So, Italy? Awesome.

[jethrien]

Had a really, really fantastic time in Italy.


Places we went to (not definitive, but covering a lot of them)
Rome: Galleria Borghese, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vittorio Emmanuale II monument, Museo Capitoline, Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica, and more squares, fountains, and churches than you can shake a stick at
Tuscany: Verrazano Castle, San Gimignano, Siena
Florence: Galleria dell'Accademia, Uffizi Gallery, Signoria Square
Venice: St. Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Ca'Rezzonico, Burano



"Normal" foods specifically searched out: vast quantities of wine and gelato, proscuitto, ravioli, gnocchi, rigatoni alla carbonara, lots of amazing pastries, cannoli, fried calamari, lots of really good pizza
Less "normal" foods: rabbit stuffed with chicken and pork, pasta bundles filled with pear and pecorino in cream, white chocolate and basil semifriddo with thyme sorbet, wild boar, creamed dried cod, medieval waybread, stuffed zucchini blossoms, and some really interesting gelato flavors (grapefruit with sparkling wine, raspberry and rosemary, blackberry and lavender, orange cream with pinenuts and saffron)



Stuff I brought home: flavored olive oils, pasta shaped like sunflowers, about 10 euros worth of candy, Venetian glass necklaces and a goblet, a Tuscan tablecloth, a marble with a glass fish in it, an adorable red dress, a wallet, a purse, and a fantastic leather coat.



Some of the best stuff on the trip:

- The amazing Bellini marbles in the Galleria Borghese, including one of Daphne turning into a laurel tree, where her leaves are nearly paper thin and transluscent
- Running into a random fellow band member in the Piazza Nuove
- A wine-tasting lunch at Verrazano Castle (yeah, the same guy as the bridge), with incredibly amazing food, at which we all got so drunk (including the tour guide) that he could barely get through a story about people stealing saints' fingerbones without falling over laughing
- Gorgeous and charming San Gimignano, which had amazingly tall medieval towers arranged like skyscrapers, and streets with the cutest shops and the best gelato imaginable
- Lounging around the pool in the shadow of said towers, drinking wine and eating biscotti
- A gondola ride with a guy singing and playing the accordian that should have been cheesy but was really just charming
- Getting repeatedly but entertainingly lost in the back streets of Venice
- An amazing restaurant I found on Chowhound (where I got the white chocolate and basil semi-friddo)
- St. Mark's Square at night with the orchestras playing
- The "Secret Itineraries" tour of the Doge's Palace, which took us behind the scenes through the offices and dungeons and hidden passageways


Basically, it was a really, really amazing trip. I got to see pretty much everything I wanted to, and eat pretty much everything I wanted to. (And gained less weight than I thought I would.)

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the packaged tour. They tended to rush us through things that deserved a lot more time so that we could then go on the "optional" (extra-fee) excursions or shop. We skipped basically all of the optional excursions, and were glad. Many of the guides were pushy and a bit condescending. (Although given some of the idiots in our group, I don't blame them. While it was annoying for us to listen to them repeat instructions four times in a row, someone would invariably then ask exactly the question that had just been answered so the guide had to say it a fifth time.)

At the same time, we did skip a lot of very painful lines, which was nice. More importantly, we got to some really great places I don't think I would have managed on my own. I don't think I would have been up for driving around Tuscany as much as we did if I had to do the driving (the roads and the drivers are crazy). We definitely wouldn't have gone to Verrazano Castle on our own, which was one of the very best parts of the trip. The Uffizi guide was fabulous. Having someone else deal with our luggage (especially in the nightmare that is Venice if you don't know where you're going and are trying to drag something behind you on wheels) was also really key. The hotels were lovely, and the breakfasts really, really nice. Italians aren't big on breakfast - we would have been having rolls and coffee by ourselves. Having someone deal with some of the logistics, especially in a country where I don't speak a word of the language, did help.

But basically, it was one of the best trips I've ever been on. Yay!

Comments

[maydove.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fantastic trip! I remember being blown away by the Vatican: room after room of painted ceilings and artwork. Rabbit stuffed with chicken and pork = porchickit?