Perugia

My mom flew into Rome on March 16th and we went straight to Perugia late that afternoon with Shelly and Anna. We arrived early enough to walk around the town square and go for an aperitivo before dinner. I had done some research on restaurants and found an all-organic, locally-produced restaurant nearby called Al Mangiar Bene...the food was fantastic! We were all very tired from travelling/working that day that we just went home and went to bed after dinner.

Sunset 

Saturday, we "went" to the Perugina chocolate factory where they make the famous Baci candies. Perugina is owned by Nestle  I say "went" because we took the hour bus ride there, found out you have to make a reservation, and had to turn around to go back to the city center. We did stop at a grocery store nearby and buy a bunch of Baci's that are made at the factory across the street though.

Anna, me and Shelly at Fontana Maggiore 

When we finally made it back to town, we walked around the town and shopped. There are so many cute boutiques and specialty stores throughout Perugia.

I love all the bright colors

We found a restaurant overlooking the city from the top of the hill so we made a dinner reservation there and in the meantime, went for a ride on the minimetro.  The minimetro is a cute tram car that goes from the top of Perugia to the bottom in about 10 minutes.  You ride through tunnels and it almost feels like you're on a rollercoaster.

view of the tunnel of the minimetro

We had a pre-dinner drink on the terrace of Restaurant Sole and took in the beautiful scenery.

Perugia from the top

That day was St. Patrick's day; we, of course, had to celebrate...at least a little.  We found an Irish pub called Shamrock in the center that was packed with people.  It was fun to be in the atmosphere and see how Italians celebrate the holiday.  Earlier in the day, we ran into a huge group of Americans drinking in the square and celebrating, but didn't come across any Americans that evening.

there must've been at least 5,000 people in the square this night

Sunday, we did one last walk around the city.  We walked in and out of the Rocca Paolina-a 16th century fortress. There are escalators and elevators throughout the fortress that help people to get around the city better. We walked up and down the little streets taking last-minute pictures.

inside the fortress

We all loved Perugia.  It's a lot smaller than Rome, cleaner and seems to be much more well-organized (although any city seems more organized than Rome!).

the four of us :) 

Random Day Out in Rome

A couple weeks ago, Shelly and I had a random day off work during the week.  We wanted a coffee and decided to go for one in the center.  It was the biggest, most "Americanized" coffee we've found in Rome yet at a cafe called Cafe Eustachio.

Obelisk in Piazza Navona

After, we visited some of the main Roman sights: Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Shelly had yet to see any touristic places since arriving in January.  It was about time she got out and saw a few of them.

Piazza Navona

Her mom is coming to visit for three weeks in April, so she will see many more of the big ones then.

The Pantheon

Hope you enjoy a couple of the pictures from our day.

Trevi Fountain

Will be updating more soon on my trip to Perugia and Prague from my mom's visit!!

Fountain in Piazza Navona

Orbetello and Porto Santo Stefano

Last weekend, Shelly and I decided last minute that we wanted to go to a town called, Grossetto, up in Tuscany. We didn't have time to book a hotel before we went, but the lady that Shelly works for, Patrizia, said that she would be happy to call and book us a room somewhere.  There was a convention going on in Grossetto that weekend, so all the hotels were booked. We were already at the train station when we learned of this information.  Of course that called for a decision to hop on the next train going in the same direction to a different town.  We looked at the train schedule and decided to try a town called Orbetello.  Patrizia called and found us a hotel in town and arranged for a car to pick us up at the train station since we would be arriving at 10:30pm. An Audi Q7 was waiting for us at the train station as we arrived...very classy.

Lagoon in Orbetello

The hotel was in the city center where all the young people from this small town were hanging out. It was a fairly warm night; we were able to sit outside at a little bar and observe all of the locals.

Flamingoes in the lagoon

Saturday, we were up and going at 7:30am. The fog was extremely dense this morning.  We went to the lagoon, but couldn't see two feet in front of us. It was very eerie! My camera was dead from the second I turned it on this trip and because our decision to go away was so last minute, I didn't bring the charger. Shelly is an excellent photographer and captured some great shots.  We walked around town snapping pictures.  There was a park that had about 20 different types of trees and different plant life; we must have spent about an hour there.

Swinging in the park

We continued to walk until we came across a large outdoor market.  There were stands sellingn clothes, pottery, baked goods, produce, seafood, trinkets, pretty much anything you could think of and there was a stand for it. I bought a small grey satchel and bargained it down to 8euros. Shelly, on the other hand, bought a silverware set.  I understood that the price of the whole set to be 75euros, so when she went to pay, he told her it was 200euros! Oops, it was a 75-piece set...guess I misunderstood :) The seller told her that it retails for 400euros so she was getting a great price.  It really was beautiful and made in Italy; with some more bargaining, she talked him down to 160euros and now had to carry this 25lb. box around with her all day.

foggy lagoon

Shelly really wanted to go to the beach; we asked the men at the market and they weren't exactly sure, but they told us to catch a bus to Porto Ercole or Porto Santo Stefano.  We waited by the bus stop for about 30 minutes before a bus to Porto Santo Stefano came along. We hopped on, not sure where exactly this town even was and worried about how much it was going to cost to take a taxi back to the train station. Fifteen minutes later and we were in this beautiful seaport town.  It was so beautiful that we thought we would inquire at the hotel the cost for a night's stay, come to find out it was only 70euros and included a view of the sea. Here's what we saw:

We were very happy just to put our bags down so we could explore the city.  It's in Porto Santo Stefano that the ferry goes to Giglio Island, now famous for the crash site of the cruise ship, Concordia, a couple months ago. Honestly, we had no idea where we even were until we looked at a map and we realized 1. we were in Monte Argentario and 2. just how much further we were from the train station. After searching on our ipods for what to do in this town, we found ourself at a spanish fortress built in 1640. Inside the fortress were tons of ancient artifacts found at the bottom of the sea.

Spanish Fortress

This town was breath-takingly gorgeous. It was the most beautiful day.  We spent some time sitting on the rocks by the water watching the many fishermen. Many people told us that in the summertime, this city is packed with people; I can believe it.

We went to an aperitivo and had a glass of red wine that's made in the region. Two 45-year old men asked if they could take us to dinner and dancing in Porto Ercole, but we kindly declined :) They were quite persistent though!!

About as Italian as you can get...our favorite picture

That night, Shelly and I found a restaurant called, Lo Sfizio, down by the water. We didn't arrive there until about 10:30pm. Our waiter, the owner, asked us what we wanted and we told him to recommend some dishes;  he told us that he would surprise us. We had no idea what the bill was going to come to after he brought us fresh seafood kebabs, an entire seabass, grilled vegetables and a bottle of wine. Shortly after we arrived though, Raffaele (the owner) asked me to look at the menu on his computer and if I could help him translate it into English. After an espresso with sambuca, more sambuca, a dessert of strawberries, brandy and cream, it was suddenly 4am!!!! We helped Raffaele translate the majority of his menu and I agreed to have him e-mail me the rest that I translated for him a few days ago.  We sat and talked to him for a couple hours and learned about his life in half italian, half english. The dinner came to 60euros, but because we helped him out, he only charged us 30euros.  It was as if we had worked for a couple hours with no effort!

Inside city of Porto Santo Stefano

Sunday morning, we spent some more time walking around the town and sitting on the rocks by the water before we headed back to the train station.  We learned that there was a bus that went directly from Porto Santo Stefano to the train station.  Everything fell into place so well for this random weekend adventure.  It was definitely one of my favorite weekends here so far!!

View of the city from the top of the fortress

Frascati

The same day that Shelly and I attended the Carnevale party, we also took a day trip 30 minutes south of Rome to a town called, Frascati. I had spent a few hours the night before googling different cities near Rome that would be fun to go to.  This town sits in the Castalli Romani hills and people raved about the white wine that is produced here.

We got on the first train in the afternoon and once we arrived, we searched for a place to have lunch.  We walked up the main road, only learning later that we were walking away from the city center, but found a great cafe that had a stellar lunch.  A piece of bread, bottle of water, lasgna and grilled vegetables for only 5.50euros and it was really good!! We wandered about the town for a while walking up and down the hilly streets, taking pictures.

We found ourselves lost most of the day and unable to read the googlemap I had pulled up on my iPod.  It was fantastic though because we had no agenda and no specific time we had to be back. Of course we had to try some Frascati wine, so we bought a bottle and shared it on our afternoon stroll.

The center of town was very cute with a beautiful church, carousel and children running in the square with their Carnevale costumes on, throwing confetti all around. We sat on the stairs of the church for a bit basking in the sun and enjoying the "small town atmosphere."

It was in Frascati that Shelly had her FIRST gelato since arriving in Italy. We were sitting on a ledge overlooking the hills when a group of guys started talking to us in Italian and told us that they were policeman there.  I love the bold Italian men who just strike up a conversation! We then found a shop that sold used clothes, antiques, used books, etc.  Shelly found a Japanese costume which she wore to the disco that evening. The store clerk asked us where we were from and when we told her Ohio, she said, "don't tell me Cleveland, because I lived there for 7 years when I was younger!" Such a small world that we would meet someone in Frascati, Italy who had lived in Cleveland.  She spoke great english and we fully enjoyed hearing  a few of her stories.

As the sun was setting, we stopped in an Antica, where there were only men over the age of 65.  An older man smoking a cigar with an Obama hat greeted us as we walked in. He asked us what we wanted and we told him to surprise us.  We enjoyed a sparkling red wine that is made in Frascati. Another older man kept walking past our table, smiling at me.  Finally, after walking past about 4 times, he stopped and said hello, nice to meet you and kissed our hands.  I talked to him for about 15 minutes in Italian.  He was very sweet; I heard him go back to his table of friends and tell them everything we had talked about.  He came back to offer us some of his wine, but we politely declined as we had to get back to Rome for our Carnevale party.

Carnevale

Carnevale is a big festival every year in Italy that begins on Thursday and ends on Fat Tuesday.  Discopubs always throw parties that weekend where everyone dresses up in costumes.  In the past, everyone wore masks during this period because it was the one time where there was no distinction between classes.

Me and Jessica Rabbit (aka Annalisa)

On Fat Tuesday, all the children dress up in costumes and have a big party at school.  The children told me today that they ate lots of sweets (most famous are frappe-sweet pasta fried and castagnole-dough fried in oil), potato pancakes, ricotta ravioli and lasagna, among others. They throw confetti in the streets and each Saturday during the Carnival, a parade takes place.

I love that I found these neat glasses :) 

Rome was once the headquarters for Carnival. Every year, they hosted a horse race down the famous Via del Corso, but that was abolished in 1884 when an incident occurred.

Shelly won the limbo contest AND a free drink

Last Saturday, my friends and I went to a disco called, Qube.  A couple that I teach gave me a giant afro wig that they used for Carnevale last year, as well as, a "hippie" dress. Everyone was dressed up in costumes and we danced until 5am!! Never a dull moment here.

Papa Smurf and his gals 

They say that Carnevale after all, is only excess and transgression before the sacrifice of lent.

Shelly and I pre-going out 

Venice is very famous for their Carnival where the first one was recorded in 1268. Masks were seen as very transgressive and people were able to be themselves regardless of gender or social status.  Every year, millions of people visit Venice to experience a small part of what Carnival once was back in the day.

The whole gang

Brussels and Bruges

Abby is studying at Cambridge this semester in London.  We took full advantage of being in the same continent by meeting in Brussels, Belgium last weekend.  Brussels is a place that has always been high on my list of European cities to visit, but higher on that list is Bruges.  After watching the movie, "In Bruges," i've always dreamed of visiting.

Bruges

Shelly and I got flew out Thursday morning while Abby took a train and met us there Thursday evening.  The weather was quite cold in Brussels, but luckily, we stayed in a great part of town with many restaurants/bars within a very short walking distance. Our first night, we walked across the street and dined at, Houtsiplou. I had one of the best burgers along with fries, which Belgium is famous for, among many things. They had a beer of the month, DeKonink, which ended up being our favorite of all the ones we tried.

Friday morning, we walked to the train station and took the one-hour train to Bruges for the day.  When we arrived, it was a beautiful sunny morning, but that soon changed when the snow fell in the afternoon. We walked along the canals and dined at a family-owned restaurant where we had the most delicious belgian waffle. We shopped in some little boutiques, visited Onze Liev Vrouwekerk which holds one of the only Michelangelo statues outside of Italy and sat in a fritterie in the famous Markt Square eating french fries while watching the snow fall. We tasted our first belgian chocolate, drank Brugse Zot (the last family owned brewery in Bruges), ate the famous belgian croquettes and had a beer at a hostel filled with dozens of 20-somethings backpacking Europe.

Abby and I in Markt Square

Bruges is much smaller than Brussels and a city where they mostly speak Dutch rather than French.  I highly recommend anyone and everyone to visit this city if you get a chance. Although it was snowing fairly hard at points and the weather was less than perfect, we still managed to see most of the things that Bruges has to offer.

along the canal

Saturday, Abby and I visited the Belgian Comic Strip Museum. They had a description of "how to design a comic strip," which was very interesting! They also had samples of over 200 comics; most were in dutch and french, but we found a few in english. Upstairs was a history of each famous belgian comic artists and a display for each of their works.  Most famous was the TinTin exhibit.

Abby at the Tin Tin exhibit

After, we met up with Shelly and went to the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate in Grand Place Square. They give a complete description of how chocolate is made starting with the cocoa pod and the different places it comes from.  They had samples of clothing made out of chocolate and even had a chocolate statue of Christopher Columbus.  We watched a chocolatier give a demonstration on how to mold chocolate and fill with different ingredients.  The best part of all was the free samples that they gave out! I must say that belgian chocolate is about as good as it gets.

clothes made out of chocolate

Next up for the day was Cantillon Brewery. Being in the country famous for beer, of course we had to learn how it was made.  This is a family owned brewery that has been brewing beer for over 100 years and one of the last places that has barely changed the way they make beer in the last century. They produce lambic, kriek and framboise beer here.  At the end, they gave us samples of the lambic and kriek.  The taste was completely different than expected.  I can't say that i'm the biggest fan of these types of beers, though i've never tried them before, but I still enjoyed learning about the process and hearing the history of this small brewery.

bottles at the brewery

That night, we dined at a restaurant in Grand Place.  Our waiter has hilarious and highly entertained us for the three-hours we were there.  After dinner, we visited Delirium Cafe.  It's the most famous bar in Brussels because it holds the Guiness world record for having the most beers available at a bar in all the world.  They have 2,004 beers ready to sell at any given moment. It was crowded with both foreigners and locals.  We ended up meeting two Italian boys who live in Brussels. They took  us to a few other bars in town and certainly gave us a night we will never forget.

Ted and Valerian, our new Italian friends

Sunday, it's worth noting that we had the most amazing pastries we've ever tasted in our entire life.  There was a market outside the train station and we were looking for breakfast before Abby's train departed. A lady recommended that we go to the "jaune" or yellow tent at the market.  We found it and ordered various pastries such as the croissant, pain-au-chocolat and one filled with jelly. They were fantastic, amazing, delicious, etc. Shelly and I had a few hours before we had to take the shuttle to the airport, so we walked around the city some more and ate at a fantastic little creperie for lunch.

Grand Place

What a memorable trip Brussels and Bruges were.  I'm in love with Northern Europe and am now interested in exploring other cities in that region.

seeeester <3

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