Parigi (Paris)

Shelly and I returned from Irsina late Wednesday night, only to get up and pack on Thursday morning for our trip to Paris later that afternoon. We flew easyjet which is one of the 2 low-cost airlines in Europe.  I have yet to fly Ryanair so I can't compare the two, but I liked easyjet just fine.  Not even 5 minutes after we sat down on the plane when a verbal fight broke out between two men.  The one man had his bag in the overhead compartment, he took it down to get something out and the other man tried to put his bag in its place.  They started arguing to the point where the captain ordered the second man to move to the back of the plane for the flight or he would be kicked off.  The man fought this order, but eventually agreed to move because they were 2 seconds away from kicking him off...i've never seen anything like it!!

view from Montmarte

After arriving at our hotel, it was 11pm and we were starving, so we walked across the street to a restaurant and we were told that they were closing.  The bartenders told us where we could go to eat and when they saw us walking the wrong direction, the one ran outside to tell us we were going the wrong way, took us to the right restaurant, then told the hostess that we needed a table for 2.  Throughout our entire trip, we encountered many, many nice french people. It's not always true what they say about them!!

Moulin Rouge

Friday, we visited the Moulin Rouge, Montmarte and the Sacre Coeur.  In Montmarte, we stopped at a cafe for a beer and to people watch.  We must've had 20 people try to convince us to buy a caricature painting. One man was willing to bargain and was quite persistent.  He started at 50 euros which we absolutely refused.  We kept talking him down and finally talked him into doing a picture of both me and Shelly for 20euro. He was a very nice man and ended up sitting with us for about an hour while doing the painting.  We then visited the Romantique museum that Shelly read about in her Michelin guide to Paris.  They gave us free tickets into the museum, for what reason, i'm not sure, but I was glad we didn't pay! The museum was just some artwork from a famous family and while it was nice to look at, I don't think it was worth paying to get in.

Sacre Coeur

That night, we had reservations at a restaurant called, Monteverdi.  It's an Italian restaurant in Paris, but we went because the owner is a friend of Shelly's friend in Delaware. There was another couple that night that was from Delaware and they have the same friend in common with Shelly.  A very small world! We joined them for a glass of wine after dinner. Shelly and I then set-out on the Parisian nightlife scene.  We were in the Latin Quarter, where all of the young adults hang out.

Eiffel Tower at night-view from Arc de Triomphe

Saturday, we took the train to the Eiffel Tower.  It was a very windy day, so the line was not terribly long.  We went up to the second and third floors and practically froze outside in the wind/trying to take pictures. We then wandered around the city trying to find the Arc de Triomphe.  It took us a bit of time, but we found it. It was dark by the time we found our way there; we were able to take some neat "night" shots. We paid to go to the top, which I hadn't done on my 2 previous trips to Paris.  I loved the view at the top because we were able to see the Eiffel Tower lit up and even saw the flashing lights which go off for 5 minutes every hour. We had dinner that night on the Champs Elysees at Pizza Vesuvius.  Again, Italian, I know! Family friends of the Caggiano's live in Paris and the one son works at this pizzeria.

Champs-Elysees

We hopped on the subway and took it near the Notre Dame. It was a very sketchy station where we got off and we couldn't seem to find our way.  I spotted a church that was large and reminded me of the Notre Dame and I thought it was the view from the side.  Clearly, I didn't remember anything about the Notre Dame because it was definitely not this church! Shelly was surprised that there weren't more tourists around when I told her that that was it...now it makes sense. After asking for directions, we found our way.  The church was beautifully lit up at night.  There were street performers, lovers kissing in the street and friends drinking wine...a beautiful scene and last stop location in Paris before our 7:30am flight the next morning...brutal!

Paris has always been and continues to be my favorite European city. I'm glad that I was able to re-experience this city with Shelly.  It was the perfect first-spot destination for the beginning of what I hope to be a wonderful year.

Shelly and I atop the Arc de Triomphe

Dinner Parties

Since returning from all of our travels and with the winter blues, there seems to be an increase in dinner parties this month.

After everyone's first Monday back to work last Monday, Annalisa invited me, Shelly, Francesco, Anna, Giuseppe and her friend, Stefano over for dinner with her roommates, Barbara and Edoardo. They made us a feast of appetizers and spaghetti with andouille-sausage tomato sauce.  For dessert, Annalisa made her famous pannacotta with berries. We always have such fun as a group going back and forth between speaking Italian and English and often putting the puzzle pieces together to understand one another.

Annalisa and Giuseppe

Later that week on Friday, Annalisa invited us to her parents house for dinner.  Her parents live in Lecce, but after an unfortunate accident, her father is in rehabilitation in Rome and they will be here for quite some time.  They are renting a small cottage on the outskirts of Rome in a very quiet neighborhood.  The community made me feel like I was at a cabin for the weekend with friends.  The living room, kitchen, and dining room are all one small room.  There were 10 of us in total and it was plenty of people for this small cottage. Her mom handmade whole-wheat orecchiette and tossed it with broccoli rabe...fantastic!! She then made an artichoke casserole and prosciutto, sausage and mozzarella stuffed cabbage as the main dish. Then came fresh salad.  Just as we were starting to get full, she set-out three large blocks of cheese...smoked mozzarella, a brie-type and swiss.  Who can ever turn down cheese?!? Ok, ok, so NOW we were feeling a bit more full when out came dessert. First was small pastries from the pasticceria, next came panettone, followed by something we'll call, a little piece of heaven.  I don't remember what it's called, but i'm craving it as I sit here and write about it.  It's a fried pasta with honey and other ingredients and sprinkles on top.  The pasta is crunchy because it's fried and I feel like describing it in words does not begin to give it justice. Trust me on this one! It's only served at Christmastime, so I guess I have to wait another year to try it again.

Annalisa, Shelly, Annalisa's Mom, Me, a family friend, Patrizia (Francesco and Giuseppe's cousin), and Anna

Annalisa's parents are SO sweet and truly enjoy the company of others.  They are used to entertaining in Lecce and often miss the social aspect of life now living in Rome. We happily agreed to come back very soon for another wonderful meal!

There is a sentimental feeling I get whenever I am in the home of other Italians for a meal that makes me appreciate food in whole new ways that I feel we often miss out on in America.  The importance of family, friends and food is at the top of Italians priorities in life and something they really treasure.

Irsina, Part 3

I talked with Francesco after I got back to Rome and found out that he was in Irsina until January 6th.  He told me that Shelly and I should come down to Irsina, but I kept insisting that we had just gotten back to Rome and couldn't come down.  Fast forward to the day after New Year's where we found ourselves on a 7:30am bus to Irsina. How could I not think about/plan/possibly pass up an opportunity to go to my dear Irsina?!

scenic view of the old wall in Irsina vecchio

We arrived in Gravina at 1:20...right on time...can't say the same about Francesco.  He was 25 minutes late picking us up! We got to his parents house as lunch awaited us. Shelly had already experienced the NYE dinner, but Irsina comes pretty close in comparison.  The food is, of course, always better in Irsina since everything is so fresh.  So we had lunch, all talked for a bit, took a nap (since we had only gotten 4 hours of sleep and didn't sleep on the bus), woke up in time for dinner, played cards with Fra and his mom and met up with friends in town later that night.  Do you see why going to Irsina is living "la dolce vita???" We stayed in town until 2:30, then went back to the "taverna" or tavern, at the Caggiano's to play cards.  Francesco and his friends taught us how to play a game called, Morto, that they play with Napolitano cards.  This was the first game that I've played with Napolitano cards that i've truly grasped the concept of. We stayed up until 5:30am playing games. 

playing cards in the taverna

Tuesday, we slept until 1:30pm i.e. lunch time.  We then had plans to go to my friend, Luca's house for a coffee, before he left to return to Turin. Fra couldn't come because he had to go to Matera with his dad, so after coffee, I had the opportunity to take Shelly all around Irsina.  We took some beautiful pictures around Irsina Vecchio and she got to experience the true beauty of this small town. 

When we returned home, Francesco told us that he had to go to an appointment at the church with his friends at 7pm and invited us to come.  We had no idea what to expect and I don't think he did either! We show up to this classroom where there is a circle of about 15-20 people sitting, including the priest. We had to go around the room and say our name, age, and where we live.  I explained to Shelly what she should say and when it got time for her turn, the priest asked us why we were there, since we clearly don't speak much Italian. Francesco told him that we were his friends and he brought us there.  The priest talked for about 1.5 hours about Jesus in our everyday life and how it's important to take 10 minutes of silence each day to reflect on God in our lives.  This is the concept that I gathered from the talk and after consulting Fra, he told me that I had understood well!! I'm continuing to improve my Italian daily. He asked 2 of the people what their impressions were of the class and neither of them answered.  Who was the 3rd person he asked? ME! I did my best to state what I thought and Francesco helped me out a lot too.  He then asked Shelly what she thought and all she understood was what I had told her.  We laughed that we were the first ones to answer and yet we were the only non-Italians! 

Alessandro, Domenico, Shelly, me, Debora, Francesco and Angela at Cafe Elite

That night, we, again, met up with our friends in town and stayed out until about 2:30 before we went back to the tavern to play more games.  We played quite a few games of Morto and I was the big winner.  Domenico, Giacomo and Francesco then wanted to play Poker, so I agreed to play with them with Shelly watched.  I was the big winner at the end of the night winning 12 euros!! I don't think the boys were so happy that I beat them in all the games.  We left the house at 6:30am to go to the bakery to get focaccia for breakfast, followed by a trip to the bar to  have a cappuccino and for Shelly to get her cornetto she was craving.  We got home around 7:15am, but Shelly and I were not tired at all after the cappuccino, so we stayed up until 8:30am talking...what a fun night!!! 

Domenico, Me, Francesco, Giacomo (breakfast before bed)

Wednesday was our last day there and because we had stayed up until 8:30, clearly we were not getting up before lunch time at 1:30pm. Our friends wanted to meet us in town for a coffee before we left...it's so nice for me to now feel at home everytime i'm there and for people to continue to be so friendly and welcoming towards me and this time, towards Shelly too. Domenico, Alessandro and Francesco all drove us to the bus stop as I once again, said "see you later" to my dear Irsina. 

Domenico, me, Alessandro and Francesco at the bus stop

NYE 2012-Roma Style

Like I said in my last post, Shelly and I arrived in Italy on December 30th, just in time to quickly adjust to the time change and get ready for New Year's. A good friend of Giuseppe's, Adriana, invited us (me, Shelly, Anna and Annalisa) to her house for a NYE dinner and party.  I have only met Adriana one time before because she moved to Milan about 2 weeks after I moved here, but thought that she was SO sweet the time we met.

The party changed locations to a friend of her boyfriends because the dining area was much larger at his house.  I can't even tell you the hosts name because he never came up and introduced himself to us! At first, noone was very friendly to us, but as the night went on (and people drank more), people became much more friendly and all of a sudden, many people started speaking english to us.  All it takes is a drink or two :)

Annalisa, Me, Anna

Dinner lasted for about 3 hours.  The appetizers were: cheese, bread, roasted red peppers, eggplant, zucchini, anchovies, olives, smoked salmon, oysters, salami, and I know i'm missing a thing or two.  The first course was fresh spaghetti with clams, mussels and tomatoes...it was fantastic! The second course (which I had to skip because I was already full) was mushroom lasagna and a red-sauce lasagna.  I tried a bite of the mushroom one and it was very good. Next came the fish dish.  It was served with bones and all and dressed in olive oil, parsley and lemon.  They expected everyone to eat an entire fish...Anna and I shared one. Then they had a beef dish, which I couldn't even think about eating and finally a lentil dish, again, I couldn't eat anymore.  This was by far the biggest meal i've ever seen.  That's saying a lot since i've spent many the days in Irsina.

There were 25 of us there and we all went out onto the balcony at midnight, counted down and popped a couple bottles of champagne.  A wonderful night spent with great people :)

Anna, Annalisa, Adriana, Shelly, Me, Elisa

Home for the Holidays

I know that i'm always saying this, but life has been especially busy lately.  In the past 9 days, i've gone from Ohio>Rome>Irsina>Rome>Paris and back to Rome today. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it.

I flew home on the 17th of December.  Travelling for me is never that simple, so of course I encountered a few problems along the way.  I showed up to Fiumicino Airport and waited in the check-in line for 1.5 hours.  Why you ask? Because there was a line of about 100 people and halfway through my wait, 2 of the workers got up, walked away and never came back.   That's Italy for you! The flight was delayed 1hr. 45min. due to the delayed check-in, problems closing the cargo doors, long line of planes waiting to take-off and there was also a thunderstorm.  Roughly 2 minutes after take-off, our plane was struck by lightning...sparks and all.  This doesn't cause any harm to the plane or anyone on it, but it still freaked me out.   I was determined for the first half of the flight that the plane was going to crash. After landing in Philadelphia 2 hours late, there was no other flight to Cleveland, so I had to stay the night at the Ramada Inn, paid for by US Airways.  That was nice of them and all, but it was 1. the crappiest hotel i've ever stayed in and 2. all I could think about was how I was missing out on one of the nights with my family when I only had 12 to begin with.

Christmas morning at the Smith house

Not a great way to start my trip, but I had a wonderful time being home.  It was nice to see a number of friends and my family when I was there.  The time flew by and was not nearly long enough. Every day was jam-packed with things to do.  I did get to eat sushi, Mexican and Thai food while I was home; a few of the things that i've missed while living here.  I also got to cook some great meals with my mom. Abby was home for Christmas break and leaves to study abroad at Cambridge in London this Thursday.  We're already starting to talk about which city we want to visit first.

Our Christmas cookies

I was really glad that I got to go home; it was more important to me than ever to be there for Christmas this year. It was a bit of culture shock at first, but I had only been away for 4.5 months, so I quickly fell back into old routines.

Tom and Andy

I was excited to get back to Italy since my friend, Shelly, has now moved here and is living with me. We came back on the 30th...separate flights, but on the same day, just in time for New Year's in Roma the next night.  More on that in the next post.