For my parents last weekend here we went on a little trip up north to Lake Como. It was almost like being back in Park City, surrounded by mountains and trees which were full of red and yellow leaves. But with a giant lake in the middle.
Our first night in Lake Como, which we spent in the town of Como, we stumbled across a road race! There were 92 cars all setting out one at a time to compete. It was quite the event and a really fun spontaneous thing to run into in quaint Como. In true Moffitt style we got up the next day and embarked on a Trek. Yes the guide book even called it a Trek. We decided not to do the 19 hour one, and instead took the funicular up the mountain into a hamlet which overlooked a section of the lake. It was so refreshing up there, and we mini-trekked to the Volta Light house for a picnic and Chestnut collecting.
The gate keeper of the light house showed up halfway through our picnic. He was about 85 and the perfect picture of a small rural Italian man. We paid to climb the light house just to give him a purpose, and he insisted on us first posing for some pictures and taking some brochures. When we came back down he had three cups of coffee waiting for us! Such a sweet man! I wanted to take him home, or at least be able to talk to him and hear his life story, but in my horrid Italian all I managed to ask was where he lived, to which he answered in Como City.
That day we packed up our stuff and took a ferry about an hour up the lake to Bellagio; the town is situated where all three fingers of the lake meet, or as Rick Steve's says, the crotch of Lake Como. The town was amazing, similar to cinque terre but with more of a Switzerland feel.
We stayed in Hotel Bellagio, which no, looked nothing like the Las Vegas version, but we did have a terrace that overlooked the lake. And the best part, we could see George Clooney's Villa from our terrace! Can't beat that!
We spent the next day walking around the town and into nearby hamlets. We found a self-service milk place, where they took local milk and made it into great yogurt and cheese and even had a milk vending machine outside. For dinner Friday night we went to this great restaurant for local pasta and meats, accompanied with a waiter who gave us all the scoop on the best appertivo in Milan....forewarning us that the place he recommend was actually a gay bar.
Saturday we said goodbye to Bellagio and got on the train Milan. Milan was big! Pretty architecture and lovely designer stores, but it did not seem to have any charm or character of it's own. We got to see the cathedral and the amazing shopping mall which seemed to be a work of art to itself. The main point of our visit was to see the Last Supper painting, which completely lived up to what I imagined. It was so big and still had such an auro of spirtualness about it. After seeing that we decided to continue on our art/da Vinci theme and went to an old fort which was now a museum. There was a whole room that da Vinci had painted and one of Michelangelo's unfinished statues of Mary holding Jesus, a pieta to be exact. That night we found an amazing appetivo place (not in a gay bar) with a spread that you can't imagine. Multiple kinds of pasta, chicken and potatoes, sauerkraut, mini-pizzas and bruschetta! So good! I then had to get on a train and say goodbye to my parents so that I could get back to school and they could go home. All that was waiting for me at home was Mid-terms and a dinner that needed to be cooked for myself.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Mom and Dad come to Florence!
As soon as I got back from Perugia last weekend I had my parents in Florence waiting for me! Luckily they had made it first class from Salt Lake over here and we had the whole week together!
Saturday night we went to a wonderful dinner at Aqua al Duo where they brought us sampler plates of about 6 different kinds of pasta, three different steaks in amazing sauces, and mom had chicken in the best port sauce ever!
Sunday we climbed up to San Minaota and over looked Florence on a beautiful day. We saw the Plaza Michelangelo, found a big grocery store(Conad) and saw my school and the Duomo. My parents moved from their hotel into an apartment across the river which is possible the cutest apartment I have ever seen. There was a little blue and yellow kitchen equipped with brand new pots and pans, a couch which turned into my bed for the week, a big bedroom with glass doors and windows which provided beautiful views of San Spirito and the Piti Palace. I semi-moved in with them for the week, allowing us to have breakfast and dinner together every day, go for family gelato walks to my favorite place, and in the morning I would leave them and walk across the Ponte Vecchio to school, just like if we all lived here!
Over the course of the week I got to show mom the Boboli gardens, we conquered the Uffizi and did manage to survive the three hours it took my dad to see everything, and thoroughly explored Florence. I was so happy to be able to show them the central market and my favorite cappachino place ( which we stopped at often).
To show them how much of an Italian I have become, one night Sara Abad and I made homemade spaghetti sauce one night with Tuscan sausage, all fresh from the market. Complete with backed apples and Nutella...how much more of an Italian experience can you hope to get?
Wednesday we attempted to go to Luca, and when we showed up at the train station, all the Luca trains were running about an hour and a half late. As we stood there and watched the board they kept on showing their arrival become later and later and finally showed that there departure from Florence was cancelled! We could not figure out if they were just stopped on the track somewhere or what! So Luca got scrapped and we ended up having a Medici themed day, seeing their church and library.
Overall it was probably the best week I have had here! I got to see so much and it was so fun showing off my city to my parents...and they were somehow impressed with my Italian, probably only because I can speak five words of it and they can only speak one...but hey I will take what I can get!
Saturday night we went to a wonderful dinner at Aqua al Duo where they brought us sampler plates of about 6 different kinds of pasta, three different steaks in amazing sauces, and mom had chicken in the best port sauce ever!
Sunday we climbed up to San Minaota and over looked Florence on a beautiful day. We saw the Plaza Michelangelo, found a big grocery store(Conad) and saw my school and the Duomo. My parents moved from their hotel into an apartment across the river which is possible the cutest apartment I have ever seen. There was a little blue and yellow kitchen equipped with brand new pots and pans, a couch which turned into my bed for the week, a big bedroom with glass doors and windows which provided beautiful views of San Spirito and the Piti Palace. I semi-moved in with them for the week, allowing us to have breakfast and dinner together every day, go for family gelato walks to my favorite place, and in the morning I would leave them and walk across the Ponte Vecchio to school, just like if we all lived here!
Over the course of the week I got to show mom the Boboli gardens, we conquered the Uffizi and did manage to survive the three hours it took my dad to see everything, and thoroughly explored Florence. I was so happy to be able to show them the central market and my favorite cappachino place ( which we stopped at often).
To show them how much of an Italian I have become, one night Sara Abad and I made homemade spaghetti sauce one night with Tuscan sausage, all fresh from the market. Complete with backed apples and Nutella...how much more of an Italian experience can you hope to get?
Wednesday we attempted to go to Luca, and when we showed up at the train station, all the Luca trains were running about an hour and a half late. As we stood there and watched the board they kept on showing their arrival become later and later and finally showed that there departure from Florence was cancelled! We could not figure out if they were just stopped on the track somewhere or what! So Luca got scrapped and we ended up having a Medici themed day, seeing their church and library.
Overall it was probably the best week I have had here! I got to see so much and it was so fun showing off my city to my parents...and they were somehow impressed with my Italian, probably only because I can speak five words of it and they can only speak one...but hey I will take what I can get!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Perugia Chocolate Pilgrimage
Last weekend was an epic event here in Italy, no in Europe...the annual euro-chocolate fest! Sara and I made the train trip to Perugia to visit our friend Vanessa, but more importantly to stuff our faces with chocolate.
Friday night after we arrived we went to an amazing dinner at a restaurant appropriately named "Food lost in time". It was a four hour mail hand prepared by two women in a kitchen no larger than 5 feet by five feet. We had multiple litres of wine, appetizers that included baked eggplant, mozzarella balls, and stuffed mushrooms. This was followed by spinach gnocchi and walnut Alfredo. We completed our meal with some kind of pastry type thing containing nutella. The most surprising thing about it was that the total came to about 10 euro per person!
After dinner Sara and I were introduced to the Perugia night life, which apparently happens every night since it is such a small town and there is not much to wake up for. We dragged our friends out of the bar at about three am, only to have them tell us that was the earliest they had left all week!
The next day was chocolate time! The streets were filled with booths of every kind of chocolate, truffle, and melted concoction you can imagine. They even had shaved chocolate kebabs, hot chocolate-nutella, and never before revealed Lindt chocolate bar flavors (caramel sea-salt was my favorite). It was packed with people, all amped up on chocolate and sugar, but just to see so much chocolate in one place was well worth it! Especially with all the samples they had-I even got a Milka cell phone holder, unfortunately it is not edible.
Friday night after we arrived we went to an amazing dinner at a restaurant appropriately named "Food lost in time". It was a four hour mail hand prepared by two women in a kitchen no larger than 5 feet by five feet. We had multiple litres of wine, appetizers that included baked eggplant, mozzarella balls, and stuffed mushrooms. This was followed by spinach gnocchi and walnut Alfredo. We completed our meal with some kind of pastry type thing containing nutella. The most surprising thing about it was that the total came to about 10 euro per person!
After dinner Sara and I were introduced to the Perugia night life, which apparently happens every night since it is such a small town and there is not much to wake up for. We dragged our friends out of the bar at about three am, only to have them tell us that was the earliest they had left all week!
The next day was chocolate time! The streets were filled with booths of every kind of chocolate, truffle, and melted concoction you can imagine. They even had shaved chocolate kebabs, hot chocolate-nutella, and never before revealed Lindt chocolate bar flavors (caramel sea-salt was my favorite). It was packed with people, all amped up on chocolate and sugar, but just to see so much chocolate in one place was well worth it! Especially with all the samples they had-I even got a Milka cell phone holder, unfortunately it is not edible.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Parlo Italiano
Good news is about 80% of the tourist seem to have finally left town! Occasioanlly you can even walk on the sidewalk near the duomo!
The bad news is that is is cold and gray and all so great fruit is gone from the central market so I don't blame the tourist for leaving.
On another note today I was in my Italian classroom for fifteen minutes after class ended trying to finish my test. Finally the teacher just gave up on me and started telling me the answers. When I finally turned in my test and expressed my lack of language ability, she said it was okay, I was improving and she saw how much trouble I have had and said I was doing fine. So pretty much she thinks I am pathetic and potenitally retarded. Naturally I plan to play up this pity and hope she gives me a pity-passing grade.
To make myself feel better I went to my local veggie man who allows me to practice my Italian on him and managed to tell him exactly what veggies I wanted, what I was doing this weekend and to have a good night. So there Marta! Just because I can't pass a test doesn't mean I can't survive in Italy! Although the veggie-man doesn't really count since he has to tell me what just about every other word is and speaks perfect english but simply refrains so that I can think I am learning Italian.
The bad news is that is is cold and gray and all so great fruit is gone from the central market so I don't blame the tourist for leaving.
On another note today I was in my Italian classroom for fifteen minutes after class ended trying to finish my test. Finally the teacher just gave up on me and started telling me the answers. When I finally turned in my test and expressed my lack of language ability, she said it was okay, I was improving and she saw how much trouble I have had and said I was doing fine. So pretty much she thinks I am pathetic and potenitally retarded. Naturally I plan to play up this pity and hope she gives me a pity-passing grade.
To make myself feel better I went to my local veggie man who allows me to practice my Italian on him and managed to tell him exactly what veggies I wanted, what I was doing this weekend and to have a good night. So there Marta! Just because I can't pass a test doesn't mean I can't survive in Italy! Although the veggie-man doesn't really count since he has to tell me what just about every other word is and speaks perfect english but simply refrains so that I can think I am learning Italian.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Fondue! My roommate Amanda is next to me, across from me is my friend from boston Sara Abad, and next to her is Ellen, who also lives in my apartment.
Stowing away on the train! This photo actually needs to be flipped, but yes this is how I traveld for about four hours. Apparently Sara did not mind at all.
Geneva! They even have sail boats....everyone can come visit me there when I move there, which will be soon!
Squirellican gets neutralized!
This weekend I went to Geneva, Switzerland....and I know you guys claim I love every place I visit and want to move there (not true, I would never want to move permanently to Florence) I am moving to Geneva!
To try to summarize, the whole weekend started out as a little bit of a jumble. Despite our very strategic planning and buying of a 5 day eurorail pass, Sara and I showed up at the train station on Friday and were told we could not get on the train to Milan. This was bad. Because A. My two roommates were already in Geneva waiting for us. B. We had to get to Milan, because from Milan we had to catch the train to Geneva. C. If we missed one of both of these trains, we still had to pay for the hostel. The ticket man told us we needed a reservation and the soonest we could get to Milan would be at 3am in the morning. He did say he could get us out at 7pm (still to late to make it to Geneva) but we would have to pay 56 euro.
This simply was not okay, so we decided to check out the situation on the platform on the train, and in theory try to get up the courage to just sneak on. On the train platform we asked the conductor-man if it was possible for us to get on and showed our eurorail passes, pantomiming necessity for needing to get to Milan. The conductor said of course, only standing room though, 18 euro on board. We almost kissed him.
So we got on and sat, along with many other people, in the luggage compartments/hallways in between the cars. Partly by accident, but mostly on purpose since we still were not totally sure what we were doing was legit, when we saw the conductor coming, we simply got up and walked past him to the cafe car, saving ourselves eighteen euro or if we had misunderstood something, somewhere, being kicked off the train. Why the ticket man told us this was impossible I have no idea.
From Milan, which is the craziest most jam-packed train station I have ever seen, we ran to make our Geneva train. We assumed we should of had reservations for this one as well, but we had no time to worry about petty things like that now so we joined some fellow commuters sitting on the floor in the hallway. The thought of spending six hours like this was a little discouraging, but at least we were on the train. The conductor man for this train came out of nowhere and asked for our tickets, we sheepishly handed him our eurorail passes, lacking in a reservation ticket. He smiled and said oh I see, and then charged us 18 euro for a reservation, allowing us to finally breathe easy and go find seats.
When we made it to Geneva it was late at night but the city was gorgeous. Quaint but still had a bigger city feel, surrounding a beautiful lake and gardens everywhere! You can't walk more than ten feet without seeing green space or flowers. Friday night we went to Geneva's only Brew-pub. This brew pub was our first introduction into just how expensive Geneva is. One beer was about seven Swiss frank, which is directly comparable to the dollar. Lunch is at cheapest 10 franks, coffee is 3, to use the public restrooms is 2. We had the sampler beer platter, only 5 franks each, and got to try the seasonal beer they brew, something with cherry that was amazing. Our hostel was an old convent right next to the cathedral and was very clean and well kept. It was an all girls dorm with about ten bunk beds and a locker for each person.
Saturday we woke up and walked for a few miles along the lake to the United Nations building, which much much much to my dismay was closed since it was the weekend and tourist season was over! I still spent about fifteen minutes looking through the gate and taking pictures of the sign. Next door was the red cross building and museum which was very interesting. Next we walked around Geneva, saw the flower clock, the giant water jet in the middle of the lake, and saw the old town. Geneva is a lovely mix of French and German influence, especially relevant in the architecture, but it also has its own attitude. The people are so nice and everyone seems very open and cultured since it is such an international city. The sidewalks are full of people from every culture and the restaurants and shops are such a assortment. We were so amazed by the large empty sidewalks and the fact that cars stop for pedestrians in the street. Something that never ever happens in Florence.
Saturday night we went to the best fondue in Geneva (as told to us by various locals). It was a charming unpretentious place that filled us up with enough melted cheese and bread to last a lifetime!
Sunday we checked out this department store called mall, who has half a floor just for the chocolate section! They had chocolate tastings everywhere and sold every kind of chocolate item and flavor you can imagine.
We then rented bikes (for free! hard to imagine in a city so expensive) and rode around the lake for two hours. We then got a train to Dijon, France and used our five hour layover to do a walking tour of the city (they have something that resembles the freedom trail but is marked with an owl). The city had lots of churches and palaces as well as a lovely park we took a nap in. At nine we got on an overnight train back to Florence! That was quite the experience. The cars are tiny and equipped with tiny cots stacked three high. There were already two people sleeping in ours so we could not even read or anything, we just had to get in our little cots and "sleep" for the eleven hour ride back. Every time the train stopped or started I was pretty sure I was about to fall off my bed, but I did end up sleeping more than I expected.
Overall, love Switzerland! Love the chocolate, love the people, love the scenery. Italy seemed so pushy and dirty compared to it, and not having men make creepy comments at me was such a welcome change! Next up is Perugia for the chocolate festival this weekend and to visit a friend...there seems to be a theme in my travels, where there is food to be had, I will go.
To try to summarize, the whole weekend started out as a little bit of a jumble. Despite our very strategic planning and buying of a 5 day eurorail pass, Sara and I showed up at the train station on Friday and were told we could not get on the train to Milan. This was bad. Because A. My two roommates were already in Geneva waiting for us. B. We had to get to Milan, because from Milan we had to catch the train to Geneva. C. If we missed one of both of these trains, we still had to pay for the hostel. The ticket man told us we needed a reservation and the soonest we could get to Milan would be at 3am in the morning. He did say he could get us out at 7pm (still to late to make it to Geneva) but we would have to pay 56 euro.
This simply was not okay, so we decided to check out the situation on the platform on the train, and in theory try to get up the courage to just sneak on. On the train platform we asked the conductor-man if it was possible for us to get on and showed our eurorail passes, pantomiming necessity for needing to get to Milan. The conductor said of course, only standing room though, 18 euro on board. We almost kissed him.
So we got on and sat, along with many other people, in the luggage compartments/hallways in between the cars. Partly by accident, but mostly on purpose since we still were not totally sure what we were doing was legit, when we saw the conductor coming, we simply got up and walked past him to the cafe car, saving ourselves eighteen euro or if we had misunderstood something, somewhere, being kicked off the train. Why the ticket man told us this was impossible I have no idea.
From Milan, which is the craziest most jam-packed train station I have ever seen, we ran to make our Geneva train. We assumed we should of had reservations for this one as well, but we had no time to worry about petty things like that now so we joined some fellow commuters sitting on the floor in the hallway. The thought of spending six hours like this was a little discouraging, but at least we were on the train. The conductor man for this train came out of nowhere and asked for our tickets, we sheepishly handed him our eurorail passes, lacking in a reservation ticket. He smiled and said oh I see, and then charged us 18 euro for a reservation, allowing us to finally breathe easy and go find seats.
When we made it to Geneva it was late at night but the city was gorgeous. Quaint but still had a bigger city feel, surrounding a beautiful lake and gardens everywhere! You can't walk more than ten feet without seeing green space or flowers. Friday night we went to Geneva's only Brew-pub. This brew pub was our first introduction into just how expensive Geneva is. One beer was about seven Swiss frank, which is directly comparable to the dollar. Lunch is at cheapest 10 franks, coffee is 3, to use the public restrooms is 2. We had the sampler beer platter, only 5 franks each, and got to try the seasonal beer they brew, something with cherry that was amazing. Our hostel was an old convent right next to the cathedral and was very clean and well kept. It was an all girls dorm with about ten bunk beds and a locker for each person.
Saturday we woke up and walked for a few miles along the lake to the United Nations building, which much much much to my dismay was closed since it was the weekend and tourist season was over! I still spent about fifteen minutes looking through the gate and taking pictures of the sign. Next door was the red cross building and museum which was very interesting. Next we walked around Geneva, saw the flower clock, the giant water jet in the middle of the lake, and saw the old town. Geneva is a lovely mix of French and German influence, especially relevant in the architecture, but it also has its own attitude. The people are so nice and everyone seems very open and cultured since it is such an international city. The sidewalks are full of people from every culture and the restaurants and shops are such a assortment. We were so amazed by the large empty sidewalks and the fact that cars stop for pedestrians in the street. Something that never ever happens in Florence.
Saturday night we went to the best fondue in Geneva (as told to us by various locals). It was a charming unpretentious place that filled us up with enough melted cheese and bread to last a lifetime!
Sunday we checked out this department store called mall, who has half a floor just for the chocolate section! They had chocolate tastings everywhere and sold every kind of chocolate item and flavor you can imagine.
We then rented bikes (for free! hard to imagine in a city so expensive) and rode around the lake for two hours. We then got a train to Dijon, France and used our five hour layover to do a walking tour of the city (they have something that resembles the freedom trail but is marked with an owl). The city had lots of churches and palaces as well as a lovely park we took a nap in. At nine we got on an overnight train back to Florence! That was quite the experience. The cars are tiny and equipped with tiny cots stacked three high. There were already two people sleeping in ours so we could not even read or anything, we just had to get in our little cots and "sleep" for the eleven hour ride back. Every time the train stopped or started I was pretty sure I was about to fall off my bed, but I did end up sleeping more than I expected.
Overall, love Switzerland! Love the chocolate, love the people, love the scenery. Italy seemed so pushy and dirty compared to it, and not having men make creepy comments at me was such a welcome change! Next up is Perugia for the chocolate festival this weekend and to visit a friend...there seems to be a theme in my travels, where there is food to be had, I will go.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Museums
Today my friends of the Uffizi card officially paid for itself! Besides the fact I get right in to all the museums, which would be worth the forty euro right there, I have now been to the Boboli gardens three times, the Academia, and the Uffizi. So considering I have seen the David, Botticelli Venus, and every building-ground-garden-lavatory-church the Medici's ever lived in, I have officially seen and done everything Rick Steve's has told me to do. I would call that an accomplishment.
The Academia is fairly under-whelming. It is in a very non-descript building and is quite small, consisting of mostly gold alter paintings. My theory is they put all this boring stuff in with the David since they knew every one would go there anyways. The David really is spectacular and so large and life like!
The Uffizi is the opposite of the Academia. Located in a giant Medici palace that is literally 500 steps from my front door, it would take a full day to see it all! The Botticelli room is my favorite and I hate the Caravaggio art, but it took us an hour to simply see one floor (out of three). We were going to try to see more, but we stopped caring and figured we can go back any time for free so why push it. The art is great, but what I found even better was the murals on the ceiling and the amazing gold interlaced room which had to be a ball-room. Those Medici's sure knew how to live! To leave the Uffizi one must exit not one but seven gift shops!!!!! Seven!
I keep finding amazing little nooks and gardens and solitude in the Boboli Gardens. If they were located anywhere else it would be nothing special, but I have come to treasure the silence and escape they offer here, something which would be impossible to find otherwise.
My favorite statue is free for anyone to see and set in such a prominent place it is often overlooked. The Rape of the Sabine Women is outside the Uffizi in the Piazza Vecchio. The height and longitude of the bodies makes it an amazing piece of work, plus I have to walk past it about four times a day so it feels familiar.
The Academia is fairly under-whelming. It is in a very non-descript building and is quite small, consisting of mostly gold alter paintings. My theory is they put all this boring stuff in with the David since they knew every one would go there anyways. The David really is spectacular and so large and life like!
The Uffizi is the opposite of the Academia. Located in a giant Medici palace that is literally 500 steps from my front door, it would take a full day to see it all! The Botticelli room is my favorite and I hate the Caravaggio art, but it took us an hour to simply see one floor (out of three). We were going to try to see more, but we stopped caring and figured we can go back any time for free so why push it. The art is great, but what I found even better was the murals on the ceiling and the amazing gold interlaced room which had to be a ball-room. Those Medici's sure knew how to live! To leave the Uffizi one must exit not one but seven gift shops!!!!! Seven!
I keep finding amazing little nooks and gardens and solitude in the Boboli Gardens. If they were located anywhere else it would be nothing special, but I have come to treasure the silence and escape they offer here, something which would be impossible to find otherwise.
My favorite statue is free for anyone to see and set in such a prominent place it is often overlooked. The Rape of the Sabine Women is outside the Uffizi in the Piazza Vecchio. The height and longitude of the bodies makes it an amazing piece of work, plus I have to walk past it about four times a day so it feels familiar.
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