When in Rome

Time flies!  It's been one month (- 1 day) since I left for Prague.  That feels so long ago.  Though I've had more than one instance of homesickness ("K.T. go home..."), I've been enjoying exploring Europe.

In fact, time has gone by so quickly that I haven't had time to write about my most recent ravels in Italy.  That's right, Tuscany was not the end of the Italian Experience. Dad and I headed further south to a hotter, more humid, and even busier (if busier than Venice and Florence is even possible) Roma.  One woman at the train station told us to be prepared to be exhausted, and she couldn't have been more correct.  That said, we saw some pretty cool things!

I asked Dad what he would like to visit first, and without hesitation, "The Colosseum!!"  Of course, blood and gore.  One thing about the Colosseum is that it's huge.  Massive.  It's impressive how people, AD 72, were capable of building such an amphitheater.  We learned on a tour inside that not only were gladiator fights performed here, but also animal fights and some water-related events.  Capacity of the Colosseum: 70,000!!

On our third day, we visited the Vatican City.  Technically, it is within the city of Rome, but given its size and the amount of time needed to get through the entire vicinity, we considered this almost like a day trip and did, indeed, spend the day there.

Luckily we booked a tour, which allowed us to bypass the 2-hour wait (standing in a loooong line, no shade) to get into the Vatican Museums. Our tour guide had a major in art history and philosophy, so we learned a lot!  Highlights included the Raphael Loggia (artwork done by Raphael), ceilings paintings that look 3-D (picture above) and the Sistine Chapel.  Michaelangelo was a very important contributor to the artwork in the chapel, notably, the ceiling, which we were not allowed to photograph.  The ceiling artwork contains a lot of hidden symbolism, and political and personal messages from Michaelangelo.  Did you know that he lived to 87 years and was homosexual?

St. Peter's Basilica was also spectacular.  Even for me, the one who often sees churches as looking the same, appreciated the artwork in this church.

Other things that we saw were the Pantheon, the best-preserved structure in the city, and an important site in Angels and Demons (so of course we had to go!), the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and countless piazzas.

In terms of food, a lot of gelato, pasta carbonara, and Roma pizza.  Yum  yum.  But let me tell you something, the best pizza I had was somewhere else, and this is the place I'll talk about in my next posting. Hint: Angela :)

Under the Tuscan sun

Three days in Tuscany was enough to understand why one would live there.  The landscape, good food, good wine - what more could you need?  Oh right, cheesy photoshoots.  More on that later.

Dad and I stayed in Florence, the capital of the province of Tuscany.  Unlike Venice, which seems to have more canals than streets, Florence is structured a bit more "normally."  That is, we could navigate around much more easily and appear slightly less obviously like tourists (unless you include the times Dad would stop in the middle of the sidewalk, scratch his head, and look at the map, concerned).

We spent the first day walking throughout the city.  The architecture is simply beautiful.  Everything from the Duomo (huge cathedral that looks over the city), to the Palazzo Vecchio, and to the Ponte Vecchio (oldest surviving bridge in Florence across the River Arno), is just gorgeous and reminds you of the long history that this country dates back to.  Walking on the uneven cobblestones on the streets, and sitting inside the old cathedrals takes you back in the Renaissance time. 

The next day, we went to the Boboli and Bardini Gardens, located behind the Palazzo Pitti (palace belonging to some rich banker).  I was a bit unimpressed with the fact that we had to pay to enter the gardens, which were nothing out of the ordinary (aside from a lot of strange statues and stairs to climb).   In the afternoon, we climbed some steep hills to reach the Piazzale Michaelangelo, where we treated our tired and sweaty selves to gelato.  Dad then managed to be persuaded by a vendor to buy a poster of the Mona Lisa ("of all posters, Dad, why did you pick her?!) which he said we could put up on the walls of our house - did you hear that, Mom?

One thing that I've noticed upon leaving Sweden, is that I'm able to spot a Swede even before he or she speaks.  It's really weird.  First, I when I noticed blonde hair, I have suspicions.  Then I look at how the person is dressed - looking more or less well-kempt and dressed, hair not messy, and most of all, Converses, then I'm almost 100% sure that this tourist is from Sweden.  And almost 100% of the time, when he or she starts speaking, I hear "ja-ha!"

Anyway, back to Firenze.  The last day was really the highlight of the entire trip: a tour of the region surrounding Florence.  In other words, a tour of Tuscany and a hunt for Chianti!

Siena is a historic (though which part of Italy isn't historic?) city about 1.5 hours south of Florence.  As expected, it's overridden with tourists, and is home to the world's oldest bank (or so they told us on the tour).  Siena is most known for being the site of the famous Palio, a horse race that takes place twice a year, July 2nd and August 16th, in the Piazza del Campo.  We happened to arrive two days after the recent race, so the clay and mud that is smeared over the piazza ground was still present, and a lot of chatter amongst locals could be heard regarding the race.  The Palio heavily centred around religion, and the 17 horses in the race are considered chosen by fate.  The race lasts just over a minute, yet, people spend hours arriving early to stand in the sweltering heat, waiting for it to begin.

What's a tour of Tuscany without good food and wine?  San Gimignano, a medieval town, is located close to Siena.  Near San Gimignano, we visited an organic farm and vineyard.  My initial assumptions, hearing that it's a family-run farm, was that it would be small and cute and personable.  It turns out that this is a huge farm, and really runs like a business.  I still enjoyed it, though; the view from the farm down to San Gimignano was incredible.  The farm even has its own cows for meat production (t-bone steak).  I didn't have a chance to speak with the farm owners/workers directly because the tour was so rushed, but it was still nice to be able to see the vintage grape vines and olive trees. 

95% of the food that we ate at the farm was produced on-site.  We started with bruschetta (drizzled with good extra-virgin olive oil), salad with fresh and ripe red tomatoes, handmade taglietelle with beef ragout, a selection of prosciutto, salami, and cheeses, and finally an almond biscotti.  We also tried four kind of Chianti wine, including a dessert wine that was similar to ice wine (though I prefer ice wine). Stuffed to the brim with food.  Thankfully, the dark shadow in the picture above masks the works of the lack of asian enzymes..

Though I was full, I absolutely had to try the 2009-2010 world champion gelateria in San Gimignano.  The best I'd tasted in Italy so far.

And then the moment we'd all be waiting for: Pisa!  Yes, we spent all our time in front of the tower, perfecting our stances.  But the best part of it all was seeing thousands of others around us doing the exact same poses - kind of looks like a cult, don't you think?

So there you go, my tour of Tuscany.  I have a feeling that from now until the end of this trip, I'm going to be massively behind on my blogging, since I won't always have access to Internet and I'm sending my laptop home with Dad.  We've just spent four days in Rome, and tomorrow Dad's heading back to Vancity, and very much looking forward to eating "normal food."  As for me, more adventures to come!

Venezia

Somehow I managed to haul my two 20 kg suitcases, laptop, and backpack full of food onto a train, a bus, and another train, before successfully making it to the hotel room in Quarto d’Altino, a town close to Venice.  Two hours later, in walked my dad, who just completed a 14-hour flight from Vancouver to Zurich, and then to Venice.  I haven’t seen my dad since August, so we had a lot to talk about.

This was my first hotel in a loooong time, and definitely wasn’t used to having such luxurious surroundings.  We stayed a wonderful, quiet villa called Hotel Villa Otino, in the countryside – and with a huge breakfast buffet, which always scores bonus points!    

Venezia.  Canals galore.  I didn’t realize just how different this city is from others.  The central method of public transportation is by water taxis, and while we were there we found no buses.  Canals intertwine throughout the entire city centre, and when there are no canals, it’s pedestrian streets, narrow, and very crowded!  Unfortunately, the water is really dirty as a result of the boats.  Also, it’s really difficult to find your way around the city.  Everywhere you looked, you could see at least one person holding a map and looking confused or lost.  We spent the first hour getting lost and somehow ending up in the outskirts of the city.

The main piazza, Piazza San Marco, is huge, and is surrounded by St. Mark’s basilica and Doge’s Palace.  From the top of the nearby bell tower, you have really nice views of the entire city.

It was hot and humid in Venice, but what’s a better cure for this than gelato? Gelato and pizzeria restaurants dominate the streets, and you can see just about one of every three people on the streets holding a gelato cone.  And it’s so delicious!  While I was in Venice, I also tried a local specialty: cuttlefish and squid ink spaghetti.  Slightly salty and tasting of fish (obviously), it was very different from my usual pasta with tomato sauce dinners. 

Overall, Venice was a nice and short visit, but it was too crowded for my liking.  I needed more breathing room, and thankfully, Florence and a tour of Tuscany gave me just that.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

If you have been keeping track of where I was spending my days last week, you will be able to understand why I’ve been constantly humming “Edelweiss” in my head.  Wilkommen to Salzburg, where you are constantly reminded of Fraulein Maria while exploring this beautiful city located within the Alps region of Austria.

Salzburg is a relatively small yet pretty town.  It was easy to walk throughout the city to see the main sites, and because I gave myself four days here, I was able to take my time and go at a slower pace, and take it all in. 

On the first couple of days, I spent a good portion of my time in the Old Town, across the river; it’s fun to wander the streets and also discover “hidden” passages and alleys.  The first thing I noticed about Old Town is a very popular chocolate that’s sold absolutely everything.  Literally, every second store sells this.  It’s the Mozartkugel, a chocolate ball with a marzipan filling. I’ve been lucky enough to have my fair share of Mozartkugel back in Sweden, and even eat Mozartkugel knodel dumpling filled with the chocolate ball), thanks to Martina.  I also discovered that Salzburg has its own Japadog: the Bosna.  It’s two pork sausages, grilled in a variety of spices, placed into a bun, and topped with raw onions.  It is a local street food specialty, but it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. 

I also took my time to see as many of the filming locations as possible from The Sound of Music.  First, I went to Mirabell Gardens, which is where “Do-Re-Mi” was filmed.  You may recognize the fountain that Maria and the kids walked around while singing in their matching curtain clothes.  The gardens are really nice, with a backdrop of the fortress that looms over the city.  The fortress gives good views of the entire city, and is also close to the abbey, where Maria lived at the beginning of the film. Residenz in Old Town, a large square.  Maria walked through here, splashing the water from the giant horse fountain while singing “I have confidence.” 

I took a day trip to Hallstatt, a lake village located in Salzerkammut.  This is a lake district a few hours from Salzburg, and is surrounded by the Austrian Alps.  The water was so clear and clean, and with the fabulous mountains looking over, It felt a bit like the Lofoten Islands in Norway (except there were a lot more Asian tourists!).  The village houses are really cool – wooden and rustic, and decorated with ornamental flowers.  Hallstatt is also the site of possible the world’s first salt mine.  I had a chance to relax with The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo (which is highly addictive, by the way, and my plans to save the reading for my train ride to Venice failed) by the water, visit the village, sample goulash wit knodel, and then a hike up the Alps!  I later found out that China has plans to make an exact replica of Hallstatt – kind of weird.

On my last day in Salzburg, I realized I missed one key The Sound of Music location: Hellbrunn Palace.  The gazebo where Liesl sang and danced “I am Sixteen” is located there (a replica for tourists, though).  I ended up walking to the palace that’s about 7 km away, and am so glad that I did, because I went through a nice walking/biking road, away from tourists, called Hellbrunner Allee.  I also passed by Frohnburg Palace, which was also a backdrop in the movie.  Hellbrunn Palace has a huge garden, fountains, and green grass; I had a nice siesta before heading back.  Once I was back in Old Town, I did some shopping for my train ride the following day, and bought some yummy pretzels.

Salzburg was really nice; it’s not as big as Prague or Munich, but it has a lot of charm and the people are friendly.  I managed to have a two-hour conversation with a very sweet lady on the train, while she only spoke German and I only English – somehow we managed to communicate!  Plus, how can you not love a place where the hills are always alive?