eurotrip 2009 - italy

so, i apologize for the delay in finishing detailing our trip. blame it on a busy work schedule coupled with blogger being very slow in uploading photos...if anyone still cares, read on:

july 16
we arrived in rome at 9:45am and it was already scorching! we were pleasantly surprised upon arrival at the hotel; we had gotten an excellent rate on these rooms so we were unsure whether this would be one of those "you-get-what-you-pay-for" kind of life lessons. the tripadvisor website had photos of modern, elegant rooms mixed with dated rooms with wood panelling. the lobby/common area was definitely more of the latter, with plaid fabric covering the walls (which reminded me of the papier mache project i completed in grade 7 art class) and run-down furniture. the elevator was tiny, and could only fit 3 people with luggage...this made us even more nervous; if this is how small the elevators were, what were the rooms like? we were lucky enough to get the newer rooms, which were a bit small, but very clean. overall great value!

we got european cell phones from kris' cousin in poland, and in london, we set them to automatically update the time according to the network. we hadn't switched our own watches by then, so when we arrived in rome, we just relied on our trusty phones to tell us what time it was. turns out the phones were still in london time, so we were an hour behind the rest of italy (and the rest of europe, for that matter). we didn't realize this until we had been in rome for over a day, and wondered by it got dark so quickly and why everyone seemed to go to bed so early. this didn't result in any kind of missed appointments, as we were supposed to make reservations for several tourist attractions but just didn't and tried our luck. luck was on our side, as it appeared to be throughout most of this trip...more on that later...

our first meal in rome was at a lovely trattoria. we had our first bottle of genuine, straight-from-the-source italian red wine (first of many, i should note) with a 3-course meal including pasta, meat and dessert. then we went to get gelato...also, the first gelaterias of many. yum!

july 17
we got up early this day in preparation for our big day - at least, we got up what we thought was early (we still hadn't realized our time blunder and thought we were out of our hotel by 8am, but really it was 9am) and went to the vatican. we saw st. peter's basilica and climbed the duomo to enjoy the panoramic view of the city.

outside the vatican

inside the vatican

la pietà

pretty

atop the vatican

we ate lunch at a local shop. the owner was a hearty italian man who kept trying to upsell alcohol (large beer? espresso with grappa?) and kept chasing away a persistent homeless-esque man asking us for money. i had an interesting experience in a unisex water closet that didn't have a lock on the door - karlene was waiting outside the door, so i figured she would stand guard...we had told the restaurant that there was no toilet paper left, so someone came to restock it. karlene figured he knew someone was in there, and tried to tell him but he didn't understand english. you can tell where this is going. i saw the door open and yelped, the employee got flustered and apologized profusely in italian - the whole episode made us hysterical - it was a good thing i was already on the toilet or i very well may have peed my pants.

we toured the vatican museum and sistine chapel. for everything that we saw, it seemed that we just missed the line-ups, which demonstrated the kind of luck we had on this trip. then went to the piazza del popolo to see the sculpture featured in angels and demons, but the chigi chapel was closed. it was a long and tiring day, but filled with beauty and splendor. dinner that night was another trattoria, not as good as the first, but also enjoyable. we took the subway to a recommended gelato place in a sketchy back alley (but the was gelato oh-so-good!), saw the trevi fountain and the spanish steps. both places, we also saw lots of couples passionately kissing, and they all seemed to be videotaping themselves do so. only in italy!

trevi fountain at night

spanish steps

me with my boyfriend in the subway

july 18
the next day, we toured the coliseum, roman forum, palatine hills, the pantheon and later the piazza navono to see some fantastic fountains, street performers and of course, more make-out sessions. the weather was significantly cooler this day, but we all got sunburned to some degree, perhaps because it felt cooler, we weren't as liberal with the sunscreen.

outside the coliseum

inside the coliseum

arch of constantine

taking a break

on the bridge of angels

our first two dinners in rome were at restaurants that were recommended by our hotel - for our last night in rome, we chose the restaurant we did because it was spitting distance from our hotel and our feet were so sore from walking all day. it ended up being our favourite meal yet! it was cheap and the food was amazing. the owner of the restaurant was a small man with a large personality who reminded us of an older joe pesci. he brought out his guitar and started serenading us with english songs like "take me home" and "knockin' on heaven's door" - and at some point in all of the songs, he would substitute the words for "me no...speaka no...eeeeengleeeesh" - soooo cute!

joe pesci

we finished the evening with a night cap - no, not alcohol, but gelato again. i started getting more adventurous - i usually order just raspberry and lemon, but this time, i tried nutella and pineapple and was rewarded for my courage! delizioso! i also realized that the first flavour you request is the biggest portion, so it's important to ask for your favourite first.

july 19
this was our day to leave rome. i was a bit sad as the only shopping i was able to do (aside from drooling through a window) was to shop for a keychain for one of my co-workers who asked me to buy her one...it would have been nice to account for a shopping day, but there just isn't enough time...but is there ever?

we got a shuttle to the airport so we could pick up our rental car. even though we called earlier that morning to confirm our reservation for an automatic car, when we arrived at the rental place, they didn't have the car. the whole turn of events reminded us of that seinfeld episode where the same thing happened to jerry...kris was tempted to lecture the lady, the way jerry did, about the importance of not just TAKING a reservation, but actually HOLDING it too. he didn't, though. lady luck made an appearance and we got a mercedes SUV for the price of our sedan.

whee!

happily, we drove in the direction of our next stop, a small winery in tuscany. we stopped in perugia for lunch, thanks to a recommendation by hayley. this was a gorgeous hill-town and we wished we could spend more time here:

perugia

we also wanted to see assisi, so we reluctantly pushed on and saw a few churches there. i got my first dose of having to pay to use the toilet, but didn't have any money with me, so i had to tell the lady that i would come back to pay later since my husband was carrying the money. she didn't seem to believe me and rolled her eyes with gusto that you just don't see in north america! true to my word, i returned, to her visible surprise. she was much nicer to me once she realized i wasn't a bathroom bandit.

assisi

in assisi - this is the church we wanted to visit...

...but we accidentally came here, to the basilica of st. francis first.

afterwards, we drove to the winery we were staying at. we were a bit skeptical about this place - while it had a gorgeous website and seemingly even more gorgeous property, there was little documentation about it online. i found one review that said it was wonderful, and one other review that said she followed the advice of the first review and went there. otherwise, there was nothing on tripadvisor or any similar review sites. our gps couldn't pick up the address either. my contact hadn't emailed me in a while, so i tried calling from rome, but the phone number didn't seem to work (we had some difficulty dialing european numbers on the phone, not sure when to include the country code, or + sign, etc.). i then went to the website to verify i had the right number, and it wouldn't load! needless to say, i was a bit worried. luckily my contact had given me her cell number, so we called that, and she said all was good and that she didn't get my emails since she had another job in fashion purchasing - her boyfriend is the owner of the winery so she helps him with it. a wine-lover with a passion for fashion and getting paid for both. not to mention she is dating a kajillionaire man who owns a winery. i am jealous of her in so many ways!

upon arrival, our expectations were exceeded by far! the property was even more beautiful than we imagined, our apartment was gorgeous and the infinity pool did not disappoint:

mmm...infinity pool...

scenery


more scenery
twilight
lunch time!

skippy (pronounced "skeeepy")

the first night, we kicked off our stay with a bottle of complimentary 2004 classico chianti. it was lovely! then we tried to go to a restaurant that our gracious hosts recommended. if you have ever been to tuscany, you will understand what i am saying, but the roads twist and turn and the sideroads are definitely not marked. we didn't make it to this restaurant, so we went instead to another place. the food was excellent here, and cheaper than in rome. we turned in early with the intentions of waking up early for another busy day...

july 20
we originally planned to do day-trips from here, but it was so beautiful, we decided to focus on relaxing and enjoying the scenery. we were so close to canceling our reservation for our next accommodation but decided not to so we wouldn't be tempted just to lounge by the pool all day, admiring the rolling hills and orderly rows of grape vines. the next time we come to italy, we will stay here for at least a week. this is definitely a hidden gem that we will keep close to our hearts for a very long time.

we started off our day with a tour of the winery. we were given a quick synopsis of wine-making, what it involves, shown the wine-making and storage rooms, then did some tastings. this winery only produces 30,000 bottles of wine a season. in order for the LCBO to stock a certain winery, they need to produce something like 150,000 bottles. this means we will never be able to buy this wine in canada, which is a shame.

since it was monday, the closest near-by town was pretty much closed. we went a bit further into a slightly bigger town to buy groceries for lunch and dinner. we spent the afternoon here, came back to our place to have a siesta, then spent the rest of the daylight by the pool. for dinner, we stayed in and cooked some pork on the barbeque (which was just a firepit), along with pasta and caprese salad. so good! some rousing games of euchre and several bottles of wine later, we turned in for the evening.

the good and bad thing about being in the middle of tuscany is that we didn't have any access to the internet. going from being able to access my email and internet and anything i wanted from my phone to nothing at all felt nice.

july 21
nothing really to report this day - more time spent by the pool, just a couple quick trips into the nearby town to get money and some food. we lazed about, took some naps and unwinded after some hectic days. we bought a few bottles of the chianti from the winery, chatted with adriana, the housekeeper who was very friendly and showed us all of the other apartments for next time. she also showed us what was in the works for the future - the bed and breakfast part of the winery only opened in july 2007, and they were working on a special area for wine tasting and a kitchen/eating area for cooking classes and i suspect a restaurant too. we will hopefully come back in the future, and hope it will retain it's old world charm (and cheap prices!).

dinner was at the local pizza joint, where you don't always get what you order, your table may not get all the food all at once, but it is quite possibly the best pizza you have ever had. yummy.

that evening, we drank some more wine, planned out the next leg of our trip, then packed for an early departure the next morning...

july 22
the plan for this day was to leave early to go to florence, then head to verona in the afternoon. sadly, this meant we had to leave our beautiful accomodations by 7am. it was becoming a pattern that whenever we drove anywhere, karlene and i slept in the back seat while kris and brian tried to navigate through the confusing italian roads. brian brought a gps with him, which was very helpful, but seemed to like to take us through roads that resembled goat paths or down the wrong way on one-way streets. oh, biana/becky/betty/beatrice (her name changed depending on whether we were happy with her).

we stopped in florence and saw amazing churches. we had breakfast outside the santa maria del fiore and paid through the nose for the great view. while florence was beautiful, the city definitely caters to locals - for example, you can't park on the streets unless you are a resident of florence, and some churches only make tourists pay to go in.

we went to a fashion outlet just outside of florence. we visited these stores in record time and we all got something - kris got a zegna button-down shirt, i bought a fendi wallet and karlene and brian made some purchases at the burberry store, all for cheap cheap cheap! this is how italians can afford to dress so well...

when we arrived in verona, we first went to pick up our tickets to the opera we were seeing that evening before going to our accomodations, another winery. karlene and i walked to the box office to get the tickets while the boys waited with the car since there was no parking to be found. as we were waiting in line, karlene realized she left her wallet in the car - even though she had paid already, our online confirmation said she needed proof that the tickets were hers to pick them up - i had to run to the car and back again in the heels and dress is chose to wear that sweltering day...and they never did ask for her credit card or ID. hmph. when we returned to the car, the boys were parked in a different spot; it turns out the police came and asked them to move as they were in a no-parking zone. our husbands had to show proof that they didn't steal the beautiful car they had parked illegally and all was well.

we tried to drive to our winery - this turned out to be more difficult than originally thought. we asked for directions twice even though we had directions from the winery and then determined that italians are horrible at giving directions. our initial directions told us to look for a painted sundial, then turn left, but we never did find said sundial. we eventually found the winery, with only an hour to spare before the opera we were attending began...we got a quick tour of these place, which was gorgeous too but much different than the first one - it was much like a hotel with wireless internet, air conditioning, lavish rooms, safety deposit boxes, etc., but it lacked the same kind of charm that our first winery had. we had a packed schedule so we didn't get a chance to take advantage of the pool, canoes, bikes or the 40 hectares (i think) of land...

the opera was fantastic - we saw aida. there must have been 500 people in the cast! it was in an amphitheatre that resembled the coliseum, but a bit smaller while being more preserved. we chose to buy the tickets that had no assigned seating, but just stone steps. we were able to snag 4 "seats" in a row, and were happy that we decided to "borrow" some seat cushions from the winery. you were allowed to bring in whatever you wanted, so we got sandwiches, water, wine and beer to enjoy before and during the performance. the opera was amazing, but my personal-space-o-meter was definitely getting a work-out. it was also sweltering for most of the performance - this was a surprise because i thought it would cool down in the evening. because of the coliseum shape, no cool air did get into the building until the end. i even brought reinforcements with me in case i did get cold but didn't need them.




afterwards we got gelato at a great place in the square and did some people watching. home to have some limoncello and wind down for the evening.

july 23
the breakfast in our winery was amazing. fresh pastries, bread and fruit, any kind of condiment you can think of, including a gourmet nutella, wholesome cereals, freshly squeezed fruit juices...it was delicious! we still dream about it...

breakfast of the gods (yes, it was so good, it warrants 3 pictures in my blog with limited pictures)

we drove to cremona, which was about an hour away, to see the stradivarius museum, a renowned violin maker. we went to another art gallery while we were there, had some gelato then made our way back to verona. we used our italy guide book to decide on a restaurant - unfortunately, we left the book behind, so we relied on my memory and the gps. we tried to type in the restaurant's name, and i thought it was "del luca" - turns out it was "al duca" - close enough?? we managed to find it though, but there was no parking available. it took kris and brian almost an hour to find a spot that was about a 15 minute walk away from the restaurant. the food here was excellent. brian was courageous enough to try horse and donkey meat, which tasted mostly like beef. dessert was chocolate salami (which, to kris' disappointment, was not chocolate-covered deli meat, it just looked like salami). because we split dessert 4 ways, we had just enough room in our tummies for, what else? - some gelato!

chocolate salami

july 24
we got up early and enjoyed breakfast before hitting the road. next stop: venice. karlene and i slept as usual, while kris and brian got us there. we arrived, returned our rental car and hopped on a waterbus. we got to our stop and searched for our hotel...turns out we had walked past it because it was so close to the bus stop! again, we were thrilled with the hotel considering the amount we had paid. the elevator was small here too, but bigger than the one in rome (too bad we didn't take a picture there - picture of the venice elevator below). we rested before heading out to explore. we walked to st. mark's square, which was unfortunately being used for a free concert that evening, so we didn't get the true experience of being at the square. we went to st. mark's basilica and amazing, they were having polish mass there! we did some window shopping and wandered around. thanks to our guide book, we found a good restaurant, but it wasn't open until 7:30. we sat at a cafe in a square and played euchre while we waited. dinner was seafood pasta (except kris) and dessert was gelato. again. the italy portion of our trip was coming to a close, so we knew we should enjoy it while it lasted. we didn't know this would be the last time we had true italian gelato...sniff sniff.

gondolas

i see someone's bum bum!

in the elevator

july 25
we started the day by visiting the doge's palace. we got to see extravagant rooms (state rooms, senate rooms, private quarters), the impressive armoury and the biggest oil painting in the world. we had lunch at a cafeteria style place - minestrone soup, proscuitto covered in mozzarella cheese and deep fried, and gnocchi. then we did a lot of shopping - found lots of murano glass jewellery and souvenirs. we stumbled upon a store that just sells italian dress shirts - kris, brian and i all bought 2. brian and karlene bought new sunglasses and we realized the last store we had to go to was about to close and this was our last day in venice. karlene and i ran ahead while kris and brian dallied as they thought it closed at 7:30pm, not 7pm. we visited this store the day before and the woman was going to custom-making a necklace for karlene. long story short, we ran ahead of the boys, they got lost even though they had the map, but all was good because we got to the store just as it was closing. and we eventually found our husbands.

for our last night in italy, we had dinner at a random a random place that our guide book did not recommend - it was okay, but a little pricey. we walked around a bit, searched for harry's bar for some authentic bellini's, but it was closed. we had some at our hotel instead, which was nothing like the milestone's bellini, and made by a filipino bartender, but very very good. mmm...bellini...

bellini man with his bellinis

enjoying our bellinis

man love!

we said our good-byes as kris and i were off to poland the next morning, while karlene and brian were headed to switzerland. we would meet again in paris.