A taste of Italy

Current location: Budapest!  Though when I wrote this, I was on an overnight train somewhere between Venice and Vienna.  We spent a day in Vienna before finishing our journey here.  I've been moving around so much that it's hard to keep my blog updated! 

Palabra del día: arrivederci
Translation: "Hasta luego" in Italian. I wasn't ready to leave Italy, but with some luck I'll be back soon, hopefully this summer! So in the past month I've been in countries where they speak English, Spanish, French and Italian.  Now that I've covered all of the Romance languages, I'm moving on to German, Hungarian, and Czech.  I'm guessing by the end of this trip I'll be able to say "see you later" in seven different languages and not much else in any of them.

Comida del día: If I had to deicde the one best thing I ate (which is next to impossible because all of the food was soooo good), I would say it was tiramisu at a restaurant in Venice called Tratoria alla Riveta that was literally located under a bridge.   The waiter claimed it was the best tiramisu in all of Venice, and it only took one bite to convince me that he wasn't falsely advertising.  

Other than tiramisu, I ate pizza, and pasta, and more pizza and pasta, and biscotti, and gelato, and cappuccinos, and more gelato, and massive man-ger-ahngs (which is how Annie incorrectly pronounces the word “meringues”) and these interesting things called ciccetti which are basically Venice’s version of tapas.  They consist of all sorts of combinations of seafood and vegetables and you order them as an appetizer with a pre-dinner drink (or if you order enough of them they can turn into dinner).  It was fun to try Italy’s version of tapas, but I have to say that Spain does it much better.

Venice is known for its seafood, and some of the animals at the Rialto Market were actually moving as they were being purchased!

Foto del día:

Actually two photos! One of Rome: 

This is the Roman Forum, the ancient city center that contains ruins of lots of old important structures such as temples, monuments, and even Julius Caesar's grave.

And one of Venice (standing up on boat to Rialto market)

We arrived at the Rialto market by crossing the canal standing up on this type of boat, in the rain.  I was convinced I was going to fall into the water but thankfully I managed to keep my balance.  

The best word to describe Rome is “old” (duh…) There are so many significant historical sights in such a concentrated area, and all of them are so ancient that it’s impossible to comprehend people’s lives that long ago.  Even normal buildings, like hotels, offices, and grocery stores, seem to be located in buildings that look like they are 2,000 years old.  However, the city of Rome does a lot to help modern day tourists understand, and so does my favorite travel guide writer, Rick Steves.  The sights we saw included the coliseum, which was Ancient Rome's version of going to a baseball game except instead of baseball, they watched people getting attacked by large animals. We also went to the Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.  I was impressed by the Vatican and especially the Sistine Chapel.  Sometimes when historical sights are so famous, people are disappointed when they finally see them, but for me the Sistine Chapel lived up to its reputation – it was absolutely gorgeous, with its original colors preserved, and the longer I looked at it the more intricate details I noticed.  I also loved the Borghese Gallery, a beautiful art collection in a mansion with overly elaborate floors, walls, and ceilings all in the colorful Roman style.  After the Borghese gallery we took a break from all of the history and enjoyed the beautiful weather (50s and sunny!) with a bike ride through the Borghese Gardens.  And then of course we did some shopping too (there are still great post-Christmas sales in all of Europe!)

Nice view of Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica

To make some more general observations about Rome, it seemed very touristy, but not completely.  Especially in the off-season that is January, the locals are easier to spot (there aren’t many, but they do exist!)  Romans are also the worst drivers I have ever seen in my life, and I’m from Boston, so that’s saying something.  I was warned about the pickpockets before going to Rome, but once I got there I was much more worried about being hit by a crazy driver.  Thankfully, I avoided both problems and left Rome still in possession of both of my kidneys and my laptop.

Ok, now on to Venice.  So different from Rome!  First of all, there are no crazy drivers because there are no drivers at all, just boats.  Lots and lots of boats.  My word to describe Venice is “charming.”  I loved the narrow streets, the bridges, the canals, the shops with crafty window displays, and the tiny cafes.  We spent most of our time in Venice wandering the streets and getting completely lost while window shopping to admire the masks, glass, and other crafts, and taking photos on bridges.  Like this one, where I turned into Mary Poppins and flew away with my umbrella. 

I started out in Venice on my own, since Annie decided to do a speedy trip to Florence.  I had never traveled on my own before, but I found it to be quite pleasant and not lonely at all, and I enjoyed the freedom it gave me. But I was happy when Annie came back.  She’s so good at navigating and finding cool things to do, plus we each worry about completely opposite things, which assures that we always have all of our bases covered.

In terms of tourist attractions, I loved the Correr Museum, which is a mansion on St. Mark’s Square containing all sorts of old Venezian objects and household items.  There were two beautiful rooms full of shelves and shelves of old books, some plates painted with scenes of canals and gondolas, and some gorgeous chandeliers with blown glass flowers.  Venice is known for its glass-blowing, and there were so many little shops full of brightly colored glass jewelry and other fun items.  I also enjoyed the Guggenheim collection, which is Peggy Guggenheim’s personal collection of modern and surrealist art, now displayed in her house right on the Grand Canal.  It was nice to see some more recent paintings after seeing so many ancient things! 

Our last day in Venice, our hungry stomachs and desire to escape the rain brought us to El Faro restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood of Venice, which was actually the first Jewish ghetto and where the word “ghetto” originated.  We were so hungry after a long morning of window shopping in the rain that we probably ordered half the menu (we also wanted to fully enjoy our last meal in Italy).  Because of this (and also because we were the only people in the restaurant at 3:30 pm on a rainy January afternoon), we became great friends with the waiter, who took this photo of us with our seafood risotto and pesto pizza.

And I can't finish talking about Venice without showing you a photo of some beautiful masks: 

And now I'm in a completely different part of the world, where the language is like none I've ever heard before and the word "hello" actually means "goodbye"(more on this later).  But I should go – it's time to get off the internet and start enjoying Budapest!