bench looking out on nothing but cream, yellow, burnt-orange, off-white, and brown.

           

I only know of once place where there is certain to be green but you have to pay to see it. We wanted to bring a picnic to the Boboli Gardens and finally enjoy an afternoon surrounded by greenery. No food was allowed, we ate our pizza on the sloping pavement outside. Why is there all this pavement with people laying, and eating, and kissing, and drinking on it like it is a rolling lawn? That can’t be comfortable. Tried to go in again, no wine allowed. We drank our wine on the pavement. Why are there so many rules surrounding the one bit of green in the entire city? I just wanted a nice picnic. At least we got to play chess in the grass. Little pink and purple flowers were sprouting up from the lawn. Finally, a sense of spring.

Trattoria 4 Leone

I've found my favorite restaurant. Nestled into a piazza in the Oltrano, 4 Leone has spilled out its doors in an array of white umbrellas and manicured green bushes to celebrate the arrival of warm weather. I went my second night in Florence and ate on a budget. I went when my parents were here and ate everything. I went when my friend's family was here and reminded myself of what a wonderful place it is.

This ambiance is cozy and Italian with its low arched, stucco ceiling, yet modern with its turquoise walls and fancy dish presentation. The food is phenomenal. The salads, the Ribolita (traditional Tuscan vegetable and bread soup), the pastas, the meats, the fishes, and last but far from least, the desserts, everything I have tried has been outstanding. The menu is only in Italian but the wait staff speaks pretty good English so they are helpful in translating. Or, you can just learn Italian.

I recommend trying...

• Pecorino cheese selection with honey ("Pecorini misti"),

• The 4 Leone salad which has arugula, pine nuts, swiss cheese, avocado, and a pesto dressing ( "Insalata 4 Leoni: avocado, rucola, emmenthal, pinoli e pesto di rucola"),
• Large tortellini with pears and cheese inside and a light cream sauce with asparagus ("Fiocchetti di pera in salsa di taleggio e asparagi"),
• Cheesecake with wildberries ("Cheese cake di Maurino ai frutti di bosco")

The Seach for Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is another one of those staple American foods. PB&J's, peanut butter and celery, peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and apples, Reese's peanut butter cups, the list goes on...

I arrived in Italy and immediately began craving one of my favorite snacks, apples and peanut butter. Alas, there was none to be found besides a teensy jar of Skippy Creamy for 5 euros at the grocery store. However, for us chocolate lovers the good news is Nutella is the peanut butter equivalent here in Italy and most of Western Europe. However, Nutella and apples? I don't know...

10 Days in Greece During the Off-Season (in a nutshell)

 a Government building in Athens

Athens. Hostel is perfect, friendly, and helpful. We wander around in the sunshine. Authentic gyro for lunch, amazing. Found a pastry shop that I have no doubt or hesitation in declaring that it must make the best pastries in the entire world. The Acropolis towers over the city majestically, lit up against the clear night sky. Went to dinner in a couple-hundred-year-old wine cellar where a table of elderly Greek couples beside us pulled out their song book and passed it around serenading us throughout our delicious meal of spanakopita and tzatziki. Up early to find our ferry to Milos. Made everyone on the boat jealous with our decadent breakfast of cream-filled, caramel-honey frosted donuts from the bakery and fresh strawberries from the market. We are the only tourists on the entire ferry. We stuck out with our blonde hair and shorts that were worn more out of insistence that it was spring break than the need to stay cool. Escaped the scrutinizing stares, up to the empty top deck of the boat to be in the sun and gawk at the islands we docked at. 

  amazing vistas of the extreme Milos landscape

 

Milos. Starving. Sat unsuspectingly on a deck café and ordered more food than we could eat and a cold beer. The waiter brought us each two beers. Then a shot. Then massive beers. Then another shot. Then refilled our beers. Repeatedly. Welcome to Milos? Nap time. Woke up and took the cab to the capital, Plaka, even though we had slept through our dinner reservation. Tiny little restaurant run by a husband and wife. They had been waiting for us and were so excited that we actually showed up. We ordered fish baked with potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. Absolutely phenomenal. We came back three more times and ate our meals and watched Dancing with the Stars with our newly adopted Greek grandparents. Best meals since being in Europe. Rented a car and found countless beautiful beaches. Found herds of goats with big old bells on their necks that made the nicest music at the slightest movement. On a quest for sunshine, drove towards the sunshine, got stuck in rain, found the sunshine. Napped on the beach till the sun started to sink behind the hills. Next day taking a ferry to Santorini at 5. Got to the port, ferry not leaving till midnight or possibly 6 a.m. because of high winds. Sat on the ferry…for 36 hours…until the ferry left at midnight the following night. Swells so powerful, impossible to stand up. Terrified.

           

 Oia, the most picturesque city in Santorini

 

Santorini. Get there at 4 a.m., drive up up up the cliffs. Feel like we’re floating in darkness. They weren’t expecting us so they give us blankets and cots to sleep in the outdoors living room for the remainder of the night. Hot shower is so necessary when we finally get into the room. Cold out so took a bus to a winery to do a tour and tasting. What a failure. Creepy mannequins reenacting how wine was made on ancient wine press’s and three tiny glasses of lack luster wine. Waited at the bus stop for 45 minutes in the cold. Back to the hotel and are pleasantly surprised to find a DVD player and black and white movies in English and the hotel brings us wine and snacks on a tray. Dinner, chef brings us unlimited free wine and dessert. Things are looking up. Next morning, rented a car and drove to Oia, the picturesque town on all the post cards of “Greek Isles”.  Found shelter from the wind and enjoyed the sun from someone’s deserted Villa patio. Found Black Beach. Found Red Beach. Watched the sun sunk red into the ocean as the pink light faded to purple on the white washed buildings. Dinner at the same restaurant three nights in a row. Best moussaka I have ever tasted, maybe even better than the dinners in Milos. 8 hour ferry back to Athens. Try to sleep. Screaming Children.

            The Acropolis, close to where we stayed in Plaka, Athens

Athens. Acropolis is not as breathtaking up close because it is over packed with tourists and you can’t get very close to the structure. Flea market. Getting really sick of being haggled by people selling scarves, togas, gladiator sandals, silly squishy plastic balls that splat on the ground, and even restaurants hosts who try to corral you into their dining area. Mentally exhausted. Somehow climb to the highest point of Athens. Share a beer and admire the mass of white buildings that extend as far as the eye can see in every direction with the Acropolis jutting above it all on its rocky perch. Barter for a better price at dinner just because we can and we are broke at this point. Train to Airport. Plane to Rome. Bus to train station. So fed up with traveling I go ahead and buy the overpriced 1 hour train back to Florence.

            Home.

sunset in Oia

For Hotels/Hostels that we stayed in on a student budget in the off-season:

Student & Traveler's Inn in Plaka, Athens

Dionisis Hotel in Adamanas, Milos

San Giorgos Vilas in Fira, Santorini

"One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind."

- Dorthea Lang                            

Homemade Limoncello

When visiting Academia (the museum that is the home of Michelangelo's David) I picked up an Italian cookbook that was translated into English hoping to use to to make some traditional Italian food at home. In the cookbook was the recipe for homemade limoncello, a very strong, lemony, sweet liquor served after meals. My roommates and I decided to make our own. Here is the recipe:

400 g of sugar
5 dl of 95 proof alcohol
the juice of 1 lemon
the peel of 6 lemons
16 lemon leaves

Set the lemon leaves and peel to macerate in the alcohol in a hermetically sealed jar in a dark place for 15 days, shaking the jar from time to time. When fifteen days have passed, add 5 dl of water mixed with lemon juice and sugar and leave aside for 24 hours. Filter carefully, bottle, and leave to rest for a month. 

The first step is completed, we will add the sugar/water/lemon juice on Saturday and it will be ready to drink on April 10th!

Horseback Riding & Wine Tasting in Chianti

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I woke up early and walked in the sunshine to the train station to meet my friends and our tour guide to go into the Chianti region of Siena to go horseback riding and wine tasting. Even though it was the perfect day for the trip, we were lucky enough to be the only ones who had signed up that day so we were pleasantly surprised with a private tour. We took a forty-five minute car ride to L’ équipe Agrifoglio, a horse farm located in a small valley in the green rolling hillside of Siena. The five of us were helped onto our horses and followed our excursion leader in single file out onto the dirt paths that wove through the farm land and vinyards. We rode for a little over an hour, plodding along through the countryside and hoping our horses would stop to graze for a second so that they had to canter to catch up with the group, giving us a thrill as we squeezed the horses sides tighter to stay on, the wind whipping in our hair for just a few seconds. Although we asked our guide if we could go faster we were told it was not safe since one of the girls had never ridden before, which was probably the right choice considering what happened later.

When we got back to the farm, our friend who had ridden when she was younger was allowed to take the horse to the ring and go as fast as she liked, and we all ran excitedly through the mud to watch her, accompanied by our tour guide who brought along a bottle of locally harvested Chianti to enjoy the show. Her horse, a racing horse from Germany, was used to going fast and she had to pull the reigns back as hard as she could to keep the horse from darting into a swift gallop. Having no more arm strength left, she let the horse have its way and the quick burst of speed the horse took off when it realized it was in control toppled her over the front of the horses right shoulder. Luckily, she had fallen many times in her years riding and nothing was hurt except for her pride, but we all clenched our plastic wine glasses a little more tightly until the horse was back in the stable.

           

While we sat and finished the bottle of wine, our tour guide told us about the castle we were going to visit and how it was built as a fortress for when Siena and Florence were in constant competition for control of trade routes in the sixteenth century. Both Siena and Florence built castles close to the trade because all goods had to be taxed on their way into the city. Who controlled more trade routs, could tax more goods, and therefore have more money and be more powerful. After briefing us on the history, we climbed back into the car and headed to the castle where we would be having lunch and doing our wine tasting. Upon first arriving we enjoyed a traditional Tuscan lunch accompanied by a white wine with the appetizer of bruchetta and cured meats and a red wine with the spicy, tomato and spinach pasta. After our lunch we went across the piazza and down into the wine cellar of a tiny wine shop, and were given the history and tastes of five different wines, honey and olive oil by a friendly employee. After trying the assortment of wines we all gave in and bought at least one bottle. I bought the last wine we tasted, a 2007 Chianti, which we were told was an excellent year for Chianti in that region and could be aged for up to ten years and would only get better. It will be my first bottle in my wine collection and I look forward to opening it in ten years and remembering the wonderful day my friends and I spent in Tuscany tasting wine and riding horses through the beautiful Chianti countryside.

 For horseback riding tours and other fun day trips in Tuscany visit Fun in Tuscany's website