Off the Map

Brief Blog from Italy

I've always loved pizza and pasta, but after a couple weeks in Italy, one develops a much finer taste for a true work of art...

We're back in Rome now (which is why I have internet) after a blitz around this beautiful but hectic land.

• After Rome we headed up to Siena, which has one of the most beautiful and distinct churches I've yet seen, and I've seen a lot of churches...
• From Siena we ended up in Bologna, where we met up with another friend (still with us). The town itself has a lot of life, and would be a good place to work, although there isn't much in the way of "Things to See"
• After Bologna we headed down to Florence. Florence is almost as crazy as Rome, but a bit smaller and easier to take in. We were picked off the street 20min after arriving by a vivacious Italian Pensione owner, who set us up with a great room with Frescos on the ceiling for hostel rates! He later showed us around the town a bit and personally escorted us to his recommended Trattatoria. Michelangelo's David was stunning, albeit expensive. There is a beautiful outlook of the town, much akin to the view from NCAR of Boulder, with such a pull as to be host to a double Chinese wedding on the morning we stopped by. One of my favorite memories was a 3 hour stroll and discussion around the city and river at night. Florence must bring the world together: we ran into some Italians we met earlier in our trip (by chance), and I bumped into Laurel Kalish, high school and college friend (after a double take on both sides) outside the Akadamia! Neither knew the other was living in Europe...
• From there we went to Pisa (where I came down with a bad cold). Pisa is a sleepy town, with only the leaning Tower and Cathedral as attractions. Allow me to say that the title "Leaning" is not an overstatement.
• The next day found us in Cinque Terra. It was a bitterly cold day too. Cinque Terra is a collection of 5 (Cinque) tiny villages precariously clinging to cliff faces and mountain valleys ending directly in the Mediterranean. Its amazingly beautiful. Really, I can't do it justice. We spent the afternoon exploring the labrinth alleyways and napping on cliff-sides in the sun, wherever we could get a wind break. The following day was much warmer, started off right with a fantastic fresh seafood-pasta lunch (the motherly owner of the joint came out and stripped the fish of bones and the tail at our table). The rest of the day consisted of lounging on the beach and hiking thru sea-side cliff-side vineyards = breathtaking. Hands down the best afternoon so far.
• I managed a quick recovery from my cold due to a tactic I've recently learned, consisting of eating half a bulb of garlic in one sitting. Cut it up, stuff it in some olives and chase it with great Italian cheese and you'll feel better the next morning. Apparently they used it to counter Black Plague way back when... well, at least it worked for me.
• Then it was off to Naples and Pompeii on the night train...

posted by Jason @ 4:07 pm